FAQ
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What is the Metaweb?
The Metaweb is the computational space above the webpage. Today’s web is centralized in that the page author controls the experience. In the Metaverse, entirely new and potentially decentralized experiences can be layered on top of content elements on webpages.
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What is the difference between the Overweb and the Metaweb?
The verb is but one layer of the Overweb. In particular, the Overweb is the safe, decentralized layer that does not repeat our mistakes of the past. We envision that other parts of the Metaweb that do not practice one account per person for example will amplify the shadow of today's web, which will almost certainly threaten the viability of a democratic future if we are to put all of our eggs in that one basket. Parts of the Metaweb will certainly lack transparency, privacy, information integrity, security, data sovereignty, real people, and more.
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Why does the Overweb need a blockchain?
To be clear, the Overweb is planning to build on a distributed ledger technology. The Overweb is using distributed ledger technology for several reasons. As a reputation system, the Overweb benefits from strong authentication and an immutable record of each agent's activity in the network. The Overweb compensates participants with cryptocurrency micropayments based on the value their contributions create in the network. The Overweb uses tokens to distribute ownership among accredited non-US investors and participants in the Overweb ecosystem, and to deliver future value to the initial funders and those who create value in the network.
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How is the Overweb different from Search?
Search uses indexing which collects, parses, and stores data to facilitate fast and accurate information retrieval. The purpose of the index is to optimize speed and performance in finding relevant documents for a search query. When someone submits a search criteria, the index is queried and matching results are returned in order of relevancy. The Overweb on the other hand effectively creates a wormhole directly from ideas on one page to ideas on another page, thereby creating the possibility of direct access and instantaneous discovery.
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What will the Overweb do for Virtual Experience?
The Overweb will transform the virtual experience similar to how Google transformed the web. The Overweb will enable participants to find what they are looking for by focusing their attention and to view content directly related to what they are focusing on. Thus the Overweb will enable participants to navigate within and among virtual experience, the online world, and the physical world using their attention, voice, and embodiment.
How is the Overweb different than Wikipedia?
Beyond a completely different tech stack, there are many differences between the experience of the Overweb versus Wikipedia. For example, Wikipedia is a destination site that one has to visit while the Overweb is an always-available browser overlay. Second, Wikipedia forces the editors and contributors to come to a single perspective for any particular issue. For some controversial issues, the Wikipedia edit history reveals back-and-forth battles for which perspectives are to be displayed. Third, as a centralized entity, Wikipedia may be subject to government-driven or internally-motivated censorship. Fourth, the Overweb compensates contributors based on the value their bridges create in the network; Wikipedia does not compensate contributors.
Why won't Google do what you are doing and crush you?
Replicating the Overweb would be extremely difficult for an established destination site like Google. First, the Web 3.0 tech stack is incompatible with Google's Web 2.0 stack. Second, Google needs to continue ramping its revenues without interruption. Third, Google has no intention in spreading the payments throughout the ecosystem. While Google could and still may at some point remove the Overweb extension from Chrome, this would be a temporary setback ameliorated by the existence of our other plug-ins and the SDK. Such a move could also signal that Google is feeling an existential threat.
How do we know the Overweb won't just turn into the next Google?
The PRESENCE Browser overlay ecosystem is decentralized and controlled by the Overweb Foundation, which is controlled by its board that makes community engagement a priority. The Overweb is dedicated to the advancement of society through collective intelligence and wisdom, and will not be swayed from that mission by shareholders. The Overweb is also committed to giving the majority of ad and licensing fees to the PRESENCE Browser overlay ecosystem.
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How is the Overweb different than Brave?
While we share the goal of fixing the web, we are taking different yet complementary approaches. Brave focuses on improving the browsing experience - making it safer, faster, better - and growing support for content providers. Their ad blocking reduces page loading time notably by a factor of 8 on mobile. They provide a mechanism for participants to give tips to content providers. They also have shields that prevent ads, bots, and malware.
That said, we like Brave a lot. In fact, we are planning to fork the Brave codebase for our mobile browser app. Building upon Brave's excellent mobile browsing experience, we will enable compulsive deep searchers to monetize the research they are already doing - at scale. Thereby creating an intricate web of connections between content elements on an idea-to-idea basis that enables virtually instantaneous discovery of information. This overlay will ultimately connect all useful and verifiably valid, publicly available information.
