What is Curation?

Aug 21, ’10 9:49 AM

I started out thinking I would write a post questioning the evolving definition (and dilution) of the word “curation”, but ended up wondering if it is I who has been operating under the wrong definition all along.

I’ve always thought of curation as a great notion. In today’s media-soaked environment, regardless of what your interests are, there are simply too many stories, blog posts and videos generated every day to possibly visit, and we all get the sense that we are missing the good stuff.  A curator fills an important role, not in generating more content to add to the mix, but in taking the time to review that content and, based on personal taste and life/work experience, selecting items that may be of particular interest or are thought-provoking, perhaps adding some context or analysis along the way.

Curation appears to be a growth industry, and much as one might follow a movie reviewer that they tend to agree with, people are searching out curators that can add value and help them get the most out of their limited media consumption allowance each day.

When I hear “curated” in regards to the web, I tend to assume that the person doing the curating is actually reading the content under review and, based on those taste/experience factors, selecting it for me. Yet, is that what is happening today?

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Change Management – Current Thinking for IT Leaders

Aug 19, ’10 12:53 PM

Following is a curated list of resources that reflect current thinking on a topic of interest to IT leaders. You can assist this effort by contributing insight from your own real-world experiences, and are invited to suggest changes or additions here.

Definitions Include:

Change Management as a topic for IT leaders generally falls into one of two camps: general change initiatives and the processes used to manage them, or infrastructure change management as part of the IT Service Management discipline.  This post generally deals with the broader subject of change management.

Wikipedia: Change management

Change management is a structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state. It is an organizational process aimed at empowering the employees to accept and embrace changes in their current business environment.

Wikipedia: Change Management (ITSM)

Change Management is an IT Service Management discipline. The objective of Change Management in this context is to ensure that standardized methods and procedures are used for efficient and prompt handling of all changes to controlled IT infrastructure, in order to minimize the number and impact of any related incidents upon service.

[+] suggest

Current Thinking Includes:

For the purposes of this document, current thinking includes the suggestions made within the following tenets:  (1) That change management should be a process with at least some formalization, and (2) that change initiatives are generally managed by the leadership team of an organization.  Within that framework, suggestions include the following:

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Becoming a CIO – Current Thinking for IT Leaders

Aug 18, ’10 2:54 PM

Following is a curated list of resources that reflect current thinking on a topic of interest to IT leaders. You can assist this effort by contributing insight from your own real-world experiences, and are invited to suggest changes or additions here.

Current Thinking Includes:

A review of resources making referencing to the CIO position reveals a very long list of suggested traits for the role.  Rather than providing an aggregation of all those items here, we might focus on what appear to be the macro-level differences for this specific role versus the positions that come before it in the IT career ladder. While promotions within the IT domain will usually carry greater scope (more people, portfolio, budget responsibility), the consensus view is that movement to CIO is qualitatively different in several ways.

While continuing to be responsible for the successful performance of the IT organization, the CIO’s focus necessarily expands to the health and success of the entire business, with an expectation that a substantial positive impact will be made to the organization.  The dozens of skills learned and practiced over the course of the CIO’s career are leveraged not just toward a larger IT staff, but also to the organization and its needs.  A deep understanding of the business, market dynamics, financial drivers and opportunities are likely to be new skills over the demands of the past, and are a challenge for many CIOs (see Business Alignment).

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