Creating the Strong Communities – The potential concept of participative platforms based on Steem Media Tokens.

This is the first article I will post in the #stach category, and I hope that people who follow it will not mind. The reason is very simple. This initiative was a worthy discovery for me, as it is evidence that ordinary people can trigger a wave of significant changes in their communities. On the other hand, I believe that the concept i prepare to describe, may be useful for some of the future initiatives. And if I am wrong, please ignore me and forgive me :-)

When I realized that people from Nigeria decided to solve their own problems, it was very inspiring for me. In the past six years, I have done everything I can to highlight the importance of active participation of citizens in all areas that have an impact on their lives. Stach as an initiative is evidence that we can fight the system, which mechanisms are often not adapted to the real needs of the community.

This is going to be a log one, so if you don’t want to read all text bellow, let me wish you a Happy New Year! I hope you will make your community a better place for all the good people. So, today I will try to explain the concept that can lead to creation of many decentralizes platforms which will be based on Steem Media token usage. For the purposes of this text, I will consider their implementation in urban planning procedures. I am doing this, because that is the main field of my researches and future PhD thesis, but please know that this concept can be applied in all aspects of society.

WHAT IS PARTICIPATORY PLANNING?

Changes in the urban environment can have different manifestations and functions. However, their success depends on one universal rule - they must represent a reflection of real needs which are not recognized only by individual target audiences, but society as a whole. Participatory planning is a response to the need of involving the entire community in the processes of urban planning. If it is implemented well, it successfully synchronizes the views of all participants in the process, prevents potential conflicts among opposing parties, and provides an equal opportunity for participation of those social groups that often become marginalized or insufficiently encouraged by traditional methods of participation.

GREAT! SO WHERE IS THE PROBLEM?

Current participatory practice based on traditional participatory mechanisms (pre-defined time of meetings, requirement of physical presence of the participants, etc.) does not have sufficient capacity that would lead to a general consensus among the different target groups. Due to this, there is always a risk of incomplete understanding of the real needs of the society, which can lead to negative publicity, and hence the rejection of the organization as an initiator of important changes. Believe me, it is common case around the world, not only in Serbia.

WHY SHOULD WE CHANGE THIS?

Well, the world has changed. Google introduced micro moments before couple of years. We don’t plan our activities in the same way we did it a decade ago. People struggle with everyday problems, which have a significant impact on their life and free time, especially in the underdeveloped communities. They try to do everything they can in the online space. I say space, because internet is not some external network which we approach periodically anymore. When people ask me why I believe that crowdsourcing is natural way of human behavior, I always try to explain it with this:

The Internet has changed the way we approach reality. Everything we do in an online mode today gains its reflection in online mode. Therefore, the Internet is no longer a space to which we are connecting when we need it, but a legitimate continuation of the space we live in.

WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?

It is simple- Creating online participatory platforms which will be positioned as the online space where it is possible to implement participatory activities in a way acceptable to a broad group of users. These platforms may represent the basis of a new, innovative practice, which besides the participatory role is also a tool that begins to influence the continuous raising of awareness about the importance of active participation.

Depending on the task for which we design them, these platforms should encourage the participation of all parties whose individual interests are covered by specific urban changes (or other important social topics that may have significant impact on the quality of their lives). Until now, these methods couldn’t be taken as the substitute for traditional methods, but they were great additional tools which could bring a valuable feedback if they were implemented successfully. But after the Steem Media Tokens become live, everything can change.

STEEM MEDIA TOKENS WILL BRING DIRECT BENEFITS TO ALL PARTIES

The possibility of collecting financial rewards for participation will directly affect its level, because:

• Citizens can earn the money for taking responsibility and active role in their community development

• Every proposed solution can get a valuable feedback

• It will open a new, decentralized dimension of crowdfunding. You don’t have to use global platforms anymore. Every local blog or website may become a crowdfunding platform.

• SMT will be easy to implement. That means even more decentralization – basically you can launch unlimited number of participatory platforms, for every specific problem on the local, regional or upper level. Imagine this – local school needs to find solution for children with disabilities. This is not a problem that should be treated from the top – these kids, their parents, teachers and neighbors live in local communities and have all the information which can lead to creation of sustainable solutions. They can launch a cheap CMS platform, integrate the SMT and create a local campaign during which will gather ideas, discuss their implementation and finally raise the funds to realize them. This could be a new era for social responsibility – without depending on any government institution directly (off course, some legal requirements must be followed).

