CQuizzes: Cardano campus outreach in India via interactive quizzes

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Vinu Anil

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Not Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

8

[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)

Attract the next generation of Web3 users in India to Cardano by organizing quiz contests at leading campuses. Design an interactive, gamified quiz platform to provide a captivating user experience.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

Yes

[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.”

We will integrate with a third party platform Quizziz - 'https://quizizz.com/' to develop the quizzing experience. It has a proven track record and matches our requirements. There will not be any delays or issues with respect to licensing or reliability of the third party dependency.

[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

The project repository will be open sourced for the public to view, track progress, and freely use. It will use Apache License 2.0 which allows for open collaboration and usage.

[METADATA] SDG rating

SDG goals:

Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

SDG subgoals:

By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship

Enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological capabilities of industrial sectors in all countries, in particular developing countries, including, by 2030, encouraging innovation and substantially increasing the number of research and development workers per 1 million people and public and private research and development spending

Key Performance Indicator (KPI):

Proportion of youth and adults with information and communications technology (ICT) skills, by type of skill

Researchers (in full-time equivalent) per million inhabitants

Universal Human Rights Index (UHRI):

#proposertoolsdg

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution.

The solution is to create interactive, gamified quizzes and organize in-person quiz contests in universities and colleges in India to directly connect with the next generation of Web3 users. Our aim is to engage and impact 10,000 students throughout the project duration.

The primary objective of these events is to foster widespread awareness and enthusiasm for Cardano within the student community. Incentives, in the form of prizes, will entice young individuals to actively research and learn about Cardano, a crucial factor for meaningful community growth. Furthermore, strategic partnerships will be established with student clubs to ensure ongoing and sustainable community development.

The effectiveness of this solution hinges on transforming the exploration of Cardano's ecosystem into an engaging and enjoyable experience for students. To understand the user experience it offers, please watch the following recording of the following recording of gameplay, showcasing a diverse array of quiz questions on various topics. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTNSLCVmwEY

The issues we address:

Information about Cardano is primarily non-interactive, presented through blogs, documentation, podcasts, and videos. These resources are often lengthy and complex for the average user. We lack engaging mediums that incorporate gamification and interactivity.

Encouraging students and newcomers to explore Cardano proves difficult without incentives. Despite India's status as the most populous nation with a growing economy and a young demographic, Cardano lags behind other blockchains in popularity and reach. Recognizing that millions of the next Web3 users will emerge from India, dedicated efforts are needed to unlock this potential.

The next phase of Cardano's journey to become the world's financial operating system requires a deliberate push to familiarise and popularise Cardano, particularly among the masses and the youth.

Our approach:

1. Offer a fun way for individuals to explore and comprehend Cardano, making it an interactive and engaging experience. We achieve this by developing gamified online quizzes.
2. Leverage gamification and incentives to motivate students and others to actively learn about Web3.0 and Cardano. The quizzes will strategically highlight key aspects which the Cardano community wants to communicate to the world. Live quiz contests will be organized both on campuses for students.
3. Guide the student community towards Cardano-related resources for preparation and establish partnerships with student clubs for continuing engagement. Regular quiz contests can be used to enrich college campus activities and offline meetups.

Key Features of CQuizzes

• Multimedia experience: The gaming content will support a wide range of content formats including text, images, audio, and video. This enriches the questions, prompts, and answers, ensuring an immersive experience.
• Interactive and game-like Interface: Users can enjoy power-ups, hints, redemption questions, a live leaderboard, and even express their reactions through emojis. The captivating interface will keep participants actively engaged.
• Answer explanations: During the game play the participants can be provided additional context for the answers using in-depth explanations. This additional context and information not only help users enhance their overall knowledge of Cardano but also act as a subtle nudge to sensitize the audience about the vast ocean of factual information about Cardano like IOHK’s articles, research papers, metrics directly from the blockchain etc.
• Flexible gameplay: Support for multiple modes of gameplay. Self-paced individual games, quizmaster mode and live contests. Multiplayer events, with shuffled questions and diverse powers ups/lifelines to keep the experience fresh and engaging. In person event mode where the quizmaster controls the pace.

