Decentralized Gov. Community Group

Start a research & standardization community org.- An unbiased, neutral, scientific place to define and answer the needs of the DG ecosystem

We are 2 founders - One with background in Psychology & Law, and myself in Computational Biology.

We have started reaching out to others.

Background

This is a joint proposal by me and @eysteinh. We are currently searching for more members to join us.

We are both very passionate about bringing clarity and fairness to decentralized governance. We both have a research background and are adamant to expose better ways for people to collaborate on their own terms. We believe this research initiative by the community itself, if cultivated and nurtured, could grow to become a beacon of high quality knowledge and essential insights for the entire Decentralized Governance community.

Problem Statement

Decentralized Governance (DG) is at its infancy. New governance structures must be explored and invented to allow for organic growth of self governing, distributed communities.

DG is intrinsically the only framework within which we will attract developers and other builders to our ecosystem.

To that end we must ensure that the Cardano governance system is effective, transparent, unbiased, and beyond reproach. In order to achieve that, the community must play an independent role in its evolution, and begin creating its own institutions focused on DG.

The problem is that without an inclusive, balanced, and scientific open discussion around DG "by the community, for the community" - We may find that politics, narrow interests, and miscommunication will hamper a productive discussion which could expedite the journey towards harmonic DG and adoption.

Suggested Solution

We suggest the establishment of a community group dedicated to research and experimentation in the area of DG. A group, which if successful, will aim to evolve to become a DG standardization entity, and ecosystem wide discussion platform & launchpad for DG in general.

The WIP name of the group is the Organization for Governance Refinement & Emancipation (OGRE).

OGRE Preliminary Values -

• Transparent: OGRE will act to make public and available all its activities, as well as other DG activities in the space. OGRE is committed to publish, share , and peer review any of its research activities publicly.

• Scientific: OGRE will strive to conduct its research, and direct its activities in an unbiased, empiricist, and rigorous manner in alignment with scientific methods.

• Data Driven: OGRE is committed to collecting and analyzing data around DG, and to use empirical results to drive the conversation around DG.

• Neutral: OGRE will aim to avoid alignment with specific community group, and aspire to include and represent minority groups in the community.

• Inclusive: OGRE will act and solicit input across the whole DG ecosystem, aspiring to include members from varied projects and communities.

Creating a balance and unbiased group that will inspire the trust of all stakeholders in the ecosystem, and will be able to perform as a mediating function within the DG ecosystem, will allow us to set the foundations for future DG community driven initiatives.

One example of implementing OGRE impartiality would be to limit the number of OGRE council members which are position holders, (i.e. Ambassadors, SPOs, Investors, Entrepreneurs, etc.), to a maximum percentage of representation.

Mission Statement

Given below are the high level functions that the OGRE declares. Once the first OGRE council is initiated, clear values will be defined, and a full mission statement will be composed. The operational missions of the OGRE are dual -

1. Perform research in the area of decentralized governance for the enrichment of the ecosystem
2. Conduct experiments, collect, analyze, and publish data on decentralized decision making
3. Encourage and assist the Cardano ecosystem develop a mentality that drives decentralization through social processes.

Value for Cardano

Establishing strong community institutions will contribute to Cardano in at least 2 ways -

1. Generate trust and credibility across the space by legitimizing and growing the synergy between grassroots community initiatives and centralized project entities.

1. Promote Cardano's integrity, by establishing institutions that will serve the entire DG space and bring people from other chains and projects into Cardano's ecosystem.

Addressing The Challenge

• In the short term OGRE will facilitate the DG conversation between SPOs, the trinity, the community, and whoever else will want to participate.

• In the long term OGRE aims to leverage DO implementation and the evolution of DG, to enable widespread decentralization and adoption of Cardano's infrastructure.

Objectives & Goals

OGRE aims to be client centric and address burning and relevant issues in DG, as they arise in the community.

Some near and long term objectives could include -

• Standardization/certification of SPO Skill Sets (Cardano SL, Nix, Networking, Security, etc.).

• Standardization/certification of Proposal Consultant and/or others who will enable proposers.

• Standardization/certification of Voting Delegation Experts (as part of late Voltaire releases).

On the topics above our main goal is to initiate a discussion, collect input, and solicit needs from the community that will lead to community driven standardization of the governance space.

In essence OGRE will aim to become a horn for the community to voice itself on DG, and to take actions to manage its self organization.

Example Pain Points

At this time there are several evident pain points in DG that are causing concerns in the community which the OGRE could commit to address -

• SPO selection, regulation and standardization.

• A Holistic View encompassing all funding processes and decision making within the Cardano project, available to the community.

• Real World data on decentralized decision making.

• Lack of models for the community to use for self organization and structuring.

• Lack of community groups that are impartial and are not susceptible to conflict of interests.

These are just a few examples. OGRE also plans to poll the priorities of the community for topics that require urgent attention to establish its initial agenda.

Requested Budget

OGRE compensation will be decided on the first OGRE council. For the purpose of Fund1 we consider -

• OGRE council members as highly skilled workers (~$100,000 US/year).

• 2 Council Members - at 50% position for 6 months: $50,000

• 1 Assistant - at 25% position for 6 months: $3,000

• 2 Advisors - at 3 consultations each during 6 months ($500 per consultation) - $3,000

Total: $56,000 for a 6 months period.

Thank you for reading our proposal!