Ontology Harbinger Interview Series: DuMonT
This is an ongoing series featuring Ontology’s Harbingers. Harbingers are exceptional leaders that help Ontology grow its community and ecosystem, making it an ever-stronger blockchain, and decentralized identity and data leader.
In the first interview in this series, Ontology speaks with DuMonT.
1. How did you hear about Ontology? What drew you to Ontology?
I first heard about Ontology back in early 2018 when ONT was listed on exchanges. I was looking for promising projects, so I discovered Ontology which I recognized as quite unique, in terms of its vision and consensus mechanism, as well as its focus on decentralized identity and data.
2. What made you become a supporter of Ontology and a champion of its brand?
As I was already impressed by the vision of Ontology, I wanted to engage more with the community so I joined its chat groups on Telegram where I discovered lots of amazing people. I was truly amazed by the quality of administrators who were very supportive. Therefore, I became an active member of those groups, and later, when I learned more, I was able to help the admins. I am convinced that when you believe in a project’s vision, you should support it in every way you can.
3. What do you see as the key role of a Harbinger? What is your favorite thing about being a Harbinger?
The key role of a Harbinger is definitely to help community members while also spreading the word in order to increase the awareness of the project. Helping others is also my favorite part of being a Harbinger, as it gives me a lot of satisfaction when I know I’ve helped someone.
4. Why is being part of the Ontology community important to you?
To reiterate what I said in answer to the second question, “I am convinced that when you believe in a project’s vision, you should support it in every way you can”. Being an active part of the Ontology community is for me the best way I can personally support the project and help it to achieve its goals.
5. How is Ontology’s community different from other blockchain communities? Is there anything that makes it stand out?
Along with its main English chats, the Ontology community covers 30+ different language groups, which is quite unique in the blockchain space. By overcoming the language barrier, many more people from all around the world have access to information about the project. The Ontology community is very supportive of new members as Harbingers also serve as role models for others.
6. What do you use as your key channels for engagement with the Ontology community and why? Would you like to see any others?
My key channel is definitely Telegram, as I am an active administrator of the English community, Trading group and local Czech & Slovak groups, while also helping out in groups like ONTO, Wing Finance and more. I also have active Twitter and Reddit accounts where I actively interact with Ontology. Ontology also has an active YouTube channel, where I see some room for improvement. I would like to see more step-by-step guides and explanatory videos.
7. Can you share a memorable experience or something you’ve learned from being a Harbinger? What advice would you give to someone looking to become a Harbinger?
I remember someone from the Ontology team gave me the nickname “The Ontology Wikipedia”, ha-ha, that was when I realized I became an important part of the Ontology community, because I was recognized as a person who always had answers. To future Harbingers, I would suggest being patient with members, proactive with interactions and always hungry for information, as only then can you really help the community thrive.
8. How would you describe the Ontology community in three words?
In only three? That’s tough I would say: dynamic, passionate and supportive.
9. How do you think Ontology could expand its community going forward? What would you like to see more or less of? What kinds of things do you see community members do that you think help our community grow?
Nothing is perfect, there’s always room for some improvement. To expand the community even more, I think it is important to stay in touch with community members. Especially to listen to their feedback and ideas. I would like to see more polls or votes about important things, which signals to people in the community that their voice matters. Community members can help the community grow by sharing Ontology articles, Twitter posts, commenting, etc. Also, actively using Ontology’s core products and recommending them to their own audience or friends to try out.
10. What do you see as the key milestones for Ontology and how can the community help with achieving these?
During previous years, Ontology already proved it is here to stay and it is ready as never before to disrupt the verification process with their unique DID protocols. What I think will be a great milestone is implementation and active usage of decentralized identity and data by other projects. This is already starting to happen with partners like ROCKI, the NFT music platform. This should signal to the wider crypto space that Ontology is ready to be implemented all over the crypto industry. I always like to bring in the analogy between Chainlink with oracles and Ontology with DID. As Ontology acquires its first pioneer projects who actively and successfully use its technology, I expect a similar exponential boom as happened with oracles. It is time for DID to become a trigger word and the community can help with that. The crypto space is huge, therefore community members can help to bring us under the radar of the projects who could benefit from Ontology’s tech, as well as to raise awareness among crypto influencers.
To learn more about Ontology’s Harbinger Program and how you can get involved, check out our updated GUIDE.
Tune in next week for the second interview in the Ontology Harbinger Interview Series.