Welcome to Deep Dives | Refining The Search With Community Input
Welcome Back Deep Divers!
As communities launch on the Steem blockchain, we wanted to be among those active users working to carve out our own niche within the greater Steem citizenry.
For those of you unfamiliar with #deepdives / @deepdives we have been here since May 2018 quietly producing original research content with our own brand of DIY independent journalism.
Deep Dives is a research project established by: @v4vapid and @ausbitbank.
The Original Deep Dives Introductory post:
https://steemit.com/deepdives/@v4vapid/deep-dives-research-or-an-introduction
@palikari123, @krnel, @geke, @bifiracoil, @thoughts-in-time, @direrat, @an0nkn0wledge, @gregorypatrick, @natepower, @deliberator, @angryman, @elchacal6, @richq11, @tarazkp, @valued-customer, @v4vapid.
Deep Dives Index - The Best of Deep Dives #1- #10
Deep Dives started out with the goal of creating a research community dedicated to producing high-quality content and preserving the original censorship-resistant pieces of our contributors on-chain.
From the onset, @deepdives hosted regular bi-monthly research challenges open to anyone who wished to participate and who followed the submission guidelines we provided. The idea was to ask researchers to dig through various public archives in search of, and report on;
overlooked underrated, underreported or obscure leaks/ emails/ cables /documents / court filings on a wide range of topics.
More recently, the @deepdives account has been used primarily to curate and support journalism, research and political analysis throughout the Steem platform.
Archives
Specific archives were selected for each 'research challenge' in most instances to help narrow down the assignment for the 2-3 week submission period. In general, this approach worked fairly well with certain challenges attracting dozens of entries and often multiple submissions from members of our modest community.
Popular archives for research have included:
Wikileaks, The FBI Vault, The CIA Library, Black Vault, The National Security Archive, Cryptome and several others.
Time Constraints
Since the beginning of the project, the creators of Deep Dives have been acutely aware of the fact that placing time restrictions on research puts unneeded pressure on contributors and can reduce overall participation. Consequently, it certainly doesn't always make for quality entries. The very nature of the 7-day payout period native to the Steem blockchain led to the adoption of the contest style format in the first place.
Considering the time restrictions and narrow focus laid out by the 'research challenge' guidelines, it's little wonder that some #DeepDives challenges only generated a handful of submissions. The restrictive 2 week deadline to complete the research and to put together a cohesive article proved to be problematic for a number of contributors.
Beyond Archives
The idea that the vast majority of the publicly available and searchable online archives are simply SANITIZED and carefully SELECTED collections of approved government record has long been a legitimate criticism of predominantly focusing research in this area. Discussions centred around the concept of 'gatekeeping' were also frequent and heated. The winners of history are also those that control the past, are they not?
With this in mind, it's time for #DeepDives to progress to the next stage in its evolution and move beyond the contest structure and open up to a wider capacity.
This is where the you, the DD community, come in.
Community Initiatives and Input
First off, thank you for everyone who has subscribed to our community, we appreciate your support!
Deep Dives has no desire to be a top-down community. It has always been our vision to be truly community driven by the ideas and feedback of our members.
Here we would simply like to open up a dialog with the members and guests of the newly minted Deep Dives Community. Any and all suggestions are welcome! Please leave your thoughts in the comments and let's get the ball rolling.
Questions for the Community
What initiatives are important to you?
What are your thoughts on censorship and abuse in the community?
How often would you like to see 'research challenges'?
(ie. periodically - once every few months -, monthly, bi-monthly)?
How should 'research challenge' winners be selected?
Any suggestions for a new contest format?
How can DD appeal to a wider audience while maintaining it's core principles (high-quality research)?
What has DD done well in the past and should continue to do?
What are some areas that need improvement?
Should DD create a curation trail with delegations?
What community rules would you like to see?
Is a community token necessary or desirable?
Which authors would you like to see posting to DD?
Deep Dives Aims
Promote original content Promote investigative journalism Promote focused and quality research Encourage community engagement Encourage collaboration and teamwork Recognize and reward high quality original content
Over time, Deep Dives aims to build a repository of high quality research and original content preserved on the blockchain.
We hope you join us in building this unique resource.
It truly is a community effort and your exceptional contributions are what fuels this project.
