Unpacking my "South China Morning Post" Digital Collection NFT (ARTIFACTs by SCMP) 1997 Premium Series part1

Unexpectedly, it took almost a month to sit in front of the computer and slowly lay down my experience of unboxing this NFT. Sharing this NFT on Matters is very important to me, if it weren't for the information and whitelist provided by Matters, I might not be able to buy it! In fact, as my "first NFT purchased with cryptocurrency", this NFT is not only very meaningful, but also an experience beyond my expectations.

"ARTIFACTs by SCMP: 1997 Premium Series" launched by "South China Morning Post (SCMP)" is a plan to make the front page of "South China Morning Post" in 1997 into NFT for sale. This NFT 1 box has 5 sheets, which are sold in two parts: part1 and part2. Part1 sells the content of the first half year (1997.1.1 - 7.1), and the upcoming part2 is sold in the second half (1997.7.1 - 12.31). content. Therefore, unless otherwise specified, the following content refers to part1.

For more information about this NFT and my expectations for this NFT, please read the prequel " I Bought the 1997 Premium Series of the "South China Morning Post" Digital Collection NFT (ARTIFACTs by SCMP) .

Unboxing my 5 NFTs

I bought a box of "1997 Premium Series" during the limited opening time of the whitelist on 3/13, 3/14 is for general public sale, and 3/15 is unblinded. Without further ado, just unbox my 1 set of 5 NFTs.

锵锵锵锵锵～After the blind box is opened, these are the 5 pieces! If you want to see the unboxing process, the video is also ready XD

This is not the first time I have unblinded an NFT in the state of the blind box in my hand, but the whole process of unblinding, the way ARTIFACTs by SCMP animations are presented, or the process of slowly opening and appreciating one by one, all make I can't forget it. And the ARTIFACTs by SCMP collection is really beautiful~ totally beyond my expectations.

I said in the last article " I Bought the 1997 Premium Series of the "South China Morning Post" Digital Collection NFT (ARTIFACTs by SCMP) ", my expectation for this NFT is that since the "South China Morning Post" is going to release a historical NFT, it will In 1997, the daily newspaper content was made into NFT. From the perspective of digital collection of news content, it must have several conditions for digital collection:

1. After the NFT is made, can the news content be clearly read?
2. In addition to the content on the front page of the day, will the South China Morning Post provide more information on the content of the front page of the day?

To my amazement, ARTIFACTs by SCMP not only does these 2 things, but also does it better than I imagined!

Exceeding expectations for the completion of digital archives

The reason why I say this is because, think about it, how big is a newspaper when it is opened? This large sheet is the size of the front page. Usually, when NFT is presented on the website, its display size will not be as large as the real-world front page. In other words, if the entire front page is directly printed as an NFT, the thumbnail of the NFT is a reduced front page, which is absolutely impossible for people to read the content clearly. Unless the thumbnails are displayed like this, you can zoom in and read after entering the exclusive website (or the secondary market), so that it is possible for people to clearly read the complete newspaper content.

But the "South China Morning Post" thought of a better solution: this NFT is not a picture file, it is a video file, even if it is still (video thumbnail), it is a reduced version of the entire front page, just click on the NFT to start playing the video, It will zoom in on the front page content over time, making the content more visible! genius! And when you zoom in on the whole picture, you can really see the content of the text clearly, not just the big logo, which means that the resolution of this NFT original image is really ~ very ~ good ~

Not only that, I also spent a lot of space in the last article " I bought the 1997 Premium Series of the "South China Morning Post" Digital Collection NFT (ARTIFACTs by SCMP), about digital collections, the digitalization of paper media, and the electronic materials of news media To do a good job in the database, in addition to whether the text can be clearly read, metadata such as large and small labels, dates, and content keywords that are helpful for search also need to be archived, so that in the future, the database will be available after it goes online. Help users to use.

ARTIFACTs by SCMP does just that.

Metadata on ARTIFACTs by SCMP

After the launch of ARTIFACTs by SCMP NFT, in addition to holders, non-holders can also view and enjoy these contents. It is open to the public, that is, non-holders can also see all the descriptions in the Basic Info column, including: the name of the NFT (artifact name), the full description of the NFT (artifact full description) , asset type, and artifact issuer(s). As for the holder, after logging in with the wallet, you can also view advanced information such as Assets Info and Relevant Info.

