Creating a Decentralized Library with Steem

This article by @fingersik is part of a creative blockchain investigation series. Learn more about the #dappexplorer project here.

Academia Meets Steem

@fingersik here being hosted on @sndbox account once again to present my project that came up from Steem and the Academia that I have been working on for a while now. Without further ado let me present to you the “Decentralized library” (so far we lack even an “alpha name” lol). Perceive this article as a teaser only. I will tackle deeply every single aspect of the project on my personal blog.

Decentralized library

In order to present the usefulness of the Blockchain to our Faculty (Information science and Library science), our newly formed team of students decided to combine both the fields in one Blockchain project. Hopefully we will be able to construct a usable framework for “decentralized coders” to pick up and start creating a database that would, if successful, make libraries as we know them even more outdated than they already are. If that was the case (if we completed the framework…not if we made libraries obsolete), Steem and the Academia project would also receive a greenlight at our faculty and that is a win/win scenario!

As Blockchain is a giant immutable database, it serves as a great place to store documents at. The problem with nowadays libraries is that every country has its centralized standards. Since standard is outdated the very next second it has been published and countries haven’t managed to agree to a simple standard that would suit the needs of them all, the current model is very outdated and ineffective.

Reputable and Immutable Archiving

“Decentralized library” will aim to create a database for all imaginable virtual documents. Those documents will not be catalogued by handful of librarians, but rather every single user will have his reputation and ability to catalogue or validate the documents. The platform will be super useful even for authors of the documents too, since they will be able to sell, or rent their creations through it by setting the desired licenses. Smart contracts will then execute all the processes and transactions.

Since libraries have decades of experience, we want them to participate in the project. The economics will be carefully set to incentivize, or even slightly patronise libraries, since first of all they already own huge databases of bibliographic records that we need in our database, plus they have the experience they can share with the rest of the enthusiasts.

Not only the users will have their reputation, but so will the documents and search sessions that will happen in a built-in search engine. Due the nature of the Blockchain we can ensure that only those that have really acquired the documents, or searched for the specific document, can truly rate, thus influence other users of the platform.
The platform will also come with daily/weekly/monthly tasks that will further incentivize the users to engage where it’s needed to quickly create one of the biggest databases of virtual documents to date.

Have you been teased? Do you want to know more? Follow my blog (@fingersik) for more updates. @fundition campaign will be launched soon.

This post was authored by @fingersik, a member of the sndbox incubator. Learn more, follow @fingersik or begin a conversation in the comment section below.

^{Empower artists, writers, musicians, non-profits and community initiatives - delegate Steem Power to @sndbox (using the links below) or follow our curation trail. Learn more about Sndbox - watch our introduction, here.}