The opportunities and challenges of the metaverse

Hello, thank you for inviting me to spend time with you today.? I want to begin by thanking you for investing time to celebrate Safer Internet Day’.

Whatever our view on the internet - good or bad, right or wrong– I’m not sure how far I would get through my day without the internet – so I feel this is so important because our lives are definitely lived on lives?

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And I believe this is even greater for the younger generation, Gen A – those in your classrooms, who I’m constantly hearing are actually born with an iPad in their hand.

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So to have a day dedicated to safer internet is really important.?And I have to say the theme this year is perfect for me because I have a general view, from my experience, that we have a better chance of keeping children/young people safe when we talk about things. ?And I just jumped on to Wills's Session and I believe some of his stats backed this point up.??

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But I wanted to give a little more context and an example – in the past we rarely talked about child sexual abuse or child sexual exploitation – and the evidence tells us that those who were experiencing harm were less likely to come forward and talk about the harm they were experiencing – because no one was talking about it.?When we changed our behaviour and we started to talk about it openly and in schools, on the news, etc we gave the message to young people we want them to tell us. ?

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And I have the same belief about the new internet, if we don’t talk about it children and young people are less likely to tell us, the adults if they have or have had a negative experience with the new internet.?

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I always think back to when I was young and I heard people talking negatively about young women getting themselves into a difficult situation as it was all the girl's fault.?This obviously impacted me, so when I found myself in a bad position I did not ask for help.

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So it’s great you are not just celebrating internet safety day, but you are making time to talk about life online and this will result in everyone talking about all aspects of online life, including all aspects of the new internet.?

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So I want to talk about the new internet.?

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But before I do, I have a request - for this session can you all bring to the forefront of your mind your curiosity, coupled with your patience and your desire to play - because that’s generally how our children do.?

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So with that in mind – let's jump right in.?

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My name is Alison Alexander or AmetaverseA as I’m often referred to in the metaverse

?I’m the Co-Founder of Metacampus.ai.?We are a Web3 company focused on helping professionals understand the new internet (web3), transform their business and self to be able to operate on the new internet and bring new web3 companies to market.?

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But before I Co-Founded Metacampus in Nov 2021 I worked in the Public Sector doing what you do every day – helping transform children’s and adults' lives, especially those vulnerable. ???

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A job I did for 32 years and so you can imagine something that I’m passionate about.??????

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I mention this experience because it has and is standing me in good stead for what I do today.?That experience means I look through a?different set of lenses than some of my colleagues and I see all the opportunities that it brings us as well as many of the risks. ??

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Okay – I’ve said the new internet a few times. So I want to spend time on that and then share how the new internet is being used to educate and provide recreation for children and young people.?

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So, let’s do some quick jargon bursting.

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The new internet is currently referred to as Web3. Yes, there were two versions of the internet before.?As I cannot see anyone I have no idea of the ages in the room – but I guess it's mixed and some of you will remember:

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Web1 – where you could access information.

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Some will remember the outcry about the introduction of Social Media, tap and pay and all the other things that our phones do now that we take for granted.

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This is the era known as Web2?- the social networking era.

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And now we move forward again, as we would expect, and we see the emergence of:

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Web3

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Some call it the fourth industrial revolution?The world economic forum refers to the world economy being in the early stages of a profound transition from an industrial to a digital economy.

?And soon we will all be using web3 tools – like we all use web2 tools today.?

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But what does this really mean?

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Web3 is a new iteration of the world wide which has at its core a range of new technologies that are enabling us to fuse our physical, digital, and biological worlds.

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We don’t have time to dissect this fully so a short overview of what three of these new tools are.

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Hope you are all still curious! ??

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Blockchain – was first introduced in 2008, so actually not that new.?

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For those interested in tech, the blockchain is a network that sits on top of the internet and allows us to make transactions peer-to-peer.?The easy way to think about it is without a third party. ?

