Creating a Decentralized Library with Steem

in #academia6 years ago (edited)

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This article by @fingersik is part of a creative blockchain investigation series. Learn more about the #dappexplorer project here.


Academia Meets Steem


@fingersik here being hosted on @sndbox account once again to present my project that came up from Steem and the Academia that I have been working on for a while now. Without further ado let me present to you the “Decentralized library” (so far we lack even an “alpha name” lol). Perceive this article as a teaser only. I will tackle deeply every single aspect of the project on my personal blog.

 



Decentralized library


In order to present the usefulness of the Blockchain to our Faculty (Information science and Library science), our newly formed team of students decided to combine both the fields in one Blockchain project. Hopefully we will be able to construct a usable framework for “decentralized coders” to pick up and start creating a database that would, if successful, make libraries as we know them even more outdated than they already are. If that was the case (if we completed the framework…not if we made libraries obsolete), Steem and the Academia project would also receive a greenlight at our faculty and that is a win/win scenario!

As Blockchain is a giant immutable database, it serves as a great place to store documents at. The problem with nowadays libraries is that every country has its centralized standards. Since standard is outdated the very next second it has been published and countries haven’t managed to agree to a simple standard that would suit the needs of them all, the current model is very outdated and ineffective.

 



Reputable and Immutable Archiving


“Decentralized library” will aim to create a database for all imaginable virtual documents. Those documents will not be catalogued by handful of librarians, but rather every single user will have his reputation and ability to catalogue or validate the documents. The platform will be super useful even for authors of the documents too, since they will be able to sell, or rent their creations through it by setting the desired licenses. Smart contracts will then execute all the processes and transactions.

Since libraries have decades of experience, we want them to participate in the project. The economics will be carefully set to incentivize, or even slightly patronise libraries, since first of all they already own huge databases of bibliographic records that we need in our database, plus they have the experience they can share with the rest of the enthusiasts.

Not only the users will have their reputation, but so will the documents and search sessions that will happen in a built-in search engine. Due the nature of the Blockchain we can ensure that only those that have really acquired the documents, or searched for the specific document, can truly rate, thus influence other users of the platform.
The platform will also come with daily/weekly/monthly tasks that will further incentivize the users to engage where it’s needed to quickly create one of the biggest databases of virtual documents to date.

Have you been teased? Do you want to know more? Follow my blog (@fingersik) for more updates. @fundition campaign will be launched soon.


This post was authored by @fingersik, a member of the sndbox incubator. Learn more, follow @fingersik or begin a conversation in the comment section below.


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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://sndbox.blog/creating-a-decentralized-university-library-with-steem/

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Nice work @fingersik! This project holds so much potential to educate people in a way we haven't yet seen, not to mention the incentives for creators which could be achieved through blockchain.

Keep up the great work!

I love the idea ... Now add it to the meshnet and we really have something .. I am quite interested in skycoin and its skywire network right now and would love nothing more than to see steem as part of it along with a Decentralized University ..Internet 2.0 coming to a node near you... lol ....
https://steemit.com/steem/@thelifeofbrian/happy-steeming-hf-20-and-beyond-and-skycoin-update

What is meshnet? There actually is a bit misleading title. Its not an "University library" but rather "universal blockchain digital library". Im though all up for decentralized university!:D

The link on my post has all the info on my favorite project right now Skycoin

Ahh the meshnet you say ... My favorite subject .... Several groups are trying to build a decentralized internet ...Basically a free world wide wifi system allowing computers to talk to each other without an isp ...

Have you heard about Decenternet? Is there any difference?

Hi skimmed Decenternet's white paper it does not seem to have its own infrastructure so it would still rely on the existing internet where as skycoin the nyc mesh and others are removing the big telecoms and isp's from the table and building our own infrastructure that no one controls owns or could monitor. totally decentralized and free to access and use.

I see...will look into their whitepapers. This is pretty much what i criticized in my review too

Intriguing.

Years ago, my PhD supervisor and I were having a discussion of the library and the internet. There is a particular video that he screens in his class. Previously, he simply used Youtube versions of it, and one fine day, he realized that someone has been clipping out sensitive parts of the video, and re-uploading the video. Furthermore, other digital versions of that particular video have also been censored and re-released. Now, the only uncensored version of that video is the VHS.

The blockchain, with its immutability, does have some advantage of preventing such shenanigans from happening.

I bought, the oldest set of encyclopedias I could find just for that reason. To have a hard copy of the old so I could compare it to the new.

Agreed and thanks for very interesting use case example. That is though only one of many positives the blockchain could bring to digital data storages!

Just went to check out your project page. Looking forward to reading more in the future. Time to drag academia out of the stone age.

Am really falling in love with this meddling of #steem with academics. To me, it's the best thing that ever happened to #steem. The "brain value" is really coming to play. Kudos to @fingersik for this . @sndbox, you keep doing a great job

Agreed!

I'm interested in your project. I do a lot of mobilization, coordination and consultation services. Wouldn't mind contacting institutions in my locality to be a part of this project.

that would be pretty neat! That is though still a very far future:)

I am teased alright, i like to be able to access documents and books freely and this could be the way to go

Unfortunately it couldnt be gateway to just any document...there is still law we need to deal with. We cant just make books (and other documents) open access. It will still be up to the authors what licence they choose to attach to the document:).

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