In today's digital age content is king. Whether it is blog posts, social media updates, websites or within enterprises. The content that is created has the power to engage, inform and inspire your audience. Content communicates information, and in today's digital world the range of content is vast from blogs through to video, 3d worlds, spreadsheets and white papers. The more informative and engaging the content, the more likely people will pay attention and take action. Content like any corporate asset has a cost in its production. Its value is unleashed when that content is reused again and again. However, content is locked away in silo’s. These silo’s might be technical silo’s such as a wordpress content management site, or a database, or an organisational silo such as sales presentations, or the product teams whitepapers. The web has done much to break down these silos with hyperlinks enabling the easy transition to new pieces of content - however in that transition often the original context is lost, and the rich metadata linked to the content such as the author and permissions are lost in the hyperlink jump.
This content silo problem is keenly felt in enterprises where agility and efficiency are held back because of the level of friction in trying to share content between agile teams. Solutions have evolved such as Slack to embed links to content into conversations, but the content remains in Office 365 or Google Workspace. Similarly creators on the web create content for instagram, or YouTube or TikTok - each platform is a silo of content and users, with creators facing an ever increasing content management task rather than focusing on creation of content.
LettsCore believes that some of these challenges can be addressed by creating a universal distributed store of content, with a comprehensive content API layer unlocking the content from the application and the silo that created it. By providing a programmable interface to such a content store it enables creative apps to focus on their creativity, and applications which consume content to easily discover and present relevant content. This separation encourages innovation in how content can be used. As a simple example a video creation suite might create some video content and store this in LettsCore using the content creation API. A post processing workflow might pull the content and generate short form, and insert an advert pre and post roll content creating new variants of the original content. The video platforms such as TikTok would select short form content based on its own algorithms, without the creator ever sending the content to TikTok, but LettsCore would manage the rights and permissions based on the original content. This is the media as a service that LettsCore believes is the next generation of content management.
Web 1.0 was characterised by very simple browsers - lacking in Javascript, and servers that served static content. Content was typically delivered from the server file system rather than any content management system. Websites were separate islands with very little sharing of content.
Web 1.0 was a system where few people created content for many viewers, and Web 1.0 was known as the read-only web.
If Web 1.0 was few people creating content for many readers, Web 2.0 became many people creating content for a much larger audience. Web 2.0 saw the emergence of user generated content, social networks and much richer content including imagery and video.
Web 2.0 also focused more extensively on the user experience, with Javascript in the browser, and sophisticated web servers. Content management servers dominated the market separating page structure from content. This enabled user generated content to 'flow' into pages and mobile apps that were, by then, being used.
Content syndication and affiliation exploded as a means of monetising content. However both the content creator and the affiliates sites needed to have a direct commercial relationship.
Web 2.0 has become known as the participative social web. However Web 2.0 has shown a range of challenges including:
Web3 is the emerging next generation internet environment. It is developing around some core technologies.
Blockchain distributed ledgers: Blockchain technologies are developing, providing some key features relevant to the web. Whilst blockchains have gained notoriety around crypto coins, the underlying technology is extremely powerful in delivering a fully distributed ledger around the internet. Tools are developing to enable rapid search and querying of the ledgers. Blockchains allow producers and consumers to interact directly without intermediaries thanks to new developments such as smart contracts.
Blockchains are fully distributed, whereby the complete blockchain is distributed to many servers, enabling blockchains to scale rapidly on a global level.
Alongside the distributed ledger, many blockchain technologies provide a virtual machine, enabling smart contracts to be distributed on the blockchain.
Smart Contracts
Blockchains support smart contracts. Smart contracts can provide a variety of features ranging from defining a royalty payout structure, through to unlocking content. A range of exciting services have developed on the back of blockchain and smart contracts including Non Fungible Tokens (NFT’s). The smart contracts are very flexible allowing a range of functions to be provided.
Inter Planetary File System
The IPFS is a distributed file system built on the back of blockchain. The IPFS provides a fully distributed file system where content is split into many blocks, and pushed around the globe - providing the benefits of a content delivery network for Web3.
LettsCore is designed to be the content management system (CMS) for Web3 built on the core technologies of blockchain, smart contracts and IPFS.
The vision for LettsCore is to become the standard, widely adopted content management system for Web3. Built natively in Web3 technologies, the CMS will be a scalable, secure system, where content is fully attributable, with built in usage control and revenue management services. LettsCore will manage all the different forms of content available, from imagery and video to full multipart documents and 3D assets.
Its design goals include:
To deliver on this vision, LettsCore will develop:
A unique blockchain designed for content management. The blockchain will be built on existing open source blockchain infrastructure such as Ethereum and Solidity based contracts. The blockchain will have a variety of interfaces for searching and retrieving the required content.
Development of a range of smart contracts applicable to content management, focused on
Content Creator Verification and Reputation management
Rights to use - different models for how the content may be used - eg affiliate, preview etc
Royalty management
Standard API for accessing content
Flexible metadata model.
