With the holidays fast approaching, crypto enthusiasts around the world are preparing to explain what an oracle is to family and friends over turkey, stuffing and chocolate chip cookies.
No, not those chocolate chip cookies.
But as oracles and their capabilities continue to evolve, explaining their importance – especially to crypto newbies – can be a tall order. As Chainlink Labs’ Director Of Community, Rory Piant, put it, “There are so many rabbit holes in the smart contract space that having a deep understanding of the foundational concepts is crucial.”
That’s why the team at Chainlink Labs created a new series of educational content, available as a resource on the Chainlink homepage, designed to enhance the blockchain knowledge of complete newcomers and seasoned veterans alike. The first four landing pages – What is DeFi?, What is an Oracle?, What is a Smart Contract?, and What is an NFT? – are currently live, with more on the way.
Chainlink Today caught up with Rory for a quick Q&A about why educating everyone about decentralized systems is so important to realizing a world where truth > trust, and the roadmap for expanding possibilities by closing the knowledge gap.
CT: What was the inspiration for creating official Chainlink educational resources?
RP: We think education is key to delivering the benefits of a world powered by cryptographic truth. Chainlink is the leading provider of secure and reliable oracle solutions, so having straightforward, precise, and concise educational resources explaining the basic concepts behind the technologies powering these oracle solutions is essential.
CT: Who did you create this content for?
RP: These educational resources should be useful for both newcomers and veterans of the blockchain space. We compiled them in such a way that readers with different backgrounds and skill levels can not only learn something new but can also keep coming back to these pieces and use them as a reference.
CT: How should readers get started with this content and where do you recommend they go if they want to learn more?
RP: If you’re a newcomer, learning about smart contracts and oracles is a great place to start, as the combination of these two technologies is what lays the foundation for the benefits that decentralized technologies have to offer. Once readers are comfortable with the basic concepts, they can dig deeper in many directions by learning about DeFi and NFTs, or by visiting the Chainlink blog for more in-depth educational posts, use case deep dives, research pieces, actionable tutorials, and more.
CT: How do you hope these resources will amplify both the Chainlink community and the Chainlink ecosystem?
RP: We hope these educational resources will become cornerstone pieces of content within the Chainlink community and ecosystem. The concepts covered in these pieces will hopefully stay relevant for a long time, and we’ll continue to update and maintain them, moving forward. We encourage Chainlink community members to share these articles with people who are interested in learning more about the smart contract ecosystem. We’re also open to feedback and ideas about other topics or areas they’d like to see us cover.
CT: Do you think educating the general public about decentralized technology will accelerate the adoption of decentralized systems? Is closing the knowledge gap one of the biggest hurdles to overcome in this industry?
RP: Providing education is a huge opportunity for everyone in this industry – if the general public were more familiar with the benefits of smart contracts, it wouldn’t be a question of why we need to adopt decentralized systems; it would only be a matter of how. But we’re getting there, and hopefully these articles will play a part. The amount of talent and resources flowing into this industry over the last few years has been extraordinary. Once people understand how smart contracts can transform mechanisms of social coordination, they can’t wait to get involved and see the vision become reality.
CT: What’s your roadmap for adding new content?
RP: In general, we’d like to provide the most useful universe of educational content when it comes to blockchain oracles and smart contracts. We’ll continue to look for opportunities to provide education that the Chainlink community will find most helpful. If you have any feedback, questions, topic ideas, or requests, feel free to get in touch @rorypiant.
To learn more, check out Chainlink’s educational resources via the Chainlink homepage and visit the Chainlink blog for more in-depth research, use cases and tutorials.