Last week I presented at the The International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ) in Austin, Texas. My presentation focused on how technology trends, particularly blockchain technology, will impact the future of journalism. It was a 10-minute talk followed by a panel with media colleagues who specialize in machine learning and virtual and mixed reality.

You can watch both my presentation and the panel discussion here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i9tP-XJ5uA&feature=youtu.be.

I want to highlight my experience at the ISOJ because it spoke to me as an important moment in the evolution of the blockchain’s effect on the media. During this event, Po.et’s mission, its value today and its perceived value for tomorrow, was presented, examined and scrutinized by the best and brightest working in online journalism.

The key point — the value of Po.et today will be different from its value tomorrow — is critical to understanding our mission.

While this statement covers most of the innovation happening in the cryptocurrency and blockchain technology space today, I want to articulate what it means specifically for Po.et. The work that our team does today will influence how ideas are owned, discovered and delivered across the internet of value.

Today’s investments are making a better world for all creators. Recognizing each step we take to reach this future opens even more opportunities for Po.et to become the standard tool of access for creators. As a result, our strategy must be a balance of preparing for short-term resistance and long-term influence.

The internet of permanence.

One initial reaction people commonly have toward new, disruptive technologies is to see its immense potential on the horizon and then immediately be overwhelmed the distance between there and where we are today. This kind of reaction often can come from a misconception of conventional wisdom, that upon its arrival, an emerging technology should immediately replace the current operating system it is trying to improve. The truth is that most of us cannot predict what the future will bring, but it is enormously important that we maintain a clear vision of what we are setting out to do and why.

Operating in the budding sector of blockchain technology projects, I find it helpful to play a simple intellectual exercise — asking, “Does your project actually need a blockchain?”

In Po.et’s case, we are securing ideas the same way one would secure money or assets. By using the distributed ledger, we are giving creators around the world the opportunity to control and manage attribution so that they can receive market value for their ideas.

Yes! We need a blockchain to accomplish Po.et’s mission. We believe that the value of the internet should be a web of permanence. We intend for Po.et to create this web of permanence so that the ideas, work and art of creators can be immutable. That is both the opportunity we see on the horizon and our direct mission today.

The internet of value.

The blockchain’s influence for tomorrow is that it redefines our idea of “discovery.” In the context of Po.et, discovery isn’t just the opportunity to have your ideas be found. Conceptually, discovery means having your ideas found and securely attributed.

Security allows creators to feel comfortable releasing their work into the wild without fear of piracy, duplication, misrepresentation and other types of infringement. If creators feel secure they will leverage all means available to be discovered and go viral.

But for those experimenting in the space that use blockchain as an alternative, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. At this early stage of its value, we need experimentation, prototyping and failure to measure the strengths and weaknesses of what this technology will bring. In any industry today, use of a blockchain doesn’t have to be 100 percent better than its existing alternative, so long as it carries a greater potential visible on the horizon. There is no denying that this current wave of innovation will continue to impact many industries in the future. The people working toward something on the horizon today will be the ones ready for what we all might encounter tomorrow.