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- kayybee
-
Scratcher
1000+ posts
Curator FAQ
THIS IS NOT THE PLACE TO WRITE SPEECHES. GO HERE.
(used to be called “Can I become a curator? and other curator questions.” on the 1.4 forums; this is revised and updated to match 2.0 and to add formality)
This post is a guide. A guide about curators. I wrote this so I can just link everybody in the curator thread who has an incomplete speech or people who are asking about curators.
If you aren't going to read the whole thing, don't just post a speech randomly. That just wastes time. At least read the TL;DR at the bottom.
Before we go on, you can read the wiki article on curators and look at the list of previous curators. There's also a wiki article on the curator row.
By definition of the Scratch Wiki, a curator is "…a Scratcher who, for a shift of two weeks, features five projects of their choice on the Front Page via their recent favorites." They favorite any five projects and then it shows up on the front page. They can change however often they want, and they get two weeks to do this.
So… The FAQ:
What is a curator? What does the curator do?
In regular museums, a curator is a person who selects artwork or scientific models or stuff to be shown for display. But, Scratch is not a museum, so the definition is different.
A Scratch Curator is one who selects Scratch Projects to be displayed on the front page. To select a project as a curator, all they do is ‘favorite’ it and the most recent five show on the front page.
When a curator is selected, they'll receive a comment on their project asking if they still want to be the curator. If they accept, the position will be given to them.
What are the other details of the curator?
The curator has two weeks to show projects. Curators can choose any type of (appropriate) project to display–games, animations, art, simulations, stories, educational, etc. They can choose to show any number of projects, for any amount of time. They can choose five to show for a week because they are exceptional, and then twenty more on the following week because they are short but good, or they can choose to show fifty throughout the two weeks. They could choose any number, basically. They control the amount of time a project is curated.
(Hint for curators: I did mine a new one every day, so a project was on there for three days (there were three projects in the row back then) but some people do three at a time for three days, or three every day, so it depends on how much time you want to give them and how many projects you want to curate in the time overall. I suggest you write it out and plan the time allotments.)
What are the requirements to be a curator?
•must have the “Scratcher” status
•must post a speech/application in this thread, and
•must be chosen by the Scratch Team.
There are some things that are nice to have too:
•some decent projects, not just a bunch of spam projects, showing your experience with Scratch
•being nice and showing politeness not just in the speech but all around the website
What should I curate (and not curate)? (for those who are curators)
Try to curate at least 8 projects a week. There are five spaces on 2.0, so this shouldn't be too hard.
Some things you could curate:
•projects you find unique, that stand out and have something distinct from other projects
•fun games or funny animations, just regular projects that are really good
•any project that is maybe not exceptionally good but deserves a front page and has little views
If you are stuck finding projects, you can always:
-put a message in your signature: “I'm going to be curator, if you want a project curated, comment on one of my projects” or something like that
-make a project with the message similar to above, but “comment on this project”
-make a forum topic with a message similar to the first, but “post on this thread if with a link to the project”
•NOT anything by your friends just because their your friends (although if it's just a regular project that deserves to be curated, go ahead)
•PREFERABLY NOT anything that is by someone who has been on the front page (recently?)
•NOT anything that has been on the front page already
•PREFERABLY NOT anything by a famous person, even if they haven't been on the front page recently
•NOT anything by someone who's trying to bribe you or something (but I don't know who would do that)
•NOT your own projects
-TIP: you should set requirements for these. Because you obviously don't want to curate projects with a lot of views or love-its, and you can save time by doing this, set requirements like: under 50 views or user cannot have been on the front page in the past 3 months or something like that. This way, you won't have to go through all the projects and check, they'll check themselves.
Okay, I fit all the requirements and read what a curator does. I want to be one now. So I know I have to write a speech.
What do I write in my speech?
Speeches can be written in any format (some were list, some were stories, etc.) but they should all include these key points:
•why you want to be curator
•what makes you good for the position
•what types of projects you might curate
•examples of projects you might curate (with links!)
•why you might curate those projects/what you like about them
•politeness
•proper grammar and spelling (to some extent). It makes it easier to read if you spell everything right and use proper grammar, but it doesn't need to be perfect and they probably won't mark you down just because of it.
•NOT a short two sentence post saying “Seems interesting. I'll do it.”
•NOT a post saying “Fine. I'll do it.” Remember, curatorship is a privilege, not a responsibility.
