Issue #36: Now We're Cooking
Hello web3 and educator frens,
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The end of the year brings a lot of year in reviews. Many that I have encountered have focused on the negative state of cryptocurrencies and NFTs for 2022. Value wise most tokens are down 50% or more from January. But there is more to web3 than just cryptocurrency values.
A number of important advances continue to be made in web3 as the crypto winter (or “crypto extinction” as one person called it) slogs along. Now is a good time to focus on what is being built and ignore the frenzy-driven headlines that dominate mass media.
This week we will highlight exciting new developments in web3 now that the FOMO that defined 2022 comes to an end. In this week’s newsletter I will share resources on the following:
🤝 Article from Coinbase about how the web3 social stack can help control your data, identity, and relationships
🏫 A private university announces that it is the first European university to implement VR technology
🤖 Stanford University shares its findings on how ChatGPT will shake up education
🌐 McKinsey releases a report on the business growth of the metaverse in 2022
Decentralization of Social Media With Web3
Image by Coinbase Ventures
Web2 social media networks have reached a point at which the “walled garden” approach has shown its shortcomings. Ownership of user data and identities has created a power structure that makes it difficult for competitors to break through and challenge these structures.
This article by Coinbase explores how web3 introduces a technology stack that can challenge the prevailing hierarchy. Hosting, profiles, and applications are all covered as things that web3 can address. There is also a case study of Farcaster a decentralized social network gaining in popularity.
The First Metaversity in Europe
Image provided by Modul University
The metaversity (metaverse + university) concept has been spreading across the United States. Programs at Morehouse College and South Dakota State University are a couple that has been leading the way.
Now Europe is getting in on the action. This announcement by Modul University Vienna centers around a partnership with VictoryXR to integrate VR/AR into their programs. Hopefully, this is the start of additional partnerships on the continent.
Higher Ed Weighs In On ChatGPT
Photo: onurdongel / iStock
Heard of chatPGT and AI-generated text? Not sure how you couldn’t be if you’ve spent any time online over the past month.* This is without a doubt transformative technology. I have enjoyed reading and watching schools and educators alike wrestle with its impact on learning.
This media release by Stanford University puts the responses of a variety of educational professionals in one place. It is really interesting to see the different ways that people are viewing the impact of chatbots.
*Check out my own blog post on this topic
Investments in the Metaverse Are Growing
2022 will definitely be seen as the “year of the metaverse.” This report by McKinsey provides data and graphs to quantify what kind of impact the metaverse has been having. There is a lot of very insightful information covering awareness about the metaverse broken up into different demographics. It also covers the “value” of the metaverse and what direction businesses can expect it to go.
Thank you for stopping by for another issue of my web3🤝education newsletter. If you’re on LinkedIn you can check out a version of this newsletter on my LinkedIn page and give me a follow. You can also link to all my work by checking out my blog or give me a follow on Twitter.