Free people face a conundrum in understanding relevant information in our world. Extant power structures have availed, and continue to accelerate, financial concentration of wealth to control economy(s), and thereby control society(s).
Civilian journalists that seek factual information aren't paid by legacy institutions to do so (and actually counter propaganda from those sources), and have to do other work. I bend nails. This means that absent crowdfunding folks seeking facts are dilettantes, part timers, and non-specialists, as well as limited in the time they can spend on research. We do what we can.
The burgeoning censorship effected by extant technocratic media institutions increasingly threatens our ability to research and communicate what we learn. Articles and information are purged, and we ourselves are prevented from publishing. I would like to see mechanisms that improve our ability to do the necessary research, and to disseminate the results. Undertaking this effort on Steem is a good start. An archival tool for sources we discover that are likely to disappear would be extremely important. Two vids central to posts I made in recent weeks have been removed from Youtube, removing the evidence I cited from my posts. A way to download and archive pages, digital documents, and audio/video content would be of enormous significance.
Perhaps creating best practices and how to's regarding use of the sources you mention, like Wikileaks, Cryptome, etc., would decrease the learning curve and error rate of non-professionals digging into those sources. I know I have been shy about using certain sources because of that learning curve, and the fear of making mistakes because of my nescience.
While all the authors you mention are indeed valuable to me, the authors I'd most like to see doing this research and publishing their findings are ordinary folks that have discovered truths that have disturbed them. While seasoned diggers may be well aware of such matters, it behooves us to celebrate the breaking free of ordinary folks from the mental control imposed by the enemedia. While we may not learn much new information from them (though we certainly might), by welcoming them we can substantively ease their learning and increase the network effect and impact on society of facts contrary to propaganda.
Authors that may not be digging into archival resources for their content, but hitting the streets instead, may be of inestimable value in establishing relevance to society of our work, but may be outside the purview of the Deep Dives Community. Copwatchers particularly have produced stories that demonstrate the utility of work digging into old archives where political causes of present malfeasance are revealed.
Since I largely eschew the financial system, due to it's co-option by nefarious institutions to control society, I may not be suited to discuss Delve tokens, or curation trails and the like. I note that social media is a venue for society, and society is comprised of people, not bots. I have always voted personally and manually to preclude the automation of humanity that seems to be coming to the degree I can. This may not be the most effective way forward for the Deep Dives Community, but it is based on principles I find factual and compelling. A token sidesteps extant financial control mechanisms, and may be of great utility in furthering our work.
I know I am extremely grateful you have created the Deep Dives community, because free speech depends on the facts conveyed for it's relevance. Increasingly, suppressed truth presents existential threats to society, our community, and each of us individually. It might seem trite, but in fact our lives may depend on this effort, and for undertaking it you deserve my undying gratitude.
Thanks!
Edit: I want to add a recommendation that the community recognizes new contributors, maybe even folks that have only just become aware of and published disturbing facts that counter establishment narratives. Also, while specific targets of research may be advisable from time to time, simply recognizing the best published during a given period may better suit civilian researchers' interests and abilities.
Really appreciate this lengthy and thoughtful response!
You made numerous excellent points, but there are a few that really stand out.
First, obviously we agree that Deep Dives is a tool to combat the never ending streams of propaganda we're targeted by and it's surely one of the reasons for creating the project in the first place.
Second, love that you pointed out that though the seasoned diggers may be well versed in the lies of authority, gov., financial institutions, intel agencies, media etc., it is critical that the average person becomes aware of false narratives, even just a glimpse of the truth. There is too much at stake to let these lies go unchecked and unchallenged.
Third,
This is another great point and one of the reasons we would like to broaden Deep Dives to include more voices.
Fourth,
Another great suggestion...and one we will certainly consider. Much of this can come from the members of the community themselves as to how to conduct effective research and sourcing. In previous posts we have included tips here and there but complete posts on the topic might be highly beneficial.
Certainly much more to unpack here and to mull over.
Thank you my friend, outstanding input, if I do say so...
Cheers!
Would it be an idea to create a lie-br-diction-ary that exposes one lie at a time. as an additional part ?
Interesting idea... could be a very valuable ongoing project!
