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IAB Tech Lab launches primer and resource hub on ad-oriented blockchain tech

The new offerings are part of the Tech Lab’s efforts to bring the ad community up to speed, define key terms and metrics and separate value from hype.

Barry Levine on July 27, 2018 at 2:50 pm

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Tech Lab has been moving quickly to catch up with blockchain.

A week ago, its Blockchain Working Group announced a pilot program that would analyze the results of blockchain-based projects by its 150+ member organizations. This effort will include a white paper that pinpoints the most promising ad-related aspects of the participating projects, sets up some standardization targets and possibly notes which claims are farther off.

This week, the Working Group is releasing some explainer documents. There’s a free Blockchain Technology Primer and a Resources Wiki, both assembled by Working Group participants.

The primer offers clear descriptions of various kinds of blockchain techniques, distributed ledger technologies, the importance of consensus and cryptography, public versus private blockchains, distributed apps (dApps) and more, with only an occasional dip into deep tech.

Here’s a diagram offered in the primer summarizing how blockchain’s shared database, protocol governance, smart contracts, immutability, cryptography and digital signatures can be employed to “help enforce the rules and agreements required to complete [an advertising] transaction”:

The wiki presents a compendium of resources providing more detailed info on these topics and others, including use cases and legal resources, with links to original sources.

About The Author

Barry Levine

Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.