Hoy en día se produce tanto contenido que su organización es muy importante si no queremos encontrarnos hundidos por la información que nos rodea. Necesitamos la curación de contenidos. Se define como el acto de descubrir, organizar y presentar información y contenido sobre un tema en especifico.

En la curación de contenidos no se crea contenido, sino se busca los que ya existe relevante a un tema y se organiza de una forma que puede ser presentado luego en conjunto.

Ahora nos rodea en todo momento. El muro de Facebook en un buen ejemplo. El usuario en este caso está organizando toda la información en Facebook bajo el criterio de “amigos”. Así, en teoría por lo menos, todo lo que aparece en su muro se relaciona con sus amigos o el usuario mismo. Otra página, reddit.com, permite al usuario suscribir a secciones sobre casi cualquier tema imaginable. Entra en la sección de “worldnews” y se encontrará con las noticias del momento, o por ejemplo “madrid”, donde se habla de todo lo que se relaciona con la ciudad.

La utilidad de la curación de contenidos es increíble. En un mundo en el que hay tanta información, la habilidad de encontrarla almacenado en un sitio en particular en vez de pasar todo el tiempo buscando entre contenido no relacionado es mucho mas eficaz.

Así que, después del anuncio de la retirada de Google Reader, presento cinco herramientas de ayuda a la curación de contenidos que pueden facilitar la vida:

Feedly
http://www.feedly.com/ 

Una herramienta similar a Google Reader, proporciona varios fuentes de noticias que el usuario puede adaptar a su interés. Tiene la ventaja de ser multiplataforma, se puede descargar en dispositivos móviles y también usar en el navigador. Unos 500.000 usuarios de Google Reader ya han cambiado a este servicio.

Delicious
https://delicious.com/ 

Un servicio para guardar y organizar marcadores de Internet, que también permite uno compartir enlaces curados y descubrir listas curadas por otros usuarios.

Storify
http://storify.com/

Storify ayuda a curar y crear historias o Timelines que incorporan información que se encuentra en varios redes sociales, por ejemplo Facebook, Twitter e Instagram.

Paper.li
http://paper.li/

Paper.li funciona con Twitter, usando listas, hasthtags y usuarios para formar un periódico personalizado en Internet creado y actualizado cada día.

Flipboard
http://flipboard.com/ 

Una aplicación disponible para dispositivos móviles con iOS y Android, Flipboard se presenta como una revista social en la que puedes elegir qué contenido deseas recibir, por ejemplo noticias que provienen de un país en particular, contenido fotográfico, etc.

Como herramienta de curación de contenidos, la página Twitter misma es muy importante. El formato que tiene Twitter de escribir y compartir algo en menos de 140 caracteres desde cualquier lugar significa la creación inmediata de contenido que se puede seguir en tiempo real. Un usuario puede seguir un tema en concreto mediante un Hashtag (palabra o serie de palabras que sirven para clasificar y unir “tweets”) y así ver todo lo relacionado instantáneamente. También puede seguir a un usuario en concreto, que puede ser un periódico, una compañía, un personaje importante y recibir información a tiempo real sobre ellos. Ademas, una ventaja que posee Twitter es que tiene mas de 500 millones de usuarios. La cantidad de contenido disponible para aprovechar en Twitter es enorme.

So from footage taken during the year in the city and around on travels, here is the result.

Filmed with a Nikon D3100, Tamron 18-270mm, f3.5-6.3 and a Nikon 35mm f1.8.

I also like London. An interesting city where there is always something going on, and not to mention beautiful in it´s own way.

So I combined the two to create this simple video. Starting without an intervalometer or a tripod and just resting the camera on a wall until one of each was finally acquired. Each shot didn´t take more than an hour, most less as I didn´t have the time and had to push the button manually most of the time, with intervals of between 1 and 6 seconds.

All in all good experience and I will create more. Next up will be Eskişehir and Istanbul in Turkey!

Well one does miss the snow, in the last 8 years it only snowed for 7 or so days where I live in Spain. Of course, snow can be a pain (what about England a year ago?) but its never really Christmas until it snows. And doesn´t everything look beautiful with a layer of snow?

No, I am not asking for snow every day, but for a week or snow at the end of the year would be great!

That said, this snow has already gone, but it will be back, it will. I am told that it is unusual for us to be well into December here and not have snow, well it´s not surprising, the weather is changing everywhere. However, with the temperatures still falling and another 2 months at least to go before it starts warming significantly again, I except we shall get another coat of the pretty white flakes!