"Lie-brary" - lol
Compiling a list of DOUBLE-SPEAK from political/economic/cultural/military/etc. would be something special.
Thanks, great to hear from you @bifilarcoil !
It's good to be able to post again.
Nasty bugs...
Double-speak with Trumpian tripple-twist and spinning-tables that are being turned in 3D
Edward B. revisited in Sigmund's wet dream.
.....Blame the parents, keep eating those pills and everythiiiiiiingwillbeeeeeaaaalriiiite lalala
Oooooone looooove....
I'm happy that what I put in stands out.
=)
It’s been both an honour and a great learning experience to be part of this small but committed community from it’s inception, and I greatly appreciate what the founders of this initiative and their vision, have done to allow free peoples to follow their hearts and participate in something that will greatly benefit humanity as a whole on this blockchain. An opportunity to create a resource that we can all share and be proud of as a community and the wider blockchain. A resource and index, based on hard hitting facts! There is nothing more powerful than well researched and open sourced journalism that can free us from the chains of the manipulators and spin doctors within the dinosaur media and its special interests.
I do believe that this initiative will benefit greatly, with the rollout of the new steem communities feature that we are now experiencing on this blockchain...and things will only get better as we progress from here! I’m also super excited to see @deepdives return after a hiatus, and can’t wait to continue reading and learning from all the veteran and citizen journalists well into the future. (At least there is a future now lol!)
Now that we have more specific communities on this blockchain, I think it will enable us all to form even closer relationships and a new appreciation for each others efforts and research, and will allows us to index our work in a more organised and cohesive fashion, with open access to all. And what better way, than on a censorship resistant platform such as Steem!
I hope it will also allow us to expand our reach and discover new Steemians who may not have known about this initiative previously, that will now be eager to be part of this amazing opportunity. I’m certain there are some undiscovered talented minds and researchers out there waiting to dip their toe into the water, with a bit of encouragement from us all!
Different angles/ideas and points of reference are always a great way to reach and introduce new people into our community, which is something I believe is very important. I also believe that allowing authors to have more freedom in what topics and research they want to delve into will encourage more participation. That’s just my belief of course, and partly because that’s what I myself would prefer LOL. I’m not sure what others think about that, so hopefully you will get more input there.
As far as trying to get more participation in general, I’ve had the thought that a mentoring style program or collaborative initiative may encourage more Steemians to dip their toe into the water, so to speak. Steemians that may otherwise be slightly reluctant or unsure of where to begin, and a bit of guidance from more experienced researchers would open the door for more co-operative efforts. But that would also be a choice for each individual to decide whether they want to try out something like that. I was actually in discussions about doing that with another contributor, but it never eventuated due to unforseen circumstances in the end.
I will be looking forward to contributing and helping where I can, although that’s a little more difficult at this point for myself, as it takes me 3 times as long to do what I previously did...I will be trying my best though! I at least hope to get around to more posts with both comments and manual curation efforts. It is true that I have somewhat succumbed to auto-voting and the bots (@valued-customer lol), but that is something I had little choice in due to both time constraints and life issues.
Just on the general topic of voting, I think a curation trail may actually be beneficial to this community. I can also see a token being desirable based on the fact that there are already many tribes out there that issue tokens and it has become a popular way of rewarding Steemians for their efforts. But that can be decided upon by everyone as a whole:-)
I'm seeing a constant here regarding an index, archive, or Lie-brary @bifilarcoil cleverly coined. Frankly, I need it. My old computer doesn't even have a working fan any more LOL. I need to archive vids I need as evidence for posts but have no means to store them locally.
I also love the idea of mentoring. As I mentioned digging into some of the archival sources has been daunting to me. I'm sure it is to everyone to varying degrees. Being shown how specific archives work can really increase comfort levels for folks new to them.
I agree that AI and automation are perhaps the most significant technological advance of our age. I am confident that our work can be furthered by their careful application, and that also it can be furthered for us and not past us. Curation trails are great, because they lead us to new authors and sources - but it's important that we go there ourselves, because otherwise we don't get to those authors and sources. As long as such tools can be used to augment human capabilities instead of replacing them, I am a fervent believer in using them. I just haven't found many curation trails for manual curation, or bots that find us content to read and comment on. Humanity is the purpose of tech, irreplacable, even sacred in my view. All too often financialization dehumanizes people into mere products and profit centers. Warning shots across our bows.
