Steve Rubel on the Digital Curator

Steve Rubel presents an interesting idea about how, in today’s over-saturated market of ideas and creative content, consumers of digital media are being forced to find ways to efficiently sift through the endless information flow. He proposes that what we need are trusted “digital curators” – in the form of individuals, brands, and media companies, these curators separate “junk from art” and guide us to the worthwhile, quality content that easily gets lost in the noise. He continues:

The call of the curator requires people who are selfless and willing to act as sherpas and guides. They’re identifiable subject matter experts who dive through mountains of digital information and distill it down to its most relevant, essential parts. Digital Curators are the future of online content… Further, they don’t even need to create their own content, just as a museum curator rarely hangs his/her own work next to a Da Vinci. They do, however, need to be subject matter experts.

Curators are not editors either. The notion of an editor inherently implies that space is finite. Online it’s not. Curators don’t need to necessarily be trained in cutting, but in knowing where and how to unearth those special high-quality “finds” and to make them presentable. It’s just as much about the experience and the way the information is presented, as it is the content.

Rubel is also careful to make the distinction between curators and aggregators (like digg and Techmeme), the latter having no deliberate, guiding force. The importance of digital curators, in Rubel’s view, is their ability to be forwardly subjective in their field of expertise, and to highlight the trends, ideas, and creative output that have the capacity to last or truly make change.

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