What is a wallet?
The metaverse and the blockchain space has brought a whole new dimension to the Internet. This new begining of the online world has created new opportunities for many sectors like the creative economy. New opportunities but also new threats, so one of the first things an artist starting in this space should do is get familiar with the new concepts and terminology and understand them. One of those first concepts to be learnt is a wallet because it will be of vital importance to maintain the security over the NFTs they create.
What is a wallet?
A "wallet" is a digital tool or software that allows individuals to store, manage and interact with their cryptocurrencies or NFTs. It serves a similar purpose to a physical wallet for traditional currency but is used to store digital assets. So this way, the main purpose of a wallet is storage, to keep and control your digital assets on the blockchain through cryptographic keys (private and public keys) needed to access and control it. Another important function is security because they are used to protect your cryptocurrency holdings by requiring authentication to access the keys. The third function that we can apply to wallets is transaction management because they allow you to send and receive cryptocurrencies. You can use your wallet's interface to create and sign transactions. And the last one could be balance inquiry because you can check your cryptocurrency balance within your wallet to see how much of a particular cryptocurrency you own.
Types of Wallets
Even though most of the wallets are used in a similar way and have the same functionalities in the market you can find several types.
- Software Wallets (Hot):
- Online Wallets: These are cloud-based wallets that you can access through a web browser. They are convenient but may be less secure.
- Mobile Wallets: These are apps that you can install on your smartphone. They are user-friendly and portable.
- Desktop Wallets: These are software applications that you can download and install on your computer. They provide control but are less portable.
- Browser Extension Wallets: These are browser add-ons that offer easy access to blockchain services.
- Hardware Wallets (Cold):
- These are physical devices specifically designed for securely storing cryptocurrency keys offline. They are often considered one of the most secure options.
- Multisignature Wallets:
- These require multiple private keys to authorize a transaction, providing added security and control.
Choosing the right wallet depends on your needs and priorities. If you're actively trading or using cryptocurrencies, you might prefer a software wallet for convenience. However, if you're holding a significant amount of cryptocurrency for the long term, a hardware wallet is often recommended for its security benefits. It's important to thoroughly research and select a reputable wallet, as the security of your digital assets depends on it.
Fab City Foundation contributing to the definition of new fair economic models
The Fab City Foundation is the stewarding body of the Global Initiative of Fab City, which aims to shift the global production paradigm towards a more meaningful approach to how we organize production and consumption in cities. The Fab City Global Initiative comprises three arms: the Fab City Foundation, Fab City Collective and Fab City Network, which together form a global movement of citizens, government, experts and enthusiasts who work together to instigate this transformation.
The Foundation fosters the structured implementation of the Fab City agenda through innovation projects, distributed educational programs, knowledge transfer opportunities and network building.
In DAFNE+, Fab City Foundation puts this experience to promote fair economic models for the Cultural and Creative Industries. In particular, we work with communities of makers, designers, musicians, and more to find sustainable and fair economic models supported by blockchain technology.
Our contribution to DAFNE+
- Fab City Foundation recognizes the importance of designing and developing innovative economic models, inspired in open and cooperative community practices and innovative blockchain solutions. Our participatory research and design practices help us understand the values of DAFNE+ communities and catalize their creativity towards the design of fair economic models addressing their needs. The community will be actively engaged in the design and testing of these models.
- The Foundation will be evaluating the progress of the project, helping communities to test and validate DAFNE+ platform and tools. These evaluations serve to iterate our designs and improve how our tools support our communities.
- Fab City Foundation will be proposing a sustainable business model for DAFNE+ platform, and define the exploitation strategy of the outcomes of the project. This strategy will support the continuation of the project and maximize its impact. The model will be based in other sustainable blockchain-based and online communities, using direct participation and ownership as well as open collaboration and licenses to drive open innovation and community stewardship.
