In my previous post I introduced the idea of a magazine based on Steem. Note that this basis is in infrastructure and community, not in subject. The magazine should be outward facing. I might as well restate the aims again:
- Bold and attractive presentation
- Externally facing (i.e. not the Steem in-crowd) packaging
- Archiving the best older posts of Steem
- Soliciting great writing
- Renewed support for authors (evergreen) without hacks
In this post I'll lay out some further information with a view to soliciting interest in the project, comments and critique. Nothing is set in stone but it is slowly hardening each day.
What this is all about
On Steem, post rewards do not reflect quality, they reflect value. Quality (and evaluating, not actual value) are subjective. What we have here is a good broad method for rewarding a huge diversity of user generated content (UGC) of many forms and types, which can be expressed as or is symbolic of something of value. The types of that "something" used to be fairly small. We had blog posts, tweet-like musings or info, image and video sharing, and not much else. As we go now that is diversifying and we haven't even really begun to scratch the surface of UGC potential.
Blogging can be thought of as an article or column in a newspaper or magazine, in extremely loose form. At least some of the best in my opinion fit this description. The bar is usually lower than hardcopy published content but many achieve that bar and some much higher.
The purpose of Gleeming is to be a point of connection between those at a high bar and their readership. As the content posted to the Steem blockchain gets more diverse, as well as the uses (read: interfaces) for it, good ol' blogging is losing ground. This is a good thing and I for one welcome it. One way I can see for high bar bloggers to move forward is to do something like what I'm proposing, so I thought I'd plant the seed.
Steem not-Steem
Talking about Steem is important, but it's boring to outsiders. This is frequently brought up when trending is a pile of in-jokes, critiques and so on. But hey what's this - I'm doing it right now! I'm as guilty as any about this and it's because I'm fascinated by what goes on here, the people that do it and contributing to the conversation of what has happened and what might be good to happen in the future.
Gleeming should have virtually no Steem platform themed content, it's not what I'm looking for, as it's not what those outside are really looking for. An exception here could be in the crypto or news categories, but only within the wider context. Service announcements are also not really part of the magazine.
Looking good
Part of the fun we'll have is in the presentation. Hands up who is tired of san-serif fonts? Cookie cutter layouts? Boring functional design? And the feeling of being stuck in the late 2000's? Great writing deserves a great presentation. It's something that we're going to bring to the table.
Inspiration from The Correspondent
De Correspondent (The Correspondent in English) is a Dutch based new generation journalism "newspaper", similar to WikiTribune and others. Their mission is typical of a disrupter, to fix the problems of the legacy system (the News) by thinking outside the box. They came to my attention as they are preparing to launch their English language version soon.
Note, if it matters Gleeming was born before I read this, I'm not trying to blockchain-ize their project. In fact funnily they have an article in Dutch which in English translation is titled "The blockchain: a solution for almost nothing" 😂
I read this article by founder Rob Wijnberg and saw some common goals expressed. While I do not intend for Gleeming to be a newspaper, it's a magazine, there are some similar problems to address when importing that old format.
Identified these can be summarized as
- Following trends - interviews with people who have just published books and music, recent horrific or upsetting events
- Lack of context - shallow pieces not set in the framework of other important work
- Reinforcing the status quo - editorial bias
- Anti-conceptual speech - has terms which confuse, have weasel meanings and subtexts, slants
- Lack of intellectual rigour - poor research, facts where there are no fact, bad understanding of statistics or blatant misuse
It might not seem like it at first glance but the first point is probably the most important. That's because I agree strongly with Wijnberg that what's happening right now is rarely going to be the most relevant thing to read about. Or as he put it:
The news is also obsessed by what’s recent. Almost everything that’s news must be something that has just now taken place. But the most recent thing isn’t by definition the most influential one. Everything in the world has a history. And that history determines in large part why something happens. Because the news usually keeps its eye trained on today, it blinds us to the longer term, both past and future. Informing us about power structures that have grown over time, like the historical roots of racism, or alerting us to gradual societal changes, like the financialization of our economy, is simply not natural to the forms and rhythms of daily news.
Now, they seem typically left leaning, as you might infer by the latter part of the above excerpt and by statements from supporters on their website like:
Real journalism does not pose as just an "objective observer", it takes a stance for justice and equality.
I happen to disagree with the above statement. That matters in the context of Gleeming because it's not something the magazine will do, take a stance. Writers may take their stances and have their views, but those views will not be stated as facts and they must use clear speech and rigorous delivery.
It's all about the people
Categories and their editorial teams
- The magazine be split into interest areas AKA categories
- Each will have an editorial team
- Teams will have the scope to determine the policies of their interest area
- Teams are responsible for soliciting pitches (through the tools provided), reviewing and working with authors
- Team members will be compensated for their work
- Team members cannot submit content for publication
Above all editorial teams there will be a small "board". They will provide
- Oversight on team membership and instruction
- Veto on editorial policies
What makes a good editor?
Someone who
- Likes to read and already has a habit of it
- Firm grasp of grammar (better than mine!)
- Ability to work with others civilly
- Some time to spare a few days a week
Writers, bloggers, journalists, academics, hobbyists, philosophers ...
Self publishing is amazing. Nearly every writer on Steem is currently doing this for themselves. However I've seen plenty of cases (and writers commenting on this) that the reach is not what it used to be. This is because the interfaces aren't fit for the kind of writing they are doing, not anymore with the above mentioned content diversification.
Coming on board will mean (for the content you publish on Gleeming) you lose some control of it, it is no longer self-publishing. It will be published through Gleeming category accounts. Initially beneficiary rewards will be used and later if SMTs work out (oh lord) perhaps them to or exclusively.
This might be uncomfortable or even intolerable for some writers. I get that, but there is pro / con tradeoff to be made here. Let me get you started.
Pros
- Evergreen content rewards (rewards after Steem post payout, by algorithm)
- More focused and direct audience access
- Published the company of other peers of high quality
Cons
- Surrender of some percentage of the immediate post rewards (% to be determined)
- Going along with editorial process
- Adherence to certain standards
Writers, what do you think?
Next step
I'm in the process of working with an author for a flagship / beta test article which will be available soon. This will give everyone an idea of the aesthetics of the project. At that point I will set up a Discord server where those interested can begin discussing and forming groups.
Credits
Image is untitled, CC0 licensed and available here.