Forecast

Univerisity Entrance

University Train

Snow Capped Mountains in the Distance

Snow in front of the Faculty - Invites walking on, I am not the first!

Off to class

What I discovered was some great talent and enjoyable music, and a spotless elegant looking building. Will definitely have to follow the calendar of events for the future! Concerts, theatre and art exhibitions are all held here I gather.

Entrance

Inside Entrance

Inside Hall

Stage

Playing the piano

Playing the piano

Piano

Intermission

Balcony

The End!

The park is reasonable far from the centre, rather inconvenient for a park, and perhaps some of the greenery was suffering the onset of winter but nevertheless it was an interesting trip, as having never seen the park before it was a good opportunity to find out what it offered. And ride bikes!

Well, for anyone that doesn´t know what Turkish traffic is like, it´s an adventure in itself cycling across any part of town, rather like trying to walk through the middle of a paintball game with no reflective vest. Great fun!

After reaching the park we stopped for a little while, just to walk around and take a look. Approaching December (winter is coming!) it seems most activities are closed. In fact some work is going on to complete a fairy tale castle and a science centre.

Ok, so the park is not perfect (doesn´t match the size, central and green nature of Hyde park in London for example). But it does look like a great place to go for some fun in the warmer months. Especially for children. There are many activities around, the narrow gauge train, artificial lake with zip wires, row boats and a life sized reproduction of the Santa Maria sailing ship Columbus used when he discovered America, the fairy tale castle, many play areas, and various restaurants. Of course it still has open areas of grass for those who just want to sit down and relax for a bit.

So here some pictures from the park. Objective: Return when it is warmer and relive childhood memories pretending to be Peter Pan on the ship!

Fairy Tale castle from a bridge, approaching the park.

Edge of the park and narrow gauge railway.

Dinosaur slide

Santa Maria replica

Narrow gauge train

Narrow gauge train

Wonderland?

Train Station

Stop!

Setting up and testing the Lighting

Setting up the lighting at the second location

Adjusting the lighting

Spotlight

Actors are here - Final adjustments

Actors - Practising the scene

Sometimes you need to work with what you have and improvise!

Finished - Some pose for picture

Editing still to go…

Timeline of first encounters with the Internet

Do you find yourself using these channels in the same way as when you first encountered them or has their utility changed with time?

I would say that my usage has changed with pretty much every channel. My first email account on yahoo is no longer used, in favour of the newer hotmail (windows live) and Gmail accounts. Each account having a specific usage, hotmail for more casual communication and Gmail for more formal contact.

Another example is instant chat. MSN used to be the primary channel for me, however its use declined in favour of Skype and Facebook due to the nature of the communication.

While I did create social networking accounts such as Facebook and Tuenti, these were barely used at all until a couple of years after, when they became necessary to communicate with new aquaintances from far away places. Tuenti, the spanish social network site was used more after beginning university, as most uni friends used it, while Facebook gained use in the same year after visiting an international camp, to keep in contact with friends made there.
In later years Facebook has won over Tuenti, which I use less and less.

Deviatart suffered a brief use, and while youtube has very frequent use even now, it is more for watching than contributing, although every now and then I upload a video of something or other.

Online gaming and the associated programs (VOIP etc) are used less now, due basically to business in “real life”, work and lack of access to the gaming computer. Mostly replaced by forum usage and reading online articles, blogs and looking at various webcomics.

Twitter was a new addition, and at present is almost exclusively used to follow interesting profiles and the odd news update.

Like with everything my usage changes and in the future I see a greater use of Twitter and Blogging, perhaps youtube and regarding Facebook, not so much change for the forseeable future.

This is my home for the next few months. So here I present some pictures of Eskişehir at night.

It´s getting dark - The sign for a Pharmacy or Eczane

Ataturk Museum, Eskişehir, Turkey

All the Tea and Coffee you Could wish for!

Walkway in the centre of Eskişehir, Turkey

Walkway in the centre of Eskişehir, Turkey

The Bar Street, Eskişehir, Turkey

Porsuk River, Centre of Eskişehir

Building lit up at night by the shopping centre advertising screen

Anadolu University Main Entrance

Eskişehir Train Station

Eskişehir Train Station Platform

Construction at night

More to come!