The basic information that is generally released to the public has already met (and exceeded) my original expectations. Coupled with the advanced information limited by the holder, I really feel that the "South China Morning Post" is using NFT technology. The news media has set a benchmark that is difficult to surpass. In the future, if other media companies want to follow up and use NFT as a digital collection, it will be really difficult to surpass the South China Morning Post in a short period of time. Because these pre-work assignments are very time-consuming, it is not just about making the NFT beautiful. I believe that its artifact full description on the front page every day is really reorganized and written by the editors of the South China Morning Post. The content, the narrative content on the front page every day is not short, this is definitely the content that has been re-examined, rather than simply copying and pasting the original news content of the day.

In one sentence, I am really satisfied with the experience of purchasing ARTIFACTs by SCMP, and I find it very meaningful. As I said in the last article, I converted 1 NFT to a price of about NT$600 as an investment to support/sponsor the South China Morning Post to make a digital archive of the front page of the newspaper on a certain day in 1997. I really think that the 600 yuan is very worth it, and I am very willing to buy the NFT of part2 (the second half of 1997), because I really think it is worth the money.

This may not be an NFT that allows you to resell to get rich, but it is an NFT that allows holders to create a history together and contribute to the digital transformation of the media industry.

Having said so much, I will let you all enjoy the ARTIFACTs by SCMP that I currently hold at a close distance to give you a smell~ (The following is in chronological order according to the date of the front page)

My ARTIFACTs by SCMP link

Because of the format of the website, the following links are attached to each NFT. You are welcome to click directly to see it. This should be the best way to present it, and it will be better than downloading the file and uploading it to Matters or YouTube.

1. SCMP A1 cover for 1997-01-06 (5/50), rarity: UNCOMMON
   China agreed to fund Hong Kong's controversial provisional legislature until June 30, 1997, then claim money back
   
2. SCMP A1 cover for 1997-01-20 (8/50), rarity: UNCOMMON
   China to scrap 16 Hong Kong laws and modify nine. "Sadly predictable," said Hong Kong spokesman
   
3. SCMP A1 cover for 1997-02-13 (2/20), rarity: RARE
   North Korean defector was highest Pyongyang official to seek asylum in South Korea
   
4. SCMP A1 cover for 1997-03-10 (5/50), rarity: UNCOMMON
   Chinese Vice-Premier Qian Qichen underscored power of Beijing-appointed body that some in Hong Kong doubt is legal
   
5. SCMP A1 cover for 1997-06-13 (5/50), rarity: UNCOMMON
   Hong Kong Democrats' challenge to China-appointed Legislature ended when judge said it bound to fail
   

After clicking on the dedicated webpage of each NFT, you can click on Basic Info on the right side of the screen to read the artifact full description on the front page of the day. At the end of the NFT animation is the credit page, which is printed with a short description on the front page of the day, and the issuer is the South China Morning Post.

Move the cursor to the NFT, the cursor will turn into a magnifying glass icon, click to zoom in and enjoy the NFT; you can also right-click the mouse and click "Open Video in New Tab" to see a clearer version (I Personally, I don't mind if someone clicks the right button to save the video, but as I said before and in the previous article, the essence of digital archives and electronic databases is in the metadata of this (historical) document, not the scanned document. electronic file).

More features continue to be unlocked

Do you think this is the end? not yet. ARTIFACTs by SCMP is still in its infancy, so some of its features are being released slowly, including Community Wall . Now just click on this link , you can go to the Community Wall of the official website of ARTIFACTs by SCMP and see "almost all" part1 content. It will say "almost all" because the content on the Community Wall will only appear on the Community Wall if the holder chooses to share his NFT. Share the NFT in hand.

Others such as the resale of ARTIFACTs by SCMP in the Blocto secondary market, and the connection with the Blocto APP, the holders can finally see their NFTs on the Blocto APP, etc. These are all sold out in part1, all sold out After that, the function was gradually added. For those who are going to buy part2, the functions of ARTIFACTs by SCMP are relatively complete now. Maybe there are still many official plans in preparation waiting to be released in the future, maybe.

