In my humble opinion, the steemit community is home to some of the most talented, intelligent and knowledgeable men and women in this beautiful world of ours. Whether it be writers and poets, artists of all description, programmers, designers, philosophers, entertainers, homesteaders, crypto enthusiasts, or those representing any number of other areas of interest, steemit has managed to do a wonderful thing in bringing all of these amazing individuals together, in one place.
Most of those of us who are here now, especially a lot of those who have been here from the earliest days, share similar views on the problems our world is currently facing. Many of us believe that centralised authority is a scourge on our society and also the reason behind the manifestation of so many other problems we face. We believe in decentralisation, personal responsibility as well as the freedom to act as we please, come and go as we like and to say whatever we choose.
I share these sentiments. I'd like to live in a world where we're able to work together to achieve common goals that benefit us all, rather than fighting against each other in the name of self preservation. I think it's important for those of us who know what freedom is and how rare a thing it really is in this day and age to attempt to redress the current imbalance that exists in whatever way we can.
I'm not suggesting that any single one of us be responsible for saving the world or that any single one of us is capable of doing so on our own, though I do maintain my belief that this is a possibility but if each of us were able to improve the world we live in, even by the smallest amount, it would make a hugely significant difference to our current situation overall.
I'm thrilled to have found steemit. I'd never blogged before joining the platform and was pretty averse to all forms of social media before I got here, so I'm over the moon to be able to share my thoughts and be rewarded for any efforts, not only by way of interaction and feedback from others but also in the more tangible form of steem and SBD tokens.
But the thing that excites me the most about steemit is its potential for making a positive impact on the world and this is something I have been looking to make use of since joining.
I honestly feel that the steemit platform and the community we are in the process of building for ourselves around it, can be a massive force for good in a suffering world.
In fact, I don't just feel it, I know it.
There are already a good number of positive initiatives and excellent men and women running them on the platform, doing excellent work in helping and supporting those in unfortunate situations and I'm sure there are many more that I'm still unfamiliar with, as yet. I've made a couple of small attempts of my own to use the platform for good in some way. Until now, I've not been as successful as I'd have liked but I feel it's important to keep trying, even in the face of adversity, time after time, until you find success.
Especially if something's important to you.
So, with this being said, I have in mind a project that I very much hope will be successful but in truth, I'm going to need quite a bit of help and advice along the way.
I'd like to create a real world publication, utilizing the talents, skills and knowledge of my fellow steemians.
Many of us using the platform are doing so because we see life a little differently from the average man and woman in the street right now. The fact that we know anything at all about crypto-currencies, blockchains or even their existence at all, sets us apart from the greater part of the population by itself, never mind any other information we might have. I also believe that a big part of the reason a lot of us are here right now is due to our desire for positive change in the world.
Some of us have knowledge of information that most of us will never have the opportunity of hearing about through mainstream channels and we do our best to share it with the world by talking about it when and where we can, especially on social media sites like this one and often when doing so, we cite the need for dissemination of information to the masses.
It's an extremely difficult job to communicate the problems of the world to the masses, especially when they have no idea there are any, other than those they are presented with on the nightly news or daily newspaper, or have no inclination or reason to investigate for themselves., even more so when they're confronted with information that goes against everything they 'know' and have been programmed to believe.
Which is why I think it's vitally important to find a way of relaying this information in a balanced and fair way. A way that provides all sides of the argument for any particular subject and allows the reader to form their own conclusions or investigate further themselves the claims made by all sides. This is something I feel is lacking in our society today and could be improved dramatically, if the information was able to reach those outside of our circles and out of the loop regarding the true nature of the world and the societies in which we all live.
So, I would like to take the message that a lot of us have been trying to share to the streets, to those who perhaps wouldn't otherwise be provided with the opportunity of hearing such information, directly to the masses themselves, in the form of a real world publication designed to empower normal men and women with fair and balanced information about subjects they didn't previously realise had any controversy attached to them, as well as introducing them to the steemit platform and all of the associations that come with it, such as crypto-currency, blockchain technology and decentralised economies, etc.
As I mentioned at the start, the talent on offer within the steemit community provides us the luxury of having a plethera of men and women able to write about all manner of subjects in the fair and balanced way I also mentioned, as well as all the artists, designers, photographers and others needed to make such a project a reality. Everything we need for this project to be a successful one is right here, right now.
So let me explain my vision a little.
