Monthly Highlights from the ILLUMINATION Editorial Team: February 2024

This section summarizes our achievements and future objectives for writers, readers, editors, curators, and administrators.

For those who may not know, I compose this editorial bulletin from my secondary tech account, Dr. Mehmet Yildiz (Tech). My primary account focuses on health, wellness, science, and self-improvement. Managing the activities of 149 volunteer editors worldwide, alongside my full-time job and overseeing our Slack workspace, keeps me quite occupied.

Due to the focus of my main account, where over 80% of my followers are interested in health and lifestyle topics, I haven't shared as many tech stories. Nevertheless, I am thankful for the 92K followers on my primary account.

Previously, this account was utilized by my publication amplifiers to highlight stories from contributing writers. Now, collaborating with the curation team, we have combined the roles of curators and amplifiers into a unified effort under the ILLUMINATION-Curators account, which will serve as a hub for these initiatives. Here’s a glimpse of their new initiative.

This transformation has enabled me to rebrand this secondary account to better serve readers interested in technology, business, and leadership. In my commitment to the tech and business community, I established Technology Hits in 2020.

Despite its growth, my extensive responsibilities with ILLUMINATION limited my ability to nurture Technology Hits to its full potential. With this new approach, I aim to enhance this specialized publication by amplifying outstanding stories as a writer, reader, editor, and curator. My goal is to deliver technology-related content to a broad audience while leveraging my expansive network. I envision assembling a diverse group of writers, each with a unique technological perspective, to create compelling tech narratives.

With access to a vast network of writers across Medium and beyond, our potential is limitless. This publication has been thoughtfully designed with our audience in mind, employing Design Thinking principles.

Emerging from this process are seven key roles in the tech realm: technicians, philosophers, entrepreneurs, entertainers, artists, storytellers, and visionary leaders. I elaborated on the benefits of utilizing Technology Hits in our updated submission guidelines.

This past September, we revised our submission guidelines to clarify expectations for our writers and inform readers about what to anticipate from Technology Hits on Medium.com.

During the holiday season, I personally onboarded new writers while our administrators were on break, offering guidance based on my experiences. Here are some helpful resources for new writers:

• A Special Welcome to New Writers on New Year’s Day from the Chief Editor
• A Special Welcome to New Writers on Christmas Day from the Chief Editor

I also conduct interviews with influential writers who are leaders in their fields. For instance, I recently spoke with Shirley Willett, a 90-year-old designer known as a “Renaissance woman,” who continues to educate aspiring creatives.

February 2024 Music Industry Update

This video provides insights into the latest trends in the music industry, including spatial audio advancements, Spotify stream statistics, and the recent collapse of 3tone.

Section 1.1: Engaging with New Writers

In addition to interviews, I also invite exceptional writers to submit their work to ILLUMINATION-Curated, a formal boost-nominating publication on Medium.com. Here’s our latest collection of boosted stories.