•NOT anything saying why OTHERS ARE BAD for the position. Don't insult others.
•NOT spam, especially not dozens of smilies, or caps. They can read perfectly fine if you type normally, and without a sea of smilies.
How will I know if I get chosen?
Well, nowadays (on 2.0) the Scratch Team will probably leave a comment on your profile. It won't be immediately though, so be patient!
Can I repost my speech?
Yes! If you feel you want to add a few more points, projects, reasons, etc., just copy your post and paste it into the post box, add what you want, and resubmit! It's better to do this than to edit as the Scratch Team might have already read your post, and if you edit it, they might not see it.
However, don't resubmit it for more attention. The Scratch Team reads through all of them, so if you don't get chosen and someone after you does, they most likely already read yours. Posting it again probably won't help as they've already read your speech and the main point didn't get across. Try revising your post, adding on, then repost it.
How long should my speech be?
However long you think it needs to be.
Don't waste the Scratch Team's time by writing a 300-page speech. They probably won't read it. But also, don't waste their time writing a 5-word speech. They won't accept you with that kind of speech.
Length of the speech (quantity of words) isn't really important as long as you get your points across thoroughly (quality of words).
As long as you've said everything you need to say, there's no need to restate everything twelve times.
THE TL;DR, TOO LONG; DIDN'T READ
So if you're too lazy to read this but you want to be a curator, read at least this paragraph. There is very important information in the curator thread that you should at least read if you're interested. If you want to be a curator, show that you're willing to work and do the job well. By posting an incomplete speech, you are showing that you haven't read it thoroughly because you don't care. That reflects on you because it might mean you won't get the position because you don't care too much about it.
At least read that thread and post a complete speech. Otherwise, writing “me! me!” will just waste your time.
So. I've transferred, revised, and updated this thread from the old fora. Any questions can be asked here, on my profile, and usually on older curator's profiles. Thank you for reading the whole thing (if you actually did) and let me know if there's anything I should change about this.
Thanks, and Scratch on!
~kayybee
(used to be called “Can I become a curator? and other curator questions.” on the 1.4 forums; this is revised and updated to match 2.0 and to add formality)
This post is a guide. A guide about curators. I wrote this so I can just link everybody in the curator thread who has an incomplete speech or people who are asking about curators.
If you aren't going to read the whole thing, don't just post a speech randomly. That just wastes time. At least read the TL;DR at the bottom.
Before we go on, you can read the wiki article on curators and look at the list of previous curators. There's also a wiki article on the curator row.
By definition of the Scratch Wiki, a curator is "…a Scratcher who, for a shift of two weeks, features five projects of their choice on the Front Page via their recent favorites." They favorite any five projects and then it shows up on the front page. They can change however often they want, and they get two weeks to do this.
So… The FAQ:
What is a curator? What does the curator do?
In regular museums, a curator is a person who selects artwork or scientific models or stuff to be shown for display. But, Scratch is not a museum, so the definition is different.
A Scratch Curator is one who selects Scratch Projects to be displayed on the front page. To select a project as a curator, all they do is ‘favorite’ it and the most recent five show on the front page.
When a curator is selected, they'll receive a comment on their project asking if they still want to be the curator. If they accept, the position will be given to them.
What are the other details of the curator?
The curator has two weeks to show projects. Curators can choose any type of (appropriate) project to display–games, animations, art, simulations, stories, educational, etc. They can choose to show any number of projects, for any amount of time. They can choose five to show for a week because they are exceptional, and then twenty more on the following week because they are short but good, or they can choose to show fifty throughout the two weeks. They could choose any number, basically. They control the amount of time a project is curated.
(Hint for curators: I did mine a new one every day, so a project was on there for three days (there were three projects in the row back then) but some people do three at a time for three days, or three every day, so it depends on how much time you want to give them and how many projects you want to curate in the time overall. I suggest you write it out and plan the time allotments.)
What are the requirements to be a curator?
•must have the “Scratcher” status
•must post a speech/application in this thread, and
•must be chosen by the Scratch Team.
There are some things that are nice to have too:
•some decent projects, not just a bunch of spam projects, showing your experience with Scratch
•being nice and showing politeness not just in the speech but all around the website
What should I curate (and not curate)? (for those who are curators)
Try to curate at least 8 projects a week. There are five spaces on 2.0, so this shouldn't be too hard.
