muxtape (curation).

As you well know, the entire internet is a-twitter over Justin Ouellette's Muxtape, a frankly brilliant and wonderfully simple social music site, that encourages users to make mixtapes, share the url with friends, and generally learn about new bands.

I'm not going to talk about how perfect the interface is, or how great the UX is, or how much I appreciate the singular focus of the site in a world where most services are incomprehensibly complex, for no reason.

Instead, I'm going to talk about what Muxtape is really about, in my eyes.  Not to point to my own writing too often, but I think the value of the service is one of microcuration.

In the post linked above, I talk about the internet as a taste economy, and the value of curation in sites like blogs, to learn more about the creator, and in creating an audience.  I also mention the ability to curate in smaller worlds, thereby justifying smaller audiences.  Muxtape takes this to another level, because it's curation for a select group, by an individual, and nothing else.

If you check out my Muxtape, you get a pretty clear view of my taste in music.  More importantly, you get a great view of how I want my taste in music to be perceived.  Curation is a two way street in this sense, and a muxtape has the benefit (unintentionally, and as a side effect of it's glorious focus on usability) of offering no distractions.  Everything there is an element of the creator's taste, and there's no space to editorialize and obfuscate the information offered by the selections with rationalizations.

Curation is the greatest thing the social web has to offer, and it's often confused with customization or personalization.  The value isn't in creating exactly what you want.  It's in creating something that gives off the cues, and the impression, that the creator desires.

Which is why I opened with CRS' us placers (heavily sampling Thom Yorke's Eraser), and closed with Thom Yorke doing an acoustic version of 'videotape'.  Given no space to create a narrative, I still can't abandon my inner english major, and the need for literary devices.  And having to do it without words, in some way, makes it clearer.