Do you sometimes feel you are getting overwhelmed by news and don’t know where to start? But going back to old-fashioned print newspapers is not an option because you spend most of your waking hours in front of the computer (hi! join the club!) and, anyhow, you like topic-specific content, but not allllll of the content? I hear ya – in the couple of days since I joined Twitter (follow me @FoodPolfThought!) it’s been a little overwhelming to say the least to determine a) what is relevant and b) what of the relevant stuff I should actually spend my time on.
But, but – I just discovered what might be a solution to this conundrum: online content curation sites like paper.li, which allow users to share articles, images and videos in a prettier format – almost like an e-newspaper, but with a lot less work attached to it than, for example, blogging, since you can use Twitter and other social networking sites and just plug in their updates.
Case in point: The Food & Agriculture Spotlight, curated by the FAO Newsroom (Twitter handle: @FAOnews). It’s a great visual summary of articles around the ‘net related to food and agriculture, the environment, sustainability and education. It branches out quite a bit from the usual agriculture niche, which is on the other hand great because most topics in this realm can be linked back to food systems one way or another and it’s refreshing to stay up to date on what is happening in other niches than your own.
I find the Spotlight is really clear in its presentation, visually pleasing, and a relief from scouting a never-ending Twitter feed for useful hashtags. Anybody else find that exhausting? They update the selection daily, such that you get an updated peek into what is happening from around the world on issues related to food and agriculture systems. Today’s selection included an article on food waste in restaurants from the Guardian, an opinion piece by Melinda Gates on the support of women farmers, a link to an event on Monday on abolishing extreme poverty, hosted by Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, featuring Bill Gates and Hans Rosling, which you can livestream, and much more. Then, there are videos, images and items related to particular subtopics, including #agriculture. I also like how there is not TOO much content – it would definitely be doable to peruse all links provided per day in an hour or so. Oh, and you can go back in their archives day by day to see what they found relevant in the past.
This might just be my new favorite first-coffee-of-the-day stop-and-shop overview website of the day! Another weekly favorite round-up of mine is the blog of the Center for a Livable Future and their CLF Week in Links, written by Robert Lawrence – they always have great content and commentary as well.
Do you have any similar ones you can recommend? What are your thoughts on the Food and Agriculture Spotlight?