I have been developing since when I was 18 years old and have always seen the importance of open source software in my work. Let’s be honest: without the many open source libraries, plugins, frameworks and apps, the life of developers would be so much harder. Using the awesome work of so many contributors comes easy, contributing further requires more. That’s where I saw a lack: Time, resources and opportunities to grow and expand my open source ideas.

I have long struggled to find a solution that would let me dedicate more time to contributing, as well as a place for me to connect more and do more. Open source has been, almost exclusively, an arena for developers. The many benefits, both personal and collective, have only been available to us. I felt there was room for a change: A one-stop-shop for open source collaboration that would empower more digital professionals — developers and beyond — to contribute and reward the awesome work of these innovators. This is where the idea of Utopian came from.

It was the usual cold day in Germany, where I was working for an energy company as Javascript consultant. I can clearly remember that typical white light from the German sky burning my tired eyes after hours in front of the computer, when I came across Steem, a social blockchain that grows communities and makes immediate revenue streams possible for users by rewarding them for their work, the perfect place for Utopian to rise.

It was Sept. 2017 when I have founded Utopian as a proof-of-concept platform, to explore the needs of projects and contributors in the open source ecosystem. The concept was simple: Create a platform that would enable project owners to connect with a greater variety of digital professionals to finally make open source innovation accessible and inclusive. As soon as the PoC was launched, the response from the community was amazing. Professionals who never contributed to open source projects before started realizing the benefits and the potentials of open collaboration.

In a little over a year, Utopian was able to facilitate over 70,000 contributions to over 9,000 repositories and embrace a community of more than 5,000 contributors.

One of the many things I have discovered running the proof-of-concept was that content creators, translators, graphic designers and many other digital professionals are eager to connect and collaborate on open source projects. The data was clear, only 7% of the all contributions were code related. There was a huge potential of giving open source innovation in the hands of many more contributors.

The journey was full of successes, as well as tough times. One thing was evident, however, Utopian was ready for the next step.

On May 2018, with a great team and many lessons learned, we decided to deprecate our proof-of-concept platform and continue to maintain operations with our dedicated users through many partner apps on the Steem blockchain. With a greater vision in mind, and with the knowledge acquired collaborating with dozens of open source projects and professionals, we have started the development of a scalable solution: Utopian Colony.

Utopian Colony is the result of a year of learning and experimenting, aimed at solving the needs of open source projects. We have been working tirelessly to bring it to life. Thanks to the efforts of our team, we are ready for the release by Q3–2019 and give early access to our supporters by the end of Q2-2019. Utopian Colony will include a set of key features necessary for project growth and community participation:

• Personalized Profile & Project Pages
• Bounty Marketplace & Tipping System
• Incentivized Knowledge Sharing
• Tools for Collective Financing of Project Development
• ..and so much more

Utopian Colony is fully open source and our development team is working tirelessly to bring it live. With the support of our community and many new Utopians we hope to reach the goal on Indiegogo and Fundition to have the budget we need to finally complete the release.

This page is synchronized from the post: A glimpse of Utopian s story from the CEO and Founder

We have received so many requests from our wonderful Steem community to run the Utopian crowdfunding campaign not only on Indiegogo but also on Fundition. While we have considered doing this from the start, we couldn’t imagine how strong the community will was for this opportunity. Therefore, we have decided to launch on Fundition earlier than we have anticipated, giving you the opportunity to be part of the campaign right now using the platform we love the most: Steem. In addition to the perks available on Indiegogo, we have unique offers available only for Steemians, brought to you by Steem Monsters, Actifit, SteemPress, Steemhunt, Quasar and SteemSTEM - The Secret Steemian Bundle.

What is the difference of contributing via Fundition or Indiegogo?

The reason why we have decided to run on Indiegogo first is that Indiegogo is not only a platform for raising funds, but a great marketing opportunity. On Indiegogo we have a fixed goal of 35K USD, which is all-or-nothing. If we don’t reach the minimum goal, all the funds will be refunded. If we reach the goal, the campaign will attract greater interest and gain attention from bigger media outlets and influencers outside the crypto world. That would give Utopian and other Steem dapps a chance to be better known. Contributing via Fundition will enable you to participate in the campaign if you can’t help Utopian with fiat funds on Indiegogo. We will use the funds raised on Fundition to complete the development of Utopian Colony, as well as boosting the Indiegogo campaign to achieve the greatest exposure we can.

What about limited perks?

Many of the perks offered via Utopian are limited in number. We will remove perks that has reached the maximum number of purchases combined on Fundition or Indiegogo.

10% beneficiaries will go to Fundition

With this opportunity we wish to support also Fundition, which is enabling so many awesome projects to flourish on the Steem blockchain and beyond.

