CTVSD3/Introduction/Curate

What is content curation?

Content curation can be thought of as content ‘collecting’. There are a lot of existing resources available that can provide learners with the information they need. Curating content is about gathering resources, working out if it is from a good source and whether it meets the needs of the learners and the course. Creating content can be time consuming and costly, finding and collating pre-existing content can save you time and money.

Where existing resources can be found

You can curate content by doing an internet search, looking through articles, web sites, videos, podcasts and other resources.

Images can be found online and can demonstrate theories, serve to represent characters, provide visual representations.

As we have identified content and resources can come in many different formats including videos, documents and presentations.

The following websites can be beneficial when curating content:

• You can source images, video and more by searching the Wikimedia Commons web page.
• Images can be found on either Pixabay or Unsplash.
• Stock video footage under the Creative Commons licensing system can be found at Pexels.
• Vimeo video web site has the ability to search by Creative Commons licensing.
• Questions relating to YouTube videos and Creative Commons licensing can be found here.
• You can source content from the OER Commons web page.

Understanding copyright

When sourcing content and resources from elsewhere, that is not creating them yourself, but curating them, you need to make sure you are meeting copyright requirements. We can’t just take someone else’s work and use it. We have to make sure we are allowed to use the content and resources we curate. Copyright and Creative Commons are terms you will likely hear and need to get used to. Learning what you can and cannot curate and use can be a tricky process so here are some basics to help guide you. To use someone else’s material off the internet you should do one of the following:

• Look for Creative Commons licensing information. You can find more information about these here: https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/ and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPZTh2NKTm4

• Here you’ll find some more useful information on how to attribute or give credit under a Creative Commons license: https://creativecommons.org/use-remix/ and https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Best_practices_for_attribution

• Contact the owner of the content and/or resources and get their permission in writing to use their work. Send them a message or an email asking if you can use the piece you want. Explain what you plan to use, and why you want to use it. Only use it if they write back to you and give you permission.

It is essential to check all resources you plan to use for any Copyright or Creative Commons information. Some websites have that information right at the bottom of their page or hidden away in another section (like ‘about us’). Search the site thoroughly for any information that will direct you as to whether you can use the resources.

Other web sites, such as YouTube, have a search function that allow you to select what license type to search for. Here is more information on how to carry out a YouTube search for a topic, making sure the results shown are under Creative Commons. https://youtubedownload.minitool.com/youtube/standard-youtube-license.html