Joystream is a video platform
The Joystream Manifesto
Our Manifesto units out both the problems we believe are related to digital media platforms of their current kind as well as our proposed answer to those concerns.
Problem
We imagine that artwork, be it as literature, music, film, video games or efficiency, is a critical device by way of which societies establish a shared understanding of what’s frequent information among all members. These expressions outline values and narratives that find yourself shaping culture, religion and even public coverage. It subsequently matters deeply how it’s financed, distributed and paid for.
Digital media has turn into the primary medium through which such expression is distributed, and digital media platforms have turn out to be the key establishments organizing this exercise.
Unfortunately, as a result of community https://www.joystream.org/ effects, economies of scale, rules and political pursuits, we are at present left with handful of large establishments which set the phrases for a way this occurs. They are virtually completely unaccountable to regular market and political mechanisms.
As a outcome, our tales, expressions and interactions are managed and filtered on their phrases. This continues to generate an ever altering set of problems, be it rigid monetization, censorship of controversial speech, inequitable sharing of gains with creators and audience, low platform innovation or lack of credibility with third get together developers.
Goal
We call for an arrangement the place media platforms are accountable to the folks they impression, that are primarily their customers, be it as customers, creatives, third celebration developer or staff.
It is the absence of such accountability which is the basic supply of any particular downside at any specific time.
Thesis
Our core thesis is that there are two basic challenges which should be addressed to realize this goal, and that an acceptable application of latest distributed systems technology, together with blockchains, sensible contracts and tokens, is the proper means to do so.
The Wedge
First is the query of the way to create an alternative from scratch within the face of platform externalities which make any new platform nearly ineffective, regardless of any of its inherent characteristics. The process of doing this type of bootstrapping has historically been principally an art, where success has hardly ever been reproducible.
We believe that blockchain tokens, earned by and issued to early individuals, have been proven to be extraordinarily efficient at mobilizing, integrating and motivating an international and dynamic community.
This has now repeatedly allowed nascent communities, just like the Bitcoin neighborhood, to beat the preliminary community effect hurdle. There is no certainty that this will be sufficient, but we imagine this mechanism is as promising as something which is likely to have an opportunity in a long time.
Accountability at scale
Second is the question of the way to create and maintain accountability in such a platform when it actually reaches scale.
We perceive there to be two elementary ways in which members can hold institutions of any type accountable: Voice and exit, within the tradition of Hirschman A. O.
Voice
Voice is the approach of trying to enhance or reform the functioning of an establishment from inside. The effectiveness of this is dependent upon some capability to each share dependable info with different members, and have some impact on inner governance processes. Current media platforms provide customers no effective way of doing both.
We imagine that blockchains present an organizational and financial infrastructure which might handle both problems. The public, verifiable and immutable history of economic and administrative records, supplies a superb foundation for users to know the current and past state of the platform. This allows anybody to make incontestable claims about related facts and circumstances.
Further, blockchain tokens enable us to make use and control of a platform inseparable, giving users an computerized seat on the desk in deliberating over platform level choices.
All that is required to establish, exercise or transfer the capacity to take part in such exercise, is the ability to signal messages with identifiable cryptographic keys. Perfectly dependable contracting gives a large, dynamic and unrestricted set of users the means of governing the platform. This can serve a wide range of functions, similar to endeavor tasks, regulating participation in numerous formally specified roles, and even updating the institutional rules themselves. This integration of dependable contracting into the financial rails provides an organizational infrastructure much more consistent with our objectives of inclusive control than the traditional jurisdictional trust primarily based infrastructure.
Exit
Exit is the approach of totally ending participation in an institution in favor of both joining or creating an alternative. The effectiveness of this is dependent upon prices of leaving, and either becoming a member of or creating an alternative, all being low compared to the deprivation in the existing establishment. This is presently not the case.
By constructing platforms primarily based on free open supply software program, open protocols and open data — as is the case with Blockchain systems, one dramatically lowers these prices. Since users control their own data, identity and assets, they’ve a a lot easier time joining new platforms, and even taking their friends with them.
Open protocols and data will make multi homing interfaces ample, where customers might not even need to modify, however instead use multiple platforms simultaneously, which inspires platform level competitors.
Even more dramatically, reliance on open supply means that all of the software program capital of a platform can easily be reused, and for the reason that complete organizational state can also be public, whole ecosystems may be forked to create new various platforms with modified insurance policies and objectives.