NEWSLETTER
devcon is arriving in 2022 (along with something new 
), but before our next event updates, we invite you to view a fully updated Devcon file.
Meet the new Devcon Archive
Devcon’s impact goes beyond the physical event, and with that in mind, we’ve completely revamped the Devcon archive. Changes include an improved UX, better content discovery, less reliance on YouTube, more decentralized content via IPFS, and community engagement in curation.
Through all of this, we hope that Devcon can continue to be an unparalleled educational resource for learning about the past, present, and future of the ecosystem. Read on to find out more about what’s new (and to try to win a POAP), or check out the site for yourself now.
A curated content hub
Based on preliminary user research with the original implementation of the archive, users found it difficult to navigate through the hundreds of Devcon videos for each issue. Content targeting and discoverability was lacking, and chats were provided with little to no context or metadata.
A common thread we heard from the feedback sessions was that the targeted talks were critical to understanding critical concepts. People revisited those talks regularly through the archive, but only because they had been initially exposed to the session in the event program, or had actually attended the session.
And as much as live sessions are central to the Devcon experience, the influx of parallel content makes it very difficult for attendees to participate in all the sessions they want to attend. For that reason, other people rely on video views to catch up on content after the event.
Additionally, curated content was repeatedly mentioned as a way to help expose users to new ideas and new perspectives that would otherwise have been largely ignored. One of the most consistent positive feedback we continually receive regarding the Devcon in-person experience is the serendipitous learning and insights attendees experience when interacting with content they had not previously planned to attend. We wanted to take advantage of this opportunity and allow the community to help create this moment of delight through suggested playlists in specific areas of content expertise. If you are interested in helping with this, please see the Path to Devcon search forward for community curated playlists.
Make content more discoverable
From a user perspective, our goal was to make the Devcon archive as easy as possible to navigate, filter, and access content based on your specific interest and skill level.
The new archive has been rebuilt from the ground up with a mobile first implementation, allowing you to access your favorite Ethereum developer content on any device. Due to the large amount of metadata now available in the archive, you can search and filter videos with a variety of entries. Easily search for content based on speaker, talk descriptions, devcon tracks, keywords, experience level, or Devcon event editions. You can also access a wide range of curated and suggested playlists to help discover interesting and engaging content.
Note: If you’re a speaker featured in the Devcon archive and would like to help improve the content description (or if you’d like to edit your speaker’s bio), PR directly on the archive. github pageor contact us via E-mail.
Decentralize everything!
One of the core goals of the Devcon team this year is to help dog food and integrate core web3 technologies that provide clear benefit to online attendees and participants.
Internally, our reliance on centralized platforms was a concern, due to the risk of deplatforming and censorship of services and websites becoming more frequent, we wanted to ensure that all Devcon content was censorship resistant, globally accessible and persistent at all times. for interested people to participate with.
For this reason, we decided fully integrate IPFS as part of the Devcon archive experience. IPFS is a distributed system for storing and accessing files, websites, applications, and data. Learn more about IPFS here. You can now find all of Devcon’s previous content hosted on IPFS and easily accessible through the archive via the IPFS video player tab. We also expect to see users pin their favorite content to IPFS to make it more accessible and signal their preference for the type of content they most enjoy and want to share with others.
A special thanks to Andrew and Carson from Textile team, and Dietrich, Adin and Molly from protocol labs for his continued guidance on IPFS and Filecoin. We also owe thanks to the EF Devops team for taking on the heavy load of managing and uploading the large number of videos to IPFS. 
Path to Devcon Missions
To mark the continued journey towards Devcon and encourage community participation, we will be adding two additional missions related to the Devcon archive and the great content that exists in the Road to Devcon missions.
Pin the file
To help make content accessibility more censorship-resistant and decentralized, we expect to see a lot more Devcon content being pinned by users using the archive. To ensure that content persists in IPFS and is not deleted during garbage collection (a process for removing stale content), data can be pinned to one or more IPFS nodes. Pinning gives you control over disk space and data retention. Users can use that control to pin any content they want to remain in IPFS indefinitely. If you’re one of the first 100 people to pin your favorite sessions to IPFS and reach out to us on our Road to Devcon Discord, we’ll send you a one-time, limited-run POAP. Learn more about fixationand about participating in Road to Devcon Quest here.
Community Curated Playlists
Community participants should have an equal opportunity to help curate content in the Devcon archive. We encourage all interested parties to submit curated playlists that provide insight into a central subject area or craft a historical narrative that can be easily discerned by newcomers or people looking to dig deeper into a specific topic.
Here are some examples of curated playlists: The rise of smart contract languages, execution layer. Create your playlists and submit a PR on the Devcon github archive. If your playlist is chosen, you will be awarded a unique POAP as part of the Road to Devcon Quests. Learn more about how to participate in the Search here I access the github here.
What’s ahead?
We continue to see opportunities to improve the archive, but we want to hear your feedback on what would add the most value. As Devcon gets closer, we’ll continue to integrate user accounts to help you create your own custom playlists, favorite chats, and much more. We also plan to integrate the Devcon livestream process closely with the archive to ensure content is easily accessible immediately after the next Devcon, with relevant supplementary information.
If you have additional ideas to help improve the Devcon experience or the archive, please refer to the Devcon Improvement Proposal Process to learn how you can be an integral part of Devcon planning this year.
Kudos to the Devcon and Web teams for pushing the project forward 
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