Sustain and Maintain Gimbalabs
Problem
Developers on Cardano need quality educational content and structured, sustainably maintained spaces to meet, learn, and stay informed about the rapid technical developments in the ecosystem.
Total to date
This is the total amount allocated to Sustain and Maintain Gimbalabs.
About this idea
NB: Monthly reporting was deprecated from January 2024 and replaced fully by the Milestones Program framework. Learn more here
[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant
Gimbalabs[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)
Entity (Incorporated)[GENERAL] Co-proposers and additional applicants
- Hinson (Sidan Labs)
- Steve Lockhart
[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)
5[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language
No[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)
Gimbalabs aims to provide continuously maintained open spaces where Cardano developers can learn, collaborate, and build together.
[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?
No[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”
No dependencies.
[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?
Yes[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs
All community events and activities would be open to the public. All materials would be on (an) open-source Github repo(s) with Apache-2.0 license.
[METADATA] Horizons
Education[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution
Gimbalabs was founded in 2021 as a space to learn Cardano development and get involved in live projects. In the course of three years, this space evolved into a virtual co-habitat that aims to, “provide open, replicable safe spaces to learn, to explore, and to empower individuals and organizations anywhere so that we can solve meaningful problems.”
Gimbalabs in general is solving the problem of maintaining, sustaining, and replicating spaces to learn, collaborate, and build on Cardano.
Our focus on maintenance ensures:
- Sustainable Operations: Regular upkeep of spaces, resources, and infrastructure to provide consistent value to the Cardano community.
- Preventive Maintenance: Proactively addressing potential issues to minimize disruptions and enhance resource longevity.
- Community Engagement: Continually gathering feedback from users to refine and improve the resources we offer.
Maintenance-focused Activities Include:
- Scheduled updates to digital tools, content, and resources to keep them relevant and functional.
- Regular infrastructure checks and maintenance tasks to prevent downtime.
- Dedicated budget allocation for training team members on best maintenance practices.
Various sub-spaces, projects, organizations, and project-based learning (pbl) courses have sprung from Gimbalabs. Below is a comprehensive list of all the off-spring endeavors.
Sub-spaces:
- Plutus PBL Live Coding
- Mesh PBL Live Coding
- Cardano Go PBL Live Coding
- Gimbalabs Playground (an open space to share ideas, present projects, get feedback, etc. with the Cardano community)
- Gimbalabs Open Spaces (a co-creation and governance space for Gimbalabs open for anyone to join)
- Gimbalabs Hong Kong (local community networking and learning space powered by SIDAN Lab)
Project Based Learning Courses:
- Plutus PBL
- Mesh PBL
- Cardano Go PBL
- More courses like Aiken PBL, Marlow PBL, etc. are also in the process of being created
Projects / Infrastructure:
- Dandelion (open-source free to use Cardano Indexer)
- Gimbalabs Stakepool (Ticker: GMBL)
- Andamio (a decentralized LMS built on Cardano)
Gimbalabs is currently using Sociocracy 3.0 (https://sociocracy30.org/) as a framework for everyday collaborations and consent.
[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community
Gimbalabs’ impact track record through the years:
- Gimbalabs started with this successful Fund2 Proposal: https://gimbalabs.com/fund2.pdf (and scored the leading vote tally in Fund1 - before there was real funding)
- Has delivered 4 iterations of Plutus PBL Course, with 5th iteration, Plutus PBL 2024, launching now, in May 2024
- Host of weekly Playground sessions for 3+ years
- Host of twice-weekly (and now more!) Live Coding sessions for 2+ years
- Gimbalabs YouTube is a helpful archive:
- Some new PBL courses (coming soon): Mesh PBL, Aiken PBL, etc.
How will we measure the impact?
Gimbalabs will have a dual impact by providing both innovative and stable learning environments. By focusing on the maintenance and sustainability of these resources, we will reduce barriers to entry for new developers and ensure that experienced developers continue to find value in our offerings. This approach supports the Cardano ecosystem's resilience by prioritizing a “maintenance mindset” that values the ongoing upkeep of infrastructure alongside innovation.
Impact Metrics:
- Educational Impact: The number of maintained and regularly updated Project-Based Learning (PBL) courses and community spaces.
- Sustainability Metrics: Frequency of infrastructure updates, maintenance checks, and the success rate of preventive maintenance tasks.
- Community Satisfaction: User feedback on the quality and reliability of the maintained spaces.
By ensuring continuous maintenance and preventive measures, Gimbalabs contributes to a sustainable and thriving Cardano ecosystem that supports both current and future developers.
https://www.youtube.com/c/gimbalabs[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?
At Gimbalabs, we have built one of the best technical learning technologies in the Cardano ecosystem, with the ability to extract the fundamentals of complex topics (protocols, tooling, infrastructure, design patterns, etc) and package them into skills. That is our know-how.
