An Attempt to Crack Content Code

How to leverage reverse engineering and ethical hacking principles in content development for cross-pollination

Background

In my professional roles as an engineer, technologist, and an inventor, I use many established and emerging techniques for quality, quantity, and performance of my work outcomes.

In this article, I want to introduce learning from two effective methods that I frequently use to produce effective results in my profession. The first one is reverse engineering, and the second one is ethical hacking.

Reverse engineering refers to deconstructing the components of a functional design manifested as a product. This technique is commonly used both in the engineering and science disciplines. By using the reverse engineering method, we extract knowledge from the nature of a manifested product.

Hacking has connotations and is usually associated with bad things such as unauthorized intrusion into computer networks. However, the type of hacking which provides business value is ethical hacking which we commonly use at work for compelling reasons.

The primary use case for ethical hacking is to identify vulnerabilities in the systems and the solution building blocks. I don’t intend going into the details for this emerging practice instead I focus on how we can apply the technique to our writing practice. You can learn more about ethical hacking in the attached article if you are interested in the topic.

Hacking is a practical solution technique to create new things and new meanings in unusual and unconventional ways, by using creative and pragmatic thinking with agility.

Hacking can be applied to any discipline. For example, I use bio-hacking for my health transformation. The term I coined “sensible biohacking” is experimenting with interesting and novel approaches in a natural way to gain knowledge about our bodies without inducing or causing harm.

With this brief background, I want to relate my experience from these unconventional ways to our writing practice and provide you some useful ideas.

What can writers learn from these techniques and how they can apply them?

First of all, consideration of these innovative techniques can take the writers out of their comfort zones to their growth zones. When we are in our growth zone, we can start being more creative. Operating in growth zone can make us innovative thinkers and producers.

Secondly, by looking at the content with fresh eyes in our growth zones, we can pick up new ideas and start gaining new insights. This is the first step to the cross-pollination process.

Thirdly, with the novel way of looking at the content, we can leverage prior learning and customize the findings and integrate the knowledge to augment our experience.

Considering this thirty thousand feet view and simplified perspective in my explanation, one may think it is easier said than done. True. However, my purpose is to ignite the candle, and with our engagements and collaboration, we can set the necessary fire to crack the content code for our growth.

Initial practice to crack the content code

I want to propose a new and simple challenge to start cross-pollination in our community. By following the seven steps, we can initiate the first entry to the cross-pollination mode.

Step 1 — Today onward, explore five articles randomly, on ILLUMINATION, which you haven’t read before. If the writer of the content you choose is new to you, it can be a bonus.

Step 2- Draft a new article by embedding each article into your new article. I provided a sample at the end of this section. You can leverage my article to draft yours.

Step 3 — Identify three key points in each article. The points can include what you learned from the article, such as a new style, content message, and other writing features that impressed and inspired you.

Step 4- When you read each article, please leave a brief comment on the article that you reviewed. This will honor the writer. Most likely, the writer of the article can provide you with further insights based on your comment.

Step 5 — As an act of kindness, clap the article 50 times and share it on the ILLUMINATION Twitter list and other social media sites.

Step 6 — When you finish and publish your draft article, please re-visit the articles you reviewed once more, and leave another comment by embedding your new article to the reviewed articles and tag the owner of the article so that he or she can tag you back in their comment.

Step 7 —Remember to follow the writer of the articles you read and check their future content.

What benefits can we gain from these seven steps in a short time?

There can be several benefits of this activity. Here are the points coming to my mind at first instance.

This activity can expose us to new content and help us connect with new writers.

Examining the new content with fresh eyes, we can improve our review skills and learn new techniques such as the new writing styles and new knowledge from the content of the reviewed article.

We can increase our network in serendipitous ways. Our act of kindness can attract new writers to our profile and create new reader-base for us.

This activity can increase our ROI and SROI.

As a by-product, we have a new article embellished with our improved skills. Our new article can provide further insights to readers of our article and empower the writers of the articles we examined.

This is a fantastic cross-pollination exercise which can create terrific vitality in our community. Here is a sample article that I provided to give you guidance for your consideration of this cross-pollination challenge.

I look forward to reading your articles featuring your five reflective writers in our community. Let’s start cross-pollinating in our community to crack the content code.

Introductions to ILLUMINATION writers

The following two fascinating writers and readers introduced themselves creatively in the last 24 hours. What a wonderful diversity in their background! Let’s read their inspiring background, connect with them, and support their content.

Adding Daniella Mini [apologies for missing earlier]

I plan to feature all bios tomorrow onward. If you need to update your bios, you may do it soon so that new readers can expose your content in the way you want them to do.

Thank you for providing feedback on the benefits of this activity. I highly recommend every member of this community to introduce themselves in an article. Please show your readers who you are, what your background is, why you are here, your goals, your expectations, and some sample articles from your portfolio.

Articles distributed to topics

Two articles were distributed to topics.

Yes, Stacey again! Stacey seems to have cracked the curation code. Start picking her brains. Every article Stacey submits to ILLUMINATION inspires me deeply. We can learn a lot from Stacey’s writing experience.

Our Leaders Need to Believe in Us: The American People. By Stacey Christiansen distributed to #politics & #society

Can’t Wait for Life to Return to The Way it Was? By Selma distributed to #society & #self

Progress Update

We had many more articles in the last 24 hours. Several new writers joined.

We have now an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for ILLUMINATION. Please review and provide feedback with suggestions and other items to add.

Slack Channel for ILLUMINATION

We created a new Slack channel.

Several writers and editors have already joined.

It is a lot fun to have chat in a safe environments with convenience.

You can join our channel from the attached link. Please see the FAQ for the instructions. You can bring your concerns and suggestions to this forum.

https://join.slack.com/t/illuminationglobal/shared_invite/zt-d1rx9szm-dxvXuttc8DKH5izbuqfLcQ

Stats for the publication

Here are the growing stats from the publication dashboard.

29,611 minutes of read

33,062 views

414 followers

296 new visitors

170+ writers

48 editors (knowledge curators)

We gained 72 new followers since yesterday. Medium started discovering us! Let’s continue producing, collaborating, and promoting.

Writers having difficulty to add their articles to ILLUMINATION, please check this link provided by Medium.

For new writers to learn more about ILLUMINATION, please check our FAQ (Frequently Asked Question).