Target Region and Audience

Target region: The focus region is India, where our project team is located. We plan to establish connections with universities and collaborate with college clubs through organized quiz contests. These CQuizzes will be customized for diverse user categories, offering varying difficulty levels and topics to cater to individual preferences and experience levels, making engagement more accessible and enjoyable.

Primary audience: University Students in India: Organizing quiz events with prizes provides a straightforward approach to reach university campuses and student groups, making it an effective means to attracting the next generation of Web3 users to Cardano. For the scope of funding requested, we will target 10 top STEM institutions in India encompassing undergraduate and postgraduate levels. See the following links for the population of top institutions we will choose from : Universities , Engineering colleges, Research Institutes. To ensure diversity and maximum impact, we will select the institutions based on stature, academic schedule, course types, and campus location, with the goal of engaging an average of 1000 students per campus and impacting a total of 10,000 students over the course of the project.

Secondary Audience: Existing Cardano Community (General ADA holders, developers, influencers, D-Reps). This secondary audience can utilize the platform for fun and engagement, to test and improve their technical knowledge, to glean facts and tackle misinformation. D-Reps can be trained using a series of customized quiz games. CIP-1694 campaigns can also be enriched similarly.

How Will the Project Operate

The project is divided into 2 phases: 

Phase I (0-3 months) : Development of CQuizzes which involves creating gamified interactive quiz games and a dedicated project website. The initiative includes publishing online quizzes, hosting live tournaments, and conducting promotional quizzes for the online community with a goal to build a substantial social media following.

The 'CQuizzes' website will serve as a central hub, offering a unified platform for discovery and search of the online quizzes. It will feature announcements for upcoming events and reports on past events. All published quizzes will be accessible on the website, allowing users to attempt them at their own pace and an unlimited number of times. Live contests or tournaments will be scheduled in advance, and will support up to 1000 participants competing simultaneously. 

In Phase 1, we strive to establish CQuizzes as a recognized product with a good social media presence by creating the dedicated quiz-publishing website for Cardano, actively seeking user feedback, and refining quizzes for an enhanced user experience. This strategic approach sets the stage for Phase 2, where we will leverage the CQuizzes website and published quizzes to promote and guide students for on-campus events.

Phase II (4-8 months) : Utilise the platform developed in Phase 1 to organise engaging quiz contests on college campuses. Organise biweekly on-campus events, spanning half to a full day, hosting quiz contests designed to accommodate a substantial number of participants progressing through multiple rounds. Additionally, we will form sustainable partnerships with student clubs to actively involve students in the Cardano community.

We will collaborate with student councils of respective campuses to orchestrate these contests. In preparation for the events, we will distribute learning materials and online resources about Cardano and details about the contest and its prizes to inspire students to explore and learn. Encourage them to leverage the CQuizzes project website for self-paced quizzes for enhancing their understanding of Cardano.

On the event day, the contest will be preceded by a presentation on Web3 and Cardano which will highlight key information about Cardano that we wish the broader crypto community to grasp. This presentation will also address any potential misinformation among the attendees. Students will be welcomed to join a CQuizzes Discord community for continuing engagement and community building.

Future roadmap

Scale up the project team to broaden the scope of outreach events. Conduct events in more campuses including management schools and and other universities with the aim of reaching all major institutions across the country within the next 2 years. Integrate wallet connect library. Expand to cross chain quizzes. Offer the platform for dedicated training resources for DReps, CIP-1694 campaigns etc. Funding might be requested through future Catalyst rounds.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community.

The project will bring value to the Cardano community in the following ways.

Reach a pivotal demographic: Target the relevance target audience as college students are savvy to new technologies and will likely adopt the chain they know about as they embark on their professional journeys.