Some things you could curate:
•projects you find unique, that stand out and have something distinct from other projects
•fun games or funny animations, just regular projects that are really good
•any project that is maybe not exceptionally good but deserves a front page and has little views
If you are stuck finding projects, you can always:
-put a message in your signature: “I'm going to be curator, if you want a project curated, comment on one of my projects” or something like that
-make a project with the message similar to above, but “comment on this project”
-make a forum topic with a message similar to the first, but “post on this thread if with a link to the project”
•NOT anything by your friends just because their your friends (although if it's just a regular project that deserves to be curated, go ahead)
•PREFERABLY NOT anything that is by someone who has been on the front page (recently?)
•NOT anything that has been on the front page already
•PREFERABLY NOT anything by a famous person, even if they haven't been on the front page recently
•NOT anything by someone who's trying to bribe you or something (but I don't know who would do that)
•NOT your own projects
-TIP: you should set requirements for these. Because you obviously don't want to curate projects with a lot of views or love-its, and you can save time by doing this, set requirements like: under 50 views or user cannot have been on the front page in the past 3 months or something like that. This way, you won't have to go through all the projects and check, they'll check themselves.
Okay, I fit all the requirements and read what a curator does. I want to be one now. So I know I have to write a speech.
What do I write in my speech?
Speeches can be written in any format (some were list, some were stories, etc.) but they should all include these key points:
•why you want to be curator
•what makes you good for the position
•what types of projects you might curate
•examples of projects you might curate (with links!)
•why you might curate those projects/what you like about them
•politeness
•proper grammar and spelling (to some extent). It makes it easier to read if you spell everything right and use proper grammar, but it doesn't need to be perfect and they probably won't mark you down just because of it.
•NOT a short two sentence post saying “Seems interesting. I'll do it.”
•NOT a post saying “Fine. I'll do it.” Remember, curatorship is a privilege, not a responsibility.
•NOT anything saying why OTHERS ARE BAD for the position. Don't insult others.
•NOT spam, especially not dozens of smilies, or caps. They can read perfectly fine if you type normally, and without a sea of smilies.
How will I know if I get chosen?
Well, nowadays (on 2.0) the Scratch Team will probably leave a comment on your profile. It won't be immediately though, so be patient!
Can I repost my speech?
Yes! If you feel you want to add a few more points, projects, reasons, etc., just copy your post and paste it into the post box, add what you want, and resubmit! It's better to do this than to edit as the Scratch Team might have already read your post, and if you edit it, they might not see it.
However, don't resubmit it for more attention. The Scratch Team reads through all of them, so if you don't get chosen and someone after you does, they most likely already read yours. Posting it again probably won't help as they've already read your speech and the main point didn't get across. Try revising your post, adding on, then repost it.
How long should my speech be?
However long you think it needs to be.
Don't waste the Scratch Team's time by writing a 300-page speech. They probably won't read it. But also, don't waste their time writing a 5-word speech. They won't accept you with that kind of speech.
Length of the speech (quantity of words) isn't really important as long as you get your points across thoroughly (quality of words).
As long as you've said everything you need to say, there's no need to restate everything twelve times.
THE TL;DR, TOO LONG; DIDN'T READ
So if you're too lazy to read this but you want to be a curator, read at least this paragraph. There is very important information in the curator thread that you should at least read if you're interested. If you want to be a curator, show that you're willing to work and do the job well. By posting an incomplete speech, you are showing that you haven't read it thoroughly because you don't care. That reflects on you because it might mean you won't get the position because you don't care too much about it.
At least read that thread and post a complete speech. Otherwise, writing “me! me!” will just waste your time.
So. I've transferred, revised, and updated this thread from the old fora. Any questions can be asked here, on my profile, and usually on older curator's profiles. Thank you for reading the whole thing (if you actually did) and let me know if there's anything I should change about this.
Thanks, and Scratch on!
~kayybee
Last edited by kayybee (Aug. 2, 2013 23:32:28)
- joshuaho
-
Scratcher
1000+ posts
Curator FAQ
Nice guide. 
It should be stickied! 
It should be stickied! Last edited by joshuaho (July 3, 2013 19:12:50)
College student studying Communication and Fire Technology, communication lab tutor, guitar and piano player, perfectionist, and just some guy who regularly eats and trains physically to stay healthy.
- LeDerpy123
-
Scratcher
1000+ posts
Curator FAQ
I would add what the process is in curating projects like do you have to do each project manually or does it happen automatically.
