We’re beta testing a new digital curation service called Storify.
Sure, there are some bugs to be worked out, but so far, so interesting. In just a matter of minutes, we pulled together our first “story” in Storify — a collection of links to sites and social media chatter relevant to the work of one of our clients, a school specializing in the delivery of full-immersion, bilingual education.
No, that Storify story ain’t our finest writing — but if you think we’re after great narrative flow here, you’re totally missing the point. Jeff Mason, principal of Hero Design Studio in Denver, recently nailed the importance of new publishing tools such as Storify:
“As our capacity to digest information has been eclipsed by the volume of information available — and interesting — to us, we are attracted to a different kind of person — the curator. Greater value will be found in following, friending and subscribing to people who pull real-time digital content into rich and high-quality, narratives. Aggregation and curation has great value when there’s a large quantity of information spread widely across numerous sources, and judging the quality and credibility requires expertise.”
Key word there: expertise. Aggregation, algorithms and publishing tools like Storify are nice, but true value is derived from them only when they’re put in the hands of smart people who are specially skilled at gathering, analyzing and presenting information. Media Salad’s veteran reporters know how to move quickly to deliver timely, actionable information that informs strategic decisions. But yes, we’re always grateful for tools that help us work faster and more efficiently.
And we have to be honest here: we’re rooting for Storify’s success in part because it is the brainchild of a dynamic team that includes former Associated Press reporter Burt Herman, who also founded the journotech Meetup group Hacks/Hackers. We really dig journalists who not only talk about new ways to do business, but actually roll up their sleeves and make it happen.