Foster an educated community: Inspire individuals to actively delve into researching and understanding Cardano, a crucial step towards participation in contests. Those who continue to engage, adopt or build on Cardano are the valuable community members that Cardano needs. 

Attract a large audience: Access to campus population will allow build awareness and popularity of Cardano to a large spectrum of individuals through each of the events.

Grow the Indian community: Despite India’s young demography, Web3 technology has yet to permeate the mainstream, and Cardano lags behind other blockchains that have gained traction. This will help propel Cardano forward, bridging the gap and potentially gaining substantial support. 

Sustainable community growth: Building partnerships with student clubs will allow them to hold recurring events year after year. CQuizzes can act as an unifying initiative to bring all campuses together for cross campus events or to collaborate in building on Cardano.

Measuring impact will be done using the following metrics:

• Usage statistics of online quiz games across topics & difficulty levels. Growth rate of participants.
• Number of students participating the on-campus contests.
• Number of partnerships for CQuizzes with college clubs.
• Number of individuals who join the CQuizzes discord community.
• Feedback from the community and interest in using the platform for training programmes for D-Reps, CIP-1694, community projects etc or even as an engagement activity.
• Followers count for the project on social media and its growth rate with each event.

[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?

To successfully execute this project, our team has

• Relevant skill and experience. The team brings together vast experience in public relations and event management with development and content writing in Cardano. Our public relations and project manager has worked with large and small businesses building their clientele and gaining market share. Our content creator, a Plutus Pioneers Cohort-1 graduate and software engineer, has contributed to Genius Academy, a project under Genius Yield in Cardano.

• Prototype completion: We've conceived and developed a prototype for the quiz games, showcasing the viability of this quiz game project. Please check out the demo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTNSLCVmwEY

• Proven Track Record: Our unincorporated volunteer team, Lambdac, successfully secured funding in Fund-9 and completed the project without delays. For reference, please refer to the public reporting document for Project id - 900183.

• Prudent budgeting: Each milestone's outputs are publicly verifiable and usable. The budget is evenly distributed, aligning with tangible and verifiable deliverables. The budget methodology and specifics for each milestone are detailed, and adhere to estimated costs without frontloading of fund requirements.

Feasibility of our approach

The following describes how we verified the feasibility of our approach.

1. Campuses in India encourage events that provide exposure to new technologies and ideas for students, especially when prizes are involved. Student clubs like to collaborate with partners for such events as it provides opportunities to enrich their college fests and club activities. This quid pro quo nature contributes to building lasting partnerships.
2. Though there are university students amongst the Cardano community in India, the size of the community as such is relatively small, as understood from online forums as well as turnout for the local community events like that for Cardano Summit 2023. Further, in our interactions with the Web3 community, we find that the community needs to be educated about what differentiates Cardano from other protocols, focusing on its features and philosophy, such as decentralization, security, the EUTXO model, etc. Engaging quiz events capture attention and allow the dissemination of relevant information to the audience.
3. Usual gatherings or promotional events aim to build tangible community members who would research Cardano and become informed members. In contrast, competitive events like quizzes with prizes motivate participants to research and educate themselves. Such individuals who choose to become part of the community are likely to contribute towards further growth.
4. We have previously prepared similar online quizzes and received an overwhelming response from the audience due to its gamified and interactive nature. So, we are confident that using the medium of our quizzes will attract the audience and provide a memorable experience. Our quizzes would generate a high impact and act as a unique selling proposition (USP) for consistently expanding the network through campuses across the country.

[Project Milestones] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

Project initiated

Timeline: 4 weeks

Key activities are the design of 8 quiz games, procurement of the necessary third party license, creation of social media handles, publicizing the launch and finalizing design for the website.

Outputs:

• Online quiz games in self-paced mode with an interactive user experience.
• Engaging announcements and promotion on dedicated social media accounts.
• Completion of the project website design.

