Hacktivism Intent #1 – Blockchain Club
Blockchain Club
The technological world is currently experiencing its fifth disruptive paradigm adoption, and all but the most off-handed mention of it is absent in UMaine, we want to fix that.
- what is your concept/idea
Blockchain technology, which is what bitcoin is built on, as well as other distributed digital ledger tech such as Tangle are completely revolutionizing the way we will interact and utilize technology and internet services. I personally think it’s crazy there are no computer science classes or anything what-so-ever involving this new tech here at the University of Maine. So a friend and I have decided we want to start a blockchain based “club” to try an provide a resource as well as an entry point into the crypto world. The club would most likely meet twice a week, with one meeting focusing on the finance and trading side, and the other focusing on the technology and use case side of things.
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- why this is important and for whom?
This technology is going to get adopted in almost every sector of technology. Obviously, financial transaction will never be the same, but it goes much further. Charities will finally be held to high levels of accountability and transparency. The aviation sector will see synchronization and accurate flight and maintenance recording and scheduling like never before. And even the thing that many people see as Cryptos polar opposite, the stock market, will be run on blockchain tech in the coming years, Nasdaq along with Chain has already begun the process. This is important for literally everyone in some sense. This is why we want to have two different days, so if you arent the type of person who is going to do any, there will still be a day completely focused on why the average person should care.
- what New Media/hacktivism strategies will you use and why?
For one, we have already set up a Discord server, which is very similar to a slack team and I think is a perfect example of the many-to-many communication method that New Media allows for. Within the
server
there are a few channels, such as “Trade Talk,” “Tech Talk,” and “Coin of the Week,” which allow for us to have a very organized exchange of information. This will be our primary “tool” or hacktivism strategy, as the primary problem we are tackling is a lack of communication about this new tech, so allowing for a lot of open, organized communication is our main goal and something Discord is amazing for. This would fall under the strategy of, “Distribute and Connect Information.” Other than that, in order to actually gain new members, we will do some amount of promotion though we hope the main source of new members will be from word of mouth and by our current members being involved enough to almost act as recruiters, a.k.a. “Crowdsourcing the Job.”
- Who is the audience and how do you hope it will influence them?
The target demographic is literally every student at Umaine, as this matters for everyone. But the realistic target audience is anyone who may consider themselves a techie or a finance-oriented person. The fact is that half of the apps on our phone in 10 years will be run on or in someway utilize Blockchain tech, an entire job market is emerging, not just for coders but for all the positions the cypto-ecosystem has seen use for, everything from graphic designers to writers to PR people. To put those positions within reach of my peers here’s at Umaine is one of the primary goals of this project. And even if you arent looking to get a job in the field, chances are you’ve heard of bitcoin and blockchain, but the average person is clueless about them, and though there’s always natural human curiosity, it seems to large a barrier of entry to get into for most, and hopefully this club will provide and easy way in.
- Rough budget for material, time, space needed to build; this can be a bullet list:
- Meeting space
- 2 Hours a week for meetings
- Variable amount of hours per week on prep for those meetings
- 1 Ohop Pizza per meeting (tbd)
3 thoughts on “Hacktivism Intent #1 – Blockchain Club”
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PROJECT FEEDBACK FORM
Concept
what media is the intent/project? 1-1, 1-many, many-many? explain… The intent is actually all of the above. 1-1 in the sense that they will talk face to face and have discussion. 1-many because one person (probably Keegan) will be teaching others about the crypto world. and many-to-many because of the fact that they will have an online “forum” or “slack” to discuss it all. Anyone can participate.
Yeah, it has a whole new level of communication to it, sort of like a slack channel for investors and financial gurus.
The issue is that in a world full of technology, people aren’t realizing the importance of cryptocurrencies and finance. Everyone is afraid to explore these areas simply because they’re new. If Bill Gates didn’t explore what was new, he would never had become the person he is today and the world wouldn’t be the same.
Hell yeah it scares me but I lowkey wanna join the club to check it out.
Design
Yeah I mean there’s not too much for a design but from what I can see it’s very clear and fits the project well.
It does. The big words at the beginning scared me and I wasn’t sure what the first two pictures meant but it looks inviting and exciting.
Technical
A coding app, computers, and cryptocurrencies.
I mean oHop pizza is expensive but doesn’t mean it’s too expensive for this club.
Audience
Intended audience are young adults looking to take advantage of the tech wave. You can ride it or be forced to sooner or later, might as well ride it.
It provides an exciting and innovative atmosphere to invest, talk about tech, and move forward.
Hell yeah, both. It’s exciting because I have never heard of anything like this before and knowing Keegan’s ability to commit to stuff he wants, this can go somewhere for sure.
Creativity
Absolutely, the guy spent like 30 minutes explaining to me how the market works and even offered to take care of investments for me. He obviously has a passion.
Yeah, for sure.
Concept
what media is the intent/project? 1-1, 1-many, many-many? explain? – I think the intent of this project is to be many to many, but while also incorporating a 1 to 1 strategy. I would not consider holding meetings to be New Media, as that has been a staple of trading ideas for centuries. But the Discord chat would add an interesting dynamic to the club. Being able to post any piece of information, whether it be a graph or news article, opens up the effectiveness of what you are trying to accomplish. I think you should try and elaborate on how to improve the group chat setting to maximize its potential.
does the idea enlist any of the New Media Strategies? If so which & how? This uses “Distribute and connect information” as its main strategy as the goal of the group is too share new trading and tech information. I think it also uses “Crowdsourcing” as you are using the members of the club to help the general success of everyone in the group.
what major issue(s) does the project engage? This tackles the new and confusing topic of blockchain and cryptocurrencies altogether. To the average person these topics can be tough to understand, but with a group of people talking about it weekly, it will begin to make sense.
does the concept interest you? I’m actually into the whole cryptocurrency topic to begin with, so I think this idea would be really useful.
Design
is the design clear and appropriate? Yes, you stated what you want to accomplish and how to do it.
does the design invite attention and/or participation? Yes, you need participation in order for this to work.
Technical
what tech is used? is it appropriate? – A group chat is a great idea for this type of project.
what is the cost? is it affordable for most people? the planet? is it sustainable? – There is relatively no cost, as you are just getting people together at the same time.
Audience
who is the intended audience? University students are the ideal intended audience for this as they are open to new ideas and making money.
how is the project geared to the audience? The general topic is geared to the audience, but I do think there could be more done to spark interest in people. A group meeting and a group chat are a classic way to connect people, I think you should do some research and find out how people our age would be excited about talking about this between each other. Maybe a website or something like that, just something more than a stand-alone group chat.
would the project appeal to or challenge the audience? how/why? Again the topic itself is what is drawing the audience in, you just have to keep them there.
Creativity
does the idea stem from some personal passion of the creator? Yes, you seem very into the topic more than the average person.
can you detect the mark of a particular sensibility?
This is a critical new technology, and worth exploring at UMaine. You might be able to get funding from NMD and COS and SCIS, as well as from UMaine club funds.
See: https://umaine.edu/case/student-organizations/%20leader-resources/
I would also suggest that you not only form a club to discuss and explore the ideas of blockchain, but come up with some initial projects, some of which may be in creating “bitcoin currency” for the club. The club could then serve as ambassadors to trading bitcoins for other currencies.
Do you know about other alt currencies like Maine Time Bank. How do these compare? Would your club be interested in exploring any overlaps?
https://mainetime.timebanks.org
http://www.hourexchangeportland.org
For approach, I’d begin to develop project ideas and try one out–even if only as a test.