As to research challenges, I think we largely agree that civilian journalists come to this from myriad perspectives, and with various interest levels, which is why I think it may be more useful to simply recognize outstanding contributions from time to time than to dictate foci. For specific research needs. I think the mentoring effort can go a long way to getting people digging the right holes.
Thanks for your insights.
First of all, apologies for the late reply @valued-customer. Secondly, I do need to make a slight correction on my original comment. I actually meant to say more freedom in choosing which particular archive and research sources each individual would prefer to use, rather than the actual topic itself. If the research is credible and well sourced, then that may encourage more participation? We already had a wide scope in most research challenges in the past, so that was an error on my part. I personally had no major issue with the original format myself, but I was just thinking that maybe some researchers would want to concentrate on a different archive of their choosing. other than what was prescribed for each challenge. I believe from previous comments on the @deepdives account, that some may not feel comfortable in using one particular archive over another?
Lol lie-brary:) What a great name for it bifi. That really would be a very cool thing to have indeed. It is out of my league though, so I will leave that for more qualified individuals to suggest a way forward in that regard.
I did think of something today, that @v4vapid may already have in mind or be planning, but I thought I would share it here. With the new community feature of cross-posting available to us on Steem now, would it be worthwhile to actually cross-post past articles from the earlier contests of the @deepdives account so they can be availbe in the new community feed itself? That way when we have new visitors to the community they could easily find past articles as an example? What do you guys think?
Thanks everyone. Nice discussion:)
Very pleased with the amount of feedback already. This is great!
I think that it's true that people tend to prefer certain archives and that's very understandable. The purpose of selecting a specific archive was just to provide a starting point for those that needed prompting. For the more experienced in our community, I doubt that they need archives/topics/prompts as they already have some subjects in mind. At the same time, it's sometimes helpful to have a general outline or aim for some - especially for those that are participating for the first time.
It's nice to have new tools to showcase and distribute some of our work across the platform. Certainly, I think this could be worthwhile. Good suggestion!
Agreed:)
I hear you... .. Once the fans no longer rattle and the word Intel is being burned in your kneecap it becomes critical to find a fresh abacus.
Looks like you just have to make a shitload of posts and upload all the video's in here and let Justin take care of the backups for now. YouTube seems to be slowly fading away. And taking all it's memories with it.
A new abbreviation comes to mind
ArIn added the extra letters ... (Argumented Intelligence)
Maybe an AI names Arin can one day be turned into an IoT to sit on the windowsil.
and future generations can say "ArIn, what is corruption?"
And then wish they never asked, as it will ramble on FOREVER!
Bifi's 'Black Mirror'
At least the rattling sounds no longer disturb my concentration LOL
Videos and images aren't stored on Steem. This is why we need an archive, or I need to learn how to use extant archival resources (and for that I need mentoring) to be able to preserve such evidence that is being removed by the censors.
So then we need something like peertube + bittorrent (peertube already has that to some extend) Butit behave slighly different then i expected.
With torrent we could carry the load together. But torrent doesn't have a mechanism that covers files that are getting low amounts of views, so that would then lead to a risk of loosing important data.
I would love to see BitTorrent become a means for hosting the blockchain, instead of legacy centralized nodes. Decentralization FTW! I dunno if devs are even considering this, but it would provide several essential improvements, including reduced cost, greater censorship resistance, improved speed, greater storage capacity, better resilience, and more.
Since Tron owns BitTorrent, it seems like a natural means of improving both Tron blockchain and Steem. I sure hope someone is looking at this.
:-)
Chop-up all the chains and make a scatternet.
But it also needs a way to include vidjeaows and other medja.
...My Russian accent is not convincing, is it?
I'm not convinced that Blockchain is the solution.
I prefer to have data that is NOT entangled with finance.
When looking at the price of MicroSD cards I know we are being ripped of at a MASSIVE scale. We could have unlimited storage at a VERY low cost and just have ultra cheap backups.
Imma try peertube. I tried smartube, but can't get it to dl vids. I tried a website, but it didn't record the audio. I'm a bit frustrated LOL
At least the rattling
Sounds no longer disturb my
Concentration LOL
- valued-customer
I'm a bot. I detect haiku.
