Page 13 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report

old rare gems that cannot be found anymore (MusicStack). They both collect and curate, making it easier for the layman to discover, appreciate and learn about music he would have never otherwise have come across.Take Wikipedia. It may not be the most reliable information resource for some topics, but itis hard to deny that this is a great example of collaborative, crowdsourced content curation that many of us have successfully browsed, consulted and referred to.Consider big international events like TED, LeWeb, SXSW, as well as small, locally organized ones, where event curators, talent scouts and subject-matter experts laboriously nd individu- als that have great ideas and stories to tell, and bring them together to share and present them publicly.Look at the work of online curators like Maria Popova (BrainPickings) or Dave Pell (NextDraft) and at how they stimulate our interest and curiosity by uncovering great insights and stories from authors and books of all kinds as well as from the news of the day.Take independent organizations like TrendHunter or Trendwatching who study and analyze the ocean of data generated by consumers to extrap- olate, anticipate and predict what the key changes and innovations around the corner will be.Consider all e-commerce and online shopping activities. According to a recent Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults, when it comes to buying online, more than seven-in-ten get advice from people they know (77%), or consider it very important to be able to read reviews posted online by others who have purchased the item (74%).All of these examples show how the trend-makers, those who suggest and advise where to look and what to pay attention to, have moved away from being top appointedo cials, celebrities and spokepersons as occurred in the mass media age.Now, individual curators are our new trusted guides to discovery, insight and knowledge.It will surprise us in the years to come to see the impact of content curation on many aspects of our lives such as education, news and journalism, entertainment, marketing, design, ecommerce, art and, last but not least, online searching.The FutureAs a consequence of these changes, what may indeed surprise us in the years to come, is not so much the relevance and critically important role that content curation will play in many of our ac- tivities, but the impact it will have on many aspects of our lives such as education, news and journalism, entertainment, marketing, design, ecommerce, art and, last but not least, online searching.Let’s look at some of these in detail.News and JournalismThanks to content curation, in the near future curated news hubs will bring together the top stories for any industry saving you the time that it would take to visit way too many sites and helping you discover new sources, sites and blogs which you did not know.To get a glimpse of this future, take a look at Techmeme, Memeorandum, Mediagazer as well as HackerNews and AllTop. All of these curated news hubs aggregate and bring together in one place the top stories and news on speci c topics.A renaissance of “niche” email newsletters will curate speci c industry verticals by collecting, summarizing and publishing all of the most rele- vant news for speci c industry verticals. An earlyAC/E DIGITAL CULTURE ANNUAL REPORT 201713Smart culture. Analysis of digital trends