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Think about the blockchain as a ledger, but this ledger had a permanent record of the transactions that took place that cannot be changed, ever.???

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And most important the blockchain is not owned by a single company, centralized, it is decentralized and this is what makes is so different.?This is why the new internet is both a technology revolution and a cultural revolution – because it is enabling individuals to be in control of their own information, and data.????

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Crypto – first introduced in 2009, made possible because of the blockchain.?Individuals could and still can buy and sell bitcoin directly with another person without a third party – a bank. To put the growth into context in 2009 there was one cryptocurrency and by 2022 there were 12,000.?

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And then the last new technology tool is the metaverse

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Remember there is not one metaverse. There are hundreds and they are growing fast.

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Some metaverses are game-based platforms, the ones that most children and young people know and are using daily and there are a number of metaverses that are built on the blockchain, for instance, Decentraland and Sandbox. This is where you will find Nike, Addidas, Vodaphone, Sotheby’s, and many many more. ??

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If you have never been into the metaverse please make it your weekend homework.?

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Once you have been you will be inspired about how you can use the metaverse for learning and recreation – I think you can do anything and everything in the metaverse and that the metaverse environment is ripe for learning for all young people and especially young people who don’t always enjoin the classroom environment.?

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Now, I know we are going to talk about the challenges of the new technology including the metaverse so before we do that I wanted to share some personal thoughts on the positive side of the metaverse and how we can use it for education and recreational purposes.?

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Let’s start with the Metaverse.

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As many of you will know we can enter the metaverse world without disclosing our gender, ethnicity, sexuality, ability, and so on.?Imagine feeling your entire life judged for how you present and then suddenly you can present in any form you want.?This brings freedom to young people and adults.??It is this trait of the metaverse that can help society to address our unconscious bias – by removing from view the characteristics that are often disadvantaged.

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And when we are in the metaverse we are immersed and therefore research is confirming that when people are in the metaverse they are enabled to learn faster because they engage all their senses.

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Imagine working with a group and knowing that you will be able to get through the curriculum three times faster, and it’s not just about learning faster, it is about being more focused, in fact, 4 times more focused, and also more emotionally connected.??I feel this technology will offer some real opportunities to young people who might not always be connected with the curriculum in the way we want them to be.?

And so what curriculum activities can take place in the metaverse? ?

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?Science: Let's take children into a Metaverse platform where they can wander around Earth, touching planets and stars. Wow, they would be inspired to learn more about the Living World, the Planet Earth and Beyond.

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History: Take children/young people on a journey to Ancient Egypt, located at the West Bank of the Nile. Children remember what they see, hear, and feel - the metaverse lets them do all of this. Oh, and the added advantage is that every child has the experience - not just those who can afford it.

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Language: Let's build on what young people are doing at home, in their own time - playing on games, Roblox and so on, with people from across the globe, but let's add learning the language into the game and or let's take children into a metaverse platform to meet with young people from schools across the globe and teach each other language. Or simply go into the metaverse and travel around Paris or Barcelona.

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Design, technology, and science. But rather than make up my own example - I'm stealing an instance from the Mayor of London, who recently invited children to Design Future London using Minecraft . What a fantastic project. It gives children positive messages about adults wanting them to shape the future and brings the world of #Web3 (Metaverse) into the classroom.

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But with all opportunities come challenges – I know we will be touching on these in the next presentation so I won't go into detail other than to raise a few:

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Anonymity – giving us freedom but because it offers all parties anonymity it can be difficult to address inappropriate action and there does not provide protection.

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Standards – there are no standards as of yet. The Metaverse standards forum has been established but that is not seeking to set standards at this point.?

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Accessibility – the growth of the digital divide and without interoperability, this divide will continue to grow.?

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But I don't want to end with the challenges. Instead, I want to leave you with the thought that the new internet is giving us a range of technology tools that if used correctly will unlock the potential of all humans, especially those disadvantaged.

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Thank you??

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