I'd like to create a hashtag on steemit, to which anyone interested in doing so could submit posts on a given subject matter, which they would be encouraged to approach in a balanced and non-biased way in order to create an article that provides the reader with both sides of the story from relevant sources or individuals, essentially, mainstream views and alternate views given equal opportunity to make their case. The subject matters covered could be chosen by those submitting articles in an organic fashion or if there was enough support, an editing team could decide which subject matters to cover in a given issue and request submissions in this way.
I'd also like to introduce normal men and women to emerging technologies that a lot of us have become familiar with to some extent such as the blockchain or steemit.com itself, so I would also be requesting articles that explain clearly and in simple terms the workings of the platform and its foundations, as well as the reasoning behind them.
When the articles requested or submitted have been so by the given deadline, the team of editors, or even the steemit community as a whole, could decide which should be put forth for publication in the upcoming issue, then any other editing work that needs done, such as spell checking, formatting and any other adjustments needed to the articles themselves so that they are to a professional standard and high level of quality.
When the articles are complete, images in the form of photographs or artwork can be added to compliment the articles by way of the same submission process and any other design work can be done by those willing to volunteer their skills and expertise in this area, as well as any other additional work that needs to be done. I’ve never published a magazine before, so I’m not sure of all of the exact workings, which is another reason why I need a lot of help.
Each article featured in a given issue would of course be credited and linked to the author and their account on steemit, with readers being encouraged to visit the platform and share their own thoughts and all involved in the publication would also be credited for their efforts, with an emphasis also on the steemit platform itself and how it is able to make a project like this and many others possible.
When our articles have been written and edited and the art and design work have all been done, our publication ready to go, we could create firstly a pdf version for download as well as a post on steemit with the entire copy laid out for all to access. Those who choose to would then be able to print off copies and publish them themselves via their own printers at home hopefully someone could suggest a less expensive way. This could either be done voluntarily at their own expense, or it could be funded in part or full by rewards from the reward pool, providing those who choose to publish copies the means to do it without expense to themselves and hopefully encouraging more to get involved. It would all depend on how much support there was but while I am hopeful that this project will receive a great deal, I would suggest that even the ability to produce a publication like this and distribute a few copies would be a fantastic start and a wonderful place from which to grow, so I won’t be despondent in the slightest if the support is not there immediately.
The ability to produce a publication together online and also to have it open source and accessible by all of the community, as well as being able to fund it at essentially no cost to ourselves, puts us in the position where individual men and women around the world can publish the same information and distribute it on their own, if they choose to. It also puts us in a position where we can help society in a variety of ways.
The first way is in by disseminating what we consider to be valuable information, another is in the way I feel we should choose to distribute that information, by helping less fortunate members of our society at the same time.
Once all of the copies have been printed off and are ready to go, I would suggest that the publisher take these copies to their local city centre, wherever they are in the world, where, if it’s anything like my own, they will no doubt and unfortunately find, many homeless men and women on the street begging for change.
To these unfortunate men and women who are suffering due to the nature of the way our societies are operated, we will give as many copies as we can with our limited supply. They will then be able to offer them to members of the public, normal men and women from all backgrounds and positions in life, in exchange for a donation, which they will keep for themselves and hopefully use in some small way to improve their position, at least temporarily.
By including a request within the publication for those who find themselves in possession of them to either pass them on to friends, family members or colleagues, if they found the information useful, or better still, to return them to the same or a different homeless person, we could hopefully increase circulation a little as well and we could even provide our homeless distributors with the means to direct any potential members of the public interested to the publications account page on steemit via their smart-phones, allowing them to make a donation and leaving the distributor with another physical copy to sell.
This is an idea I've been thinking about for a while and have shared with one or two friends here on steemit, to mixed reactions. While I have been told that it is a good idea in theory, it has also been suggested that there might not be the will and/or support within the community and that some of the suggestions I've made might not be as easy to achieve as I imagine, so I am asking for any thoughts or suggestions that others might have which will hopefully help me better decide whether this is something worth pursuing, or whether I should rethink the whole thing. :)
Do you think the idea is sound? Is it worth the effort? Is it something that will receive the support of the community? Could you suggest a better way of doing things? What haven't I thought of?
I value any thoughts you might have, so please feel free to share them in the comments section or contact me on steemit.chat, @tonyr.
Thanks a lot for your time and have a great day!
