for W3c validation

Mosaics – small pieces loosely joined. Source: Anne Bartlett-Bragg

Yesterday our WOL Week activity focused on expertise discovery, wherein we updated our profiles as well as searched for and connected with people who share similar areas of expertise in order to expand and strengthen our networks.

Today we’re focusing on another fundamental behaviour to support WOL: sharing your knowledge and experiences. This doesn’t need to be arduous – it could be as simple as sharing an article or video you’ve found online with your network. However, there is an art to sharing content and adding value in doing so.

The task:

• Select an item from your reading list that is relevant to your area of expertise.
• Share the link, explaining briefly the value and highlight aspects of the article to which your network should pay attention.
• Read other people’s curated content and like or rate them, make a comment, or share with your own network.

Curating content to add value

We’re likely all familiar with people sharing links on social networks within our organisations, or on public networks such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Many of these social networks now provide a preview or thumbnail of the article; however unless it has a compelling title, opening sentence, or author you know, you are likely to skip past it. In our busy, information-laden work days we need our network to become our filtering mechanism, helping us surface the most important pieces, sift through the volumes of readings, and draw our attention to articles of value.

The process of content curation is a powerful approach for creating and publishing articles that you believe will add value to your network. The process requires you to consider your perspective on a topic and highlight key aspects that provide insights into both the curated content, and your own point of view. The next step requires engagement with your network, the exchange of views and the development of shared or differing perspectives.

In a role not dissimilar to a museum or art curator, your intention is to develop and share your perspectives on topics related to your field of expertise. A collection of online experiences can be engaging, enlightening, and further establish your network and online identity.

Today we have looked at working out loud with intent by focusing on curating content in a way that adds value to our networks. Tomorrow we will have our third activity for WOL Week, and in the meantime you can also join the conversation on twitter using the hashtag #WOLweek.