Latam Community DID Research

Understand the needs and values with a statistical base in order to align the solution to the interests and requirements of the community

Msc Economics focused on Quantitative Finance, Incentives and Blockchain
January 2022: PhD in Management focusing in Community Policy

Abbreviations & Definitions:

• LATAM: Latin America
• SSI: Self Sovereign Identity
• DID: Decentralized Identifiers
• VCs: Verifiable Credentials
• MVP: Minimum Viable Product
• Patterns of Commoning: Tools for researching, sharing and applying knowledge with regards to common-pool resources. https://patternsofcommoning.org/about/
• Design Principles: How commons can be governed sustainably and equitably in a community. https://www.onthecommons.org/magazine/elinor-ostroms-8-principles-managing-commmons
• GAIN Trust Registry: Initiative of digital engagement as key driver for economic growth - and inclusive participation that require access to high-trust identity verification services. https://gainforum.org/GAINWhitePaper.pdf

Atala PRISM Pioneer Program "Self-governance of Emergent Communities"

Use Case: Latam Community DID Research

Project Introdcution:

Carry out economic-social research through mainstream crowdsourcing platform to tap into the psyche of the Latin American Community with the objective of understanding the needs and values with a solid statistical base. Identify the current state of recognition, beliefs and acceptance of the SSI/DID technologies in order to align the possible solution(s) to the interests and requirements of the community.

Community empowerment and sense of belonging are factors necessary but not sufficient for the adoption of these solutions. Research of the Latin American Community along with a decentralized interoperable design native to Cardano; could be sufficient.

The research methodology for the introduction of details and characteristics of the specialized concepts of SSI/DID with a mass-scale reach as the building blocks of a community-centered Trust Ecosystem within Latin American countries will follow: 

1. Patterns of Commoning
2. Elinor Ostrom's design principles
3. The GAIN Trust Registry parameters 

Project Details:

The project would be carried out through mainstream crowdsourcing platform on a two-series batch design in the countries of Latin America. The characteristics of this academic work will have: i) a deep understanding of the specialized literature; ii) clear research question(s); iii) a rigorous methodological treatment; v) statement of limitations and v) results and discussion. 

The research project will consist in three parts: i) research, ii) large-scale field experiment**, iii) analysis and deliverable. Each part is set to be implemented during a 2-month period. 

• **(Depending of the integration of the literature and the definition of the proper and applicable research question, the definition of the type of experiment will also take place. It will very probably be the application of a demographic survey, concepts survey, technology state recognition survey and an activity such as decision making that can help us understand the agents under research and generate data to identify the state of recognition of the technologies and future steps to help our and other proposals benefit from the information and knowledge extracted from this data.)

Why is this important?

1. Latin America is one of the unequal regions of the world.
2. Latin America is the worst- performing region globally, second only to Sub-Saharan Africa.
3. Adopting technologies in Latin America often comes from foreign countries rather than from within. This outside influence prevents exposure within the LATAM communities to self-governance, self-regulation, and a proper understanding of the communities needs.

Traditional commons literature often consider "subtractive" resources such as forests and fisheries where one person's use reduces the benefits available for another. Contrary to this, knowledge has been traditionally considered "nonsubtractive" since the more people who share useful knowledge, the greater the common good. (Hess & Ostrom, 2017)

What does success look like?

• Successfully conduct online crowdsourcing experiment batch
• Integrate report with guidance and findings. 
• If funded, we would work with our partners to integrate and adapt findings into an accesible and standardized approach for any community to use the SSI/DID technologies.
• Increasing awareness of the benefits and capabilities both in terms of identity and community with a large-scale distribution strategy would allow for the inclusion of marginalized communities and the ownership of identity.