LOL
Then you will need
Some extra space for
Intel tattoo's
an exercise in markdown haiku
Sadly, since LOL is spelled out when pronounced, I fear these immortal sentiments actually fail to produce a haiku due to the final line having more syllables than suitable.
Edit: perhaps I am just a dinosaur, and my ancient ways are no longer relevant for the cool kids. In that case, disregard.
Try to make a fully abbreviated haiku
WTF CIA FBI
WaPo DEA DOJ
LOL
Hahahahaha
the educational part is the best part
@corbettreport
@caitlinjohnstone
@zyx066
@tremendospercy
@perceptualflaws
@fortified
@ausbitbank
... and many more
:)
Thank for the mention @deepdives .. Honoured to be mentioned in the company of giants, I very much appreciate it! :) Really excited to see where this project goes next and what depths you intend to dive into. I'll ponder some of your questions and get back to you. Thanks again!!
Hey my friend, we're aiming to expand #deepdives to include a wider range of content. You're in-depth research into history-psychology-esoteric-politics-culture are areas that we would like to cultivate alongside our original focus.
Great to have you in our humble community, very exciting!
Thank you my friend .. the next part of my Agenda 2030 series is certainly going to be a #deepdive and I look forward to sharing it with you. :)
Wonderful! Looking forward to it and looking forward to promoting your excellent series here.
Respect!
I'm honored to be mentioned here among these heavy hitters; thanks so much @deepdives :-) I only just subscribed to the DeepDives community and hope that I'll be able to contribute in a small way.
I love what you're doing here; we simply have to dive deeper if we're ever to distill some truth that lays behind the propaganda we're presented with each and every day in the corporate backed mainstream media...
Thank you and welcome to the community! There are already many great contributors to #deepdives and we're looking to help provide a place to promote these voices and counter propaganda.
Great to hear from you, and thanks for commenting!
All of the above please, and many more:) They are all fantastic in their own right! Let's make it happen!!!
Thank you for the mention within your recent and past posts @deepdives. I'm also thankful for all past support.
Now that Communities have officially begun, I'm happy to be a member and hope my participation may provide value of sorts.
Regarding the feedback suggestions in the above post, I would not be opposed to the formation of a voting trail, yet personally, I've not joined any trails in the past, preferring to manually curate.
In actuality, I'm not certain if my VP level is ample enough to support manual curation along with dedicating resources to a voting trail. Any input from a more knowledgeable individual on this subject would be welcomed.
Delegating is something which interests me and I have begun with a small delegation to @curie; I certainly would consider delegating to @DeepDives.
Authors - Since I feel individuals within a community should be responsive and supporting of others...Admittingly, I loose my interest in authors who appear to be prolific, handsomely rewarded, yet return nothing in the way of engaged support. (The mere Takers)
Though quality may be considered subjective, my belief is that DeepDives consideration of 'quality' coincides much with my own. Therefore, I support future efforts to focus attention upon those authors who display a similar standard within their work.
Phew That's enough for now...
Ciao, my friends
Great job you are doing, @deepdives, especially regarding Julian Assange:
Thank you for the mention, it's been my honor to have participated and hopefully contributed in some small way. I've thought often about using the #deepdives tag but didn't want to do so without permission- I guess this is my opportunity to ask.
Absolutely, feel free to use the tag #deepdives!
We're looking to open up to a larger audience and greater inclusion of authors topics. Thanks for your past contributions, we're looking forward to featuring more of your work in the future!
Thanks for leaving a comment, cheers.
@fatkat FKNTL.com may be able to make some songs about interesting research. Would love to hear if anything you think would make a good song.
Sounds good! When we see contributors regularly posting again, have at it!
Also, thanks for your longtime support of JA and @unity4j!
Thank you!! hopefully we are free someday!! May start doing some news stuff finally, so may start diving.
Subbed :)
Welcome aboard!
Please provide any feedback to the questions in the post, thanks.
This is a wonderful legacy. There are stories, from stories about the brutalities I a continent as Africa which have been suppressed by political interference. An innovation as this will help bolster the attention of lovers of freedom and justice on spots around Africa where the media is influenced to a large extent.