Trust and accountability:
- Talented developers, today founders of renowned Cardano startups (JPG store, MeshJS, Cardano Name Service (CNS), Gods of Blocks, Loxe inc, Ekival, others), trusted us to take their first steps in the ecosystem: to know everything they needed to know, without restrictions, and from there, build their own path. We did not let them down.
- Gimbalabs is an infrastructure builder: Dandelion, Andamio.
- Gimbalabs is consulting: Joey's Hot Sauce, challenge "Spend ADA in your local community!", OneUpOneDown, Oxford University, Handshake, Blink Labs, CNS, MeshJS, SingularityNET, and others.
Approach validation:
- Gimbalabs started with this successful Fund2 Proposal: https://gimbalabs.com/fund2.pdf (and scored the leading vote tally in Fund1 - before there was real funding)
- Has delivered 4 iterations of Plutus PBL Course, with 5th iteration, Plutus PBL 2024, launching now, in May 2024
- Host of weekly Playground sessions for 3+ years
- Host of twice-weekly (and now more!) Live Coding sessions for 2+ years
- Gimbalabs YouTube is a helpful archive:
Feasibility of implementation:
- Talents: Gimbalabs consists of a group of educators and diverse professionals. The budget would be easily justified by the collective professional hours contributed to deliver one of the best courses on the Cardano ecosystem we strive to be.
- Approach: With the 4+ iterations of Plutus PBL Course, Gimbalabs is proven the expert of delivering such education materials.
- Platform: Gimbalabs founds Andamio, which is a highly effective education platform built on Cardano, natively as the best platform of delivering Cardano education materials.
- Know-how: Gimbalabs gathers a group of expert software engineer with extremely deep knowledge in the discipline of operation.
[PROJECT MILESTONES] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?
Milestone 1: Proposal onboarding and planning (1 Month)
Objective: Establish a solid foundation for the project by setting up the necessary responsibilities, infrastructure, and defining project management practices.
Activities:
- Set up responsibilities for current community activities such as open spaces.
- Create a list of all infrastructure needed for coordination, communication, and governance
- Establish project management tools and practices
- Organizing the current Notion space for all activities and all ongoing cost items (e.g. subscriptions)
Acceptance Criteria & Evidence:
- Document stating responsibilities
- A document listing all the tools currently used, and a list of project management practices we adopt.
- A publicly accessible link to Notion page stating current activities organization of Gimbalabs
Milestone 2: Month 1 - Gimbalabs Maintenance (1 Month)
Objective: Maintain Gimbalabs operation for a month covering activities based on proposal consent as below.
Activities:
- All the below spaces are hosted as per schedule
- Live Coding Sessions
- Gimbalabs Playground (an open space to share ideas, present projects, get feedback, etc. with the Cardano community)
- Gimbalabs Open Spaces (a co-creation and governance space for Gimbalabs open for anyone to join
- Proof of additional spaces/initiatives based on proposals submitted
- Keeping up the community engagement with social media
Acceptance Criteria & Evidence:
- Publicly accessible link(s) to all the spaces
- Publicly accessible link(s) to all posts on various social media
Milestone 3: Month 2 - Gimbalabs Maintenance (1 Month)
Objective: Maintain Gimbalabs operation for a month covering activities as below.
Activities:
- All the below spaces are hosted as per schedule
- Live Coding Sessions
- Gimbalabs Playground (an open space to share ideas, present projects, get feedback, etc. with the Cardano community)
- Gimbalabs Open Spaces (a co-creation and governance space for Gimbalabs open for anyone to join
- Proof of additional spaces/initiatives based on proposals submitted
- Keeping up the community engagement with social media
Acceptance Criteria & Evidence:
- Publicly accessible link(s) to all the spaces
- Publicly accessible link(s) to all posts on various social media
Milestone 4: Month 3 - Gimbalabs Maintenance (1 Month)
Objective: Maintain Gimbalabs operation for a month covering activities as below.
Activities:
- All the below spaces are hosted as per schedule
- Live Coding Sessions
- Gimbalabs Playground (an open space to share ideas, present projects, get feedback, etc. with the Cardano community)
- Gimbalabs Open Spaces (a co-creation and governance space for Gimbalabs open for anyone to join
- Proof of additional spaces/initiatives based on proposals submitted
- Keeping up the community engagement with social media
Acceptance Criteria & Evidence:
- Publicly accessible link(s) to all the spaces
- Publicly accessible link(s) to all posts on various social media
Milestone 5: Month 4 - Gimbalabs Maintenance (1 Month)
Objective: Maintain Gimbalabs operation for a month covering activities as below.
Activities:
- All the below spaces are hosted as per schedule
- Live Coding Sessions
- Gimbalabs Playground (an open space to share ideas, present projects, get feedback, etc. with the Cardano community)
- Gimbalabs Open Spaces (a co-creation and governance space for Gimbalabs open for anyone to join
- Proof of additional spaces/initiatives based on proposals submitted
- Keeping up the community engagement with social media
Acceptance Criteria & Evidence:
- Publicly accessible link(s) to all the spaces
- Publicly accessible link(s) to all posts on various social media
Fina Milestone: Close-out Report (1 Month)
Objective: Preparing the close out report
Activities:
- Prepare the close-out report
Acceptance Criteria & Evidence:
- Close-out Video & Report including all participation stats, course updates, and progress made in 6 months
[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?