Utopian Colony

Utopian Colony is a platform for open source collaboration, home to all digital professionals with a passion for open source innovation, the culmination of over a year of learning and experimenting, being built on top of the Steem blockchain. By supporting this campaign you can expedite the development of Utopian Colony and help us release it to the public by Q3-2019. We are closer to the release than ever and with your help we can finally turn the Utopian dream into reality. Utopian Colony is fully open source. Check our progress on Github.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI6iil1gMsA

Special Perks for Steemians

On our Fundition and Indiegogo campaigns we have some special offers for contributors and projects, but one of them is only available for Steemians and you can access that now using STEEM via Fundition.

In this Steemian badge, Utopy is faster than light. The bullets represent all the many other blockchains which have no power to win over this true Steemian, who is so fast and powerful he can stop them by raising his hand. The Steemian Badge will be shown on your Utopian Colony profile as soon as the platform is out, showing your early support for Utopian and the Steem blockchain.

Utopian is also offering:

• Instant Username Reservation
• Early access to Utopian Colony
• Exclusive updates

But that’s not all, many Steem dapps offered a special perk in combination with the Secret Steemian Perk.

• Free Gift Cards from Steem Monsters: A grand total of 100 $10 Gift Cards to be distributed to those 100 lucky Steemians who will get the Secret Steemian Bundle either on Fundition or Indiegogo.
• One month free and early access to SteemPress pro-blog: Buyers of the Steemian Secret Perk will receive a voucher that can be exchanged for 1-month free access to SteemPress Pro-Blog upon its release.
• Credit vouchers to use Reviewhunt platform from Steemhunt: Steemhunt is offering 100 vouchers to use the Reviewhunt platform as soon as it is released. By getting the Steemian Secret Perk on Indiegogo or Fundition you will receive a voucher from Steemhunt that will instantly double up your credits for running your review campaigns.
• If that wasn’t enough also Actifit, SteemSTEM and Quasar are offering a special perk. Check all the details on Fundition.

Check all the available perks on Fundition

This page is synchronized from the post: You asked, we deliver: Utopian Colony is now on Fundition!

Support this project on Fundition.io

This page is synchronized from the post: Utopian Colony - Empowering Open Source Innovation

The Utopian Indiegogo is on its way, and we’re all very focused on Utopian’s future, thus this Top of Utopian took a bit longer than expected. But we can still take time to celebrate some terrific contributions to open source and Steem. This week, we’ve got contributions from the Development, Blog, Anti-abuse, and Bug hunting categories that are all outstanding.

Staff Picks

[Busy] Voting percentage update problem - cause and fix by @blockchainstudio [bug-hunting]

@blockchainstudio found an issue where Busy voting percentage wasn’t updated unless users haven’t made a post for more than 3 days. They found the cause, and a fix, which they submitted as a PR. They even suggested a temporary workaround until the PR is implemented. This is excellent, exemplary work, which got a 100 score from our moderator, who commended the fix, and the importance of the issue.

Total payout: 39.22 STU Number of votes: 166

[SteemGigs] Enhanced Search & Bug Fixes by @tobias-g [development]

Tobias is a great bug hunter, but also a programming wizard. In this post, he showcases the new and enhanced search page he has created for SteemGigs. He also presents many small bugs he fixed alongside it. The new search page allows users to search using a selection of different search options, with the aim of providing users with more control in finding the gigs they need. Of course, being Tobias, he has also drastically improved the UI, and made the page look much more modern and sleek.

Total payout: 75.54 STU Number of votes: 692

Single Meme = $158? Seems Legit + SFR Project Update and New Meme Flag Campaign Open! by @anthonyadavisii [anti-abuse]

Anthony is at it again. With the previous staff pick by @jaguar-force, a new abuse category has been identified. In this post, he also reminds everyone of Steemit’s definition of spam. Don’t ask for upvotes for your contests! If you’re a meme fan, what’s your take on copied or original memes boosted on Steem?

Total payout: 77.71 STU Number of votes: 219

Exchange AFIT tokens for STEEM Upvotes ! (& Weekly Updates: AFIT Token Stats & STEEM Payouts. Witness Status. Daily Updates.) by @actifit [blog]

This is a huge update for @actifit, presenting the ability to exchange AFIT tokens for Steem upvotes. The importance of the update, the details and the usefulness all come together to outweigh the imperfect writing, and make this an absolutely worthy staff pick.

Total payout: 180.25 STU Number of votes: 817

Utopian.io Post Statistics

The staff picked contributions are only a small (but exceptional) example of the mass of contributions reviewed and rewarded by Utopian.io.