My specs: Windows 8.1.2 - 3 GB RAM - Intel Core2 Quad - IE11
- kayybee
-
Scratcher
1000+ posts
Curator FAQ
Ehh… It says they favorite the project and it appears in their row.
Last edited by kayybee (July 18, 2013 05:15:29)
- kayybee
-
Scratcher
1000+ posts
Curator FAQ
Wow. Really helpful. Thanks!No problem!
Last edited by kayybee (July 25, 2013 19:41:28)
- Paddle2See
-
Scratch Team
1000+ posts
Curator FAQ
Awesome guide!
One thing that you might want to mention: while there is no upper limit on the number of projects that can be curated, we do ask that a minimum of 8 per week be shown just so the display doesn't get stale
One thing that you might want to mention: while there is no upper limit on the number of projects that can be curated, we do ask that a minimum of 8 per week be shown just so the display doesn't get stale
Scratch Team Member, kayak and pickleball enthusiast, cat caregiver.
This is my forum signature! On a forum post, it is okay for Scratchers to advertise in their forum signature. The signature is the stuff that shows up below the horizontal line on the post. It will show up on every post I make.
(credit to Za-Chary)
;
- Scratch12300
-
Scratcher
500+ posts
Curator FAQ
Under “How will I know if I get chosen?” I think the Scratch Team comments on your profile, not your project.
May want to fix.
May want to fix.
Last edited by Scratch12300 (July 30, 2013 20:07:24)
- kayybee
-
Scratcher
1000+ posts
Curator FAQ
Under “How will I know if I get chosen?” I think the Scratch Team comments on your profile, not your project.Do you have a source?
May want to fix.
I've never actually seen one on 2.0, only on 1.4.
- Scratch12300
-
Scratcher
500+ posts
Curator FAQ
I've asked the current curator. Waiting for response…Under “How will I know if I get chosen?” I think the Scratch Team comments on your profile, not your project.Do you have a source?
May want to fix.
I've never actually seen one on 2.0, only on 1.4.
- 7734f
-
Scratcher
500+ posts
Curator FAQ
As far I've seen and experienced, yes. They do comment on your profile now. Look at P110's profile. Somewhere deep down Paddle2See commented on his profile questioning if he was still interested to be curator. On my profile it's there too.Under “How will I know if I get chosen?” I think the Scratch Team comments on your profile, not your project.Do you have a source?
May want to fix.
I've never actually seen one on 2.0, only on 1.4.
Last edited by 7734f (July 31, 2013 01:07:27)
- kayybee
-
Scratcher
1000+ posts
Curator FAQ
Okay, changed, along with P2S's change.
I think I meant to say profile because I said “on your project”, not “on one of your projects”, so my mind must've just fell asleep then.
I think I meant to say profile because I said “on your project”, not “on one of your projects”, so my mind must've just fell asleep then.
- firewolves360
-
Scratcher
40 posts
Curator FAQ
Hey guys! I love Scratch and would really like to be a curator. I would select CCs, some unknown projects, and some popular projects. I am a pretty active Scratcher and I think being a curator would be a new and fascinating opportunity.
This is Blackjack, Mad Pink and Moonfire on scratch! Come check out our projects!
If you have time, please enter this!
http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/10816924/
- 7734f
-
Scratcher
500+ posts
Curator FAQ
Hey guys! I love Scratch and would really like to be a curator. I would select CCs, some unknown projects, and some popular projects. I am a pretty active Scratcher and I think being a curator would be a new and fascinating opportunity.Please submit your speech here.
- kayybee
-
Scratcher
1000+ posts
Curator FAQ
Hey guys! I love Scratch and would really like to be a curator. I would select CCs, some unknown projects, and some popular projects. I am a pretty active Scratcher and I think being a curator would be a new and fascinating opportunity.And read the first line in caps and bold.
- 7734f
-
Scratcher
500+ posts
Curator FAQ
You might want to make it bigger and in red….Hey guys! I love Scratch and would really like to be a curator. I would select CCs, some unknown projects, and some popular projects. I am a pretty active Scratcher and I think being a curator would be a new and fascinating opportunity.And read the first line in caps and bold.
- NoxSpooth
-
Scratcher
1000+ posts
Curator FAQ
I don't know about red but I made it bigger.
[color=red][big][b]THIS IS NOT THE PLACE TO WRITE SPEECHES. GO [url=http://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/topic/6963/?page=1#post-44621]HERE[/url].[/b][/big][/color]
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