Blockchain & Web3.0 Era needs Paradigm Shift in Web CMS Architecture!!!

Users want to control their personal data:

Do you like getting tracked wherever you go?

Google can actively track you based on your acceptance of Google’s terms of service:

• What you are searching for
• What you clicking on
• Which ads you have shown interest
• Which image you viewed most
• What video you watched last night
• … many more things

If you carefully observe, the data being tracked is absolutely about you. Would you like to take control and ownership of it. Yes, many of us. Many want to control the usage of data we generated. When you leave a service provider, would you like to take your data back?

  Blockchain decentralizes the control:

In legacy systems, the ‘business logic’ or ‘processing programs’ and ‘data’ is tightly controlled by a central entity like Google, Facebook, Apple. These service providers keep the secret sauce with themselves. The user of Google, Facebook, Apple, etc generate the data /content but do know anything on how his/her data is being used. He/she has no control to monetise his/her own data. If he/she decides to leave the service, he / she can not get the data back. His/her data is lost forever.

But there is a hope. Freedom is not far off.

Blockchain is the technology that is spearheading the momentum of democracy and decentralization in online world.

-      Data stored by anyone in Blockchain Database is temper proof. Its immutable. That is why individuals and enterprises have shown trust in Blockchain

-      In many scenarios the Blockchain based trust is preferred in modern digital systems than the trust that Banks, Insurance Agents, Property Brokers and middleman provide.

Blockchain has the capability to decouple the ‘business logic / programs’ from ‘data’ using ‘Smart Contract’. Both ‘Smart Contract’ and ‘Data’ are portable. No single organization can make hostage of your data.

Majority, including Startups, want fair competition: 

As of now, innovation coming from startups does not get access to data held in private custody of few big corporations like Facebook, Google, Apple etc. Startups find it difficult to personalize their innovative offerings because of lack of this data. But with coming of decentralization technologies, users would be able to come to Startups along with their data!!!

• Example of decentralization technologies: Bitcoin, IOTA for decentralised payment processing, Smart Contracts from Etherium, Hyperledger, Blockchain database from BigchainDB.

Another emerging technology complementing the Blockchain is IPFS (InterPlanetary File System). IPFS is open source. It is making Web more decentralized and resilient is IPFS. As per Reddit article, IPFS offers following benefits:

-      Startups that create Innovative Content: Using IPFS, they can distribute their innovative content-work themselves, without being tied to a Content Distributor and without spending tons of money on servers etc.

-      Startups that become Distributors of Content: Using IPFS, they need fewer servers. Because the users viewing the content will help with the distribution by sharing it peer-to-peer.

-      For Users, the Content loads faster most of the time, because there is a high likelihood that its available somewhere nearby.

-      Internet Service Providers: Peer-to-peer transfers mean that the people living in an area can share the content with each other, saving on external bandwidth.

What are implications for Content Management Systems?

As of now, the architecture of using CMS is monolith or headless depending upon the enterprise focus. If focus is to serve customers in their day to day life-style activities, then they deploy in Headless Architecture manner.

The diagram below depicts the architectural evolution journey that an organization take to become ready to embrace upcoming decentralized world spearheaded by IPFS and Blockchain.

The decentralized CMS will allow users to control the content they are producing!!!

SUMMARY:

The consumers are becoming aware of their rights about the data and content they generate for likes of Apple, Google, Facebook. Soon time will come, when users will own and control their data. Hence organizations having web content management systems need to ready themselves for this emerging decentralized world. Using Technologies like IPFS, Blockchain along existing CMS technologies, one can craft a new architecture I call 'decentralized CMS'.

Bye for now…