Some of the key contributors and founding members of Gimbalabs are:
James Dunseith - Space Hosts for Various Live Sessions
- Co-founder of Gimbalabs
- Co-founder of Andamio
- Advisor and teacher for Cardano developers
- Prior Experience
- Master Teacher & Coach at BetterLesson
- Teacher Educator at Mind Research Institute
- Master Teacher at Math for America
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-dunseith-0135651/
- Github: https://github.com/workshop-maybe
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamesdunseith
Hinson Wong - Sustainability Circle Moderator
- Co-founder at DeltaDeFi
- Co-founder at SIDAN Lab
- Team member of Gimbalabs, driving Hong Kong community
- Key contributor to MeshJS, a Cardano SDK for DApp development
- Lead developer at Cardano Name Service (CNS)
- Extensive network with Hong Kong based hedge funds and individual HFTs
- Ex-Citi, Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hinsonwong/
- Github: https://github.com/sidanwhatever
Harsha Gullapalli - Proposal Managers
- Gimbalabs Contributing Member
- UX Researcher, Product Design Engineer
- 3+ years in the Cardano and Catalyst ecosystem
- Contributor to multiple web3 DAOs
- Github
Sebastian Pabon - Social Media and Communications
- Project Manager, Educator and Facilitator at Gimbalabs
- Co-founder at Andamio
- Consultant at Emurgo Academy, European Business University of Luxembourg
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seb-pabon/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SebastianPabonB
Newman Lanier - Space Hosts for Various Live Sessions
[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources
Milestone 1: Proposal onboarding and planning (1 Month)
Activities Budget:
- ADA 2,500 - Set up responsibilities for current community activities such as open spaces.
- ADA 2,500 - Create a list of all infrastructure needed for coordination, communication, and governance
- ADA 2,500 - Establish project management tools and practices
- ADA 2,500 - Organizing the current Notion space for all activities
- ADA 12,500 - Treasury
- Total Budget - ADA 22,500
Milestone 2: Month 1 - Gimbalabs Maintenance (1 Month)
Activities Budget:
- All the below spaces are hosted as per the schedule
- ADA 3,500 - Gimbalabs Playground (an open space to share ideas, present projects, get feedback, etc. with the Cardano community)
- ADA 3,500 - Gimbalabs Open Spaces (a co-creation and governance space for Gimbalabs open for anyone to join)
- ADA 7,500 - Budget for additional proposals and spaces
- ADA 3,000 - Keeping up the community engagement with social media
- Total Budget - ADA 17,500
Milestone 3: Month 2 - Gimbalabs Maintenance (1 Month)
Activities Budget:
- All the below spaces are hosted as per the schedule
- ADA 3,500 - Gimbalabs Playground (an open space to share ideas, present projects, get feedback, etc. with the Cardano community)
- ADA 3,500 - Gimbalabs Open Spaces (a co-creation and governance space for Gimbalabs open for anyone to join)
- ADA 7,500 - Budget for additional proposals and spaces
- ADA 3,000 - Keeping up the community engagement with social media
- Total Budget - ADA 17,500
Milestone 4: Month 3 - Gimbalabs Maintenance (1 Month)
Activities Budget:
- All the below spaces are hosted as per the schedule
- ADA 3,500 - Gimbalabs Playground (an open space to share ideas, present projects, get feedback, etc. with the Cardano community)
- ADA 3,500 - Gimbalabs Open Spaces (a co-creation and governance space for Gimbalabs open for anyone to join)
- ADA 7,500 - Budget for additional proposals and spaces
- ADA 3,000 - Keeping up the community engagement with social media
- Total Budget - ADA 17,500
Milestone 5: Month 4 - Gimbalabs Maintenance (1 Month)
Activities Budget:
- All the below spaces are hosted as per the schedule
- ADA 3,500 - Gimbalabs Playground (an open space to share ideas, present projects, get feedback, etc. with the Cardano community)
- ADA 3,500 - Gimbalabs Open Spaces (a co-creation and governance space for Gimbalabs open for anyone to join)
- ADA 7,500 - Budget for additional proposals and spaces
- ADA 3,000 - Keeping up the community engagement with social media
- Total Budget - ADA 17,500
Final Milestone: Close-out Report (1 Month)
Activities Budget:
- ADA 7,500 - Prepare the close-out report
[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?
The cost of the project provides substantial value to the Cardano developer and learner communities by providing free education and collaboration opportunities with on-chain credentials.
Educating, connecting, and supporting the future builders of Cardano provides exponentially greater value as compared to the budget.
Team
