Season 5 marked the partnership between Protein Agency and Protein Community in an entirely new take on collaborative research and collective creation. We aimed to decentralize the creation and curation process while also challenging our existing methodologies. This was done in order to facilitate more mutual discoveries, and all were conducted "in the open" via our existing channels and platforms.

It signals a new adventure by combining the collective intelligence of our incredible members with the extensive experience and knowledge of Protein Agency to collaboratively tackle the next DIRTY WORD report.

The agency has a long history of crafting and distributing high-quality reports, including the “DIRTY WORDS” series. DIRTY WORDS are words that dominate brand and media conversations and whose original meaning has been modified by cultural shifts. We want to take a step back and re-focus on the usage of these words. The goal is not to reach an objective definition of each DIRTY WORD, but to explore concept and context to build a foundation for discussion.

For the fourth issue, our joint forces are unpacking the topic ‘COMMUNITY,’ unlike anything you’ve seen from us before. We ventured into the unknown and piloted new forms of funding, coordination, research, compensation, and distribution. With this report, we are exploring:

• The spaces where IRL and URL communities live and thrive

• The role community plays in our identities

• The different economic opportunities and challenges of running a community

• What this all means for brands that are looking to engage with, create, cultivate, or grow their own communities

Behind the Scenes of Dirty Words #4: [COMMUNITY]

Over the past three months, Protein's core team, Protein Agency team, and Protein Community members have worked under an experimental process to produce this report. Through weekly Wednesday sessions, the process was co-created, co-ideated, and co-researched together, with live asynchronous recaps across social media.

Within the report, we explore: — The spaces where IRL and URL communities live and thrive — The role community plays in our identities — The different economic opportunities and challenges of running a community — What this all means for brands that are looking to engage with, create, cultivate, or grow their own communities.

Collaborate, Contribute, Earn: Our Royalty Split Model

At Protein Community, we value ownership and collaboration and strive to empower our members to grow and earn with us. With limited funding available for creating the report, we thought of a release & royalty model as a means to reward contributors proportionally to their contributions to the report. This model introduces an opportunity for incentives as members are betting on the quality of their contribution and for greater financial returns. Also, it’s important to note that the royalty splits for primary sales of the report release are calculated in proportion to the contribution.

For all transparency, you can find the project budget, final list of contributors, royalty splits and their compensations in $USDC and $PRTN by following this link.

Inaugurating our first Protein Release: Dirty Words #4 [COMMUNITY]

What's included in this release:

• A blind drop of one of 25 animated digital artworks created by Manuel Dilone and verified on-chain by Verisart

• Unlimited access to the full 130-page enhanced version of the report — containing stunning animated elements and built entirely in Figma

• Posterzine #91 (RRP $10) is a beautifully designed A1 printed poster of the report that can also be folded down to an A4 zine for your bookshelf

• First access and discounts on future Protein Releases 👀

What are you waiting for? MINT NOW!

We are joyous to share this report with the world, and we hope it inspires conversations about the power of community in shaping our future.

Thank you to all who came together to make this possible:

Andrea Brena, Ben Culpin, Charlotte Thoumy, Deniz Yazıcıoğlu, Eli Zeger, Emma Dietze, Emmanuelle Naranjo, Gemma Jones, JhennyArt, Jowin Foo, Kesia Inkersole, Lauren Washington, Manuel Dilone, Mashal Waqar, Maarten Walraven, Sam McCarthy, Serdar Paktin, Vanessa Bittner, William Rowe & Zil-ki.