An experiment in the process of creating NFTs.
The goal of this exercise is to create a series of five images, each, ultimately, becoming an NFT.
By paying careful attention to the git commit hashes produced during the creation process, smart contracts to document that progress, and a content-addressable data store called IPFS, we hope to explore not only the production of a work of art but the production of the provenance of the creation of that work of art.
How perfect of a provencance can we create?
We hope to demonstrate, with perfect clarity, the process of producing a series of images called `Commons Sense". The underlying message of Commons Sense is that, while decentralizing technologies promise a brand-new way for people to coordinate, we see the technology headed in almost the exact opposite direction. You'll get the idea as you view the images.
This github repo is a work in progress. Everything will change as we move forward. We are exploring new territory. Knowing where one is headed is not part of exploration...
This repo contains six folders. Each has its own README file describing the contents of that folder in more detail. An overview of the folders is presented here:
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01_Originals. One of us (Thomas Jay Rush) created hand-drawn images containing the seeds of the ideas for each image. Crudely drawn hand-made images were scanned into PDFs files which are stored in this folder.
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02_PNGs. PNG screen shots were captured from the PDFs. These may be considered pre-alpha versions of the images. These images will be stored on IPFS and their hashes posted to this repo.
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03_Descriptions. Each PNG image was copied into a Microsoft word document and the first draft of the idea was described in very rough format. A PDF file was created from the word document to give it a more perminate life. These documents may be considered the first fleshing out of the idea. Github issues were created to track each idea as it moves forward.
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04_First_Drafts. The first draft of each image, produced by Ivano Nardacchione, is contained in this folder. Comments about these images may be found in the corresponding issues. The images in this folder will be pushed to IPFS and the IPFS hashes attached to the issues. Instructions for using IPFS to retreive these images can be found in the elsewhere.
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Second Drafts. In this folder we will place the second draft of each image. Note that there may have been more than one revision between the first draft and what we will call the second draft. IPFS images of these files and the IPFS locations will be recorded in the issues.
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Final Draft. This folder will contain the actual final image produced for the NFT. Once the images are made final, no further changes will be made to that image. The image will be impregnated. There is no going back from this point. NFT smart contract(s) will created and IPFS hashes of these images will be made a permenant part of the NFT. Once posted, it will not be possible to change the IPFS hash in the NFT smart contract. These images will, of course, be stored on IPFS and the IPFS hash posted to the issues.
Once the above steps are completed and we have five images that we consider final, then we will figure out how best to make the NFT smart contracts and place the items out for the public.
Stay tuned.