Postscript: The April Fool's Airdrop is here!

Although this article is late (it was only written after a month), writing this article at this point in time also has the advantage of this point in time. For example, the gameplay of Community Wall mentioned above. More importantly, I think the "South China Morning Post" really understands its advantages very well, and the point of playing the news NFT to the fullest is that ARTIFACTs by SCMP officially announced on April Fool's Day on April 1 that it will airdrop (airdrop) NFTs to Holders of all part1.

My NFT is here

At one point, you will find that the "South China Morning Post" casts the event (event) that part1 sold out within 2 hours into an NFT, and all the information formats are the same as ARTIFACTs by SCMP, basic information (Basic Info), asset information ( Assets Info) and related information (Relevant Info) fields are filled in, and a fake front page is also made. Anyone who uses the "South China Morning Post" web version will know that this is the current "South China Morning Post" website. The way news is presented. This really won my heart very much, and only newspapers can play like this hahahahahaha

This airdrop also shows that my previous expectations for ARTIFACTs by SCMP were correct: The South China Morning Post can indeed rely on this series of NFTs to establish a model for casting news content into NFTs, not only in 1997 The front page of , other years, or current news events, can use this template to make news NFT.

Because there is only 1 NFT in the airdrop, unlike part1, which is a box of 5, I would like to attach the Chinese translation of the news commentary of this NFT, which will be more impressive.

News banner:
SCMP Article : SCMP's first NFT collection sells out in two hours
SCMP article: SCMP's first NFT collectible sold out in two hours

Short description of the news:
South China Morning Post's first NFT collection sells out in two hours despite global market slump
South China Morning Post's first NFT collectible sold out in two hours despite global market downturn

Artifact full description:
The South China Morning Post's first collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), featuring its news archives from Hong Kong's pivotal year of 1997, sold out in two hours on March 14, 2022, as the newspaper works towards building an “ecosystem of historical NFTs”. The collection, named “1997 Premium Series”, includes 1,300 “mystery boxes”, each containing five randomly selected NFTs produced by the Post. The NFTs feature the newspaper's coverage of 1997's momentous events, including the handover ceremony of Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule, the Asian financial crisis, the Avian flu outbreak, and the deaths of Princess Diana and former Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. “I can say with certainty that this project is different from other newspaper NFTs,” SCMP CEO Garly Liu said on Discord. “This is just the first drop in a huge ecosystem of historical NFTs, all connected by the same ARTIFACT metadata standard.”
In order to build an "ecosystem of historical NFTs", South China Morning Post's first non-fungible tokens (NFTs) based on Hong Kong's key 1997 news archives will be issued within 2 hours on March 14, 2022. Sold out. The collection, called "1997 Premium Series", includes 1,300 "Blind Boxes", each of which contains 5 NFTs produced by the South China Morning Post. The NFTs feature the paper's coverage of major events in 1997, including the handover ceremony of Hong Kong's sovereignty from the UK to China, the Asian financial crisis, the outbreak of bird flu, and the death of Princess Diana and former Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. Gary Liu, CEO of the South China Morning Post, said on Discord: "I dare say that this project is different from other news NFTs, this is only the first project of a vast ecosystem of historical NFTs, everything will be interpreted by the same ARTIFACT data ( metadata) standard to concatenate.

Finally, as part2 is about to go on sale (open whitelist pre-order on 4/20, public sale on 4/21), there is now a whitelist activity of ARTIFACTs by SCMP part2 on LikeCoin's Discord ( please click here for details ). I have already qualified for the part2 whitelist, and will continue to support this project without any surprises. I really like this plan myself. Although this may not be an NFT that can be resold to get rich, it is a kind of NFT that will allow holders to create history together and contribute to the digital transformation of the media industry. NFTs. Welcome everyone to communicate with you. If you have any curiosity about this project, you can also ask me in the message below, and I will do my best to answer the questions I can answer XD

"South China Morning Post" NFT official website: https://artifact.scmp.com/
This article was simultaneously published on the Wordpress blog .