Key Metrics & Goals

• Research: (Report update by March 16)
• Develop and integrate a deep understanding of the specialized literature
• Define and identify how to test clear research question
• Large-scale field experiment: (Report update by May 16)
• Design and develop a rigorous methodological treatment
• Successfully conduct online crowdsourcing experiment batch
• Analysis and Deliverables: (Report revision and deliverable by July 18)
• Identify limitations and integrate first draft report
• Integrate final report with results and discussion
• Share insights with partners and community to integrate and adapt findings for their own needs

Supporting Statistics: (LATIN AMERICAN ECONOMIC OUTLOOK 2021 @ OECD2021)

"A renewed social contract will be key to support the reforms needed to boost the recovery and overcome structural weaknesses in the region" (OECD, 2021)

"Harmonisation, co‑ordination, and interoperability at the regional level are essential to facilitate the development of a digital single market, particularly in areas such as the protection of the consumer, personal data protection, digital identity, digital payments, digital values, transport and logistics standards, and tax regimes." (ECLAC and Internet & Jurisdiction, 2020)

• On average almost 50% of the population in LAC was dissatisfied with public education and 53% was dissatisfied with healthcare (Gallup, 2021)
• Latin American labour markets are traditionally informal, fragile and exclusive. More than half of LAC workers have informal jobs (OECD, 2020)
• Inequality, measured by the GINI coefficient, is estimated to have increased by 2.9% in the most unequal region in the world (Gallup, 2021)
• Only 38% of the regional population trusted their government (Gallup, 2021)
• More than 50% of LATAM citizens believed that their government was performing poorly in tackling corruption (Transparency International, 2019)
• https://www.oecd.org/publications/latin-american-economic-outlook-20725140.htm

Schedule: January - July 2022 (20 hours week * 6 months = 540 hours)

1. Part I: January 16 - March 16
2. Part II: March 17 - May 17
3. Part III: May 18 - July 18

Budget:

I) Research Proposal Budget + II) Crowdsourcing Platform Budget = III) Grand Total

I) Research Proposal Budget

i) Part 1 - (January 16 - March 16)

• Bibliographic Review
• Justification
• Research Design
• Known Use Cases
• Total Part 1 $2,500

ii) Part 2 - (March 17 - May 17)

• Crowdsource Platform Implementation
• Experiment Batch 1 (20%)
• Experiment Batch 2 (80%)
• Exploratory Analysis & Data Cleaning
• Total Part 2 $3,500

iii) Part 3 - (May 18 - July 18)

• Qualitative Analysis
• Quantitative Analysis
• Data Visualization
• Integration of Deliverable
• Total Part 3 $4,500

I) Total Research Proposal: $10,500

II) Crowdsourcing Platform Budget

ii) Part 2 - (March 17 - May 17)

• Experiment Batch 1 (20%) $3,300
• Experiment Batch 2 (80%) $13,200
• Crowdsourcing Platform Fees $3,300

II) Total Crowdsource Proposal $19,800

III) Grand Total = $30,300

• I) Research Proposal Budget $10,500 + II) Crowdsourcing Platform Budget $19,800
• Hourly budget only considers I) $10,500 / 540 hours = $19.44 per hour.

Team & Partnerships:

We are open for collaborations.

Partners from Atala PRISM Pioneer Program:

1) Partnership and collaboration with Andreas Sosilo from "DID for Cardano Indonesia Community" @andreassosilo

• We will be collaborating with a standard introductory course that upon completion, allows a community VC to be issued.
• Promote online events, portray partnerships and use cases from the community and experience from other countries.
• Promote and strengthen the collaboration and information sharing between several communities.
• Please find his proposal here:
• https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/DID-for-Cardano-Indonesia-Community/380911-48088

2) Partnership and collaboration with Lance from "Open Source Credential Wallet" @LanceB

• We will partner with this talented team to use their open source credential wallet as the holder for the LATAM Community DID Members.
• Please find their proposal here:
• https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Open-Source-Credential-Wallet/382078-48088

3) New d-EdTech Platform for LatAm

• We will partner Jaime Martinez and his team to promote technical skills VCs for the Latin American countries.
• Please find their proposal here:
• https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/New-d-EdTech-Platform-for-LatAm/381053-48088

4) (APPP) Atala Prism Program Pioneers

• As part of the Atala PRISM pioneers cohort we will collaborate to create bottom-up use cases for SSI/DID technologies for the betterment of communities in accordance to the Patterns of Commoning and the Self-governance of Emergent Communities.

Important Notice:

• This will complement the LATAM Community DID proposal in the Accelerate Decentralized Identity Challenge. We are a small impact team open for collaboration.  Please refer to this proposal at:
• https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Latam-Community-DID/381158-48088
•  Proposal Site and Documentation:
• https://sites.google.com/view/latamcommunitydid/home