While completing your Synthesis Project in our course, you will use the basic principles of biology that you are learning while completing our course activities to curate content about a biological issue of interest to you. But what does it mean to curate content? To help you explore what is meant by "content curation", I have curated some content about curation below. Please explore the curated content below, and then do your own online search for "content curation" if you would like to read about content curation from more points of view. If you find any good resources that explain the topic in a different way that helps you understand, please share them with me!

The three main guidelines we will follow while curating content in this course are:

1. Provide a link to the original source of the content, and include citations and attributions where appropriate. 

2. Add value to the curated content: introduce the content, summarize what you think are the most important points in the content, make connections between different sources of information, and share your own insights.

3. Share accessible content. This includes videos with captions, meaningful hyperlinks, and adding alternative text to images.

Consume - Curate - Collaborate

In Content Curation: Finding The Needles in the Haystacks, Christopher Lister, a Canadian educator and librarian, defines content curation as "More than merely collecting content on a specific subject; to curate is to make sense of the information we consume online. Strong curation involves carefully selecting content and evaluating it for a specific purpose, topic, or subject.  It also involves making decisions about what is and is not useful to deepening understanding of the subject. Content deemed useful can then be customized and personalized, by the curator, by adding ones professional experience to enhance it before sharing that curated content with one’s learning network. Curating is a higher-level thinking skill. In order to curate content that is useful for others the content needs to be synthesized, evaluated, and interpreted before being disseminated. Well curated topics and subjects help to inform and allow learning to happen at faster rates."

Christopher Lister shares a cycle of content curation that includes consuming content from many different sources, curating the content through the processes of evaluation, interpretation, and personalization, and collaboration through sharing the content, connecting with others, and inviting contributions. (Lister 2013)

Christopher Lister defines content curation as "More than merely collecting content on a specific subject; to curate is to make sense of the information we consume online. Strong curation involves carefully selecting content and evaluating it for a specific purpose, topic, or subject.  It also involves making decisions about what is and is not useful to deepening understanding of the subject. Content deemed useful can then be customized and personalized, by the curator, by adding ones professional experience to enhance it before sharing that curated content with one’s learning network. Curating is a higher-level thinking skill. In order to curate content that is useful for others the content needs to be synthesized, evaluated, and interpreted before being disseminated. Well curated topics and subjects help to inform and allow learning to happen at faster rates." (Lister 2013) 

Content Curation in the Age of AI

In "Humanity in the Age of AI: The Role of Curation", Jacob N Borden explores the importance of curation, as a skill, in a world where generative AI creates content. If you follow the link to the article, you will find the following sections:

• Introduction to the Age of AI

• Large Language Models: A Snapshot

• “This is the Worst that AI Will Ever Be”

• The Human Role in a World of Super-Intelligent Computers

• Creator vs. Curator/Author vs. Librarian

• How to Be a Curator

• Concluding Reflections

You can read the whole article if you are interested in an introduction to the abilities of AI, but I recommend focusing on the last 3 sections for an understanding of content curation related to our Synthesis Project. I found the following paragraph, in the section on "Creator vs Curator", to be a good take-away from the article: "Economic theories suggest that as AI-generated content becomes more prevalent, the value attributed to human creativity may shift towards the unique human ability to curate, interpret, and integrate this content in meaningful ways. This shift could lead to new paradigms in intellectual property and artistic expression, where the emphasis moves from creation to the art of selection and presentation. In this new economy, curators who can skillfully navigate the vast seas of AI-generated content to present coherent, engaging, and insightful collections will be highly valued."

In their Concluding Reflections, Borden warns: "embracing AI’s potential requires more than just technological adoption; it demands a commitment to ethical engagement and responsible use. As stewards of this powerful technology, we bear the collective responsibility to ensure that AI is developed and deployed in ways that honor human dignity, promote equity, and protect our shared values. This entails a vigilant approach to addressing the ethical dilemmas posed by AI, from safeguarding privacy and ensuring transparency to mitigating biases and fostering inclusivity." and recommends "Cultivate your curatorial skills as a means to harness the vast output of AI-generated content. Become adept at selecting, contextualizing, and presenting information in ways that enrich understanding, foster empathy, and inspire action. In doing so, you will not only contribute to the meaningful integration of AI into our culture but also help shape the narrative of this technological evolution." 

This is my hope for our Synthesis Project, that it will provide us with the opportunity to practice "presenting information in ways that enrich understanding, foster empathy, and inspire action". (Borden 2024)