On aggregation and curation

Florida professor Mindy McAdams discusses aggregation, curation and collection. How to do it, what not to do and why we do it. If you need a primer, this is a fine place to start.

You might ask: Why is this acceptable? How is it different from stealing, or violating copyright?

Aggregation can be done ethically if you follow these guidelines:

Always link to the original source.

Always include clear attribution (in addition to the link). For an example, see the first paragraph of this post.

“Attribution helps consumers evaluate the reliability of information.” (Buttry)

Always use quotation marks (as in the previous item) when you copy and paste someone else’s text.

Add value to the material — add original reporting, updates, analysis.

This is still a new skill in many newsrooms. This post will help set your train of thought about the topic. Do read the whole thing.