What does the term curation suggest to you? Is it pinned butterflies, glass cases and fusty museums?

Perhaps you’re fond of these latinate words. What era does the word evoke? Victorian, Edwardian, perhaps; probably the past.

I came across a discussion of the term on the Content Strategy Google Group. It’s interesting to note that the contributor from the offline world dislikes curate; for her, it’s redolent of a patronising approach to presenting knowledge:

I think that my problem with the term, coloured by my background, is that it can be perceived as too grandiose, old-fashioned, bureaucratic and somewhat  alienating. As I read your comments and sift through some of the information in the various links, I am definitely having second thoughts about it as this new appropriation of the term certainly brings with it a wider sense of scope and a responsibility to audience that is quite different to that of a formal curator role in a museum. Amy Thibodeau

While the online world just can’t wait to appropriate it:

As someone working for an organization (and not an agency), “curation” is a great way to describe the strategic content work we do. Hillary Marsh.

What does this interest in the past tell us? At a design level it’s playful and textural (when done well) or annoying and kitsch (when not). It also indicates what the online world lacks; when anyone can set up a website and express an opinion, and when the medium is so modern, language, typography and imagery that suggest gravitas, learnedness and history (and even exclusivity) are attractive, especially to people who make their living from web design and writing. It confers legitimacy and professionalism.

Can you think of any other words that have been appropriated? The architecture of information architecture, perhaps?