Integration to IPFS delivering an embedded content delivery system within LettsCore. The LettsCore platform will be designed to support the widest range of content including standard image / video / text / binary file content as well as packages of content such as a set of assets for a web page, or rich 3D experiences.
It is envisioned that multiple platforms will use the LettsCore solution to retrieve and render content including web browsers both desktop and mobile, mobile apps, and the emerging metaverse experiences.
The main use cases for LettsCore will be
Replacement of the web 2.0 headless CMS such as Strapi and Contentful.
Powering social networks providing native social reputation and massive scalability
Providing a content platform for sharing content within media companies and other content rich businesses
Core platform servicing LettsArt, LettsNews and other future LettsGroup ventures and apps.
LettsCore will be utilising Solana (https://solana.com) as the underlying technology for the content blockchain. Solana, a high-performance blockchain platform, offers numerous benefits that contribute to its growing popularity in the world of decentralised applications (dApps) and digital asset management. Among its most notable advantages are its unmatched scalability and speed, thanks to the innovative Proof of History (PoH) consensus mechanism. This feature enables Solana to process over 50,000 transactions per second, making it one of the fastest blockchains available today. In addition to this, Solana's low transaction fees and energy efficiency make it an attractive option for developers and users alike. The platform's robust ecosystem fosters collaboration and innovation, attracting a diverse range of projects, from DeFi to NFT marketplaces. As a result, Solana's flexibility and user-friendly approach have positioned it as a formidable contender in the rapidly evolving landscape of blockchain technology.
The content management domain has a number of solutions, some of which are open source such as WordPress, and others are paid for solutions (either SaaS or licensed local installations) such as Contentful. However all of these platforms are based around Web 1 and Web 2 architectures, typically where content resides on a single platform, and is served from this point. Reputation management is either not provided at all, or is provided by the branding / reputation of the website providing the content - e.g. newspaper content sites such as the New York Times. Reputation based on reviews or feedback is fragmented and site centric.
The LettsCore platform is designed to be internet centric rather than site centric - enabling both content and reputation metadata to be distributed across the internet. Whilst there are many other DeFi Web3 applications and platforms, there are few public content platforms. The closest announced competition is dotCMS.com, which is an existing web 2.0 digital experience platform (DXP), and they have published a number of white papers on how a DXP would operate in the Web3 environment. However dotCMS and other web 2.0 platforms will need to maintain backward compatibility for their existing customers, restricting innovation.
LettsCore has the opportunity to become the first from-scratch and pure-breed content management systems for Web3.
The LettsCore Solana environment will consist of a number of Solana programs. These will include:
LettsCore Content Program: This is the main Solana program which manages the individual items of content including its metadata and who the content belongs to.
The content program manages the related elements of author, organisation and issued NFTs. Through the use of granular rights within the Solana wallet structures we can apply multiple rights of access to the content.
The API / SDK layer in the infrastructure abstracts the final URL of the content, ensuring that access is only possible through this content control point.
LettsCore Author Program: This program manages the authorship of the content, enabling features such as reputation to be managed.
LettsCore NFT: This program issues the non fungible tokens for the content, enforcing the licensing, onward sale and distribution of the content items
LettsCore Organisation Program: This program manages the licensing and access to the LettsCore CMS
These individual programs interact to provide the overall LettsCore blockchain solution.
The initial proof of concept project is focused on the Content Program and Author Program, enabling content to be created and distributed on the Solana blockchain.
As part of the Proof of concept two IPFS technologies are being investigated - Pinata (pinata.io) and arweave (arweave.io). Each of these platforms provide similar fully distributed file storage using IPFS protocols.
The content management domain has a number of solutions, some of which are open source such as WordPress, and others are paid for solutions (either SaaS or licensed local installations) such as Contentful. However all of these platforms are based around Web 1 and Web 2 architectures, typically where content resides on a single platform, and is served from this point. Reputation management is either not provided at all, or is provided by the branding / reputation of the website providing the content - e.g. newspaper content sites such as the New York Times. Reputation based on reviews or feedback is fragmented and site centric.
The LettsCore platform is designed to be internet centric rather than site centric - enabling both content and reputation metadata to be distributed across the internet. Whilst there are many other DeFi Web3 applications and platforms, there are few public content platforms. The closest announced competition is dotCMS.com, which is an existing web 2.0 digital experience platform (DXP), and they have published a number of white papers on how a DXP would operate in the Web3 environment. However dotCMS and other web 2.0 platforms will need to maintain backward compatibility for their existing customers, restricting innovation.
There are a number of web3 based CMS being developed. Examples are
LettsCore has the opportunity to become the first from-scratch and pure-breed content management systems for Web3.