• Overall, the last week saw a total of 176 posts, with 132 of them rewarded through an upvote by @utopian-io.
• In total, Utopian.io distributed an approximate of 3520.40 STU to contributors.
• The highest payout seen on any Utopian.io contribution this week was 292.267 STU, with a total of 1678 votes received from the community.
• The contribution that attracted the most engagement was Introducing: Jarvis - Your Personal Assistant for Steem, with no less than 44 comments in its comment threads.
• The average vote given by Utopian.io was worth 26.08 STU.

Category Statistics

|Category|Reviewed|Rewardable|Rewarded|Total rewards|Top contributor| |:-|:-|:-|:-|-:|:-| |tutorials|17|14|14|282.69 STU|@pckurdu| |graphics|11|7|7|215.75 STU|@zularizal| |ideas|13|11|11|166.37 STU|@harry-heightz| |translations|33|30|17|630.22 STU|@toffer| |blog|45|39|39|791.22 STU|@harry-heightz| |development|29|25|20|884.04 STU|@emrebeyler| |iamutopian|7|7|7|258.11 STU|@rosatravels| |bug-hunting|13|11|11|129.55 STU|@blockchainstudio| |analysis|1|1|1|36.87 STU|@paulag| |anti-abuse|1|1|1|60.26 STU|@anthonyadavisii| |social|1|1|1|18.33 STU|@jingis07| |video-tutorials|1|1|1|40.96 STU|@tensor|

First Time Contributing in Utopian.io?

Learn how to contribute on our website

This page is synchronized from the post: Top of Utopian.io: February 28 - March 10

Utopian Colony is the first crowdsourcing platform to connect open source projects and contributors from all digital professions. The culmination of a year operating a successful proof-of-concept, now live on Indiegogo.

Steem is Utopian’s home and it only makes sense for us to offer a unique perk, exclusively for our great community of Steemians. This secret perk is limited in number (100 available only) and will give you access to rewards provided by Utopian, Steem Monsters, SteemPress, Steemhunt, Quasar and SteemSTEM, making this perk the biggest combined reward ever available on this blockchain.

The Steemian Secret Bundle

Utopy is the Utopian mascot, representing all the Utopians pioneers who went on a space exploration to find what open source projects truly need. In this Steemian Badge, Utopy is faster than light. The bullets represent all the many other blockchains, which have no power to win over this true Steemian, who is so fast and powerful he can stop them by raising his hand.

The Steemian Badge will be shown on your Utopian Colony profile as soon as the platform is out, showing your early support for Utopian and the Steem blockchain.

Utopian is also offering:

• Instant Username Reservation
• Early access to Utopian Colony
• Exclusive updates

Offers from Supporter Apps

We couldn’t be happier to see the amazing support from the many Steem dapps. All the apps listed below have offered a special perk in combination with the Secret Steemian Perk

Free Gift Cards from Steem Monsters

Steem Monsters is a decentralized collectible card game built on the Steem blockchain. Collect, trade, and battle against thousands of other players in live, PVP combat!

Steem Monsters is a true supporter of Steem and Utopian. @Yabapmatt and @aggroed have offered a grand total of 100 $10 Gift Cards. You will get a $10 Steem Monsters Gift Card by getting the Secret Steemian Bundle on Indiegogo.

One month free and early access to SteemPress Pro-blog

Steempress is preparing the release of a new pro-version for its WordPress plugin where, for a fixed monthly subscription, the user will have access to unique features. These include custom benefactor settings for posts and comments made through their own website, as well as other benefits to be announced. Buyers of the Steemian Secret Perk will receive a voucher that can be exchanged for 1-month free access to SteemPress Pro-blog upon its release.

Don’t have a SteemPress blog but love Steem and want to support its growth? SteemPress will let you gift your early free subscription to your favourite blog out there that is not yet on Steem, who will get a free Steem account upon verification. Should the website renew their SteemPress Pro-blog subscription, you will earn an affiliate reward as a bonus!

Credit vouchers to use the Reviewhunt platform from Steemhunt

The HUNT Platform (https://token.steemhunt.com/) is designed as a home for product early-adopters who have exceptional knowledge and passion for cool new products. Steemhunt (https://steemhunt.com/), as a base community DApp, has been operating for one year on the HUNT Platform. Reviewhunt will be the second DApp on the HUNT Platform, and will enable tech makers to run review campaigns to unleash product launching hype by hunters. It’s currently under development, and its target launch is 2Q 2019.

Steemhunt is offering 100 vouchers to use the Reviewhunt platform as soon as it is released. By getting the Steemian Secret Perk on Indiegogo you will receive a voucher from Steemhunt that will instantly double up your credits for running your review campaigns.

Steemian Badges from Actifit.io

Actifit.io incentivizes healthy lifestyle by rewarding your every day activity.

By supporting Utopian on Indiegogo the Steemian Badge will be shown on your Actifit.io activity page, to make everyone know how much you love the Steem blockchain.

