This week Sharn and Andy explore the exciting world of Web3 collaborative writing. Discover the latest developments and trends in this emerging field, including the benefits of decentralized networks and how they're changing the way we create content.
But first, the news.
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In Web3 and tech new this week:
In an announcement we have been waiting for, Microsoft has unveiled its new AI-powered Copilot. Powered by OpenAI's GPT-4, Copilot is designed to assist with generating documents, emails, and presentations in Microsoft 365 apps. Copilot will appear as a chatbot in the app sidebar (like Clippy from the good old days) and can be used to create text, PowerPoint presentations, or even analyze and format Excel data. Microsoft's new system combines Microsoft 365 apps with data and intelligence from Microsoft Graph and GPT-4, and aims to provide a whole new way of working alongside Microsoft's popular suite of apps. So, as we’ve said before, keep an eye on this space because AI is developing fast and coming to an application near you.
Sony, the technology giant behind the popular PlayStation brand, has submitted a new NFT-related patent application in the United States. The patent outlines Sony's plans to establish digital infrastructure that would enable gamers to own and transfer NFT assets across multiple video game platforms, including in-game skins, artwork, avatars, and even video game skills. Although Sony previously pushed back against the idea of dabbling in NFTs, its growing pile of patent applications suggests it may be considering a Web3 future for PlayStation. However, no video game console maker has yet publicly embraced NFTs.
Moving now to the world of Publishing:
In the US, the Internet Archive's ongoing copyright case with Hachette over the scanning and lending of print library books has reached a crucial stage in court. Last week, the IA defended its National Emergency Library, which removed access restrictions for 1.4 million scans of mostly 20th century books during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, IA has been accused of "redistributing copyrighted works without permission or payment." The case is still ongoing, and legal experts and copyright advocates are closely watching the outcome as it could set a significant precedent for digital lending and access to information.
The Melbourne Writers Festival has unveiled its program for 2023, featuring a lineup of both international and local guests. The festival will take place from May 4-7, 2023, primarily at the State Library Victoria and the Capitol theatre. The festival will showcase a diverse range of authors, including New Zealand actor Sam Neill, former Australian of the Year Grace Tame, and novelists such as Pip Williams, Jane Harper, and Tracey Lien. So if you’re in the Melbourne area you should check it on out.
And that my friends, was news with Sharn.
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Now let’s get into the episode:
Starting with what collaborative writing is?
Collaborative writing is a process of writing where multiple authors contribute to a piece of writing. It involves working together with others to develop and refine a written work. Collaborative writing can take many forms, including group brainstorming, co-authoring, and peer review. The goal of collaborative writing is to produce a cohesive and well-written piece that incorporates the input and ideas of multiple writers. Collaborative writing can be used in many settings, such as in business, academic research, and (what we are here to talk about today) creative writing. It can be done in person or remotely, using various technologies to facilitate the collaboration (we use google docs). The benefits of collaborative writing include improved quality of work, increased creativity, and a broader perspective on the topic being written about.
What is a Web3 Collaborative writing:
WEB3 is a term that refers to the third generation of the World Wide Web, which is characterized by the integration of decentralized technologies such as blockchain and peer-to-peer networking protocols. This means that web applications and services built on the WEB3 infrastructure are decentralized, meaning that they are not controlled by a single entity, but rather by a network of nodes that collectively maintain the integrity and security of the system.
Web3 collaborative writing, or storytelling, is a type of collaborative writing that leverages the capabilities of WEB3 technologies, particularly the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to facilitate ownership and control of digital assets. In this context, NFTs are used to represent unique digital assets such as written works, and ownership of these assets can be tracked on the blockchain, allowing for transparent and secure collaboration among multiple writers.
In Web3 collaborative writing, multiple writers can work on the same piece of writing, with each writer contributing their unique perspective and expertise to create a cohesive whole. Ownership of the resulting work can be distributed among the writers based on a pre-determined set of rules, and each writer's contribution can be tracked and verified using the blockchain.
Web3 collaborative storytelling represents a new paradigm in digital content creation and collaboration, offering a decentralized and secure way for writers to work together and create valuable intellectual property.
How does it work:
Web3 collaborative writing works by leveraging blockchain technology to create a decentralized platform for writers to collaborate on a piece of writing. Here are the basic steps involved:
Idea creation: The writing project starts with an idea that is shared among a group of writers. This original idea may be in the form of a novel an author has written that the other writers can expand upon, or maybe just a concept authors develop between themselves. The group can be organized through various means, such as social media platforms, writing communities, or other networks.
Writing process: Each writer contributes to the project by adding their own unique perspective and expertise. They can do this in a variety of ways, such as by writing sections of a shared story, writing a stand-alone spin-off novel to expand the universe being created, providing feedback on other writers' contributions, or editing work. Participants can create a shared story by submitting their ideas or content to a decentralized platform. Content submitted by contributors can be in the form of text, images, videos, or other digital media.