Fab City Foundation acknowledges the significance of the role of communication technologies infacilitating the cooperation and sharing that the new modes of production need. Our local communities can benefit from a global network that shares designs and information and rewards all contributors while encouraging local adaptations, diversity and the best redistributive practices. Our participation in DAFNE+ will contribute to the definition of new fair economic models, and the development of digital infrastructure to support them. These are key elements for the transition towards sustainable futures we envision.
Synelixis seeks to apply its blockchain-based expertise in the art sector through DAFNE+
Synelixis Solutions is a high-tech company founded to operate as a one-stop shop and provide complete telecommunications, networking, security, control and automation solutions to professionals, industries, businesses and home users. A key principle in Synelixis Solutions approach is to offer the best technology at the lowest price. We always try to minimize the disruption to the customers, through an in-depth consultation process, which drills down to extract their exact needs and requirements and explore their available resources; thereby optimize our customers Return On Investment with solutions that cost less and provide more.
Synelixis Solutions has extensive expertise in blockchain and DLT technologies which are at the core of its Traceability & Supply Chain Intelligence solution family. Synelixis Solutions is currently integrating these technologies in its Cybersecurity & Risk Management solutions family. In parallel, Synelixis Solutions has cultivated Artificial Intelligence relevant expertise in the framework of Cybersecurity solutions.
In DAFNE+, Synelixis Solutions seeks to apply its blockchain-based expertise in the art sector. It plays a crucial role in the design and development of the decentralized DAFNE+ platform which embraces blockchain technologies to ease a wide set of exchanges that take place in the cultural sector and the “art supply chain”. Additionally, Synelixis Solutions develops artificial intelligence-based tools for image processing allowing the users to “style” any image according to their preferred style (e.g. Van Gogh’s style).
DAFNE+ Webinar at Glitch3
DAFNE+ Project aims to create a decentralized platform for fair creative content distribution empowering creators and communities through new digital distribution models based on digital tokens. With this idea in mind we celebrated a webinar at Glitch3 a two-week art and tech rsidency that took place this Autumn near Paris.
During one hour, some members of the partnership explained what the project is about and how the platform will work to the artists that were attending the webinar. In the other hand the team had the chance to hear some very interesting insights from those artists that had attended the residency, which gave a rough idea of how the artistic community will receive the platform once its launched.
Aspects like progressive fees, licenses or reputation were some of the issues treated. Also the neccesity to create a community and the important role of education as trigger to make a good onboarding process into blockchain and DAFNE+ future platform.
Glitch and its history
Glitch was celebrating its 3rd edition with the theme "Alternative Intelligences". The main purpose of the residency was to encourage collaborative endeavors amongst artists and engineers, with a particular focus on interdisciplinary works that incorporate art and technology in new and innovative ways.
They also promote artists to move beyond the traditional minting of NFTs in order to explore blockchain as a medium, investigating the new functionalities and programmability of blockchain technology in order to create new and innovative artworks that would not be possible without the blockchain.
CERTH aims to help the artistic community with 3D content production
The Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH), founded in 2000, is one of the largest research centers in Greece and the EU. It is located in Thessaloniki, Greece and its mission is to promote the triplet Research – Development – Innovation by conducting high quality scientific research and developing innovative products and services while building strong partnerships with industry (national and international) and strong collaborations with research centers and universities in Greece and abroad.
CERTH consists of five (5) Institutes, the largest of which is Information Technologies Institute (ITI). CERTH-ITI is one of the leading Greek institutions in the field of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) with long experience in numerous European and national R&D projects. The main research interests of CERTH-ITI lie in the field of Image/video processing, AI, Multimedia, HCI, VR & AR, Security, Additive manufacturing, e-health and Networks & Communication.
The Visual Computing Lab (VCL) is one of the main labs under the umbrella of ITI and it consists of 4 main researchers and more than 80 research associates. VCL’s research is focused on a large and diverse range of areas, including AI, Image/video processing, Security, 4D Media Processing, Tele-immersion, Human Motion Analysis, e-health and Nutrition, e-learning and Gamification and IoT. In the framework of the DAFNE+ project, the VCL lab of CERTH-ITI is responsible for developing several content creation tools, as well as the recommendation engine for the DAFNE+ platform. More specifically, VCL is developing a 3D avatar customization tool that enables artists to personalize their own 3D avatar models with several customization features.
