Whether you know it or not, there’s a digital curator in your life.  In fact, you may even be one.

According to public relations and social media expert Steve Rubel, digital curators are “identifiable subject matter experts who dive through mountains of digital information and distill it down to its most relevant, essential parts.”   He believes digital curators are “the future of online content.”  I agree.

If you follow the Path of the Blue Eye Project on Twitter, Facebook or via this blog, you know that we have quietly become one of your digital curators. However, we’ve been doing a lot more behnid the scenes.  Over the past eight months, we have been gathering and cataloging a range of data, case studies articles and other content on our new knowledge community, Living the Path.

Why are we doing this?  Well, we believe that one of the best ways to “smash silos” in health marketing communications is to provide people with a diverse array of content from a variety of disciplines and geographic regions.

We hope you’ve benefited from our efforts.  They will continue . . . next year. This will be Walking the Path’s final blog post of 2009.

Before signing off for the year, I thought it would be appropriate to give you all a holiday gift . . . the gift of knowledge.  Following are 20 data summaries, articles and case studies culled from Living the Path that I think you all will benefit from and enjoy.  I hope you get a chance to read some of them over the holiday break.

Before getting to the list, I’d like to make one final point.  Some of you are addicted to Twitter.  Others rely on Delicious. A few of you even write blogs.  I invite you to continue your digital curation activities on Living the Path.  When you’re ready to learn more, click here.

Now, on to the list.

Articles

• What is Social Marketing?
• Augmented Reality: The Future of Marketing?
• Making Sense of Web Analytics
• From the Digital Divide to the Participation Divide: Why Access is Not Enough
• The Digital Divide between the Developed and Developing Worlds

Case Studies

• Beeping-Based Mobile Social Marketing Campaign Encourages HIV Education, Testing in South Africa
• CDC’s Efforts to Educate Americans on the H1N1 Flu Virus
• AIDS.gov’s Approach to H1N1/Swine Flu Communication
• Partnership for a Drug-Free America Launches Mobile Extension of Existing Educational Efforts
• Pfizer Battles Counterfeit Drugs With Rats
• How charity: water is Leveraging Twitter and Celebrity to Deliver Clean Water to the Developing World
• “Sarah’s Story:” The Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Awareness Campaign
• Rethink’s Racy Breast Cancer PSAs Generate Mass Attention, Controversy

Data Summaries

• Forrester Social Technographics Tool Outlines Social Media Consumption Habits by Geography and Demographics
• Study Provides Insights into How Native Americans Are Using Digital Technologies
• Analysis Reveals Ethnic Diversity of U.S. Facebook Population
• Unemployed/Retired and Older E-Patients Prefer Information to Collaboration, Connection with Health Organizations Using Social Media
• Proportion of Seniors Using the Internet, Social Media Increasing
• Cyworld is the Second Most Popular Website in South Korea
• Chinese Feel Free to Say Things Online They Wouldn’t Say in Person

Read More from Walking the Path:

1. Ask Living the Path: How Are Hispanics, African Americans Using Digital Tech?
2. Digital Technologies, Collaboration, Knowledge Exchange and Health: Why Impact Should Be the Ultimate ROI
3. Giving Thanks: How YOU Are Bringing the Path of the Blue Eye Project to Life