The Acorn Collective & Web 3.0
As we move towards Web 3.0, how can we use new technological advancements to make crowdfunding accessible to everyone, transparent and more likely to succeed?
Those halcyon days…
If you’re an internet veteran, you’ll remember the days of AOL or Compuserve, simple news websites such as the BBC and the early days of e-commerce — typically “brochureware” sites with limited checkout and payment functionality.
We look back fondly on those halcyon days calling them “Web 1.0” as we take much of what we now know as “Web 2.0” for granted: social networking and sharing; user-generated content such as comments, reviews and ratings; and enhanced e-commerce features including mass marketplaces, multiple payment options and even the option to sell our own things to complete strangers!
However — with the continued march of big data, semantics and rise of new technologies including speech recognition, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), massive data, blockchain, wearables, 3D printing and internet connected devices (the “Internet of Things” or IoT) — our beloved Web 2.0 is beginning to morph into Web 3.0…
It’s apparent no one really knows what Web 3.0 fully implies yet — but we can join the guessing game!
If Web 1.0 was about consuming information and goods provided by others, and Web 2.0 enabled us to participate by contributing as well as consuming — both information and goods — then perhaps Web 3.0 will enable us, in fact, more of us to continue participating, but more sustainably and in a way that gives us more control?
Here at Acorn we are looking to the future of crowdfunding. Crowdfunding that is accessible for everyone. Crowdfunding that is sustainable and more likely to succeed. Crowdfunding that is transparent, trustworthy and gives control back to those who need it.
Accessible for everyone
With so many changes in technology, the very real danger is that many could get left behind. It’s true that many applications in medical or scientific fields will take time to filter down into everyday life, whilst other innovations such as robotics, self-driving cars and digital lifestyle technology are already beginning to change our workplaces, commutes and homes. But at what price? Self-driving cars are sure to be expensive. Home automation systems or digital personal assistants may have accessible price tags, but at what cost to our data?
Fortunately there are people out there seeking to use technical advancement for good, and in a way that is accessible for everyone — including those who may not otherwise have the means or opportunity to leverage such advances for their own advantage.
The United Nations has been using blockchain technology to fund and distribute food for thousands of refugees. They’re also planning the use of drone captured aerial photography combined with AI to rapidly map and assess disaster areas for vulnerabilities and provide connectivity. Others are seeking to decentralise weather data to help poorer communities plan more effectively or print bionic limbs for a fraction of the normal price using 3D printing techniques.
At Acorn we count ourselves amongst those people. Our vision is crowdfunding which is open and accessible to everyone, so that anyone has a chance of bringing their idea to life regardless of where they are, or how many resources they have.
By using blockchain technology we are able to remove the burden of high transaction fees and enable founders to start their campaigns with minimal, if any upfront investment. We’ll be making smart technology choices to ensure the platform is accessible to those who might not have their own computer or a reliable internet connection. We’ll be pulling together the best technologies around to help inexperienced founders find training and mentorship as well as tools and services to help them on their journey.
Read what our head of User Experience (UX), Daniel Pidcock says about how we’re approaching the opportunity to crowdfunding truly available to everyone, and the unique challenges that brings us.
Sustainable and more likely to succeed
A key theme of new technological development is innovation — trying to find new and novel solutions to tricky problems and making a distinct impact.
Innovation isn’t always easy, in fact it can be very hard and often risky — especially when done well, and in a sustainable manner. Yet the perceived benefit and view of success is always thought to be worth the risk and perseverance. That benefit could be related to the “greater good” as discussed above, or more traditionally it could be increased market share, or higher profits.
However in most cases the impact of success is a higher standard of living. And when done well, a more sustainable standard of living.
Many technological advancements in the medical industry are focussed on providing sustainable solutions to higher standards of living, such as using ingredients naturally occurring in shellfish to stop bleeding or enabling robotic limbs to interface with the brain. Other advancements in industry are looking at solid state batteries to improve performance or using IoT sensors to reduce food waste and improve employee safety.
Closer to home, asking our digital assistant to book our haircut or order our pizza (to be delivered by drone!) is designed to save us time and effort, harnessing technology making our lives easier.
Therefore at Acorn we want to harness AI to set our crowdfunding project founders up for success, as well as find sustainable ways to help us match our backers with projects they’re most likely to be interested in — especially as our platform grows, and so does the volume of projects being funded.
We believe that by enabling founders to learn from the success (and failures) of others — whether that is how they run their social media campaigns, or how they produce their video — will give them the detailed and tailored help they need, when they need it to run projects which are more likely to succeed.
Similarly we realise that as we gather projects from around the world we’ll have a vast store of data to learn from. Therefore we propose to use machine learning to study connections between backers and projects previously supported and use that data to enable crowdfunding contributors find projects they want to support.
In our current series of tech blog articles we’re continuing to explore this opportunity and challenges we face around it. Stay tuned for more!
Transparent and trustworthy
If the recent “anti-Facebook” backlash is to be believed, transparency and trust are big issues in the era of Web 3.0. No longer (or so we’re told) are we happy handing our personal data over to private companies or big corporations. No, we’d rather be in control of our own data.
We want to be the ones who store our data — who preserve it, maintain it, decide when to share it and choose who can use it.
You wouldn’t be wrong if you thought Web 3.0 could go either way! Either this new age of blockchains, artificial intelligence, big data and semantic labelling will only serve to erode control and trust even further or provide us with a golden opportunity to reverse perception and provide meaningful tools for individuals to interact and collaborate in a safe, transparent and trustworthy manner.
At Acorn we realise trust is a key issue in crowdfunding. Horror stories from disappointed backers concerning scams, fraud and failed projects are not hard to come by. It is all too easy for supporters to become disillusioned following a few bad experiences and become reluctant to part with their money — however good the cause may look.
Therefore we want to bring a level of rigour, transparency and trust to our crowdfunding platform. We want supporters to know founders are not only being given the support they need, but are also being held to account, and are expected to display the progress they are making and the expenditure they incur.
We want to do this through smart contract technology, community validation and by creating an ecosystem where founders can find all the tools and services they need to be successful, purchasing them in OAK tokens making their expenditure transparent and visible to all.
The dream is becoming reality
As technology advances we see more science fiction becoming science fact. We see research becoming real life and dreams becoming reality. The road ahead won’t be easy and it is full of challenges we are yet to face — but it promises to be an exciting journey, full of promise and opportunity.
Will you join us at Acorn on our journey to make crowdfunding accessible to everyone, transparent and more likely to succeed? Our main sale is now on!
