Conversation w/ @lovejoy and asking the Steemit community for project feedback!
Good evening, Steemit. A few days ago, I shared a blooper reel with an interview I did with @lovejoy. It was a good laugh, seen at “Blooper reel w/ @lovejoy for upcoming blockchain conversation project!”, but it was part of a legitimate initiative a few of us are trying to get off the ground.
When I waded into this pool as a tiny minnow, it was an entirely new frontier. Honestly, I felt like my ears were going to bleed from the pressure on my brain. Phrases like “proof of work”, and “DPOS”. Then passionate debates over the fundamental flaws of Bitcoin because of “scalability” and “miner fees”. This, to a guy who just learned […kinda] what Bitcoin even was!
Naturally, I’ve been around a block since then. Just this week, I needed @mada to talk me out of buying a $5K mining rig. It does cause me to reflect on the journey, however. It got me thinking how helpful it’d be to have a “Humans of New York” style library of interviews; a collection of stories from all different people that’ve dared to delve in and live a crypto/blockchain life.
My thought is, this project wouldn’t be mine, or @lovejoy’s. In true decentralized fashion, it wouldn’t belong to anyone. There may end up being a Steemit account just to resteem stories that fall within the appropriate hashtag or whatever. My hope is, though, that as it grows it would be a place for new users to Steemit […or those curious about blockchain technology] to come and get a snapshot of how this revolution affected a programmer, an artist, a tarot reader, etc. A five minute view through the lens of hundreds or thousands of different people.
Anyone could make these videos of varying production quality. The only “firm rule” to be formatted in the video would be to end with a question for the following interviewee. Hence, anyone inspired to make a video would begin that interview with the last question asked in a previous video. Thus, creating somewhat random web, or “blockchain” of human stories.
I’m looking for suggestions and feedback on this project!
Please, give me your thoughts. It needs a clever name. @lovejoy and I discussed “Stories from the Block”, but I think we can do better. Also, I’d love suggestions on how to format the interviews that would fall in under this project. Should the questions always be the same? Should they be the same five every time? Should it be long form or conversational or keep each video under 5:00 to “quality”.
Watch the video here with @lovejoy as a starting point of what this project could be. Afterwards, let’s get a conversation going here that’ll support the ones to come. Thanks to @lovejoy for helping me develop this thing and of course, @dtube for hosting.
▶️ DTube
▶️ IPFS
Great idea. I'd say, 3-5 questions in an easy digestible 4-7min video.
title ideas: ?
-Alt Talk
-Crypto-Interviews
-Block Chat
-ImpactBlock
-Crypto Talk
-Interview with a Blockchain
Thanks for the suggestions! Naming stuff is always so hard. We'll have to put those in the hat. BlockChat... hmmm.
If you do this please please try to create a culture of posting a little transcript (if not the full thing then perhaps just a quote of the first and last questions) with the video.
New users aren't likely to be so invested in the site, they might be browsing on their mobile phones and might not click through to videos very often. Additionally transcripts (even partial ones) make the whole site more accessible to people with disabilities or other accessibility issues like bandwidth limitations.
FWIW by the way I think "stories from the block" is an excellent name.
A transcript is a great idea @misdoma. I agree, not just for the interaction but for accessibility. I'm just wondering how that could be upheld for videographers and artists beyond me. That's what I'm struggling with. I told @lovejoy, I want to give this thing a shape and then send it off in to the world for other artists to participate in without much oversight. Man, great feedback, though @misdoma. I didn't even consider bandwidth limitations. I'll follow up as I think about that.
Yeah, I agree that creating a culture of posting transcripts would be wise! Great feedback, thanks!
I think it's a great idea. My initial idea would be to have a google doc where people can signup, maybe 1 or 2 a week? (whatever that doesn't matter) but what I was getting at was simply creating a clear queue for who will upload what video when, plus this way the last question will always be the starting one for the next one, instead of a last question that then have 4 videos start with that one and then you have 4 new last questions that are all different - but that isn't a bad thing either - it just depends how "linear" you want to keep it.
I def think videos should have a max of 5 minutes; however you could maybe do a "weekly" video that is of the longer variety that maybe goes a little more in depth or a story has crossed your plate that clearly justifies more than a 5 min vid. The weekly video would be sort of a "highlighted" interview.
Those are my initial thoughts. I may come back and post again if I have some others as the idea rattles around in my head.
edit:
I would say either; I would like the video to be in whatever form the person feels most comfortable with or is closest to their own personality.
edit 2: you can also throw me on a list of participants if you want
All great considerations @artistchristian. Actually, one thing that just occurred to me is the recent bwphotochallenge thing that circulated through Steemit [...and still is]. Maybe a way of nominating the next person? I don't know, though. The problem with that is not everyone is skilled with shooting interviews. I used a $3000 Nikon and a $200 Shure shotgun mic. I know some of these will be of varying quality. That's not a big deal.
The only concern I have about a Google Docs thing is the oversight. There would have to be someone to connect the dots and get people on the schedule. I know I can't do that because I'm already posting once or twice a day and doing Trial by Comics.
Love that last question. One possible answer is not something thought of as industry; it's government. It would be possible to trade across international lines without tariffs, also making it tougher to enforce trade sanctions against other countries with things like software, music, movies or e-books that do not have to be shipped in a box. Look forward to the next video!
Oh, man! What a great question suggestion @onnovocks! Thanks for the feedback!
Well, the question was in the video and is food for thought. We have these new currencies, but rather than concentrating on what it is, we should be looking at how we can use it. Greetings!
Yeah... government. We can think of it as an industry if you like... I don't think that's far off the mark. ;) Government as we know it is definitely slated for disruption.
Like us, government will have to adapt to the changes, like it or not. As some have suggested, it may be a good idea to tax automation rather than labor.
I just watched the video with @lovejoy and would say it was just long enough. What did you use to record him with? The sound is awesome! I like the format you used in this video. Of course, the background music kept competing for my attention. Otherwise , good job overall.
HA! It's funny you mentioned the sound @evernoticethat. Typically, this particular coffee shop plays eclectic music at a reasonable volume. The barista that was working this day plays poppy R&B and hip hop REALLY loud! Almost any other day [...even as I'm writing this I'm at the same coffee shop and this would be perfect] it's just right. I like the format of being in a coffee shop with background ambiance. It was shot with a Nikon D750 and the audio was recorded with a Shure mic that plugs in to an iPhone. It has a directional shotgun so it's perfect for interviews. Thanks for the feedback. Glad you liked the length.
Thanks for the information
Ahan its a great idea sir @kommienezuspadt
Thanks @samiurrehman10
Great post! Thanks for sharing this important information to the steemit family, it very educative. Keep it up. I follow and upvote you.
Good information.
Thanks