Collaborative editing: Once the story is created, participants can collaborate and edit the story in real-time. This can be done using various Web3 tools, such as smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps).
Tokenization: When the project is complete, it is then tokenized into an NFT. This means that a unique digital asset is created that represents the writing project as a whole.
Ownership distribution: Ownership of the NFT can be distributed among the writers based on a predetermined set of rules (using a smart contract). For example, the ownership can be divided equally among all writers, or it can be distributed based on the percentage of the writing each writer contributed. You could even add a percentage for editors or cover artists.
Royalty payments: As per the smart contract; once the NFT is sold or licensed, the writers receive royalties based on their ownership percentage. This allows the writers to receive compensation for their contributions to the project. And this will happen automatically via the smart contracts put in place. One person doesn't have to sit down and to the math every 2,4,12 weeks
Web3 collaborative writing provides a way for writers to work together in a decentralized and transparent way, while also providing a means for them to be compensated for their work. The use of blockchain technology ensures that ownership and compensation are tracked in a secure and immutable way.
Benefits of Web3 Collaborative writing:
Web3 collaborative writing offers numerous benefits for writers, including:
Increased creativity: Collaborating with other writers can spark new ideas and approaches to storytelling. It can also push writers out of their comfort zones, leading to more creative and innovative work.
Diverse perspectives: Collaborative writing brings together writers with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, allowing for more diverse and inclusive storytelling. This can result in more engaging and relatable content that resonates with a wider audience.
Greater efficiency: When working as a team, writers can divide tasks and responsibilities, making it possible to create content more efficiently. This can lead to quicker turnaround times and the ability to produce more content overall. By working as a team, creators can draw from each other's strengths and expertise, producing richer and more intricate narratives than wouldn’t be possible in isolation.
Enhanced storytelling: Collaborative writing can result in more intricate and detailed storylines that are better developed and more engaging. When multiple writers work together, they can weave together different plotlines and character arcs, creating a more immersive and satisfying experience for readers.
Strengthened community: Collaborative writing can create a sense of community among writers and readers alike. When readers are able to participate in the creative process, they become more invested in the story and feel a greater connection to the writers and other participants. Collaborative writing enables storytellers to engage fans more intimately by involving them directly in the creative process, giving fans a sense of ownership over the story. With the ability to participate in the creation process, fans can share their ideas and perspectives to further enrich the storytelling experience.
Reduced intermediaries: Web3 also removes the need for intermediaries in the publishing process. Readl is an example of a web3 storytelling platform that allows users to post stories and earn lifetime royalties directly from the community of readers. The removal of intermediaries means active participants are more likely to obtain value for their work.
Interestingly, Hollywood has also taken an interest in web3 storytelling, with celebrities like Mila Kunis and Gary Vaynerchuk exploring the space. Kunis' animated web series, Stoner Cats, allows NFT holders to vote on the storyline for the next episode, while Vaynerchuk's VeeFriends NFT collection features unique IP contents for supporting storytelling projects, expanding the content ecosystem with new and innovative additions.
Web3 collaborative writing can lead to more creative, efficient, and engaging storytelling that resonates with a wider audience. By working together, writers can push the boundaries of their craft and create content that is more diverse, innovative, and satisfying.
Disadvantages of Web3 Collaborative writing:
While web3 collaborative writing has numerous benefits, it also has some potential disadvantages. Here are a few to consider:
Difficulties with coordination: Coordinating a group of writers to work together on a story can be challenging, especially when participants are located in different time zones or have conflicting schedules. Without proper coordination, the project may experience delays or may not be completed at all.
Risk of disagreements and conflicts: When multiple people are involved in a creative project, there is always a risk of disagreements or conflicts. These can range from minor differences in opinion to major disputes over creative direction, ownership, and compensation. If these issues are not addressed and resolved effectively, they can derail the project and damage relationships among participants.
Complexity of decentralized platforms: Web3 platforms can be complex to use and require some technical knowledge. This may discourage some writers from participating or lead to errors and confusion when using the platform. Additionally, the decentralized nature of the platform may make it difficult to obtain support or resolve technical issues.
Potential for plagiarism: Collaborative writing can increase the risk of plagiarism, especially when working with a large and diverse group of writers. Without proper attribution and oversight, it can be challenging to identify instances of plagiarism or to enforce intellectual property rights.
Web3 collaborative writing has its challenges and potential drawbacks, but many of these issues can be addressed with effective communication, planning, and management. By being aware of these potential problems and taking steps to mitigate them, writers can create successful and engaging stories on web3 platforms.
