@Sndbox: The Steem Blockchain powered Incubator
The project incubator
Sndbox is a membership incubator and you guessed it right, most - if not all - members are part of the Steem blockchain. The members are highly committed Steemians with a superb focus in community engagement full of potential blockchain related project ideas who, through the continuous support of @sndbox via votes within the Steem blockchain, make their dream project come through.
These Steemians membership lasts for four months - called cohort -, time where everyone gets guidance, support and encouragement from Kirk, Michael and all the other members to succeed on their goals. After, five months, the member will still be part of sndbox but it´s expected to already have support from outside of the incubator and to be able to keep the project going; this is to make room for other people, other projects and fresh ideas.
From all around the world, the Sndbox members - or Sndbros as I like to call us - we bounce ideas, give each other feedback, engage with each other and try to help each other to make an idea become a reality and, thanks to the support Sndbox gives us we´ve been able to develop a lot of amazing projects during the past year.
Projects powered by the incubator
There are some projects that started at the very moment @sndbox was born and some others are brand new, a few projects joined the incubator with a developed idea, a long term plan and an execution agenda, some other started with just an idea and through the guidance and thanks to the support of the incubator they are now a reality.
Some of the main projects the incubator has helped born or grow are, in no specific order:
The Steem Park
The very first project @sndbox made a reality. I remember this project being announced right before Steem Fest 2 and then, I remember the conference Michael and Kirk gave in the main event, officially launching The incubator, getting only positive feedback from the audicience and Steem community in General.
STEEM Park is the first public design project fully funded by cryptocurrency. The physical components of the project were financed 100% by mined blogging rewards and engaging with the Steemit community; no private donations or municipal support was provided. In short, it is the first public-interest project supported completely by public interest.
STEEM Park is a proof-of-concept that local community projects can be initiated and sustained through a global attention economy. Located in Herbert Von King Park, Brooklyn NY.
@creativecrypto: A Magazine that Discovers + Rewards Creative Content
@sndbox-alpha
Curating organically in my opinion is one of the most important parts on Steemit and the DApps to help our platform and blockchain grow healthily, rise engagement from the users and most importantly, to increase mass adoption. This is why @sndbox-alpha was created. By the hand of some members of the cohort one - think of cohorts as generation members - and a huge delegation from the @sndbox itself, we dedicated to manually curate some of the most popular tags on Steemit such as art, philosophy, science, travel and more.
The @sndbox Summer Camp
As the first cohort was about to finish this project was pitched to Michael and Kirk to help them selec part of the Steemians who would be part of cohort 2. The main idea was to get some of the best content creators/project ideas from Steemians looking for continuous support and guidance. Through some Sndbox Quests spanning from travel, art, coding, photography and more, we were able to gather 40 top content creators who engaged in the summer camp. Out of this summer camp we welcomed a big percentage to join cohort 2.
Of course there are more projects, these are just the ones I was involved in or that I followed closely since they started and I believe these projects really reflect the reach @sndbox has within the steem community and outside the blockchain.
Engagement with the community on Steemit
Sndbox is a Steem blockchain powered project that supports and helps grow other projects but, in order to get to know these projects and the community there has to be engagement from the core team with said community, otherwise, how are they supposed to know what the people are looking for?
Parting from this idea, there are a lot of community engaging activites @sndbox developed to be close to the cohort and also to the community on Steemit as well as with the community outside of Steemit, increasing visibility for our platform but also increasing aawareness about the crypto world and its many advantages.
There are so many different topics to talk about regarding blockchain, and what better way to discuss them but with a livestream hosted by Michael and Kirk talking about blockchain functionalities, advantages of being an early adopter - we are all early adopters, if you are part of Steemit, congratulations, you are one of us - and also discussing ICO´s, the state of the sndbox but also discussing simple subjects like explaining blockchain to your grandma.
An example of both would be:
Art is one of the most important subjects Sndbox supports and there is no better way to empower artists than to encourage them to get involved with different coins and ICO´s by making this contests.
But that´s not it, Sndbox also encourages Steemians to get involved with the different Apps within the Steem blockchain:
Whenever a new Steemian joins the platform, it can be a bit overwhelming to understand how it works, what to do, what to avoid, how to increase visibility and engagement etc, this is why Sndbox publishes weekly articles related to this very subject such as Steemit quick start guide to help newbies know where they are standing, but also posts content for Steemians who might not be new but are still getting the hang of it and may haveTop ten Questions about Steemit. These are just two articles out of tens of posts made by sndbox to help those who seek guidance regarding Steemit and it´s many functionalities, related DApps, tools and much more.
State of the Sndbox monthly thumbnail competition: Each Week Sndbox does a newsletter - State of the Sndbox - to update the Steemit community on our progress and ongoing work. This monthly competition gives Steemians an opportunity to showcase their creativity as the face of the newsletter.
Example of a monthly thumbnail competition
Engagement with the community outside of Steemit
Sndbox is not only focused in projects and engagement within the Steem Ecosystem but we also strive to bring Sndbox, Steemit and the blockchain to outside ears and we do it in a very creative way:
Steemit Q&A with Temple University Students:
@phillyhistory is currently in the midst of hosting a history course at Temple University, where a talented group of graduate students are acclimating to Steemit and using the platform to share their work and research. The @sndbox team was in Philadelphia last month for a workshop and today we’re continuing the conversation through @dtube. If you want to watch the full sequence click here
Steem + Steem Park at the Ethereal Summit
One of our Cohort 1 incubator members, @mintvilla, had won one of the Ethereal art grants and we were able to participate in the programming last Friday. This post will provide an overview of the installation and a photo journal of the event.
The crypto Renaissance - A Steem exhibition in NYC
This public exhibition will showcase the tools and resources built for creative professionals on the Steem blockchain and specifically how @sndbox members have integrated them into their practice and daily work. The exhibition will be open to all visitors for several weeks and serve as a free and public space for New Yorkers and others to learn about the Steem blockchain, the world of crypto, and immediately begin converging their creative work with the Steemit ecosystem.
What are you waiting for? Check it out here
Of course these are not the only engaging activites from Sndbox towards the outside of Steemit community, these are just the ones I loved the most but you can check out all the other activites in the @sndbox blog.
The Stewards
Stewards represent our global team and contribute to the mission, growth, and impact of Sndbox. You’ll probably recognize many of these individuals, as they have grown into significant contributors on the Steem blockchain with active support of diverse initiatives. These Stewards aid the growth of our community through feedback, campaign support, outreach, and the nomination of new incubator members.