LettsNews is an AI and crowdsourced news platform, enabling all journalists and citizens to report on news events that are impacting them, using their smartphones. As a platform this then enables these news stories to be syndicated to other news and social platforms. Traditionally such a platform would be built on the back of a CMS platform such as WordPress or a custom database driven website. The platform would be built and commercial syndication business development partnerships would be put in place to monetize the content. Each syndication would require unique integration and tracking technology to be put in place. The platform would also need to invest heavily in reviewing the user generated content to ensure its appropriateness and validity.
Such a platform built on LettsCore would consist of
Such an approach benefits LettsNews by providing full smart contract wrap around the content enabling many automated operations such as syndication, content review, author payments and others. The syndication services benefit from having their own distributed copy of the LettsNews news repository for high performance and scale. The journalists benefit by getting paid and properly attributed for their work.
Many enterprises generate a great deal of content - sales pitches, budgets, project plans, product specifications and more. These pieces of content sit in shared file systems within an enterprise, often with very little context. Some enterprises have invested heavily in document management systems to attempt to create some order out of this document chaos, however these only increased the level of document silo’s. The overall document management market is expected to grow to $10billion by 2026 from $4.5billion in 2021.
LettsCore can be applied into this market. Documents along with their metadata such as author, organisational context, purpose etc are stored into the LettsCore blockchain using smart contracts designed specifically for enterprise document management. These smart contracts when invoked will ‘process’ the document automatically categorising, extracting summaries and reformatting according to the enterprise guidelines. Once stored in the blockchain, automated processes can query and process the content in the blockchain to for example
The combination of the enterprise smart contract and the distributed blockchain enables content to be shared securely outside the boundaries of the enterprise - for example to subsidiaries or partner companies. The smart contract defines the accessibility of all or parts of the content depending on the identity of the viewer. This breaking down of the traditional organisational silos becomes extremely important to rapid productive collaboration.
The potential of providing a common content API within the enterprise will open up new creative uses and workflows for such content enabling an enterprise to become truly agile.
LettsCore will offer a couple of different commercial models. The first model will be aimed at content published onto the internet, designed for large scale publishing use such as a major media website. This model would be offered with a SaaS licensing approach. Within this, we will explore different pricing dimensions such as:
Features that can be used to drive differential price points will include:
It is envisaged that there will be a single global LettsCore internet platform serving many content creators.
The second model we plan to develop is an enterprise model, whereby an enterprise customer will be able to licence LettsCore for its private use - either for its internal employees or distributed to its partner companies. This could be delivered via a SaaS model, or for installation in the enterprise's own network. The pricing could again be content based, or user based.
The lettsCore platform meets the needs of a number of different user groups and stakeholders.
The Content Creator
Today's content creators are underserved by the current internet platforms. They lose control of their content - it is freely copied, modified and distributed without the creator's knowledge, permission or the ability to receive fair compensation. Major content disputes in Australia with Google and various news organisations demonstrate the challenges facing content creators.
The LettsCore platform will provide the content creator with a platform to easily load their content onto the web3 ecosystem, imbued with a number of standard smart contracts. These smart contracts provide the metadata and functions to ensure the rights allowed by the content creator are honoured as content is reused. Features such as versioning, tracking, removal and updating will be supported.
The Content Distributor
Content distributors have invested heavily in building popular, highly trafficked websites, honing their marketing capabilities to attract their target audiences, and working with advertisers or paywalls to monetise the content that is being distributed. Many content sites create their own unique content blurring the boundaries between content and distribution. Such sites experience similar challenges to the content creators, as well as having to ensure that the content is accurate, licensed correctly and from credible sources.
The lettsCore platform will not only offer access to a fully distributed blockchain of content, along with its associated licensing, but it will also provide the flexibility to create new business models based around smart contracts, attributable reputation and the credibility of the content.
The Content Consumer
The content consumer is reasonably well served on the internet today with a large choice of content, and powerful search tools to find their content of interest. However, despite this breadth of content - the consumer is struggling to separate fact from fiction - fake news is becoming increasingly sophisticated and difficult to identify. In addition, new methods of engaging with content - including short form video, long form video, AI based search and the metaverse is driving demand for a greater richness of content, and its associated metadata.
The lettsCore platform provides for the content consumer browsing content on the web, mobile apps or metaverse enjoying a high performance content experience secure in the knowledge that the content provenance can be traced back to the content creator. The rich metadata included in the smart contracts enables the viewer to find similar content and assess reputation. This metadata will also become available for emerging platforms to provide exciting new search and discoverability capabilities. This experience could prove quite groundbreaking for consumers and will open up a range of innovative new opportunities.
The Enterprise User
The enterprise user wants the convenience of the mass market internet combined with enhanced control, restricted access and tight management of their data. The enterprise user typically creates, distributes and consumes content. The LettsCore platform's distributed nature will enable it to be deployed as a private blockchain. This capability will enable all of the benefits above to be brought securely into the enterprise and across its extended network of trusted partners.
