The Buzz about the Swarm Program
Julie Sigwart • Oct 11 2019
Here’s the Buzz About LBRY's Swarm Program
LBRY’s community contains thousands of members spread across around the world working on important tasks like translations, alternative apps, and spreading meme love.
Today, we’re announcing the formalization of this assuredly not black-tie program.
What is it and how does it work?
The LBRY Swarm is a community program to promote awareness, use, and development of the LBRY protocol and network through the creation of "Hives." We believe in empowering people across the globe to be able to promote and monetize their content and regain control from corporate-controlled centralized platforms.
A Hive is made up of people who care about LBRY and… something else. That “something else” could be based on many different ideas. Some good examples: a geographical area, a genre of music, a hobby or interest, or a project being built on the LBRY protocol.
If you’re interested in finding out more about the Swarm program, how to start a hive, or join one, please check out this link. We have a discussion list for all, plus all are welcome in our Swarm Discord.
Are there any particularly needed Hives?
Some ideas for hive interest areas that have come up but do not have a firm group supporting them are:
- Fine Art
- Photography
- Fan Art (think DeviantArt)
- Science topics
- Craft How-tos
- Life Hacks/How-tos
- News
- Free Speech
- Activism
- Environment
- Arabic
- French
- 3D Printing
- Gaming
If you’re interested in one of the above areas, you should come join our chat right now and let us know! Or if you’re not ready for that level of commitment, you can email us.
What existing Hives can I join?
While many hives are formed based on a geographic location, some hives have general interests and meet virtually. If you want to learn what the Swarm is all about, joining one of these hives is a great place to start! Or, if you'd like, you can view our regional hives here.
LBRY Social
Focus: Content and Marketing
LBRY Social focuses on highlighting and creating the finest, highest quality LBRY content to bring brand identity to the forefront, helping springboard LBRY as a real and major contender in the open source blockchain market. Power to the people!
We will be funding people who have high performing social media accounts for their participation in our social media marketing campaigns as part of our coming marketing push. We are also looking for people with exceptional design skills to help facilitate the creation of these campaigns.
LBRYC
Focus: Marketing and Open Source Development
The LBRY.Community hive is dedicated to bringing attention to the LBRY protocol and applications built on the LBRY protocol alongside showing our support and love for open source projects. Our goal is to promote and aid in the acknowledgement of projects built on the LBRY protocol and similar open source projects.
Open Source LBRY
Focus: Open Source Development
The Open Source LBRY Hive is the home for a LBRY (library) of books, digitized and uploaded to the LBRY blockchain. These books are from the world’s most known and respected authors. These books are no longer held under copyright restrictions allowing the Open Source LBRY to share them with everyone!
The Open Source LBRY Hive develops software to help automate collecting and publishing of content to the LBRY Network.
Interactive Fiction Hive
One of the coolest features of LBRY is to be able to view non-linear content including Choose Your Own Adventure content and text-based interactive stories. The purpose of the Interactive Fiction Hive is to curate free and creative commons content stories and to seek new interactive fiction stories to be created for the LBRY Network.
You can see an example of interactive fiction here: lbry://16ways
Regional Hives
Lazybit Hive
Focus: Geographic area of ex-Yugoslavia/Balkans/Adriatic region
Lazybit hive is working towards raising the level of knowledge about cryptocurrency and distributed technologies in the geographic area of ex-Yugoslavia/Balkans/Adriatic region as the currently available content is scarce and is generally of low quality. We want to promote LBRY as an example of fully functional, open source, distributed technology-based network that can serve the specific needs of content creators in this region.
You can join us on our Discord https://discord.gg/n8TJqBv
LBRY en Español
Focus: Spanish Language Content and Promotion
LBRY en español is a place for all those Spanish speakers and creators who want to share their passions, opinions, and jokes. In a world where Spanish is the fourth most spoken language, our hive is where all kinds of content is shared, created, and most importantly: promoted.
LBRY India Supporters
Focus: LBRY Groups Across India
Championed by Clement Gerber, LBRY's India Community manager, this hive aims to bring events and grow awareness about LBRY in India. You can participate in social events and college hackathons, or even start your own local LBRY Hive through the LBRY India Supporters Hive.
- Visit LBRY India Supporters Hive's Discord server
- Visit LBRY India Supporters Hive's Website
- LBRY India WhatsApp
- Visit LBRY India Twitter page
LBRY Ladies India
Focus: India Women's Interests and Networking
LRBY Ladies India's mission is to create more awareness about LBRY and together build the LBRY India community and LBRYLadies. This hive is also focused on teaching the community about cryptocurrency. They also have their own content channel. Come join the LBRY Ladies!
LBRY China Hive
Focus: LBRY in China
The China Hive is dedicated to teaching Chinese users how to use LBRY. They are also currently working on translating and localizing the LBRY app and documents in Chinese language.
- Visit LBRY China Hive on WeChat: add ID: 327904087
Noob Team Hive
Focus: LBRY and Gaming in Poland
Noob Team Hive started as a group of friends in Poland. We wanted to try doing something to better our future. We believe that together we can do anything! By helping each other to learn about technology, we find ways to learn new things and share them with everyone! Because community is not a thing made of 0s and 1s. Community is Me,You, and everyone around us. That's why we created our Noob Team Hive. We are doing lots of things to spread awareness of LBRY Network in Poland and the rest of the World.
We want people to join us to learn something new, make them exchange experience with others, and also break language barriers. We believe that everyone should have access to knowledge without need to worry about their knowledge level and, most importantly, have fun and make friends, because it's one of the most amazing things in the World! Our adventure begins in 3 .. 2.. 1!
Ukraine LBRY Supporters
Focus: LBRY in the Ukraine
The Ukraine LBRY Supporters Hive focuses on bringing attention to LBRY in Ukraine.
Julie brings a unique background including a long history of software development, is a cartoonist, and is also a First Amendment champion. In 1988, the Hustler v. Falwell ruling was a major event in free speech history and has been a major influence for her. As an editorial cartoonist, she appreciates the gravity of that ruling to protect free speech, including speech that may be unpopular. In the early 2000’s, she founded Take Back the Media, a website dedicated to calling out mainstream news media for bias, omissions, and factual inaccuracies. Aside from receiving death threats (another consequence associated with free speech), Julie and Take Back The Media were sued in a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation designed to chill free speech) for publishing contested information involving Michael Savage, Roy Masters, and Talk Radio Network. Ultimately, the lawsuit was withdrawn by the plaintiff, but it set Julie on a course to assist others who have been targeted in SLAPP suits attempting to shut down their free speech.
She is also a veteran of the dotcom era, including managing internet communities for Metacreations Corp, including support forums, gaming forums, and general chat support. She has also worked on and supported Metacreations Corp software titles like Kai’s Power Tips, Kai’s Power Tools, Kai’s Power Photos, and Stephen Hawking’s Life in the Universe product website.