Examples of Web3 Collaborative writing:
StoryCo
StoryCo is a community-driven platform that aims to revolutionize the world of intellectual property creation and ownership through Web3 technology. To become a member, one needs to mint a producer token and join forces with other storytellers to govern a shared treasury that finances the expansion of a specific story universe. StoryCo attracts new members by offering fun and interactive storytelling experiences, such as the collaborative Story Quest adventure that took place at NFT.NYC in June 2022, guiding participants through an interactive storytelling experience via text messages.
The ultimate goal of StoryCo is to bridge the gap between Hollywood and the metaverse by providing an open media platform where creators and passionate fans can collaborate and co-create the next great story franchises, and jointly participate in their success. The community will develop and determine new characters, plots, and story arcs, building franchises that captivate an ever-expanding fanbase. Their first story universe, The Disco Ball, is an existential sci-fi journey across dimensions and is scheduled for release in early 2023.
StoryCo, in partnership with the broader community, produces new interactive story-based experiences that are a new take on visual novels, incorporating a variety of media types to bring new narrative universes to life. The platform believes that by providing communities with a vested interest in the stories they love, they can create a more sustainable model for content creation and bring real value to both fans and creators. The platform also believes that, collectively, they will develop more engaging and inclusive story franchises that will continue to expand for generations.
Each Story Universe on the StoryCo platform has a treasury that is funded through all revenue generated from the IP developed within it, including all NFT sales, royalties, and IP licensing revenue. For StoryCo produced projects, like The Disco Ball, 50% of all net revenue will be shared with the story treasury (after story artist, story architect, and story musician royalties are paid). For future community-produced projects, the initial story creators will determine the percentage of revenue shared with the community treasury.
Sitka World
Sitka World is a community-driven, community rewarded literature movement based around a fantasy world. Founded around the idea of community-driven publishing, the creators of Sitka World took the idea of having a thousand true fans and getting books into their hands instead of just sending a book out into the world.
With ‘Sitka World,' their mission is to bring the magic of storytelling to Web3. It started out just as a way to publish author Rae Wojcik’s book series, which is called ‘The Sitka Saga,' which is how ‘Sitka World' got its name. Rae then wanted to make a community that's not just about her work, but can be about other people's work as well.
‘Sitka World,' is essentially a whole community of writers helping everybody learn more about the Web3 space and being able to build a successful writing career in the Web3 space.
Their aim is to create the next mainstream multimedia fantasy franchise that impacts people with a powerful, beautiful story, incorporating technologies that allow for a more immersive experience than ever seen in fantasy before.
Core community members will be able to start creating characters, and later whole titles, that are eligible for consideration to be incorporated into the ecosystem with full IP rights for the creator.
From their White Paper, the future plans for Sitka World is to:
Release the story (book 1),
Enable world building/character creation for community members,
Create a TV show,
Create an online game.
Benefits of joining the SitkaWorld community for Fans
The benefits of joining include the opportunity to connect directly with the author (Rae) and other fans who share their love for Sitka and her world. Through a variety of initiatives, such as the Sitka Story Hours and Monthly "Coffee Chat" topical discussions with the founders, members can engage in brainstorming sessions, creative sprints, and even play a custom-built, fully-fledged text-based RPG called Tales of Rúnsala in the community's Discord server. In addition, members have early access to the story and can participate in monthly book clubs and interactive short story adventures using a custom bot. The community also offers an email newsletter and a referral bonus system for bringing work to the Guild of Scribes. As a member, fans can look forward to exclusive short stories and behind-the-scenes footage (once the show is in development), custom commissioned artwork by Nate, metaverse and game experiences, and a scholarship fund for community projects.
Benefits of joining the SitkaWorld community for Writers
The SitkaWorld community offers several benefits for writers who are interested in improving their craft, publishing works, finding writing jobs, or building a brand. They serve as a hub for creative writers in Web3, and have several initiatives to support them:
Story Q&A sessions: these sessions are aimed at sparking conversations on practical writing-related topics.
Guild of Scribes: this is their network of top writers who serve the broader NFT community.
Online education: they are working on building a full-fledged e-learning course for writers and have a small "library" of resources already available.
Workshopping events/group critiquing
Author services: they offer several services for writers, including 1:1 coaching, editing, publishing help, and audiobook creation. Discounts on these services are available for Discord members and NFT holders. Details on these services are available on their website.
Future: writers can expect opportunities to own and license IP for user-created characters and titles.
Royalty system for contributors (Summarized from the whitepaper):
A full 50% of all royalties, for all Acts and Books after Act I, including NFT sales (mints and secondary market royalties) and e-book, paperback, and audiobook royalties, will be available to be distributed to community members that contribute to the story. "Royalties" are defined as what amount is available to be paid to all authors (including Rae), after all project expenses have been paid. In traditional publishing, this is often only 10%–25% of sales; for Sitka World, this should be more like 30–40% of NFT sales and approximately 30% of traditional book and ebook sales.