Acceptance Criteria:

• Online quiz games can be accessed through direct URLs and are fully functional in self-paced mode, delivering an interactive and seamless user experience across diverse topics.
• Establish and utilize dedicated social media accounts for a minimum of three engaging announcements to promote the launch of the online quiz games.
• Have the project website design ready, ensuring it is visually appealing and navigation is intuitive.
• Documentation provided, including usage statistics for the games and the website design.

Launch of Project Website, Quiz Games, and Live Events Schedule

Develop and launch the website. Gain popularity and utilize feedback from the online community. Gear up for conducting live events on campuses.

Estimated Time: 8 weeks

Outputs:

• Develop and publish 20 self-paced interactive quiz games covering general and technical aspects of Cardano. Quizzes will be engaging, informative and span across diverse topics and experience levels.
• A comprehensive project website showcasing the game, accessible and navigable for users.
• Announcements and promotional content on social media channels integrated into the website.
• Reports section displaying metrics such as total participants, completion rates, and accuracy for each quiz.
• Collaborate with leading universities to prepare schedules for campus events to promote awareness about Cardano through quiz contests.

Acceptance Criteria:

• The website should be live and accessible to users. Each quiz game must be functional and accessible on the project website. Content should align with Cardano's general and technical aspects.
• Month on month growth for social media following and engagement (likes, shares, comments).
• Reports should be generated and accessible through the website, providing participation stats in quiz games. Announcements and promotions should be integrated on the website.
• Schedules for campus events should be documented. Plans for the first live event in the local community should be ready for execution.

Campus outreach through Live Quizzing Event

Leverage the CQuizzes to spread awareness in four leading universities. Prepare reports and announce upcoming events.

Estimated Time: 8 weeks

Outputs:

• In person quiz contests in four universities.
• Detailed report and announcements of upcoming events.
• Growth metrics for social media engagement and the CCQuizzes Discord community.

Acceptance criteria:

• Organized successful in person gaming events in four universities, and raised awareness about the Cardano ecosystem among students. Established partnerships with student clubs in the respective universities and integrated them into the CQuizzes Discord community.
• Detailed reports for each event, encompassing photo and video compilations. Announced upcoming campus outreach events on the official website and social media platforms.

Conduct outreach events for four more universities through the CQuizzes events

Extend to four more universities. Increase partnerships and membership of the CCQuizzes discord community.

Estimated Time: 8 weeks

Outputs:

• Quiz contests in four new universities.
• Detailed report and announcements of upcoming events.
• Growth metrics for social media engagement and the CCQuizzes Discord community.

Acceptance criteria:

• Organized quiz contests in four universities and spread awareness about the Cardano ecosystem among students. New partnerships in respective universities. 
• Month on month growth in the membership in CCQuizzes discord community.
• Detailed reports for each event, encompassing photo and video compilations. Announced upcoming campus outreach events on the official website and social media platforms.

Expand outreach to two additional academic institutions

Extend to two more universities. Increase partnerships and membership of the CCQuizzes discord community.

Estimated Time: 4 weeks

Outputs:

• Quiz contests in two new universities.
• Detailed report and announcements of upcoming events.
• Details for future roadmap implementation.

Acceptance criteria:

• Organized quiz contests in four universities and spread awareness about the Cardano ecosystem among students. New partnerships in respective universities. 
• Month on month growth in the membership in CCQuizzes discord community.
• Detailed reports for each event, encompassing photo and video compilations. Announced upcoming campus outreach events on the official website and social media platforms.
• Documented plan for implementation of future roadmap.

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Our team, Lambdac, is an unincorporated volunteer collective united by a shared commitment to make meaningful contributions within the Cardano ecosystem. Comprising experienced Software Engineers, Plutus Pioneers, as well as skilled Public Relations and Project Managers, we bring diverse expertise to drive impactful projects.

Github: https://github.com/lambdacc

Prior catalyst project: https://github.com/lambdacc/plutus-rest-wrapper

Team members

Vinu Anil: Accomplished Public Relations Manager with over two decades of expertise in client and public relations, journalism, and event management.

