Photo by "My Life Through A Lens" on Unsplash
I have used Pinterest for some time now, so I was interested to see how it stacked up against other curation tools, and against the evaluation criteria suggested by Robin Good (Good, 2014, January 7). In relation to importing and exporting, Pinterest is quite versatile. I have pinned images suggested to me within the app, those I have found on websites external to the app, and I’ve also placed my own photos taken with my phone on boards. I can send a pin to another Pinterest user, or via text, email and other methods, download the image or copy the link. Pinterest allows me to organise my own boards as I wish to, make comments on pins, and add other photos for comparison.
Pinterest learns my tastes and provides me with information such as suggestions and who has pinned my pins to their boards. Content search and filter is available, and I can easily flick between search/suggestion mode to my own boards and topics to notifications. I can make some boards private and others public, share boards with others and organise the order of my boards too! Images are automatically attributed with the location they were found and a link to visit that site. I can add a blurb, a location a photo and website to my Pinterest profile, and denote whether it is a business account or not, which makes reporting and analytics available. In all, Pinterest is a fantastic curation tool for collaborating about ideas, keeping an ideas journal and browsing for ideas, and sharing my own creations.
While a different type of curation tool, I decided to investigate Flipboard due to its accessible, visual and collaborative nature. Flipboard is a news aggregator which is presented in magazine format. Flipboard allows you to flick through suggestions, nominate your passions and set up your own topics. Skimming Good’s evaluation list (2014), Flipboard ticks many of the boxes, and is recommended by him as being worthy of consideration as a news discovery and curation tool. Unfortunately for Australian users, the content seems to be geared to the UK and US, although you can personalise for greater relevance.
Google Keep supports note-taking and collaboration. Users can make their own lists, add images and audio, share or keep private, and is wonderful for sharing ideas or choices with others. Keep offers apps for mobile devices, with notes syncing between each version you open. I have used Keep for some time now as both private and collaborative lists, and love features such as the ability to upload an image to a note and share that with others. This feature allows you to avoid printing appointment details, such as last week when we had parent/teacher interviews: I was able to view the saved interview notice to see who was next – together with using the reminder function, a life-saver! Notes can be colour coded, named, pinned at the top, deleted or made into checklists, then categorised by type. It is quick and easy to set up a note and share it with others. Keep notes are simple yet effective. They aren’t meant for deep project management or detail, but as a quick and easy way to share ideas, tasks and possibilities it is hard to beat.
Lastly, I have taken a look at Pearltrees (Bell, 2018, April 2). Set up is quick and easy. There are nifty features like adding a webpage from outside the app using the extension, finding topics in within Pearltrees that are similar to those you have set up, and being able to add those to your own topics. You can also find recommendations based on topics you have set up, although being new to Pearltrees, I am finding this feature does not find particularly relevant content. There are numerous mentions of Pearltrees as a mind-mapping app: use topics to collect web pages, images and other content in the one place. Personalisation of Pearltrees is comprehensive and flexible, and there are a range of options for sharing and collaboration.
In addition to the four tools I have listed here, I have developed a ‘short list’ that, after researching and experimenting, appear to be robust, full-featured, valuable and accessible content curation tools:
Those I know and love:
References
Bell, K. (2018, April 2). 16 Curation tools for teachers and students. [Blog post] Retrieved from https://shakeuplearning.com/blog/16-curation-tools-for-teachers-and-students/ Good, R. (2014, January 7). Content curation tools: 21 Criteria to select and evaluate your ideal one. Retrieved from MasterNewMedia website: https://www.masternewmedia.org/content-curation-tools-selection-criteria-to-evaluate
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About meI'm a learning designer from Geelong in Victoria. I have worked in vocational education and training for many years, and for the last four have concentrated entirely on creating learning content to support teachers and students. Archives
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