Why did I call my blog Created Curated? I was looking for a title which brought everything together. I had a website, 3 blogs and 2 online shop, as well as accounts on Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram. Just trying to keep on top of my various social- media accounts and post regularly was becoming a full-time job. So, what could be better than having one main blog/ website etc.
Like most creative people to create, I shift through books, magazines and other sources of inspiration (often online) and then let aspects of this inspire me to produce something else. Then having produced an item show this in some way, be it as a listing in my online shop or a social media posting. So, I guess really this is Curate- Create- Curate- Post.
I have listed a dictionary definition of curation, although I am sure there are quite a few more out there.
Curation– using acts of selection and arrangement or refining, reducing, displaying, simplifying, presenting and explaining- to add value. The Latin for Curate is to take care of, which is a very different version to the one we use.
I found an interesting book called Curation- The Power of Selection in a World of Excess by Michael Bhaskar. I think I could write numerous blogs based on the topics covered in the book but for now I just wanted to touch on a couple of the points raised.
We are all curators now- whether curating our holidays, books, music, TV etc.
I guess most of us, have wish lists on Amazon and Airbnb and use websites like Goodreads to post the books we have read or want to read. Pinterest folders are using for planning special events like weddings or parties these can even be shared with others so they can also add pins. It doesn’t stop there; we even have additional ideas added to our daily feeds based on our past trends. So, now our interests are been curated by others, choose this holiday or this recipe, exercise, TV programme etc.
The point made in this book is “ in a world of too much, selecting, finding and cutting down is valuable it makes sense of the world” I would also add to this, are we all so busy now that having someone else suggest something to buy or something to do, saves our valuable time? I pose this as a question rather than a statement. What took hours, days or even weeks to research before can now take a much shorter time with the help of Suggested for You and the google search engine. Sometimes an answer can be found in minutes. Is this a good or a bad thing? Again, like most of us I do check my various feeds daily, I particularly find it useful on the bus or in my lunch hour to kill time. I don’t need to spend hours looking through magazines etc as I often find what I am looking for in a flash. On the other- hand sometimes whilst researching one thing you can find a different direction or stubble across an interesting diversion does relying on feeds stop this as it reduces rather than increases a search. Would on occasion popping a completed random and unrelated theme into a feed create a new direction? Or would we, as now programmed to shift through information quickly, just query as to what is that doing in my feed or not even notice. Do we to a certain extent have tunnel vision. We all know a little about a lot rather than knowing less topics but understanding something very well. Was it not very enjoyable to spend hours looking through books and magazines, is this not a treat in its self?
I will return to this subject again, as it opens a few discussions but I hope you do find the chance to read it is a short but thoughtful read.
Created Curated by Sara Brown 