High-Quality Educational Content in the Web3 Space
This article is dedicated to the successful completion of the Blockchain Recorded podcast’s first two seasons and my hardworking team who helped make it all happen. I write about my path up to today, reflections along the way, and the importance of Web3 education for everyone.
-Dr. Tali Režun, the BR Podcast Producer
Audio production has been my passion since I can remember. In 1997, I built one of the first digital audio studios in the Adriatic region, where countless albums, radio commercials, and radio shows were recorded during the late 1990s and early 2000s. To put the matter into perspective, audio studios at the time were extremely expensive to build. Analog tapes were used to record voice and instruments. Back then, the possibility of recording many projects simultaneously, or editing and deleting any audio file of choice was simply amazing. The fascination of technology being put together to create new sounds and record spoken words truly intrigued me. Although my professional and academic career took me in a different direction, the Blockchain Recorded podcast gives me the opportunity to use my past production knowledge and combine it with my latest mission of blockchain exploration.
My Web3 story began sometime in 2016. At the time, I was dealing with sensitive employee data exchange and email was just not an option. With the lack of available privacy-based solutions on the market, I discovered blockchain. Just like countless other entrepreneurs, I was sucked into the rabbit hole of exponential potential, while my mind warped with infinite implementation ideas. It’s hard to describe the feeling driven by the underlying urge to learn more. It was a magical time when the air was vibrant with disruption of unimaginative proportions and everything was possible. My “aha” moment resonated in two different directions within the Web3 space. The first is the creation of 4thTech, an L1-secured W2W dMail & dChat communication infrastructure in development to this day, and the second is the Blockchain Recorded podcast.
During my doctoral student time, I was researching the impact of high-value educational content on business performance. I was in the middle of my literary review, which is a chapter in doctoral studies that really stretches your brain. Most often, I was eating up blockchain-related information regardless of it not being directly connected to my thesis. After digesting all of the available Andreas Antonopoulos content, I read countless research articles, reports and whitepapers as well as watched an endless amount of Ted talks. However, I soon realized that blockchain-based high-quality value-added content is hard to come by, especially in the easily digestible podcast format. I missed it in an unbiased, objective, and non-promotional form. I was thinking to myself, what is more beneficial than listening to a well-structured high-quality podcast in order to actually be able to retain large amounts of information at once? One can do it on the run, on the bus or metro, in the car (focusing on the road of course), during boring meetings, when waiting at the post office… You get my drift. Solid educational high-value content is key to any new technology adoption and Web3 is no different.
Crypto is highly misunderstood in most cases. One reason is that it still carries the sort of scammy smell left from the old ICO days. More importantly, I think that the core Web3 narrative gets lost under the thick layers of incentive-based invasive Crypto marketing, turbulently promoting whatever is hot on the market. When I ask newcomers about blockchain fundamentals, many don’t understand what I’m asking, which is quite frustrating. So yes, quality unbiased education about Web3 fundamentals is needed now more than ever.
To comprehend the Crypto evolution over the last 7 years, I would divide it into three parts; (1) the genesis period; (2) the disruption & ICO period, and; (3) the rebirth. I conceptualize the period names based on my own experiences and reflections gathered from that time.
(1) The Genesis Period;
Let’s travel back to 2015 and 2016, the Ethereum launch era. The space is very technical and except for developers, not many people understand smart contracts and the value they bring. Outside of technical meet-ups, there is not much educational content available nor is it understandable for non-devs or the average layperson. In my opinion, the problem with creating a life-changing solution is the lack of vision and capacity to see the big picture with future impact. Have you heard of the saying “everyone is good at something”? If only a developer understands the technology yet lacks the vision part, then we have a problem. The technical knowledge and smart contract value must be translated into plain language with strong use cases in order for adoption to continue.
(2) The Disruption & ICO period;
There used to be a common narrative: Let’s disrupt everything and stick the blockchain label on it. I’m talking about 2017 and 2018 when all solutions for any industry rushed to be blockchain adjusted. It was a period in Crypto when you could find blockchain-based solutions for everything from insurance to sports solutions. I agree that blockchain is a revolutionary technology, but that does not mean one picks up the business directory and starts with the letter A. In my opinion, this period was the worst with respect to fundamental blockchain education and space development in general. There was a layer of misleading ICO-driven content disguised in educational packages. The majority of newcomers were educating themselves from generic copy-pasted articles, which did not reflect any of the basic Web3 values. Let me remind you of those values by listing a few; (1) online trust; (2) decentralization; (3) permissionless systems; (4) data ownership; (5) transparency; (6) traceability; (7) censorship resistance, etc. Sadly, the lack of knowledge, misinformation, and limited educational content paved the way for scammy projects to emerge throughout those hyped couple of years.
(3) The Re-birth;
After the ICO craze, Crypto winter followed. It was long and cold. Many good projects stopped developing due to the lack of funding, while the Crypto space barely stood intact. Luckily, some of the infrastructure projects persevered and DeFi emerged out of the devastation left by the ICO mania. Slowly but surely, a new generation of users came to jump-start the industry again. NFTs were also one of the reasons behind the last cycle of mainstream adoption, but similarly to the ICO cycle, a lot of the core Web3 narrative got lost in the wild marketing translation.
