Acorn Interactive is in the communication business, which is changing and evolving. Over the years the web has transformed from a place you would view on your desktop computer to something you interact with daily right from your phone in your pocket. Mobile websites/apps and phones revolutionized the way we communicate. With the rise of smartphones the entire world and the ways we communicate have changed. And the rise of blockchain will continue to reshape and create new ways of communication.

While blockchain is slowly moving into the world of social media, it is already being used by the kinds of professionals you probably interact with on a regular basis. More and more we’re seeing doctors offices, pharmacies, therapists and schools making use of decentralized apps to leverage the power and security of blockchain technology.

What is the Blockchain?

Wikipedia says:

A blockchain is a distributed ledger with growing lists of records (blocks) that are securely linked together via cryptographic hashes. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data (generally represented as a Merkle tree, where data nodes are represented by leaves). The timestamp proves that the transaction data existed when the block was created. Since each block contains information about the previous block, they effectively form a chain (compare linked list data structure), with each additional block linking to the ones before it. Consequently, blockchain transactions are irreversible in that, once they are recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without altering all subsequent blocks.

A fundamental thing to understand is that the block chain is tamper-proof. The data on the block chain is immutable, meaning it cannot be altered or deleted. This ensures that communication data is always accurate and trustworthy. This would allow our stored record of our clients to always be accurate and we could trust that someone didn’t change something.

How is it used?

Another key aspect of the blockchain is that it facilitates verification and authentication. What does this mean for users? Let’s use a telemedicine communication app as an example. Using blockchain to store data means your medical records and transcripts of conversations with your doctor can be transferred to a new provider, and only once that provider has been verified will they be able to access your confidential information. Blockchain technology enables the creation of verifiable digital identities and the ability to authenticate users. This allows for verification for both parties to know their data is being stored with the right party and that they are who they say they are.

At Acorn Interactive, we love to consider the many ways emerging technology like the blockchain can be employed in the applications we build.

All in all, these are just a few areas of communication that could potentially transform the way we interact with each other on a daily basis. What other applications would you like to enable with blockchain and decentralized tech, what can we help you bring into the world?

Here are a few:

https://fantom.foundation/

• Fantom is a fast, high-throughput open-source smart contract platform for digital assets and dApps.

https://urbit.org/

• Urbit is a new OS and peer-to-peer network that’s simple by design, built to last forever, and 100% owned by its users. Under the hood, Urbit is a clean-slate software stack compact enough that an individual developer can understand and control it completely.

https://uqbar.network/

• Uqbar is a coding environment and zero-knowledge rollup to the Ethereum network built atop the Urbit protocol. Leveraging the power of Urbit’s unique peer-to-peer network, Uqbar enables a unified on- and off-chain environment that seamlessly integrates everyday social and asset management tools with powerful distributed consensus mechanisms through state-of-the-art ZK-architecture.

As a web development company we do Application Development if you are wanting to build something in this space. For example a telemedicine network that uses a fast and secure blockchain to store client transcripts. Potentially using https://openai.com/blog/whisper/. To store the transcript of your conversation with something like Uqbar and Urbit. Your user could actually own all their own data. They could take it to a different health professional at any moment all securely and cryptographically.

As far as our telemedicine example goes, here are some companies or Daos helping fund medical and science based initiatives with block chain and decentralized technologies. Let us help you apply and build something great for the world.

https://labdao.xyz/

• LabDAO is a new kind of research organization designed to unlock progress in computational life sciences.

https://www.researchhub.com/

• ResearchHub’s users are rewarded with ResearchCoin (RSC) for publishing, reviewing, criticizing, and collaborating in the open. Once earned, RSC gives users the ability to create bounties, tip other users, and gain voting rights within community decision making.



The steps to implement this telemedicine communication example application would be the following:

• Choose a decentralized network to communicate over, Urbit with ethereum, or ethereum on its own are options.
• Choosing a decentralized blockchain ledger that can store large amounts of data, would need to research how Arweave stores large amounts. Urbit also stores data on the users own server, does it meet our tamper proof requirements, maybe not, immutability being key.
• Facilitating the secure connection to implement open AI’s whisper technology.
• Facilitate a user Login using ethereum, or urbit’s ID to prove who the user is.
• Finally build a web dApp or urbit app that interacts with all your architecture, allowing you to read write and apply RBAC to the health care team.