Curate-a-thon 2009 Results

The first inaugural Curate-a-thon was a huge success. Great Magnify channels were built, beer was drunk and people were forced to watch videos about knitting. All and all a great night.

First the set up: We invited participants of Social Media Week NYC to take part in a video curating competition. What is a video curation competition one might ask? Well, here were the rules:

1) All participants break into teams of 4 and name a team captain
2) Decide on a curation topic
3) Set up a Magnify channel revolving around the agreed upon topic (45 minutes)
4) Channels are judged on the following:
    a) Number of sources
    b) Quality/contextual fit of the content
    c) Graphic Design and Layout
    d) Team Spirit and flair
5) Winner takes home all the left over alcohol

Fueled by beer, cheese balls and some seriously competitive participants, the competition was fierce from the opening bell. Computers were humming, people were yelling and everyone was trying to decide how to build a video channel in 45 minutes that would win the hearts and minds of the crowd. The focus on the channels varied from chocolate fetishes to Christmas. In under an hour, teams designed and stocked sites with content from all over the web, incorporated twitter, flickr, paypal, RSS feeds, translation widgets, custom graphics and much more (pretty amazing for 45 minutes).

Everyone worked right up to until the time limit, with some participants having to be pulled from their keyboards and nearly penalized for working beyond the allowed time. Next, everyone gathered in a room where the newly created video channels were projected one by one and judged on by the time-tested applause-o-meter. With each presentation of team channels, the crowd got rowdier, until a winner was finally crowned:

http://afghan-istan.magnify.net

The winning team from Afgan-Istan consisted of veteran knitting aficionados Ari Greenburg, Heidi Cohen, Constantine Valhouli and Jerry Weinstein (with a little coaching from Jeff Pulver). Other sites in the running included:

http://farawayplaces.magnify.net

http://chocolatewonderland.magnify.net

http://christmasdecorations2.magnify.net

Thanks to all who turned out for the first (and certainly not last) Curate-a-thon. For those who couldn’t make it, check out the sites that were created and curated in an impressive 45 minutes, videos and pictures from the event. Feel free to send in your vote for your favorite site to Billy (at) Magnify.net.