Moreover, VCL is developing novel AI-based 3D pose estimation and 3D object reconstruction algorithms that process single or multiple images to facilitate the artistic community with 3D content production. Finally, VCL is concerned with the design and development of a sophisticated AI recommendation engine, capable of providing accurate recommendations to users based on their preferences, thus enhancing the personalization of the DAFNE+ platform.
DAFNE+ will be present at Glitch3 venue
Dafne+ platform will be presented in the art and technology residency Glitch next week. Glitch is a two-week residency designed to foster breakthrough creativity at the nexus of artificial intelligence and blockchain. This 2023 celebrates it's 3rd edition. Starting on October 23rd, it will create the perfcet immersive situation for artists and technologists to be able to explore new creative practices merging art and technology.
With the title "Art Residency on Alternative Intelligences", GLITCH³ will take place in a 17th-century chateau surrounded by nature in Burgundy, France. This residency will reunit a group of 30 experts and visionaries from different fields to immerse in hands-on workshops, philosophical forums, brainstorming encounters, and much more.
This innovative residency looks to engage artists with state-of-the-art technologies and platforms. But also to equip them with tools and insights that will help them embarce the potential of blockchain and AI in their work.
Over the last three years GLITCH has hosted over 100 artists and instigated many new initiatives and institutional collaborations, within the art world and beyond.
Primavera De Filippi is one of the promotors of this encounter. She is a French legal scholar, internet activist, and artist known for her pioneering work at the intersection of blockchain
technology, arts, and the law. Her research focuses on the legal challenges and opportunities of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence. She was a founding member of the Global Future Council on Blockchain Technologies at the World Economic Forum, and co-founder of the Internet Governance Forum’s working group on Blockchain Technology. Also we are proud to say that she is also one of DAFNE+ Ambassadors.
Empowering Creative Communities: Fab Lab Barcelona's Role in the DAFNE+ Project
Fab Lab Barcelona, part of the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), is leading one of the use cases of DAFNE+. Fab Lab Barcelona was the first Fab Lab funded in Europe in 2007, affiliated with MIT's Center for Bit and Atoms. It still remains a place where design, computation, and fabrication come together, fostering collaboration and knowledge-sharing. Fab Lab Barcelona aims to empower individuals to turn their ideas into real prototypes using digital fabrication technologies like 3D printing, laser cutting, and CNC milling. It also acts as a connection hub for diverse creative minds, including makers, designers, students, educators, craftspeople, artists, tech-savvy creators, academics, art enthusiasts, curators, researchers, and managers. The Distributed Design Platform is a project co-funded by the European Union coordinated by Fab Lab Barcelona, with 17 members from a diverse pool of cultural and creative organisations across Europe. The objective of the platform is to act as an exchange and networking hub for the European maker movement to develop and promote the connection between designers, makers and the market.
The people who are part of the Fab Lab Network and the Distributed Design Platform, along with their respective and extended communities, are the central focus of our case study and contribute significantly to our research.
In the context of DAFNE+, Fab Lab Barcelona is exploring new alternative economic models that can empower and sustain these practitioners. We plan to identify tools and methodologies by collaborating with the maker and design communities in the Fab Lab Network and the Distributed Design Community that respect our core values of openness, collaboration, regeneration, and ecosystemic thinking.
At Fab Lab Barcelona, community involvement has been crucial for identifying our use case primary objectives in DAFNE+. We used surveys and interviews to collect input from our community and two main areas of interest emerged. The first is to create financial structures supporting open-source projects and decentralized collaboration. This ensures recognition and benefits for all contributors involved in the project, from its development to eventual sale. Second, another significant aspect of our research is the potential application of blockchain and cryptocurrencies to physical objects. This expands the horizons of these emerging technologies beyond software and digital art, driven by the interest of the makers' community.
