RootsWallet beta - Social UX

[IMPACT]

RootsWallet is an identity/credential wallet that started with funding in Fund7 to produce an alpha release. It is mobile app identity/credential wallet that serves several Cardano/Catalyst partner proposal use cases. Our partners are building grass roots identity programs in their communities. They need mobile/web identity/credential wallets that are secure, easy to use, and reliable.

For the Fund 8 beta release we will enhance the current wallet UI/UX to include conversational features, similar to discord/slack/telegram, so that connections between users/organizations feels familiar and naturally relational.

This work will mostly be completed in the UI/UX software of RootsWallet which will stand on the shoulders of giants such as Hyperledger Aries as well as discord/slack/telegram. It will produce significant improvements to our user guidance system.

We believe it is important to help ease end users into the Self-Sovereign Identity space. Our user experience will do that by deemphasizing the technical aspects of SSI, and will instead focus on relationships, which really is the reason for verifiable credentials. The user has a relationship with an entity issuing them a credential, and they have a relationship with an entity to whom they want to share that credential. Having a discord style, relationship-based experience should help speed adoption.

Users who are interested and familiar with SSI will also be able to identify the underlying technical components.

For Hyperledger information see:

Aires wallet concepts

Aires agent concepts

Aires mobile agent react native

We will start by providing:

• a discord/slack/telegram like conversational social-layout.
• We will provide hints and tips (like messages) that guide the user through the interface.
• We will provide status messages that help the user understand how to send/receive verifiable credentials.
• We will release the feature to our Catalyst partner communities and take feedback for fixes, improvements, usability, etc.

Identity/credential wallets are the primary access point for end users into Atala Prism and the decentralized identity ecosystem. The end-users are the customers for identity systems. RootsWallet is an open source identity wallet built to connect Cardano/Catalyst identity users to Atala Prism and the world of decentralized identity. RootsWallet gives users a secure and familiar mobile app to own/control their digital identity, including their collection of verifiable credentials.

We will continue to build towards interoperability with the wider identity world by engaging with working groups in ToIP foundation, DIF, and Hyperledger Indy/Aries.

RootsWallet UI/UX is essential to connect end-users with their verifiable credentials, identity relationships and preferences. This proposal is foundational to serving our partner proposal customers. Our partners are working to expand the number of Cardano/Atala Prism identity users. Without a well-developed wallet UI/UX system, identity users will seek other platforms that have invested in their end user functionality and experience.

Our Catalyst Partners include:

DID for Cardano Indonesia Community

PACE: community credentials 2

RootsWallet Presentation Exchange

WAL-CLI Presentation Exchange

Universal Resolver for did:prism

DIDComm v2 Mediator

RootsWallet - support for sidetree

Cardano SSI standards contributors

Prism DIDs for CA Onboarding

Prism DIDs for Catalyst CA Process

Promote Prism in Switzerland

Open Source Quadratic Voting

Mentor-Mentee Bounties & eLearning

Prism WAL-CLI for developers

Hyperledger Prism Interoperability

The main risk/opportunity is the rapidly evolving identity ecosystem. Atala Prism is rapidly growing and we are closely working with them. It is a symbiotic relationship that requires attention and effort from both sides. We are building an amazing ecosystem together that is young with many unknowns for Cardano, Atala Prism, and RootsWallet to navigate.

Another risk is funding. At present we are 100% reliant on Catalyst funds. Identity wallets are a massive undertaking and we have ramped our development efforts far beyond our Fund 7 funds. We believe this project is worth much greater investment and so we have taken a leap of faith that we will be able to sustain our rapid pace of development with multiple Fund 8 proposals.

Our efforts have been encouraged by so many in the Catalyst, Atala Prism, and open source communities that we are confident that our successes and challenges will be worked through together.

[FEASIBILITY]

These new UI/UX features will be delivered in the 13 week period of Fund 8. All work will be included in the RootsWallet beta (Fund 8) release at the end of those 13 weeks.

This is a visual timeline (also attached) of our current and planned features by Catalyst fund.

• We will implement a simple chat based interface. This view will be familiar to anyone who has texted, chatted, direct messaged or used any other conversation based app like discord/slack/telegram.
• The user will have multiple ways to connect to another user/organization/device/etc. A DID-based connection is represented as a chat window.
• A request can be sent through communication protocols, like DIDComm.
• A QR code or other form of out-of-band (OOB) communication could provide it.
• All actions between users will be presented in the chat window with a timestamp.
• each connection start, status, action, end
• each request and response between the two (or more) parties for verifiable credentials will be listed.
• each verifiable credential will be marked and if possible displayed.
• each status message about a verifiable credential (for instance a revoked credential)
• each verification request, response, action.
• other error/status messages.
• help, hints, and tips messages.

The budget was computed with a development rate of $100/hr. The team is composed of 2 core developers and 2 supporting developers with a peak velocity of 61 cumulative hours per week, and a mean velocity of ~26 cumulative hours per week for 336 total hours over 13 weeks.

