Disclaimer: This post is based on an idea that has been swirling around in my head. I searched and didn’t see anything like it yet on Steem but it is highly possible that I missed it. If that is the case, just post the link and call me a bonehead in the comments. Thanks!
The Steemit platform is unlike any we have seen before in the social media or crypto-currency spaces. It combines the most beneficial features of both to create something entirely new. After seeing great adoption and success with just a few posts, I started to consider the greater, more long-term implications and what the platform might be able to accomplish down the road, that others could not. While my head was spinning, I sort of formed an idea in my head for something I am referring to as SteemSourcing.
Introduction
Everyone knows what Kickstarter and crowdfunding platforms are and what they have been able to accomplish in the past 5 years. These platforms have seen extensive growth and countless niche rivals have surfaced all over the marketplace. While these specific sites can allow indie developers to accumulate the cash needed to finish a product, they do very little for true creatives. Those of us who are more introverted and who simply like to write, draw, animate, or create stories for others, typically for fun, but would also like to monetize these efforts at the same time, gain very little from a platform like Kickstarter.
Patreon was a step in the right direction and allows known creatives to push their personal fans to a site where they can donate, but overall, it can be very hard as a new or under-represented creator to get a following and therefore any kind of monetary reward. I believe that Steemit has a unique advantage in this space to not only support, and discover new creatives, but also do something I am going to label “open-source intellectual property development”, through a form of crowdsourcing I am calling “SteemSourcing”.
What is SteemSourcing?
SteemSourcing is a form of crowdsourcing that utilizes the Steem platform to accept open-source contributions wherein the creators responsible for the individual content and components of the creation can be rewarded based on their own level of activity and the strength of their contributions individually by the community.
Let’s break that idea down into components.
An idea person or creative mind comes up with the idea for an intellectual property. This may be an author who has written a brief backstory or synopsis, it may be an artist who has been drawing related characters to an idea in his head, or just a normal person who has a really great idea for a story, book, movie, comic, video game, etc.
Through Steemit, this person could post the idea with the tags and header [#SteemSourcing] and request help with the pieces of their property they are incapable of developing. As the originator of the idea, when they post their synopsis or backstory, it will be time-stamped and this user will always be able to prove that it was their idea. They will not maintain the exclusive rights to their property, but rather be opening it up as an open-source intellectual property to be developed in collaboration with the Steemit creative community. Anyone creating related content can choose to link back to the original post and give credit to the original creator, thereby allowing their initial post to receive up-votes and therefore monetize their idea, which would have otherwise rotted away in their brain (let’s be real, you weren’t ever going to develop it).
If the idea is strong, an author or creative writer in the community might write a few chapters of the story, or a short story based on the idea. From there, an artist or illustrator might make comic panels incorporating the story and dialogue from the author's’ work. If the comic book is great and becomes popular, a develope might come along who wants to turn that idea into a videogame or a cartoon. If the community likes the works being submitted in a specific project, they can up-vote and support the project through helping the creatives to monetize their work, which allows them to continue to devote time to the project and additional submissions.
Theoretically, we, as a community, could SteemSource an entire project with the talent we have already seen all over the site. It isn't as far-fetched as it sounds.
Great Idea! Now What?
In order to get the idea started, I will be posting a series of creative documents that I have been working on for a game called “Lisk-Wars: Rise of the Deathbringers”, as well as an outline of a strategy collectible game based on the same intellectual property. I would like to see where it can go and if anyone will adopt the idea and who knows, we might even end up with a digital game, board game, comic book, or other out of it. If not, it was still a fun experiment in how we can utilize this platform for unique ideas.
Platform Development
One of the really great things about Steemit is that it is an open blockchain. The data can be pulled and used for various purposes and with the right developer, they could use API’s to create a secondary platform utilizing the same Steemit network we are already on. If these types of SteemSourcing project are popular, we could build a specific site, built around the idea of sourcing platforms and projects through Steemit.
I imagine this type of platform and homepage would allow for easy creation and posting of a project with pre-formatted guidelines for sections as well as a streamlined posting process that would post it as a regular document to Steemit, but as a new proposal or idea to the SteemSourcing site. This could then allow for a new naming structure for up-voting and flagging and could show specific information such as amount earned to date. Each project could also have a homepage that only shows posts with that specific tag, created for that project, so that submissions could be managed and discovered easily. Over the long term, an entire ecosystem could be built for creating entire open source intellectual properties through the Steemit network and blockchain.
The only limiting factor would be the members of the community agreeing to create the project with open rights for use in exchange for the possibility of being significantly up-voted and awarded with Steem Power if the project is highly successful and gains large visibility.
In Conclusion
I think there is an opportunity here to play with the dynamics on Steemit and create some unique experiences and completely new ideas that might not have worked before on other platforms. This was a brief introduction to my thoughts on the idea and is a bit more disorganized than I would like. It’s also shorter than I anticipated due to it being Sunday and my children being too full of energy and ninja kicking me. I’d like to continue to discuss and develop the idea and hear any additional ideas, thoughts, or maybe even links to projects where someone else might have already attempted this and I just missed it.
As always, thank you so much for reading! The Steemit community is amazing and your support and feedback is always a blessing! It’s been really awesome to see all of the positive energy around here!