Any mechanism that allows local communities to view possible alternatives in the online environment and express their views on it has the potential to become a crowdsourcing participatory platform. If they are allowed to make their own proposals, everything becomes even more participative. Also, the chance for reaching consensus is drastically increased.

However, in order to platform be successful, it must contain some primary functions, which will make it adequate for productive participation. So here is the basic concept of the possible model which can be adopted in different kinds of community activities and projects. For this article, I presumed that we talk about platform that will be created for the participation in urban planning project.

1. INFORMATIVE FUNCTION

1.1 Project information

Publishing of all relevant information which helps potential participants to understand all aspects of the problem we are trying to solve, and prepare them for quality participation.

1.2 Examples of good practice

Desired public opinion: If they could do it, we can do it.

So, this function includes presentation of case studies that were based on participatory planning methods that lead to creation of permanent changes in urban environments which gave them new social functions in accordance with the needs of the community. Studies show attractive examples from the world, putting special emphasis on the very act of participatory planning through new technologies.

2. RAISING AWARENESS ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF ACTIVE PARTICIPATION

2.1 Education on decision-making mechanisms of local government

Here we want to help people to understand how the system works. In order to create a sustainable framework for all forms of participatory activities, it is necessary to influence awareness of basic planning procedures and the work of local government (in the case of urban planning projects):

• The types of spatial plans, defined by the government
• Procedures for the preparation of planning documents
• Existing bodies of local government

2.2 Education on the roles and importance of participatory planning

Desired public opinion: I understand the importance of active participation

Parallel to the raising of knowledge about legal frameworks and the local government, as well as the insight into the problems that are caused by the shortcomings of traditional methods, users are approaching participatory methods based on crowdsourcing and related, innovative principles. In this way additional preparation is carried out and encourages motivation for participation. Special attention is paid to emphasizing the role of developed civic responsibility, as well as removing prejudice that our opinion cannot have a real impact on the changes that take place in our society.

Also, each form of participatory activity is followed by a set of materials whose function is to create an adequate framework for the quality participation of each individual (reducing the effect of the "wish list" as well as the risk of misunderstanding and giving feedback that is not relevant):

• Description of each task
• Conclusions and opinions of the professionals
• The significance of the possible solutions and the expected effect on the environment in which they are planned
• Detailed instructions on how to participate through the platform

3. PARTICIPATORY FUNCTION

Participation should be a key role of every platform. Thanks to its online character, the platform enables the application of different levels of participatory activities that are adapted to the needs of each individual project.

3.1 Polls (crowd voting)

Desired public opinion: My opinion is important

Polls are the simplest form of participatory activities, and are suitable for checking simple solutions in the least demanding interventions.

3.2 Online voting (crowd creation and presentation of potential solutions)

Desired public opinion: We are creating our own environment

Each user has the option for submitting his proposed solution, which becomes available as the individual post in specific category. All users can vote for all solutions and thanks to SMT reward them and be rewarded for upvoting. Earlier mentioned guidelines will help avoiding of the "wish list" effect. Participants make their proposal in coordination with the possibilities that were previously defined as doable. This lowers the risk of getting unachievable proposals.

3.3 Discussions

Desired public opinion: The platform is a natural extension of my community

Today, almost all CMS platforms have integrated comments option. Thanks to Steem Media Token, commenting gets completely new dimension. But financial gain is not the only benefit. There are many of them, for example:

• Citizens contact with representatives of the organization or the decision makers
• Available insights into public attitudes on various issues related to the project
• Improving the mutual understanding between all users of the projects
• Helping transparency
• Enabling the launch of bottom-up initiatives, which can be recognized as important for the community.

3.4 Crowdfunding

Desired public opinion: Together we create the better community

Crowdfunding can be considered as a valuable aspect of platform which has integrated Steem Media Token system. It can be a natural continuation of the bottom-up initiatives that arise within the platform. Just like in the leading crowdfunding platforms (Kickstarter, Indiegogo), citizens are offered the opportunity to run independent projects funded by the community, and all other people around the world. This type of financing of urban, social and other initiatives can be attractive to potential sponsors and other donors who can choose to provide financial support to the project in a transparent manner and transfer a part of their brand identity to its results.

So thank you for reading this huge block of text :-) If you find it interesting, I will love to hear your opinion. I will also be very grateful for every upvote or resteem. This is probably my last post in this year so I want to wish you all the best in the 2018.

LONG LIVE THE COMMUNITY!

image source: pixabay.com