I'M LEADING a group of creatives into the Land of Web3 and believe Marc Canter (snapped above on a Dublin street in 2006) reads the landscape correctly when he says Web3 cannot be about one technology or one way to do things or one tech stack. Web3 becomes mainstream when it is open, flexible, and inclusive.
We have a slice of Web3 in our home because we're running miniature chipsets wrapped inside smart home gadgets that our 10yo controls with his voice. The impatient 10yo also knows our rudimentary Web3 home works best with a smart mesh.
I bring Web3 into several academic modules by injecting AI into reading lists. Like Marc Canter says, "How can we have a discussion about Web3 and completely ignore AI?"
For more than 20 years, I've taught students how technology is changing faster than their textbooks can document. We're fortunate to be able to meet up with people at the forefront of change. At the end of each semester, I scan items produced by creatives in the Technological University of the Shannon. More than half of those creatives are deeply invested in social media newsfeeds. They expand their reach with their art and enhance their ePortfolios by connecting to people through distribution systems inside Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Some of them have created NFTs which means before they're part of the Creator Economy before they graduate with Honours Degrees. I'm helping populate Web3 with clever creatives who are talking about what they're doing.
A third of our campus can build worlds inside the metaverse. Some of the most passionate voices I hear promoting Web3 point to the paradigm shifts that they see happening in the 2020s through an inclusive metaverse. We're breaking down what this means for our 2022 graduates during conversations about Emerging Trends Games and Tech. You're invited to listen into our perspective. At this point, we can trace graduates who produced websites with hand-coded HTML 3.2 at the turn of the century (see below screenshot) as they trade stories with current students who are deep into interaction design in support of Web3.
[Bernie Goldbach teaches creative media for business on the Clonmel Digital Campus of the Technological University of the Shannon.]
