I find the definition, or rather descriptions and explanations, of curation in the Digital Humanities text quite helpful in summarizing what curation is, and the different aspects of curation, and could match them with elements in the other two readings; for reference, here are the parts I find helpful, “To curate is to filter, organize, craft, and, ultimately, care for a story” and “In the Digital Humanities, curation refers to a wide range of practices of organizing and re-presenting the cultural record of humankind in order to create value, impact, and quality”

In the excerpt of “Curatorship as Social Practice”, curation is discussed in both its museum context and the world at large, and the ‘filtering’ and ‘crafting’ aspects seem to be most dominant in that discussion. When curation is viewed as a social practice, the relationship between the curator — whether individuals or institutions — the objects curated, and the audience — individuals as well as society in general — is the main focus, and this is clearly reflected in the reading. The ‘filtering’ and ‘crafting’ are important, and, as the reading mentioned, can become points of contention, as they determine what stories are told, whose stories are told, and how the stories are told. Cultural institutions, and other settings of curation, are often tasked with housing, preserving, and representing collective memory, through artworks, cultural and historical artifacts; therefore it is naturally a communal and social environment.

Curation as a way of creating value and impact is also a key concept here, as museums become less ‘object oriented’ and more ‘people oriented’. The value and impact of exhibitions no longer lie, solely, in the splendor or novelty of the objects presented, but are much more personal and contextual, demanding relevance and design — much like user experience design, making curation much more social.

In the second reading, “The Museum as Discursive Space”, the filtering process and aspect of curation continues to be a focus of discussion. The filtering makes the museum setting “polarize[d] and politicize[d]”, “foster[ing] negotiation and debate”, and is, arguably, a defining feature of “critical curation”. The reading also talks about the need to create engaging experiences in museums, with the goal of creating meaning for and encouraging responses from visitors, or rather, users. The ways to achieve this, also a subject within the text, are undoubtedly related to how the curation is designed, with regards to its organization and presentation. These concepts and articulations/expressions can also be matched with and found in the Digital Humanities text quoted in the beginning.

Curation, though often referring to the work in museums, is not limited to those spaces; curation at the most individual level, browsing and selecting information from the internet for example, is at its core, essentially the same as curation done elsewhere, and in fact is affecting how people experience, and expect to experience, cultural exhibitions. At the same time, “curating” seems to have become a buzzword, used in numerous contexts and scenarios, and even when limited to the museum/cultural institution setting, covers a wide range of activities and has evolved through history. Thus it is helpful and important to keep some sort of definition or summary in mind, such as the ones quoted above, when thinking or discussing about curation.