January 2012
2 posts
The nuclear plant that was never finished
Via Scoop.it - Urban Exploration “I recently “discovered” with great surprise this amazing site on google earth, and was equally amazed by its story. The unfinished “Crimean Atomic Energy Station” (Ukrainian КримськаАЕС, Russian КрымскаяАЭС) was supposed to be a new nuclear power plant for the region of Ukraine’s Autonomous Republic of Crimea.” Via...
Shoefiti: Why People Hang Shoes on Power Lines →
Is shoefiti an art? Are you wondering why people hang shoes on power lines? Well, I was too!
Merriam Webster’s Dictionary defines art as: “the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects.” The controversy lies in what connotes aestheticism, naturally beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Generally speaking, I do not find graffiti...
December 2011
1 post
November 2011
12 posts
“I always thought of photography as a naughty thing to do – that was one of my...”
– Diane Arbus (via calpurnius)
Happy Birthday to my Dad
I don’t post much original content to Tumblr. At least not my own original content. But, there is only so much of me I can spread around.
Word Grrls
Creative Fat Grrl
Scoop.it
Flickr
There’s more but they aren’t very active.
I’ve started posting on HubPages too.
Today, November 27th, was my Dad’s birthday. I didn’t feel like posting anywhere. We...
October 2011
5 posts
September 2011
10 posts
How to Draw Bratz Girl Character Doll, Step by... →
I AM URBEX: The Urbex Codex →
tiffanyarei:
albertfishsticks:
i-am-urbex:
The Unofficial Urbex Codex: 1. Take only photos, leave only footprints
This is the best known rule in urban exploration and also the most important one. It leans on the Sierra Club mantra, “explore, enjoy and protect”. We are only visitors and should be respectful as such, which means you can not take anything from the site with you (i.e....
Chocolate Christmas
I’m looking at Christmas baking ideas today…
CHOCOLATE CHRISTMAS
Twas the night before Christmas and all round my hips
Were Fannie May candies that sneaked past my lips.
Fudge brownies were stored in the freezer with care,
In hopes that my thighs would forget they were there.
While Mama in her girdle and I in chin straps
Had just settled down to sugar-borne naps.
When out in...
50 Amazing Typographic Portraits - Beautiful Text... →
Content Curation
Making curation work for your brand is a lot easier said than done. As countless would-be content curation kings (and queens) have found out, just gathering a lot of links together doesn't guarantee anything except that you'll spend a lot of time curating links. You need to commit resources to both curation and promotion if you're going to be successful. And that's just the first step. To truly succeed as a curator, you need to think like a curator (not just an aggregator) and keep the following in mind:
People matter. Your goal should be to build a community, and communities are made up of people. You need to know your audience intimately and have an innate sense for what they're interested in. And like any good social media effort, you also need to nurture that community through your actions.
It's a commitment. Just like any social media effort, unless you clearly state from the beginning that you're doing this for a limited time for a specific reason (such as curating content around a particular event or conference), the expectation is that you're going to be an ongoing resource for your readers. Bailing out unexpectedly is damaging to your brand and your reputation.
What you leave out is as important as what you leave in. Obviously, you can't include everything online in your curation efforts. And you definitely don't want to. The content you include (and exclude) speaks to your point of view about a particular topic…think of it as "writing with links." Choose your content carefully and make sure it's consistent with your overall messaging and brand strategy.
Exhibitions vs. permanent collections. How often you refresh your content is your choice. There will always be a continuous firehose of content spewing out on the web, but you might want to think about the "classics" that should stay in your collection and what should be rotated out. You may even want to collect content around a particular sub-topic and archive it if it's worthy of being saved.
Think "niche." There are plenty of sites out there now that cover broad topic areas and have large, embedded audiences. Drawing readers away to a collection that covers a similar broad topic can be tough…if not impossible. If you want to curate a collection and draw attention, you'll probably have better luck focusing on a niche topic specific to your (or your client's) industry. Heck…if my little city of Baltimore can support a Visionary Art Museum, the Great Blacks in Wax museum, a Tattoo Museum, and The National Museum of Dentistry (yes, Baltimore is kind of a weird place), then you can find a niche that'll attract people from around the globe.
Commerce can follow content. Don't limit yourself to just "content." Think about how to weave commerce into the mix. As sites like Regretsy have demonstrated, creative curation of items for sale can be a big draw.
It's not just the objects in the collection…it's making sense of those objects. If you've ever been to an old-style museum that contains cases of objects with little exposition (The International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago is a good example of this), you may have found that while it's cool to look at odd stuff, you don't come away with much new knowledge. Interpreting the collection is one of a curator's essential tasks and one that's accomplished by explaining to visitors why an object is important in the context of the larger exhibit. You can add a lot of value to your online "collection" by providing context.
Focus on becoming a "resource," not just an "event." If you want to keep drawing visitors, you need to establish your collection as the go-to place for what they're looking for. Knowing your audience and understanding their needs are essential for curating a collection that's going to provide ongoing value over time.
Design matters. As usability guru Don Norman stated so well, "attractive things work better." Throwing up a collection to try to cash in on the "curation" bandwagon isn't enough. You need to focus on designing a user experience that's not only attractive but usable. Ideally the design should contribute to the overall experience, highlighting the most important content, guiding users to what they're looking for, and fostering community.
“Preserving ancient alphabet art
I’d like to preserve the teletype artwork...”
– Jefferson Computer Museum - Ancient Alphabetic Art
August 2011
22 posts
The Uncivilisation Festival : The apocalpyse? Now... →
Its two main tenets are that we are living in a time of systemic collapse and need to engage with this through a new narrative; and secondly that we need to look at humanity from a “deep ecological” standpoint, as one species among many on the planet.
Originally the project was set up to create a writers’ journal, but the manifesto has also inspired singers, craftsmen and...
25 Useful Brainstorming Techniques →
Time Travel. How would you deal with this if you were in a different time period? 10 years ago? 100 years ago? 1,000 years ago? 10,000 years ago? How about in the future? 10 years later? 100 years later? 1,000 years later? 10,000 years later?
Teleportation: What if you were facing this problem in a different place? Different country? Different geographic region? Different universe? Different...
7 tags
6 tags
“A few years back all the animals went away.
We woke up one morning, and they...”
– Neil Gaiman’s short story ‘Babycakes’ (via veganlove)
4 tags
4 tags
8 tags
“Take for instance the phenomenon of writers block. This has been a frequent...”
– Mindfulness and Stress | Neuroanthropology
Dances With Fat →
Hi, I’m Ragen Chastain. Dancer, Choreographer, Writer, Speaker, Fat Person.
Goddess Pledge Project - Home →
My Goddess Pledge * I know I am beautiful always & in all ways * I honour other women as my sisters * I see the “good” in this world and in others * I embrace my challenges as they help me to grow * I love and accept all parts of myself and my body in thought & in action * I experience the flow of joy in my life * I nurture and inspire my creative gifts * I believe in my...
Wired Science - News for Your Neurons | Wired.com →
“Welcome to the future! Here you will find a speculative timeline of future...”
– Future Timeline | Technology | Singularity | 2020 | 2050 | 2100 | 2150 | 2200 | 21st century | 22nd century | 23rd century | Humanity | Predictions | Events