Based on the effort estimated above, our budget is:

• Architecture design for adding the chat feature: $2,000 (~20 hours)
• Selection of most effective chat components: $1,000 (~10 hours)
• UI/UX chat wireframe mockup: $1,000 (~10 hours)
• Build UX feature structure: $2,000 (~ 20 hours)
• Core Feature implementation: $23,600 (~236 hours)
• Documentation/Testing/Feedback: $2,000 (~20 hours)
• Overall test and debugging: $2,000 (~20 hours)

Total: 336 hours * $100/hr = $33,600

The RootsID development team includes several identity software specialists and community members who work together on RootsWallet and the surrounding identity ecosystem.

RootsID is mentored by the IOG Atala Prism Product Owner, Tony Rose and by Darrell O'Donnell who is the co-founder of the Trust over IP foundation and author of the identity wallet chapter of the seminal text titled Self Sovereign Identity https://www.manning.com/books/self-sovereign-identity.

Butch Clark is a co-founder of RootsID and is focused on the UI/UX for RootsWallet, our end-user identity wallet.

Butch is the Technical Liaison for DISH, and the overall team lead for all DISH blockchain-related development. DISH Network and IOG have a partnership to develop SSI - related functionality (including a mobile wallet).

He holds a BS and MS in Computer Science, and has over 35 years professional experience in software development, and leading technical teams. Much of his experience is in middle-tier and backend systems. He has designed, developed, and maintained many commercial software products, and holds a software patent for autonomous monitoring and failure recovery of enterprise class storage system collectives.

He completed the first cohort of the Atala Prism Pioneer program and is now part of the Atala Prism Astronauts program.

Lance Byrd is a co-founder of RootsID and is a core contributor on the Fund 7 work for RootsWallet

He completed the first cohort of the Atala Prism Pioneer program and is now in the Atala Prism Astronauts program.

RootsID is a group of decentralized identity specialists building open source software for digital identity. Several of their projects have been funded by Catalyst.

His background includes a BS in Computer Science (UMBC) and MS in Information Assurance (Capitol College) and more than 22 years of software development as a consultant. He has developed massive scale data analytics and visualizations, machine learning analysis pipelines, and worked with University researchers to bring their work to market. He has also built and taught technical certification courses for several different topics in data analysis, big data, and compliance.

[AUDITABILITY]

This project is basically a software development project with three clear deliverables that will act as proofs of completion:

1. the open source code of the RootsWallet, including these new UX chat features, available in a public repository.
2. A built version of the RootsWallet app available on the play store.
3. A tutorial showing users how to interact with their RootsWallet.

Additionally, this team adopts Agile methodology based on the tools provided by our Github repo. Besides progress reports, the advancement will be tracked by github issues, project views (like Kanban board) and commits. Intermediate progress will be reported as Sprint Burndown, a KPI metric that shows the progress in percentage of each development sprint.

Success is defined by RootsWallet users (our partner's users) being able to use the conversational layout to mange their identity/credential wallet, see the history of their identity relationships, send/receive/manage their verifiable credentials. The process must be secure and the end user experience must be familiar.

• We will begin with a discord/slack/telegram layout that will feel familiar to the user to navigate between identity relationships and credentials.
• We will provide interactive prompts to guide the user through the interface.
• We will incorporate feedback from users for how to improve the interface for their particular Catalyst and community use-cases.

More detail:

We will implement a simple chat based interface. This view will be familiar to anyone who has texted, chatted, direct messaged or used any other conversation based app like discord/slack/telegram.

• The user will have multiple ways to connect to another user/organization/device/etc. A DID-based connection is represented as a chat window.
• A request can be sent through communication protocols, like DIDComm.
• A QR code or other form of out-of-band (OOB) communication could provide it.
• All actions between users will be presented in the chat window with a timestamp.
• each connection start, status, action, end
• each request and response between the two (or more) parties for verifiable credentials will be listed.
• each verifiable credential will be marked and if possible displayed.
• each status message about a verifiable credential (for instance a revoked credential)
• each verification request, response, action.
• other error/status messages.
• help, hints, and tips messages.

This is a continuation of the RootsWallet alpha release from Catalyst Fund 7 which defined the original UI/UX of the wallet.

This new proposal will add discord/slack/telegram UI/UX features to RootsWallet in order to produce RootsWallet beta with these Fund 8 features.

SDG Rating

We are grateful to be able to discuss and consider how our identity software might impact our grass roots users and their communities. By giving each individual control over their own cryptographically verifiable digital identity, we hope to empower their ability to choose to be remembered and/or forgotten in nuanced and fulfilling ways that improves every area of their life and community. We would especially like to see improvements in the following ways:

Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries

Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels

Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

SDG subgoals:

10.7 Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies

16.7 Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels

17.17 Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships

9.b Support domestic technology development, research and innovation in developing countries, including by ensuring a conducive policy environment for, inter alia, industrial diversification and value addition to commodities

Key Performance Indicator (KPI):

17.17.1 Amount in United States dollars committed to public-private partnerships for infrastructure

9.b.1 Proportion of medium and high-tech industry value added in total value added

16.7.2 Proportion of population who believe decision-making is inclusive and responsive, by sex, age, disability and population group

10.7.2 Number of countries with migration policies that facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people

proposertoolsdg

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