With extensive experience in leading client development and relations for prominent media organizations, she has a keen understanding of navigating public relations in the Indian market.

LinkedIn

Responsibilities: Project coordination, event management, and social media management.

Reshma: Professional Software Engineer and Plutus Pioneer from Cohort 1. Previous role as a technical content writer specializing in 'Cardano' and 'Blockchain' at Genius Academy as part of Genius Yield.

LinkedIn 

Responsibilities: Content research and game design.

 

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Budget break up:

The cost of the project is split across content creation, project management, website development and hosting, software license and logistics inclusive of prize money.

• Research, content creation, Quiz design : 1 person for 8 months @$1500/month - $12000
• PR, social media & project management: 1 person for 8 months @$1000/month - $8000
• Website development and hosting : $6000
• Third party software license for 2 years: $900
• Prize money and logistics for 10 campuses:

Prizes = $1000 x 10 + Logistics = $500 x 10 = $15000

Total: $41900 

At a rate of $0.40 per ADA = 104750 ADA

Each in-person campus event will include participant rewards of $1000. Overall, the funding will be utilised to develop CQuizzes platform and execute on campus contests at 10 prominent universities in various cities. After the successful completion of the project, our aim is to expand to all major universities across India with the support of additional funding.

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

The project will deliver tangible community growth in an hitherto untapped Indian student community in an economical and sustainable manner. 

Feasibility: We have already designed a prototype for the quiz game showing game play and user experience. This being the crux of the project signifies that the project as such is feasible.

Click here to watch the demo gameplay.

Return on investment: Our approach gives better ROI compared to alternatives like general meet-ups or hackathons. General meetups often do not incentivize attendees to become an informed community member. Hackathons often attract an even smaller crowd. Quiz contests motivate newbies to actively research and learn about Cardano. Such individuals if they chose to stay in the community become valuable members.

Innovation and efficiency: Our interactive medium is an innovative approach towards community growth. The quizzes will be stratified across topics and difficulty levels catering to different segments of audience. It allows the efficient dissemination of the ideas and features of Cardano.

Transparency: The deliverables are roughly equally spread out over the months starting from the first month of the project. The burn rate across milestones is clearly articulated. There are 5 milestones for the project. With these the community can view and keep track of progress from the beginning to the end of the project. The project will also publicly share reports of activities on its website. 

Economy: The project costs are calculated by considering average industry wages. Software licensing and web hosting charges are budgeted for only 2 years to begin with. Logistics for events will be arranged in collaboration with college clubs from respective campuses which further reduce personnel costs.

Sustainability: The interactive and gamified experience will leave a lasting impression. These in turn help us form sustainable relationships with student groups and conduct subsequent events. By targeting campuses we will be tapping into a young population of future Web3 users.

Project cost calculation 

The project's cost is divided into content creation, project management, website development and hosting, software licensing, prizes and logistics. Salaries for various roles are calculated below the average industry rates in the local area. Additionally, the effective wages will be further reduced due to higher tax rates for payments received in ADA.

Average annual salaries in the local industry:

• Lead Content Creator: $22,000
• Public Relations Manager: $13,000

(References: Glassdoor - Lead Technical Writer, Glassdoor - Senior Public Relations Manager)

Our proposed rates are below the average annual salaries:

• Lead Content Creator: $18,000
• Public Relations Manager: $12,000

Each on-site campus event involves participant rewards amounting to $1000 and logistics expenses of $500.

The cost for the third-party license is estimated based on the most economical plan available.

We are estimating $0.40 per ADA. Should the value of ADA increase by the time funding is received, we intend to integrate promotional merchandise and additional marketing activities to enhance the project's outreach.

[IMPORTANT NOTE] The Applicant agrees to Fund Rules and also that data in the submission form and other data provided by the project team during the course of the project will be publicly available.

I Accept