Sndbox's 1st Intern, Ready to Learn!

Greetings Steemit!

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About Me:

Hello! My name is Henry Yoon, (@twotoedsloth), and I’m writing from the Sndbox office. Currently in my 5th year in the School of Architecture at Carnegie Mellon University, I am Sndbox’s first experimental intern! I’ve learned about the Steemit community through a colleague of @hansikhouse, Eddy Man Kim, who is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

Born and raised in Queens, I am Korean-American, while my mom and dad come from South Korea. Even though I was born in the States, I’ve always felt a connection to my culture and heritage in South Korea. After visiting my grandmother in the Gwangju district of countryside Korea, I’ve felt my ambition to help people, and provide a comfortable place of living for those that are less fortunate. By heart, I’ve always felt happiest when I am helping people, so I primarily focused on sustainable and affordable housing. But as I’ve learned more about politics and society, I am leaning towards more of the public policy realm, where I can think of new proposals to change our existing public policies for the benefit of the people.

As of recently, I have taken a “Thesis Prep” class this past semester, where I cultivate my thesis proposal and find what I truly want to research and design. I’ve focused on the reunification efforts between North and South Korea and zeroed in on the role of architecture in terms of how it can help facilitate the assimilation of North Koreans into modern day society. With recent events between leaders Moon Jae-In and Kim Jong Un, Korean reunification is not just wishful thinking anymore. An increase in progressive thinking alongside Moon Jae-In represents a turning point in South Korea and provides a more open mind to peaceful talks with North Korea.

Thesis proposal in more detail.
Current precedents, bibliography, and advisers.

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My Steemit Goals

This blog is meant to document my journey through my thesis development. In preparation for this coming final year at Carnegie Mellon, I intend on getting a head-start on developing my thesis by documenting research blurbs and progress on this blog, in addition to interning for the @sndbox blockchain startup. Posts will include revelations, discoveries, diagrams for infographics, or anything that would help facilitate the understanding of Korea’s history, and how it influences the proposal that I am currently working on.

Listening to @sndbox and their thoughts, it really opened my eyes in terms of redefining what cryptocurrency is, how different it is as a decentralized system, and how it can help other people. I’ve wondered why there was a discrepancy between what I’m learning here at @sndbox and what I’m hearing from friends and colleagues when I ask them about cryptocurrency. In addition to the growth of my understanding of blockchains and cryptocurrency, I feel that there should be more transparency about what cryptocurrency is and provide a better understanding of the subject instead of remaining ignorant to the assumptions made, “too risky or volatile”.

There are two main themes to cover in daily/weekly updates:

1. How can I document and process my understanding of the research that I am finding for the sake of my own due diligence, while facilitating what I am finding to Steemit users?
2. What does it feel like to be the first intern for a relatively new startup about something that is alien to me? How can I mirror the understanding of someone that doesn’t know much about cryptocurrency and blockchains, in order to assist how @sndbox reaches out to the general public and teaches them about cryptocurrency and blockchains?

What can I help you learn?

I feel that this is going to be an experience where everyone learns as a collaborative effort! I’ll post something that I have been researching, along with a couple of questions that I am curious about. Your comments are very important to me, as they provide feedback, while gauging the general understanding on the topic that I am presenting. Thank you in advance for your feedback. I am looking forward to your responses!