Philosophy and Mission
Only connect
DataCurate’s mission is to connect people with the stuff they really want by helping content providers create and maintain better data. The rapid evolution of the web-based marketplace has transformed data needs for publishers, content providers, the publisher supply chain, and libraries. We’ve all seen the tremendous growth in information about and access to content that was hidden before. We’re also experiencing an explosion of new and converted content, often available from multiple providers and in multiple formats.
All players on the continuum, from content acquisition and production to discovery and use, struggle to manage information about content and to compete for user attention in this crowded landscape. It is actually becoming more difficult to be sure that marketing strategies are effective in connecting people to the right content for them. And it’s especially difficult to identify what isn’t found because the associated metadata wasn’t strong enough.
The danger of magical thinking
We can no longer engage in the magical thinking that if the information about our stuff (and increasingly the stuff itself) is out there it will result in content found and used by those who want it. Publishers can’t rely on downstream providers and search engines to do the magic and libraries can’t assume that adding a record to be preserved in the online catalog will be enough.
All of the magic created over the last decades through sophisticated search algorithms, ranking, and user-generated data may still fail to find your content if the information about it isn’t complete. Data must be rich with the elements that drive machine searching in end-user and business-to-business discovery tools for these tools to work well. Good metadata makes sophisticated search and business intelligence more effective.
Metadata must also be enriched and curated over time. Creating one perfect record (often pre-publication or at the time of publication or content receipt) and expecting it to be sufficient for the life of the content is not enough. We must find ways to allow data to grow and be enriched over time by internal data curation strategies but also by multiple contributors, including our users.
Who likes your stuff and why?
If your content is never discovered due to missing, incomplete, or poor quality data . . .
- It will never be “liked” on Facebook,
- It won’t be included in algorithms resulting in the suggestion to users “if you like this …”,
- It won’t show up in machine-generated lists for users driven by subject or other data elements
- It won’t be on consumer-created lists about content in various subjects or genre
- It’s less likely to be found by tools that create the selection and acquisition lists used by libraries, retailers, and merchandisers
If your content is discovered through direct search by title or ISBN, you still won’t have the data needed to complete the feedback loop for good business intelligence. And the user may have discovered the title through another data source or by using tools that do not benefit your long-term data needs.
If you don’t have good data about your content, even the best business intelligence and analytics tools will fail to expose the information you need for sound analysis and fact-based decisions. You won’t know who likes your stuff and why!
Curation is a growing trend – see for yourself!
DataCurate services will help you plan and implement strategies that combine concepts and practices regarding the curation of data and materials (from both publisher and library worlds) with 21st century technology, discovery tools, social media and analytics.
Metadata IS marketing in the on-line environment. Carefully curated data leads to effective strategies for curated content that will stand out in the marketplace. Using curation principles to stand out in the marketplace is a growing trend. See for yourself by taking a few minutes to search “curated collection”. You will see how often this concept is used in marketing for multiple types of products, from books to fashion to software to greeting cards. Also try searching “curated consumption” and “curated data.” For more information on curation and related topics see our Resources section.
DataCurate can help you get there
Explore our Services pages and then Contact us to find out what we can do for you. We look forward to collaborating with you in making your data better!
Renée Register
DataCurate founder and owner
One of the most important opportunities for libraries to partner in cyber-infrastructure development relates to data curation.
With increased utilization of data within their operational and strategic processes, enterprises need to ensure data quality and accuracy. Data curation is a process that can ensure the quality of data and its fitness for use. Traditional approaches to curation are struggling with increased data volumes, and near real-time demands for curated data.
“Curation comes up when search stops working. But it’s more than a human-powered filter. Curation comes up when people realize that it isn’t just about information seeking, it’s also about synchronizing a community.”
“In the near future, experts predict that content on the web will double every 72 hours. The detached analysis of an algorithm will no longer be enough to find what we are looking for. To satisfy the people’s hunger for great content on any topic imaginable, there will need to be a new category of individual working online. Someone whose job it is not to create more content, but to make sense of all the content that others are creating. To find the best and most relevant content and bring it forward. . . .”
2011 Trends
Trend 5: Big Data
The era of big data is upon us, pitting vendors of storage and computing machinery against burgeoning amounts of data in a high stakes race to store what is estimated to be 1.2 zettabytes of new digital content in 2011 . .Trend 6: Extreme Analytics
The bottom line is that big data and big analytics will mean big headaches for information providers and publishers who don’t put real-time analytics and decision making at the core of their businesses however and whenever possible.Trend 8: Mass Customization
We hear many publishers and information providers say they aspire to get the right information to the right person at the right time. …This requires judicious use of XML, semantic technology, and social profiling; we believe that profits and scale, and possibly higher prices, will go to the companies who can mass-customize and learn this as a new core competency to replace the one-size-fits-all syndicated models of yesterday.
