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Presence Labs was founded in 2020 with an ambition to provide access to the next level of the web. Presence's browser overlay provides direct access to the Overweb, a safe digital space in which real people and information have presence and interactions over the webpage. With Presence, the web is like a town where each page is a table in a cafe, an aisle in a shop, or a place that everyone can visit and meet real people of like minds.
The overlay is accessible through the Presence browser extension (Chrome only at the moment), the Canopi Enterprise SDK, and a forthcoming mobile app. In the future, it will be supported natively by browsers that adopt the protocol. Canopi Enterprise enables website owners to create communities on their site without the necessity for third-party internet platforms where real people get to meet each other, have a meeting or an event above a webpage.
The mission of the company is to enable decentralized communities to occupy the space that is above the webpage. It aims to create a digital public space above the webpage that operates as a parallel system where people can express their thoughts, opinions, and knowledge and be rewarded based on the value their contributions create in the ecosystem. They can set and adjust their privacy levels. They also own, control, and have the option to monetize their data.
This particular type of ecosystem incentivizes individuals, teams, and communities to connect, interact, and create value around their shared areas of interest.
The journey of the webpage started with Bridgit.io filing the provisional patent for the bridge in 2017: a bi-directional conceptual link between an idea on one page (e.g., a piece of text, a part of an image, a segment of a video or podcast) and an idea on another page that defines the semantic relationship between the ideas (e.g., supporting, contradicting). Of course, multiple bridges can be attached to a single idea. Hence Bridgit.io saw the bridge as a basic building block of knowledge that self-assembles into a universal knowledge graph, thereby creating information ecologies that enable decentralized fact-checking, rapid discovery of trustworthy information, contextual information, and interactions anywhere on the web.
Bridging required a browser overlay and therefore a new browser or a browser extension.
Because of the challenges of connecting with people during the pandemic and the fact that ZOOM gatherings had unforeseen results of millions of like-minded people getting connected, the Presence team decided to fast forward Canopi so that people could connect, interact, and collaborate with other people they would otherwise not meet. Canopi is like a chatroom with private messaging on every webpage.
Daveed Benjamin is a Co-Founder and the CEO of Presence Labs. He is a Stanford-graduated engineer with over 20 years of experience in high technology. Daveed is currently reinstalling the big missing feature of the web that is- annotation – and modernization of the web in the 21st century. He has been designing blockchain-based browser overlay systems for the past four years and is expanding the conversation from the text-on-text annotation to the computational space above the webpage Daveed lives in Tulum, Mexico where he has initiated the Regen Tulum, a decentralized movement to regenerate Tulum that funds regenerative projects on the Mayan Riviera with place-based NFTs and a Defi community currency.
From the very beginning, Daveed has always strived to bring the best to his company and local communities.
Presence Labs is creating a Layer 2 cross-chain protocol and platform that enables safe and transparent access to the space above the webpage where participants control their identity, own their data, and are also rewarded for their contributions which are stored on the blockchain as NFTs. This is the first blockchain solution that is focused on the space above the webpage. Presence's browser overlay provides access to the space above any webpage. This is also one of the few blockchain solutions focused on safe digital communities or digital nations based on common purpose rather than geography. The Presence browser overlay has its PRESENCE token but it will accept other cryptocurrencies including BTC, ETH, Cardano, and Shiba Inu.
Along with these, Canopi Enterprise enables website owners to create communities on their site without the third-party internet platforms so they can:
Presence Labs has always fostered innovation. Talking about innovation, Daveed says, "Presence enables computations in the space above the webpage. It has developed and is leveraging the Overweb pattern to create a mycelial network for the next level of the web". According to Daveed, disruptive technologies like AI, ML are enabling blockchain to provide authentication, security, transparency, and rewards to entirely new use cases that would not otherwise be possible. He believes that these disruptive technologies will produce datasets that catalyze the advancement of current machine-learning applications allowing them to have greater utility and meaningful use.
In 2019, Presence Labs (via parent company Bridgit.io) won the Disruptive Technology Culture Driver award from the EU's flagship- Next Generation Internet program for bridging. Bridges democratize linking, incentivizing participants to connect information on an idea-by-idea basis with a relationship. Once the relationship is validated, the bridges self-assemble into a blockchain-enabled knowledge graph that enables unbiased fact-checking, rapid discovery of trustworthy information, and 360° context for relevant ideas in the information ecology. The company has strategically partnered with large data-driven CBOs such as The Forbes Funds to begin piloting UN SDG and social determinants of health-focused initiatives as soon as the second quarter of 2022.
That is not it, Daveed also has various feathers in his cap that bring laurels to the company. He is a fellow of the RSA. Daveed is also the author of the award-winning Pacha's Pajamas which deals with augmented reality and is adapted for an animated series as well as an NFT Metaverse game.
Daveed believes that the Presence browser overlay will catalyse a newfound interest in the space above the web page. This will be the first part of the Metaverse to be widely adopted. "Companies will begin building overlay applications, smart tags, and forming digital entities. Some browsers will adopt the protocols so that they offer access to the Overweb. New browsers with the protocols built-in will emerge. People will come together and form digital nations. People will safely meet, interact, and collaborate with like-minded people. There will be competitions to create bridges (i.e., knowledge NFTs), and building bridges will become a self-directed occupation for tens if not hundreds of thousands of people" says Daveed. He further believes that their efforts will create a universal knowledge graph that will enable people to discover trustworthy information without always having to resort to search. He aims to be an active participant in building a future where people will have access to information and tools that improve their ability to discern false claims, ultimately becoming more productive and less confused. "Many people will experience more cognitive freedom than ever before" concludes Daveed.
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