Forgotten Runes Wizard Cult
Built on characters licensed through NFTs, the Forgotten Runes Wizard's Cult is a collection of 10k Wizard NFTs that form the core of a rapidly expanding community, affectionately known as the Cult. Members of the Cult contribute art, animation, stories, memes, and lore to social media and a unique Book of Lore every day, with the goal of creating a larger Runiverse. The Cult's decentralized approach to world-building is referred to as the "collaborative legendarium," with limitless potential, according to the community.
By owning a Wizard NFT, one gains access to the grand experiment of decentralized world-building and other surprises. The Runiverse Legendarium seeks to become larger than franchises such as Middle Earth, Westeros, and Hogwarts, thanks to its community-driven nature. NFTs are more than just static images; they are "alive," allowing for metaverse traversal with a fully animated walk cycle, announcing a "GM" on Twitter with a GM generator, and periodic airdrops like the Sacred Flame and Ponies. The Forgotten Runes developers continuously surprise the Cult, and owning a Wizard NFT allows one to be part of the fun.
The Cult has ambitious plans in the works, such as a fully animated piece by Titmouse Studios, a Create-to-Earn game, a comic book series, 3D versions of all Wizards, and the highly anticipated Warriors drop. The latest roadmap can be found on their website.
Bat Cowl NFT Collection
The comic book industry is a leader in using non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for storytelling, and Palm NFT Studio has launched a collaboration with DC Comics called The Bat Cowl Collection. The collection features around 200,000 distinct 3D-rendered Batman cowl NFTs that DC Comics fans can use to participate in story designs for future comic books. This collaboration is an example of how web3 is redefining storytelling for creators and fans through NFTs. Fans can become protagonists and co-create shared experiences, and the combination of web3 and generative art could help fans shape their own superheroes and express their stories. The Bat Cowl NFTs have distinct traits, and badging in the NFTs can help create distinct stories behind the cowls.
Thoughts on Web3 Collaborative writing:
Andy:
I like it and it could be something I look into in the future, but I think I would still want to try my hand at good old traditional collaborative writing first before, to see if I liked it. Before i tried doing it via WEB3 or NFT’s
Sharn:
I think it’s really cool and I love the ability to involve fans more intimately. It also offers up the chance to build out story universes quicker and more richly which is also amazing.
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Andy’s Imagin-asium
Work Out of the week number 2
This week's workout is going to be a fun one and all about discovery.
The track for this week is:
A Better Beginning, By John Paesano, From the Mass Effect Andromeda Soundtrack
This is an uplifting exciting track to help get the creative juices flowing!
Your workout is as follows:
Get the music ready on your device.
Get outside and go for a walk, preferably somewhere nice and safe. But if you can't get comfy under your blanket of choice.
Listen to the music and follow the below workout:
This weeks workout is all about discovery. While listening to music I want you to imagine you or your MC discovering something totally mind blowing. It can be treasure, it can be remnants of an ancient civilization, it can be their one true love, or it could be an alien space ship. Remember there are no wrong answers. But you must imagine every aspect of the scene and incorporate all of your senses. You may want to run through the activity several times adding in a new layer of detail each time until it hits just right.
And finally, hit me up on twitter(@AndyMacCreative) or Bards (@Invokecrations) up on Twitter and let me know what you came up with 🎧
And that's your Imagin-asium workout of the week! Remember to stay hydrated and stretch throughout the day ;)
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As always, we have a lot to do and a lot more to learn. Hope you all have fun following along as we improve our understanding and knowledge!
You can find this podcast episode (and all our other episodes) here: https://anchor.fm/invokecreations , or directly on your favourite streaming services.
NOTE: Everything discussed during the podcast is simply our own interpretation of information we come across as we research topics, or is commentary based on our own personal experiences. We highly encourage everyone to conduct their own research into topics of interest as information, especially in the technical space, changes regularly.
Music track featured this week was titledA Brewing Line Up and can be viewed/listened to here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMNQ1aFYmkU
To check out our latest art and music adventures, make sure you like and subscribe to both our Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/invoke_art/ and Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPH5KySvBnWgWPXHi_OtTng
Or, if you want to read some musing from Sharn and Andy, or maybe see some random pictures of the two of them where Sharn doesn’t know what to do with her hands, then follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/invokecreations
Or if everything is just too confusing and you can’t remember where all our stuff is, head to our website www.invokecreations.com and it will point you in the right direction.
As always, we’re off to put our bums on seats and do some work, so until next time stay dangerous!
Byeeeeeeeeee!
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References