Technology Taming for Authors – Scoop-IT

This is the fourth post in my Technology Taming for Authors series. The links for previous topics are at the bottom of this post.

What is Scoop-IT?

Scoop-IT is an on-line curation and publishing platform based around topics.

Do I need an account?

Yes. I hate having a different account for different apps but Scoop-IT makes it easy. You can sign up with  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google or email.

How does it work?

Articles are scooped by:

1 Using the Scoop-IT bookmarklet, which when installed, sits in your browser bar. Clicking on it brings up the option to annotate and save a scoop to a particular topic. (Installation instructions here).

2 Using RSS feeds from blogs and news sites that you can set up as sources by entering their URL. Scoop-It will then gather and posts from these feeds and present them as suggested content

3  Using Scoop-IT suggested content which can be based on specified key words, scoop-IT topics you follow and various searches of social media

4  Scoop your own blog post or write a post directly on Scoop-it

This is a good place to start:

Does it cost?

Yes and no. Unfortunately the free version only allows one topic but for authors using it for a single purpose, this will be sufficient. It’s strength is in the finished product, a magazine for distribution on-line.

Why Should I Bother?

1  The magazine is a an easy way to share information on a topic of interest

2  The magazine is an easy way to create an author newsletter

3  Scoop-It is a wonderful source of information relevant to authors – writing, social media and education in addition to personal interest and research topics- and can be shared direct to social media

4  Education, Reading and Libraries are popular topics. Scoop-It provides access to a curations by professionals in these fields who have an ion-going up to date interest in their topics

5 I use the cover for Sad the Dog as my background image (a little non-intrusive (I hope)  promotion)

You don’t have to be a curator. You can use Scoop-it to access information for research or to share on social media. Here are some of my favourite Scoops:

• Author Platform – curated by Orit Ofri
• Daring Ed Tech – curated by Gwynneth Jones
• Boys and Reading – curated by Heather Stapleton

Is it Time-consuming

No. Scoop on the fly as you’re reading on the web or scoop from an auto generated list based on rss feeds and search criteria you only need to enter once (but can change or add to as required).

But what about Paper-li and Flipboard? Don’t they do the same thing?

Scoop-IT has some similarities with Paper-li but it provides far superior control over what is curated. It has other similarities with Flipboard and while I like that Flipboard allows you to set a post image as a header, it is fussy about rss feeds and would not accept many of the ones I wanted to use. Scoop-It triumphs hands-down for functionality and usability.

How I use Scoop-IT

I collate selected blog posts by Australian authors and illustrators into a Scoop called Read, Write, Draw. For some time I followed these blogs using feedly. My interest was two-fold – I found them inspiring (and what author doesn’t need a regular dose of inspiration) and they helped me keep up to date with industry news I might have missed,

When I discovered Scoop-IT, it occurred to me I could use it to not only follow blogs, but to share those blogs with the world. I’m very proud to be an Australian author and my author and illustrator friends and colleagues do amazing things. The world needs to know.

I try to collect every authors and illustrator blog I find and limit to one post each per weekly scoop. When it’s busy in the blogosphere I might scoop a blog once a month. Lately it hsa been quiet. And sometimes, for some reason, rss feeds stop sending. The vagaries of the Internet. If you have a blog you would like added, feel free to leave your url in a comment on this post.

Footnote:  Previous Technology Taming for Authors posts have discussed feedly, Nuzzel and Symbaloo .