Lend Me Your Ears.
My time on steemit has demonstrated to me that there are some outstanding writers and artists as well as all manner of other creative minds here and from what I can see there is a higher proportion of open-minded, critical thinking men and women in our little community than there is in the real world.
I see in this platform the potential to make a massive impact on the world.
As far as I can see from my short time here, there are many of us who think along similar lines when it comes to the corrupt nature of the corporate society that surrounds and enslaves us.
So, I see the potential of my fellow steemians to make a positive difference in a negative world and one way I can see our potential being manifested in something tangible is by the creation of a real world publication from within the steemit community. A publication which will be representative of and celebrate the voluntaryist and anarchistic ideals which are a big part of the steemit culture and which will encourage the average man and woman to consider thinking differently on a range of topics.
We could ask our fellow steemians to submit their articles and artworks via a hashtag which could be used to collate all of the articles which they submit for publication and a panel of editors could be used to decide which articles are chosen to feature. If there are specific themes which we would like to address in a particular issue, we could ask for articles or artworks to be submitted based on that theme.
There are a number of ways we could choose to circulate the publication and a discussion would have to be had as regards whether it is made available for free or whether it is to be sold for a price, whether set or not. It could be run on a franchise basis for example or it could be used simply as a way to disseminate information by offering them free at colleges and places of business etc. There are myriad possibilities.
Those of you who know me know that I see life and all of it's intricacies from a different perspective than the average man or woman and I have attempted in the past to bring attention to some of the issues I feel we should be more concerned with than we currently are but you will also know that my writing style can be quite aggressive at times, which I often feel lets me down in terms of having my point being taken seriously. I am by no means the worst as there are many others out there shouting from the rooftops about the troubles they see in the world but often what lets them down is not their information, knowledge or passion but their approach. Too much, too soon, too scary!
However, I have come across many fantastic writers who are able to express my own views in a much more subtle and gentle way, which I feel may well be the most effective way of communicating in general.
I also have to admit that I have been left a little despondent at times when it comes to writing on steemit because in the vast majority of cases I find myself singing to the choir in the never ending social media echo-chamber. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has come to this realisation.
I wrote a post a while ago now called, Who Will Find The Words To Save The World? and I put it to you now that you may in fact be the one I was looking for and may be the one who will in fact find the right words or the right image that will inspire change and true thoughtfulness in the sleeping masses. But the people aren't coming to you. So you will have to go to them.
Modern technology allows us all the opportunity to be publishers these days since we all have access to a printer. There may be more efficient and less costly ways of doing things I admit and I would be happy to hear them but this is just an example of how independent distributors could simply print copies of the PDF formatted publication and distribute them in a manner to be agreed, within and around their local communities. By this means we could have a worldwide publication and could take our message to those who are least likely to have the opportunity to hear it.
To increase circulation we could have a message at the end asking that if you found this information helpful and valuable that you pass it on to someone else whom you feel may also be interested and if at all possible even make copies themselves and distribute those, which would again increase circulation.
This would also have the added effect of driving traffic to the platform and would hopefully raise the profile also of the featured authors and artists.
This is just a thought and I would appreciate it very much if you would share your own thoughts, insights, suggestions or criticisms in the comments section.
Thanks for your time. :)
hey @tonyr,
Just a cent of a thought, Overall I really like your idea of publication thus I support this. However, in order to achieve your idea, In my opinion, the writing must be well written and following the basic publication format instead of "blogging" in general.
In my mind when I read this, I was thinking of a physical steemit journal or magazine which we can distribute to people whilst also promoting steemit. This is actually a brilliant idea instead of just showing them that we can earn money while blogging. I might be really looking forward to make this come true. Thanks for the inspiration tony !
Hey @macchiata. I definitely agree that it should be very well written but would also say that it has to be written very simply and in easy to understand language. It is often the case with writers, myself included, that we indulge ourselves by using vocabulary which demonstrates our power over the english language and as a means of demonstrating how clever we are but if we are to reach everyone then the language must be easily understandable to all, not just the intellectuals within our communities.
Thanks for such a great comment and for taking the time to read my post. This is something I feel could be a reality if there is the will among those who say that they want change instead of just talking amongst ourselves.
I think that the quality of writing can be properly addressed simply by having editors work on the texts.
Such a useful post!
your post resteemed!
Hi,
A few reflections in no particular order.
I really love it as you put it, reflecting my thoughts but put in such a succinct and elegant way:
"never ending social media echo-chamber."
I also would like to point out that you noticed correctly - many people do not care and not interested.
You might see a post about the meaning of life that can improve lives of millions getting maybe a dozen upvotes and making a whole one cent. Then another one showing someone's misfortune (a "fail" hot it is often referred to) and everyone is laughing and re-posting and voting and the post might make over a hundred bucks.
I don't think that the problem is in delivery mechanism.
People do notice, it just does not interest them Along meaningful post is too much to read these days for many readers.
It does not matter even if you could print it and deliver it to their desk for free. that is not the point.
The voting system is already what you propose - select most "valuable" content (and i put it in quotes on purpose).
Basically if you want to see the most "valuable" content on the platform you do not need a hash tag or a panel to select it - just go to the NEW tab or TRENDING tab on the Steemit menu.
The fundamental problem is - those things are light years away from what you would want to see there. And it is not because people did not notice your or other valuable content (this time "valuable" without quotes).
On other words we create a populist culture of lazy readers going after short-lived sensations, some fun and some quick one-sided quick "advice".
In return it breeds new type of noise-making bloggers who cater to exactly that - making populist content to please those who are more likely to push the upvote button. Even if they could write better or create better content but why? Who is going to appreciate it? Better post a picture of a funny cat. Makes them more money.
I agree with you that there are a lot of people who do not care for the sort of information that I personally think is important but I do believe that there are a lot of us outside of the steemit and social media community who feel deep down that something is not right and just haven't happened upon the information yet and these are the people I would suggest we direct our efforts towards. They aren't going to hear it from any mainstream source. There is an obvious move towards the demonisation of alternative information, especially on the more established social media sites so I would think a real world publication providing alternative information to those who would otherwise not have the opportunity to hear it, could only be a good thing and the possibility exists with steemit to make this a reality, if those of us who say we want change actually mean what we say. It may not be THE answer but it could be a step towards it I feel.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment @bix. I really appreciate it. Have a great day mate.
I've tried the words...now am left with action.
Hey @immarojas. Thanks for the comment and for taking the time to read my post. I'm interested, what action are you taking?
Cheers
As one of the core of Steemit Philippines aka @steemph, launched last August, we have charity initiatives that help the less fortunate,
marketing Steemit at the same time to the fortunate.
Less words, less talk, more action.
Just one small way of saving the world.