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Do you have a Brave extension?
Our Chrome Extension works on Brave.
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What makes you think you can base a business on a browser extension?
We realize the limitations of browser extensions especially with respect to scale. We also understand that very few sustainable enterprises have a browser extension as their foundation if at all. We also know that many businesses successfully use browser extensions to create new ways to access their tools and enable new functionality, and some have over 10 million participants. Hence, we are using the browser extension as a rapid prototyping tool to validate the extent to which bridges create value for participants and to test different features and UX/UI iterations. When we launch, we will not only have extensions for all major browsers, but also a SDK for web sites and a mobile app. We will provide monetary incentives for those that load the extensions and those that build applications on top of them.
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Why do you need your own browser?
For expediency and for rapid prototyping purposes, we are launching the Overweb with browser extensions and a SDK. A standalone browser would enable participants to access the Overweb's Internet of Ideas seamlessly without an extension or SDK and provide support for emerging overlay technologies that build collective intelligence. Having a standalone browser would also remove the Overweb's dependence on other browsers most notably Google's Chrome. We won't, however, build a browser until we have 1M participants or our user base demands it.
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How do you work with nonprofits and social enterprises?
We gift software for free to mission-driven organizations that need support. Once an organization is grounded, we give them a 50-90% discount on the fees for corporations. Organizations can get further discounts for high volume orders. We also feature them and give them an opportunity to earn compensation for various aspects of their participation and to receive donations from other members of the PRESENCE Browser overlay ecosystem.
What makes the Overweb unique?
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We are building an aspect of the Next Generation Internet - the Internet of Ideas.
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We are decentralizing the link, an element of the web that has been held sacrosanct since the web’s emergence.
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We are focused on connecting information rather than creating it.
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We are using browser overlays so the platform is always available, whatever page the user is on.
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We enable trusted entities to earn crypto for building digital bridges that connect information on an idea by idea basis.
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We are connecting all publically available media.
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We enable the community to expose fake news using available online evidence.
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We support discovery orders of magnitude more effective than search.
Who wants the Overweb?
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The 66% of people who are worried about fake news on social media.
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The 15% of people who search frequently.
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Students who want to streamline and accelerate their learning.
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The people who are disturbed by Google and Facebook “making them the product” and the free wheeling ways that they have used user data.
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The people who want to end censorship.
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The people who want a Next Generation Internet.
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The people who want to earn currency for bridging ideas in their topics of interest - the areas of interest that they are already are researching and don’t have good options now for sharing whatever they find.
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The people who are frustrated by the lack of ways to informally collaborate around ideas in their subject area of interest and share what they have learned with the world.
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The people who believe that the Internet is a sparse and low signal-to-noise network and that we need to reorganize the web so that it connects high quality information.
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The broadcasters that want to attract and deeply engage their audience on valuable and pertinent information.
How can the Overweb serve broadcasters, shows, and communities?
The Overweb provides an unprecedented opportunity for broadcasters and shows to connect with their audience as local communities around the existing information on the web about the subject of their show. The Overweb enables members of the local community to interact before, during, and after the show around the information presented in the show and related information on the web. Communities can work together to inform themselves about the local issues and resources that are most relevant to their lives.
Broadcasters and shows can have a community of interest for show and if appropriate local communities within the greater community. The broadcaster can set up a genesis constellation of bridges, notes, conversations, and collaboration opportunities that are the scaffolding for their audience to learn more about the informational foundation for the show and specific episodes. The local communities can then review, interact, and share information before, during, or after the show, and add bridges based on their own research. Archived videos of broadcasts and other videos can bridge to the source information and related info. Specific ideas in fake news can be exposed by contradicting bridges. Thus giving local communities a platform whereby they can inform themselves about local issues and resources that are relevant to their lives. Furthermore, local community members are compensated based on the value their bridges create in the local community and the greater network as a whole. Members can also participate in bounties and challenges initiated by the broadcaster to incentivize specific aspects of their participation.
Will the Overweb make Search obsolete?
We don't claim that the Overweb makes search obsolete. Search may always be the best for navigational searches as well as for transactional (product) searches where the user knows exactly what they are looking for. The Overweb, however, has the potential to outperform search by orders of magnitude for transactional searches where one does not know what they are looking for and for most informational searches. These are the areas where people spend the most time per search session and where the greatest room for improvement exists.