Within DAFNE+, Fab Lab Barcelona aims to give voice to our communities needs, fostering collaboration and empower creators through new research methods. We will work with experts from the Fab Lab Barcelona and Distributed Design Platform networks, along with like-minded partners in the DAFNE+ consortium, to address these important concerns and find solutions that benefit our community.
IRCAM, cradle of musical creators and innovators
IRCAM (Institut de recherche et coordination acoustique/musique) was founded by composer and conductor Pierre Boulez in 1977 as part of the Centre Pompidou project in the heart of Paris. Following the pioneering experience of the Bauhaus, Boulez's vision in the late 70s was that the future of contemporary music would be shaped by advances in science and technology. In this spirit, IRCAM was conceived as a place bringing together researchers and engineers on the one hand, and artists - composers, performers, sound designers - on the other, enabling multiple forms of interdisciplinary interaction between them for their mutual benefit. Since then, IRCAM has remained a benchmark art-science-technology institution, where artistic production, at the service of leading artists, is a permanent source of experimentation and needs for scientific research and technological innovation, sometimes years ahead of mass-market developments in ever broader economic sectors, starting with the creative and cultural industries.
IRCAM has grown considerably over the last few decades. Its research and development activities are organized in the STMS (Science et Technology of Music and Sound) joint lab, which brings together over 100 researchers and engineers with the support of the CNRS, Sorbonne University and the French Ministry of Culture. It is a leading international laboratory in a wide range of scientific fields of STMS, from physics and acoustics to human cognition and musicology, with core research into all aspects of sound and musical information processing.
One of IRCAM's distinctive features in the academic landscape is its involvement in professional technological development, both as a support and result of research, industrial transfer through its commercial subsidiary Ircam Amplify, and as creative tools for artistic production. These tools made of numerous technological components and several integrative environments form the basis of its in-house artistic production, with over 30 new works produced each year and presented at various international venues, including its annual ManiFeste festival in Paris in June. They are also made available to the IRCAM Forum, a growing community of 40,000+ users, including artists, researchers and engineers involved in the creative technologies of sound and music, who meet regularly in the IRCAM Forum's workshops in Paris and in partner institutions in various countries.
In DAFNE+, IRCAM is in charge of coordinating the use-case pilots, including the one on experimental sound and music production, and contributing to the specifications and technical development of the platform.
Building on the IRCAM Forum and its community, IRCAM's participation in DAFNE+ will enable it to experiment with new possibilities for empowering the players in this ecosystem, made possible by blockchain and NFT technologies and the community governance rules of DAOs: declaring their ownership of the creative tools and technical repositories used to produce works of art, making them directly available to other community members and possibly monetizing them or obtaining crowdfunding support for new artistic projects, among other aspects.
DAFNE+ 4th Plenary Meeting in Paris
Our 4th General Meeting started punctually. DAFNE+ project partners have travelled to Paris to assist to Ircam Forum facilities for the venue. Two days of intense meetings and discussions that have pushed the project forward.
As the launch of the platform is near we have been defining the last technical details about it, but also tailoring other matters that will be key in the future development of the project.
Exchanging impressions and valuable inputs but also creating content that will enable the future users of the platform to use it in the best possible way aswell as they benefit from a fair content distribution.
What is DAFNE+ about?
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have rapidly gained importance within the creative sectors. These unique digital assets are irreplaceable and distinct, bought and exchanged via blockchain technology, granting buyers access to exclusive content. A notable advantage of NFTs is their ability to unite creators and consumers within a decentralized cultural and artistic community.
The DAFNE+ project, supported by the European Union, aims to establish innovative distributed autonomous organizations and communities centered around NFTs and digital tokens, all governed in a decentralized manner.
This endeavor is expected to drive innovation and enhance competitiveness within cultural and creative industries. It will achieve this by leveraging the technology to develop fresh revenue models and business strategies, thereby enabling these industries to expand their influence and access new distribution channels, free from the constraints imposed by intermediaries.
https://youtu.be/XlOTyd33KUU