Interviewing the SteemSTEM Curators - @ruth-girl

You (yes, you) have an inspiring idea about an exciting scientific topic! You do your research and start writing, full of joy and creativity.

After a while, your post is ready, awaiting publication. You do a thorough cross-check at the end, and make sure you use the tag #steemstem (as this will make it easier for the SteemSTEM team to track it).

Then you probably wait for the first comments to come. How was your article perceived? Will what you wrote be of interest to your readers? Will it make a good impression to the curator(s) that will take a look and evaluate it according to the SteemSTEM standards?

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The Curators of SteemSTEM

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What do they do? Well, their tasks include searching for new STEM authors, evaluating and reviewing STEM articles, conducting thorough searches for plagiarism and they are the people who will suggest whether or not a STEM article has to be upvoted and supported by @steemstem.

Let's get to know the Curators better, shall we?

A community gets bigger and stronger as its members work together, get to know each other, learn from each other. Evolve. Flourish.

Who are the curators of SteemSTEM? How long are they going through the STEM posts? What makes a post unique according to them? Is their job easy?

We are planning to interview the SteemSTEM curators with the goal and hope to inspire you and to shed more light about how the curation process works.

In this post @ruth-girl is interviewed by @katerinaramm!

You may know her from the editorial team of the SteemSTEM distilled. You most probably have wondered, laughed and learned something new, traveled, feared with her multi dimensional, educational, ficticious, creative posts!

You surely have lots of questions for her and we have carefully picked a few to shed some more light into who @ruth-girl is!

If you have any extra questions or thoughts, feel free to let someone from the PR team know!

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Let the curtain open!

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Q - Hi @ruth-girl, thank you for agreeing to be interviewed! Let us know a few things about yourself: What do you do, where are you from, how long have you been on Steem and what are your hobbies?

A - Hello! It's an honor and pleasure being here! Let's start with the basics: I am from Greece! I have a degree in primary school education and I have been teaching English for a decade now. I joined the platform in June 2017 and I like to spend my free time on writing, taking photos or at the gym. I also like cooking.

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Q - How long have you been a curator for SteemSTEM?

A - Almost a year now, I joined the curation team last Autumn.

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Q - How and when did it all start?

A - I think it was my Bizarre Phenomenon series that caught SteemSTEM's attention and the guys saw some potential in me. I was contacted and asked whether I would like to participate in the curation team. I didn't give too much thought on it, I said "YES" immediately and I was so excited to have been picked! Don't forget, I was still a n00b around here, trying to figure how things work and a growing community wanted me to participate in it and help around. It meant a lot!

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Q - How often do you curate?

A - Whenever I have enough time. When I wasn't as busy as I am today, I used to curate every day for an hour or so. But later, as work and life in general became more time consuming, I had to adjust my curating routine. Now, I try to go through new posts every day, but I can't always make it.

Q - What do you enjoy the most about this task?

A - The joy that people feel "rewarded" for their good work and that their time and effort did not go unnoticed. I remember how excited I got when I saw upvotes and comments in posts that I had worked hard to make, and being able to provide this feeling to others who try hard here is amazing. We are trying to build a community for the science lovers, authors some people out there would consider "geeks". Well, we love those "geeks", we are those "geeks" and we will always enjoy learning and discussing what we've learnt.

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Q - Do you ever get asked for favors? How do you react?

A - I rarely get people asking me for favors. When I do, I try to be kind and see if their request is reasonable enough.

Q - Do you have a favorite scientific topic that you have fun reading and reviewing, over others?

A - I like animal and nature posts mostly. When they are accompanied with original photos and videos I like them even more. You see, Steem is a blogging platform, when people add their personal touch and experience into their posts, their writing becomes "unique". I might enjoy reading a post on "the lightning phenomenon" for example, but if you have your amazing shots from last night's thunderstorm, then your post becomes even more interesting in my eyes.

Q - What would be your advice to both the old and new authors who wish to join SteemSTEM but do not know where to start?

A - First of all, don't try to produce material only for the rewards. I know they are a big incentive, but it is the wrong mindset. Find topics you enjoy reading about and try learning more about them in order to make posts that will satisfy your curiosity and then others'. If you are a scientist or a teacher, tell us about your work! What you deal with every day, interesting news in your field, experiences, explain how you do things and why, what is it you're trying to achieve?

You need to "stand out" using your personal style and making this community "richer" by adding your knowledge and personality to it.

Get involved, don't just produce posts, consume too! Spend one or two hours a week to see what others have written and bother to express your opinion, give your feedback (positive or negative, feedback is always helpful) or help out when the community needs you!

Follow our guidelines, please. They are easy to find even for newcomers, they are very well-written and they will help you get an idea of how things work here.

Be yourself (unless you're a cat, then be a cat) and don't try to reproduce boring theories we can find on wikipedia. Or even if you're no expert and you need wikipedia, then use it, but do it in a way that no one else would ever do. We appreciate your critical thinking and personality, not the 15th rewording of a wiki article on butterflies.

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Q - What is your wish for SteemSTEM?

A - I wish to see it grow even more, I know it will! Advancements are taking place month after month. I believe that in 5 years we will have expanded a lot more and I hope we will be running a community where people will join to learn and teach things, fruitful dialogues will be a routine and why not, universities will be here to spread their word and even monetize their research (too much of wishful thinking?).

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Q - Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

A - Travelling the world to see most of the amazing places I cover on my series of phenomena (if I've become a crypto-millionaire) and making more posts about them! Jokes aside, I hope I will still be here, helping out however I can and having fun at the same time.

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Q - Where do you see SteemSTEM in 5 years?

A - There is so much going on behind the scenes and some people are spending long hours of work. We are not just a curation group anymore. I believe SteemSTEM will thrive in the next years and will manage to bring science closer to everyday people. But it will also draw the attention (hopefully) of institutions, as they can use the blockchain as a medium of communication and monetization. Imagine SteemSTEM getting so big in the future, where it could even raise funds for scholarships, how cool would that be?

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I would like to thank @ruth-girl for taking the time and provide us with her insightful information and tips for SteemSTEM authors.

And quoting from her latest blog, what are the latest interests of Ruth?

What I've been up to:
@steemstem has now got a witness running, the @stem.witness! We would really appreciate your vote. And you can always check out our app, steemstem.io!

@aristotle.team is the child of the Greek translation team (working for @davinci.witness and @utopian-io). It starts as a small, organized effort and we soon aspire to see it grow and facilitate our work in the translations category, support translation posts and become a medium of communicating news, stats and helpful tips considering translations. Your follow, support and feedback is much appreciated!

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_{Read our last Distilled #78 || Get Incentives for promoting steemSTEM || Vote for steemSTEM Witness || Visit our new home steemstem.io}