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Hi, I’m Stefan Toal, and I’ve been responsible for Ethereum adoption and education since January as CPO. I also drive the UK ÐΞV The center is based at Co-Work in Putney (south-west London).
I feel really proud to be able to lead the efforts related to ÐΞV’s communication strategy. For the first time ever, we see the general public taking a real interest in the possibilities of decentralization. The feeling of excitement about what “could happen” when I first read Vitalik’s working paper on that fateful Christmas afternoon is now shared by tens of thousands of technologists, developers, and entrepreneurs.
Thanks to ether selling, a group of smart, hard-working individuals can now work full-time on solving fundamental technical and adoption challenges, delivering a solution 10 times faster than a similar garage-based initiative would have. With Ethereums APIs supporting Gav’s vision of Web 3Finally, it is within the reach of the community to build decentralized applications without intermediaries. By democratizing access to programmable blockchain technology, Ethereum is enabling software developers and entrepreneurs to make a significant impact not only on the decentralization of the economy, but also on social structures, voting mechanisms, and much more. It’s a very ambitious project, and everyone is on board ÐΞV He feels a strong sense of duty to realize this vision.
As part of our efforts, technology is – of course – key, but so is its adoption. Ethereum without dapps (decentralized applications) would be similar to a video game console without launch titles, and like any protocol, we expect the apps to be the real stars of the show. Here’s how we plan to spread the word and support developers in their efforts.
education
Building curricula: We build a comprehensive curriculum that adapts to both teachers and self-learners at home, at hackathons, and at universities around the world. Comprised of well-defined modules that progress over time in complexity, our goal is to create an educational standard that will of course be completely free and 100% open source.
Content collection: Currently, we realize that information on how to “get into” Ethereum is a bit fragmented between forums, and multiple Wiki and various third party websites. A subdomain of our website will be created over the next few months to access this valuable information easily and in one place.
Producing tutorials, videos and articlesTutorials are the key to learning a new set of languages and tools. By producing both videos and text tutorials, we intend to give the community an informed perspective on best practices, from structuring contract storage to taking advantage of the new system. Whisper P2P messaging system for example.
A site similar to CodeAcademy: Not everyone likes learning within a classroom environment, and some feel restricted by linear tutorials. With the release date coinciding with the launch of Ethereum, we’re partnering with a US-based company to build a CodeAcademy-like site within a gamified environment, where you’ll be able to learn at your own pace how to build decentralized applications and their backend contracts.
University classes: FifthItalik and I recently gave a presentation at the University of Cambridge and Ethereum will be participating in the conference Transparency Hackathon On November 26 at the University of Geneva. Encouraged by the enthusiasm we have seen in the academic world, we are working to provide direct support Oxbridge Blocktech Network (OBN) in their efforts to build a network of branches, first within the United Kingdom and then throughout Europe.
I am pleased to announce that Ken Kapler has joined the UK team to assist in these educational efforts. Many of you in London know Ken because he has been an almost constant fixture at all of our meetups and hackathons, helping out behind the scenes. Qin, commonly known as BlueChain IRCHe is also the writer behind http://dappsforbeginners.wordpress.com/ Which will soon be integrated with our education website.
Ken will be leading a weekly “Ethereum Clinic” on IRC to answer any questions you may have regarding your current project. Times will be posted on our website Forums.
Encounters
Encouraging the creation of new meetings: We now have a wide network of 85 meetings All over the world, an amazing achievement but not enough to handle the huge demand for regular catch-ups in a format appropriate to local needs and culture. We intend to encourage the creation of new meetings in almost every country and in major urban centres.
Tools and support: In order to advance efforts to create and maintain such a large network of international meetups, we will provide tools for meetup leaders to interact with each other, access the core development team to hold video conferences or physical interventions, and exchange information about speakers. These tools will of course be free to use and access.
Guarantees and locations: For more active meetings, Ethereum is considering, where appropriate, the use of small grants so that meeting leaders in these “core areas” do not have to bear the full costs of collateral and venues. We will also work with our partners to help conferences secure sponsorship and access to free locations to hold their mini-conferences.
Global hackathon: Starting this week, Ethereum workshops will slowly turn into a proper hackathon. We’re working with great sites around the world, the vast majority of which started as Ethereum meetups, to organize a global hackathon with some great ETH prizes for the best dApps.
We are very fortunate to be welcomed Anthony D’Onofrio To drive these very important initiatives. Anthony starts on the 10th of this month and will also be covering the North America region from a community perspective – you may already know him as “Texture”, which is his nickname on most forums and channels.
I’m very proud that Ethereum’s exposure in the community has been completely organic from day one. This was the result of significant and time-consuming efforts to identify Ethereum projects in the wild, communicate directly and build a strong relationship with our user base. We’ve achieved several major milestones, including over 10,000 followers Twitter100,000 page views per month on our website, and similar numbers on our website Forums The growth trend continues to accelerate.
Historically, Ethereum has never used public relations as a tool to increase adoption, relying instead on word of mouth, meetups, and conferences to spread the word. With media interest growing rapidly, I am delighted to welcome Freya Stevens to the team as PR and Marketing Leader. Freya will help us build a shared database of media leaders, write articles, and make complex technology palatable to the general public while identifying strong story angles. Freya is based in Cambridge, UK.
Also with a view to expanding the reach of these initiatives, we are proud to welcome George Hallam to the AKA team com.thehighfiveghostwho recently published A reconnaissance So you can let Ethereum know how well we are doing our jobs as custodians and developers of the platform. George, as a major supporter of London societywill be familiar to many.
As part of these efforts, expect to see more interactions Reddit, IRCdiscuss and of course our own Forums. George will also help me identify key Ethereum-based projects and make contacts to see how best to help with information, communications, and inclusion as guests in weekly video updates, filmed in our Putney studio.
In order to produce high quality content, we also welcome Ian Mickle to the London hub. Ian is the creator of most of the video stuff you may have seen regarding Ethereum, including this great one Video loop This has been a staple of many Ethereum meetups. Ian will utilize the equipment in our studio to create explainer videos, conduct interviews with key players in the space, and lead scoreboards Vinay Guptawho joins the coms team as a strategic advisor.
In London, and above what we have Panels, social networks and hackathonsa regular “show and tell” is scheduled for decentralized app developers to present their work and receive feedback, a model we intend to promote internationally during the month.
And of course, last but not least, expect a big update to our website, with nice and clean content, working dapp examples, a dynamic encounter map and links to all newly created assets and community touchpoints.
In conclusion
The question we will continue to ask ourselves every day is how we support you, the community, in building amazing decentralized applications and achieving success with your project on our platform. I hope the above gives you a quick introduction to our plans. I will be releasing regular updates on this blog and our website Youtube.
Stephan (stephan.nospam.tual@ethdev.com)
