I’m thinking about becoming a curator. Not as in the career-changing, get-a-job-at-an-art-gallery sense, but in the curation-vs-aggregation sense. I was recently asked to beta test a new web site, SolarCurator, built on the concept of content curation. The site just went live a couple weeks ago, and features the editorial stylings of well known solar industry journalist, Tom Cheyney. If you follow the solar manufacturing industry at all, you’ll know him from his blog Chip Shots, and his work on PV Tech. (He’s also a prolific Tweeter as cheynman and SolarCurator on Twitter.)
Many online media outlets rely on aggregation via automated algorithms that select and display content based on keywords and various search engine optimization (SEO) methods. Here’s what’s different about this site: in addition to writing original blog posts, the Solar Curator (that’s how he refers to himself) sifts through the abundance of PV and solar tech articles on the Internet and selecting what he feels are the most important and interesting, adding commentary and sharing them on the SolarCurator.com with links to the original articles. You can read Tom’s explanation of the site here: So what is SolarCurator and why should you care?) The idea is for Tom to separate the wheat from the chaff. It’s a very cool concept, and one I’m thinking about instituting on 3D InCites. (I actually already started with last week’s blog post, The Fabless Model will Thrive in the 3D IC World.
Here’s why: first of all, 3D technologies now span the whole semiconductor ecosystem, and publications and events that previously targeted only one sector of the industry have to address 3D issues. So it seems that as we approach commercialization, there’s more being written about 3D integration technologies than ever before. And I’m not just talking about the traditional brands that follow the semiconductor and microelectronics industry like EE Times and ElectroIQ (oh wait, I mean Solid State Technology), but also the multitude of independent publishers (like me) and bloggers representing corporations (Steve Leibson of EDA Insider, comes to mind) who cover 3D topics regularly. Let’s face it, people are busy. Weeding out the repetitive and redundant wire stories and pointing you in the direction of what’s original, compelling, controversial, interesting and important will benefit 3D InCites readers as well as the industry publications that cover 3D in their news and blogs. Plus, it’s fun. So be on the lookout and be prepared to comment yourself (like Dev Gupta here.) I’m up for the challenge! ~ F.v.T.
PS: I DO realize this is not an original idea, and I’m basically ripping it off from Solar Curator. But isn’t imitation the sincerest form of flattery? (Plus, Tom’s cool with it – I checked.)
