Quality Drop 03: Sacred Stacks
A new publication by Nathan Schneider and citizen journalists around the world
Coming off the heels of Quality Drop 02, whose “Signature Editions” sold out in six minutes, Quality Drop 03 releases a limited-edition physical zine co-written by citizen journalists from around the world.
“Sacred Stacks” is a new publication edited by University of Colorado Media Enterprise Design Lab professor and author Nathan Schneider featuring work by seven grassroots organizations from around the world, including:
Meli Bees Network (Barreirinha, Araribóia, Brazil and Berlin, Germany)
Iraqi Journalists Rights Association (Baghdad, Iraq)
Kibilio Community & Farm (Western MA, USA)
Sans Souci Cooperative (Boulder, CO, USA)
Survivors Know (Chicago, IL, USA)
Unheard Voices Outreach (Nashville, TN, USA)
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco, CA, USA)
Sacred Stacks began in 2022 when these seven communities came together to explore the needs, ethics, and challenges of decentralized technologies. What began as a search for practical tools became an exploration of ritual, relationship, and poetics that manifested a work as beautiful as it is illuminating. Here are some of these pages from the zine, designed by Ritual Point.
By collecting this limited-edition record (.02 ETH | $35 USD/300 editions available), collectors receive:
An onchain record of the work
A physical zine
A digital zine
Good karma for supporting citizen journalists around the world
Funds from this drop will be distributed between the seven groups that are part of this release and MedLab at the University of Colorado.
Quality Drops
What makes this release a quality drop?
MEDLab is collaborative. As a metalabel situated within an academic institution, members include students across the University of Colorado, various collaborators, and participating communities.
MEDLab’s drops support a clear purpose. All of the group’s work supports the exploration of pathways for democratic ownership and governance in the online economy.
MEDLab has a thoughtful and influential catalog of work. Previous drops from MEDLab include Community Rule, a web-based community governance toolkit, and Exit To Community, which helped to popularize a model for online community ownership.
MedLab’s Nathan Schneider has produced an influential body of work, including a book on the legacy of cooperatives, the Occupy movement, and editing Vitalik Buterin’s book Proof of Stake, that’s been meaningful to Metalabel and other collectives exploring new approaches to governance and cooperation.
Further reading
Quality Drop 02 with Songcamp and Catalog was a rousing success:
Nearly 700 editions of the record were collected
50 Signature Editions offering tickets to two concerts sold out in six minutes
More than $4,000 was raised through the drop and split between the two groups
Congrats to Songcamp and Catalog, and hope to see you at the shows in NYC (we’ll be there)
Our Austin Robey has been on a mini-Euro tour in support of the After the Creator Economy zine, presenting the work IRL at the homes of two of our metalabel BFFs: Trust (in Berlin) and Protein (in London). Thanks to both of them for being wonderful hosts, and for everyone who came out to learn and support. Means a lot!
The Vitalika T-shirts we made as a sub-drop of Quality Drop 01 are appearing in mailboxes. Congrats to all who got one of these very limited items.
Quality Drops will be taking a brief holiday the next few weeks for some technical housecleaning. Look for Quality Drop 04 later in April.