Blockchain Recorded, An Educational Solution
“Web3 brings decentralization, permissionless actor participation, censorship resistance and more, while enabling privacy and returning data ownership and control back to the people. Therefore, Web 3 education is crucial for everyone. Podcasting is a significant resource and a powerful communication tool with the power of the recorded word. The Blockchain Recorded Podcast team believes in objective, ethically bound podcasting and its purpose of giving voice to pioneers in the space through discourse.”
Nina Cerar, BRP Co-founder & Host
Our co-founding team met in 2018 post the turbulent ICO era. Fully committed and bound by our circle of trust, Nina Cerar, Silvo Fortuna and myself founded the Blockchain Recorded podcast in early 2021. I am proud to say that our podcast, now in its 3rd season, has gained recognition as a high-value educational Web3 content creator and provider.
With Blockchain Recorded, our interview-based podcasts provide relevant quality content, authenticity through conversation and storytelling, and the opportunity for transparent connection with our audience and community. With fundamentals in place, we focus on; (1) privacy, censorship resistance & on-chain solutions; (2) deep preliminary research, and; (3) presentation of high-value educational content. We aim to evoke learning and knowledge-sharing by fostering a blended community of builders, users, and investors.
In summary, there is obviously a repetitive Crypto cycle we cannot ignore and must learn from to advance and achieve useful impact in business development. With each bull run, the core Web3 values get clouded by whichever new hot thing comes along and speculators preying on pumping schemes. Each bull cycle gets larger and brings a tsunami of accompanying misinformation. To counterbalance this phenomenon, high-quality Web3 education content should be proportionally produced. There is no competition when it comes to education, only synergistic and collaborative value. I believe podcasts and other educational programs that produce high-quality content should do proper research and truly try to educate with fundamentals always in mind. With the ones that actually do, their importance is underrated by far.
To honor the end of our 2nd podcast season, we created a showreel of conversations that resonate with us and remind us of why we do what we do and what we believe in. Education. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our guests, listeners, and followers. Without your support, we would not be who we are today.
🔈Showreel Season 1, Highlights from Blockchain Recorded Podcast
Released first are Season 1 guests from 4thTech, Edgeware Agency DAO, Blockstream, Ambire and GlobaliD.
🔗 https://blockchainrecorded.com/showreel-season-1-highlights-from-blockchain-recorded-podcast/
Highlights Season 1:
⚡️Denis Jazbec @denisjazbec from @4thtechProject
⚡️Thom Ivy @thom_ivy_1 from @EdgewareDAO
⚡️Ivar Moesman @ivarivano from @Blockstream
⚡️Vanina Ivanova @inks from @AmbireAdEx
⚡️Greg Kidd @gregkidd from @_GlobaliD
⚡️Mitja Simcic @mitjasim from @_GlobaliD
Full Episode Links:
🔗 https://blockchainrecorded.com/september-talk-with-denis-jazbec-episode-03/
🔗 https://blockchainrecorded.com/edgeware-blockchain-talk-with-thom-ivy/
🔗 https://blockchainrecorded.com/blockchain-talk-with-ivar-moesman-blockstream-business-dev-director/
🔗 https://blockchainrecorded.com/crypto-blockchain-marketing-talk-with-vanina-ivanova-cmo-at-ambire/
🔗 https://blockchainrecorded.com/digital-identity-talk-with-mitja-simcic-greg-kidd-globalid/
🔈Showreel Season 2, Highlights from Blockchain Recorded Podcast
In commemoration of our 2nd podcast season, we prepared showreel highlights from our guests at Kabocha, Block Labs, hs.credits, Reserve, Tally, Tron DAO, and Linera.
🔗 https://blockchainrecorded.com/showreel-season-2-highlights-from-blockchain-recorded-podcast/
Highlights Season 2:
⚡️Ramsey @decentrated from @kabochanetwork
⚡️Dr. Tali Rezun @talirezun from @BlockLabsLux & @4thTechProject
⚡️Nadav Zeimer @nzeimer from hs.credit
⚡️Nevin Freeman @nnevvinn from @reserveprotocol
⚡️Dennison Bertram @DennisonBertram from @tallyxyz
⚡️Laurent Perello @PerelloLaurent from @trondao
⚡️Mathieu Baudet @ma2bd from @linera_io
Full Episode Links:
🔗 https://blockchainrecorded.com/blockchain-network-publics-talk-with-ramsey-from-kabocha/
🔗 https://blockchainrecorded.com/privacy-security-in-on-line-communication-web3-talk-with-dr-tali-rezun-head-of-block-labs/
🔗 https://blockchainrecorded.com/web3-talk-with-nadav-zeimer-the-founder-of-hs-credits/
🔗 https://blockchainrecorded.com/talk-with-nevin-freeman-the-co-founder-ceo-of-reserve/
🔗 https://blockchainrecorded.com/talk-with-dennison-bertram-founder-of-tally-dao-operations-platform/
🔗 https://blockchainrecorded.com/laurent-perello-crypto-veteran-tron-dao-advisor-business-developer/
🔗 https://blockchainrecorded.com/blockchain-talk-with-mathieu-baudet-software-architect-founder-of-linera-protocol/
Disclaimer:
📄 We do not deal with financial or trading token elements nor offer any licensed financial services, such as investment or brokerage services, fund management, capital raising or investment advice. The content of this podcast is provided for information purposes only and is not to be used or considered as an investment recommendation or an offer or solicitation to buy, sell or subscribe to any securities or other financial instruments.
