Ciao! Unless you’ve spent the last few months having a complete internet detox then chances are that you’ve heard terms such as Blockchain, NFT, Cryptocurrency and Metaverse more times than people have mentioned how dark it is getting already at 5PM these days. Which is a lot. Am I going to explain to you in detail what each of these terms are? No. Am I an expert? No. Is the end of Daylight savings impacting our mood? Probably… What I hope to achieve in this article, as the title suggests, is to share an humble guide with useful links and resources I’ve compiled to help you get ready for small talk with your techy relatives during the festive period, and maybe also to prepare you for what 2022 might be throwing at us (digitally speaking).
The term Web 3 refers to the evolution of the way the internet is going to be utilized in the future, from how we will make transactions (Cryptocurrencies and smart contracts), to how we will build digital assets (NFTs), connect with one another (Metaverse) and create content that is decentralized (on the blockchain). What do we mean by that? Well, if you remember (I almost don’t because I’m that young), the way people started utilizing the internet was pretty unidirectional, meaning the creation of content and platforms was almost exclusively managed by big corporations and media producers, flowing in one direction to us end-users, who contributed to the content in a very limited way. That, we call Web 1.
Yes I know it’s pretty bad… but hey I used WordArt so give me some credit!
Now move aside Web 1, it’s time for Web 2! That’s where we’re currently at, and have been for a while (since early 2000 I’d say). The social media era, or social web, where communication flows in many directions, information and content is created and maintained by everyone, like what you’re reading right now. Think the diagram above but with more interactions, and nicer… I’m not going to make another one and embarrass myself. This web is centralized, meaning that all these platforms we use and the content we create, all of it is hosted and controlled. We access information via specific routes that trace our preferences for ads purposes, and we only retain a degree of control over our privacy.
Now Web 3 is what we are moving towards. It refers to the future of the Web, the combination of emerging technologies that will change the way we simply do things online. At this stage what we know is that it will be user-centric, thanks to Blockchain technology that decentralizes the data and gives the control back to us, the users. Data will also be accessible in a more “spatial” way, thanks to AR and VR. Please note that is not the definitive description, but all various definitions you can find today do land on those principles.
The truth is, it’s very early days, you might have seen Facebook announcing their rebrand to Meta, and Microsoft talking about the Metaverse and how it will change the way we connect with people, in our daily lives and at work, along with the NFT boom and Cryptocurrencies growing to crazy X% with companies like Nike, Budweiser, Pepsi and many more dipping their giant toes into this pool with no-one really wanting to be the first to cannon-ball in. In all fairness a real meaningful implementation of Web 3 is likely to be at least a few years off.
When it comes to getting access to educational content on these subjects, I personally really like LinkedIn Learning (I’m sure the algorithm will love this). Lots of creators are very active on this platform and largely deserving a follow. You’d be surprised, or maybe not, where lots of information on Web 3 can be found these days, from obvious sources like YouTube, and Twitter where huge NFT and Crypto communities are forming (especially after the new feature Spaces was launched), to Discord and TikTok!
Below is a collection of my favourite courses, creators and sources of information on the subject that you can checkout to get started:
Non-fungible Token… ok first off, let’s understand what non-fungible means, from Cambridge Dictionary:
not easy to exchange or mix with other similar goods or assets, non-fungible property/assets/funds.
Ideally these will be the future digital assets that we will utilize in Web 3. These assets are stored in the blockchain and tied to your unique blockchain address (crypto wallet) showing proof of ownership and will potentially be used for granting access to venues, events, transportations and more. Right now they often are the laughing stock of many, who are calling them “expensive jpegs” and screenshotting these images to prove a point, and undoubtedly the growing interest around them has already been exploited by those looking to make lots of money selling randomly generated “art”… What’s that? Do I own any NFTs? Yeah of course, want to see? Ok, but no screenshots!
To celebrate the release of the 4th chapter in the Cinemas, The Matrix franchise partnered with Nifty’s to launch 100,000 unique NFTs like the one above. Owners of these NFTs will then receive exclusive content to further interact with them. Initially they will send owners a blue pill/red pill upgrade to choose between, and they have similar plans in the future for these assets… I can tell some of you are judging me for getting one!
Honestly, while I’ve found certain YouTube creators particularly useful for understanding how this technology is going to actually benefit us, at this stage it’s still hard to be entirely convinced! Here’s a short video which gives a bit of clarity on the subject.
Had anyone actually ever used this word before October? Not me. As mentioned previously, Meta and Microsoft announced they both plan on making the Metaverse the foundation of their present and future platforms – you can watch the recap of both compared here. A very simple explanation of the Metaverse was posted by Microsoft in November in this 2-minute video, I suggest you check it out!
Just as Web 1 relied on everyone having a modem and a nice chunky PC, and Web 2 required a more stable, low-latency fast connection and smartphones, so Web 3 is dependent on the right combination of hardware, software, and services that are going to be widely adopted and available in our future. What will these look like? What other technologies will emerge and perhaps disappear before #Web3 is formed? Is it going to get dark even earlier tonight? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please consider leaving a comment and let me know, also please feel free to correct, suggest and ask!
Have a great day – Em.
