Relay Chain

Where should digital platforms draw the line between content moderation and censorship? How do company policies shape our culture, and how can we make technology a force for good?

In this episode, writer and activist Jillian York (Director for International Freedom of Expression, Electronic Frontier Foundation) joins Joe Petrowski (Research Analyst, Parity Technologies) to discuss freedom of expression, censorship and surveillance by digital platforms, and the role of internet activism in global social movements.

Highlights:

0:45 - What is freedom of expression?

Links:

Key Quotes:

"Censorship always backfires."

"A lot of people think that technology is this ultimate force for democracy. It doesn't pan out that way though."

"I'm not sure that I believe in tech as a force for democracy. I believe in tech as a tool in the same way books are a tool"

"In San Francisco, you have all of these incredibly talented engineers and technologists who, instead of building toilets for the homeless population, which is desparately needed there, are trying to save the world with an app.... It's about making money and white savior complexes rather than about looking locally."

"Liberal society means you need to have a thick skin."

Special Guest: Jillian York.

How do you create meaningful change with open source software and what role does mentorship play?

In this episode, Joe Petrowski (Research Analyst, Parity) talks to Ben Kampmann (Core Developer, Parity) about the role of mentorship, learning, and values in the open-source community. They also discuss Open Tech School, a non-profit organization Ben created for open source education, as well as recent Substrate developments, including Substrate LFS (Large File Storage).

For more info on Ben Kampmann and his work, check out his recent People of Parity showcase on the Parity Technologies blog: https://www.parity.io/people-of-parity-benjamin-kampmann/

Highlights:

Links:

Key Quotes:

“Learning itself is a very hard job. You’re asking your brain to rewire itself.”

“Don’t believe that you can’t program because you don’t know logic or math. I didn’t study any of this either. And don’t give up.”

“You need to be willing to throw away what you know in order to learn.”

Special Guest: Ben Kampmann.

Joe Petrowski (Research Analyst, Parity) talks to Mona El Isa (Co-Founder Melonport, MAMA) about using Melon Protocol to reduce the barriers in setting up and managing funds. Mona discusses delivering on a two-year roadmap, IRL Melon experiments, and educating the next generation of financial industry disruptors.

Note: Mona has launched a new project called Avantgarde Finance. Avantgarde Finance positions itself as a company devoted towards creating value on the Melon protocol. The longer term Avantgarde vision is to create a better everyday experience for asset managers and their investors by giving them easy access to a new financial infrastructure.

00:27 Mona El Isa’s journey to Melonport

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Special Guest: Mona El Isa.

In our fifth episode, Nicole Zhu and Joe Petrowski talk to Emiel Sebastiaan, WEB3SCAN CEO, about Polkascan, an open-source block explorer that allows any Substrate-based blockchain project to have a block explorer. They discuss the Polkadot multi-chain explorer, how a DAO could fund block explorer services, Polkascan vs. Polkadot UI, and the nitty-gritty of how one actually goes about extracting data from a blockchain.

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Highlights:

Special Guest: Emiel Sebastiaan.

In this episode, Joe talks to Deirdre Connolly and Anna Kaplan from Zcash Foundation on the state of the Rust Zcash client, “Zebra,” originally developed by Parity Technologies and now maintained by Zcash Foundation. They also discuss integrating cryptography into our day-to-day lives, quantum-resistant cryptography, and what baby zebras are called.

Highlights

Links

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Special Guests: Anna Kaplan and Deirdre Connolly.

Gautam Dhameja (Solutions Architect, Parity) talks to Joe Petrowski (Research Analyst, Parity) about staking, validating, and nominating on Kusama and Polkadot. If you want to learn more about how Kusama's and Polkadot's nominated proof-of-stake system works, or if you're interested in staking or validating, this episode is a great place to start.

To get more information on staking, validating, and validator setup on Kusama, check out the Kusama network guide at https://guide.kusama.network/.

Highlights:

NOTE: At 8:00, Joe mistakenly mentions that the controller account can be used to vote on governance proposals. Actually, the stash account can set a proxy account to vote on its behalf. It could be the same as the controller but does not have to be.

Special Guest: Gautam Dhameja.

In Relay Chain’s second episode, Joe Petrowski (Research Analyst, Parity) talks to Amber Baldet and Patrick Nielsen from Clovyr. They discuss connecting app devs with tools to easily plug into blockchains, non-surveillance business models, why working for large corporations has its value, and more. Check it out and subscribe for more episodes of Relay Chain.

Highlights:

Special Guests: Amber Baldet and Patrick Nielsen.

In Relay Chain’s inaugural episode, Joe Petrowski (Research Analyst, Parity) talks to Dr. Gavin Wood, Ethereum Cofounder and Founder Polkadot and Parity Technologies. They discuss nation states vs. protocols, building technology that fundamentally protects our interests, the most important skills for those looking to get into the blockchain industry, and more.

Topics covered:

Special Guest: Dr. Gavin Wood.