How we choose curators for @Ireland

Anyone can contact us by emailing [email protected] where they can either apply to be a curator themselves or nominate another person.

From time-to-time we have approached people to curate the account. This happened at the very beginning with the second and third curators as the project was so new.

We take a lot of things into consideration when it comes to assessing an application (location, range of interests etc). To date, we have received a lot of applications from the broader arts and culture sector and most are coming from Dublin.

Aside from considering the application email that is sent to us we usually look at how a person handles themselves on Twitter. Do they tweet often? Do they say a lot? Are they interesting?

After that, we generally have a phone call with a potential curator to get a sense of what they might tweet about for the week.

At that stage if the person sounds like they'd make an interesting curator, we look at a week that might suit and ask the person to sign a curator's agreement (we've included that below) we also send a document that covers a lot of housekeeping items like when to introduce the new curator etc.

We don't tell people what to tweet or what tone to take. It's very important that people feel that during their week as @Ireland that they can be themselves un-edited and un-censored (without defaming anyone, this is an obvious legal consideration for us!). The whole idea behind @Ireland is to show people on Twitter a different side of Ireland, through its various citizens and members of the broader Irish community, every week.

It's still a very new project and we've already had a range of conversations to date, from debates about street art to the healthcare system in Ireland to being Irish and living abroad. But we also know it's a good time to take stock and ask for your help in shaping it.

If you feel the Ireland you know is not being accurately represented by what you see on this account then apply to curate it, we'd love to hear from you, email [email protected]

More about @Ireland and full archive of all tweets to date here.

Curator Agreement:

@Ireland Curator Agreement

This agreement regarding the @Ireland account is between WorldIrish, the custodians, and XXXXX, the curator.

As well as tweeting through www.twitter.com/ireland your tweets will be stored in an archive on WorldIrish.com.

By signing this you agree to:

1. Be the sole tweeter of @Ireland from X to X.

2. Ensure that WorldIrish will have access to the account at all times during the period of this agreement.

3. Not change the password.

4. Safeguard the account from being hacked by a third party.

5. Not change the photo, biography, background or theme of the @Ireland account.

6. Give the account back to WorldIrish at the end of your curation week or, if instructed to by WorldIrish, at an earlier date.

7. Not defame any person, business, product or group

8. Ensure all tweets sent from the account are original and are not an infringement or violation of copyright or licence and that they respect the privacy of another person.

7. Not use any obscene, abusive or blasphemous language or any other content that violates the rights of any third party.

8. Not actively promote or advertise any business or receive remuneration from a third party to do so.

9. Be mindful of the content you re-tweet.

10. Not blocking or unfollowing any other twitter users from the account

WorldIrish, the custodians, reserve the right to delete tweets from the account.

Signed

@Ireland curator

Originally published on 13 June 2012