Free exposure on SteemSTEM platform by the SteemSTEM community

SteemSTEM is happy to offer free promotion on steemstem.io. Posts will be exposed in the banner section and get extra visibility. This offer is only valid for posts fitting within the SteemSTEM guidelines.

Patreons Only Radio Show from the Quasar Framework

The Quasar Framework enables responsive Single Page Apps, Server-side Render Apps, Progressive Web Apps, Hybrid Mobile Apps (that look native!) & Electron Apps, all using the same codebase.

To support Utopian’s crowdfunding campaign, the Quasar Framework has donated 100 tickets to its exclusive “Patreons Only” Radio Show on their Discord channel. If you take this perk, you will get free access to ONE of the upcoming Quasar Radio shows, where sponsors and partners are the first to hear about news, highlights and plans. These shows are not recorded or rebroadcast and are only for insiders. Fortunately, your support of Utopian make you an insider too. It can be used for any show before June 30th, 2019.

How to access this special reward

By supporting the Utopian Indiegogo campaign you will immediately access this secret perk, follow the instructions below.

• Visit this URL to see the Secret Steemian Bundle. You can only see this perk by using the URL provided. It is indeed, secret!

• Proceed to to purchase the bundle, enter your details and card. Don’t worry your data is safe. Indiegogo is one of the biggest crowdfunding platforms in the world.

• Once you are done, please subscribe to our newsletter on https://utopian.io/#newsletter to receive your offers. Once the campaign is over you will receive all the gift cards, tickets, coupons and opportunities above directly in your inbox. Make sure to use the same email you have used on Indiegogo for us to do the match.

• While this is not mandatory, please also consider adding a comment here to show your involvement on the campaign.

Support Utopian and Steem

The Utopian community has grown mainly from the Steem community, allowing Utopian to explore ways to crowdsource open source in ways that would not be possible without this uniquely versatile community. By supporting Utopian on Indiegogo not only you are accessing special rewards but supporting the growth of our amazing Steem ecosystem.

This page is synchronized from the post: Brought to you by Steem Monsters, Actifit, SteemPress, Steemhunt, Quasar, SteemSTEM and Utopian. The Secret Steemian Bundle - Our Biggest Reward Yet

After many months of planning and preparations, we’re launching the crowdfunding campaign for Utopian Colony (formerly Utopian v2) on Indiegogo. The goal of the campaign is to raise funds to complete and launch an early version of Utopian Colony in Q2 of this year.

The Journey from Home to Colony

One of the main points of the Utopian presentation at Steemfest 2018 was that Steem is Utopian’s home, and not only because Utopian was transformed from an idea to a business on this blockchain. The Utopian community has grown mainly from the Steem community, allowing Utopian to explore ways to crowdsource open source in ways that would not be possible without this uniquely versatile community.

With a vision to empower open source innovation through incentivizing contributions to open source projects, and with the delegated stake invested in Utopian on the blockchain, in a little over a year Utopian has supported over 5,000 contributors who have made over 70,000 contributions to over 9,000 open source repositories. But that’s only the beginning.

Operating Utopian on the Steem blockchain for over a year has allowed us to learn many lessons from the contributors and projects who joined Utopian. With the insights gained, we’ve designed and began the development of Utopian Colony - a fully featured collaboration and collective funding platform for all digital professionals. With features like user and project profile pages, task bounty exchange, tipping system, as well as tools for project owners to make better decisions about accepting contributions - Utopian Colony strives to serve all the the needs of the open source community.

It is our hope that Utopian Colony will not only bring a mass of new users to the Steem blockchain, but also add value to it.

About The Indiegogo Campaign

We’re offering some really cool perks for supporters, including early access, cool profile badges, and some great promotional opportunities for projects and contributors alike.

All campaign details are published on our Indiegogo page, and we welcome you to be the first to review it and submit any question you might have about Utopian Colony and the Indiegogo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI6iil1gMsA

Get the word out!

Whether you contribute funds to the Utopian Indiegogo Campaign or not, spreading the word and exposing more people to the campaign will help us to reach the campaign goal. We invite you to blog about it, post the campaign on social media, tell your friends and family and anyone who loves open source and wants to support a truly Utopian project.

To get the latest updates on the campaign, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and subscribe to the Utopian Colony Newsletter. If you have any questions, comments or ideas for us to implement in making this crowdfunding campaign a record-breaker - please chat to us on the Utopian Discord Server.

Utopian was born on Steem, and we believe that the inspiring community on this blockchain will be, as always, incremental to the success of the Utopian company vision.

The Utopian Team

This page is synchronized from the post: Utopian Colony Indiegogo Campaign Launch - Help Utopian Go Viral!