Proposer-tool on chain - AIM

[IMPACT]

The proposal-tool on-chain will be a prototype of a possible on-chain implementation of the proposal submission. Currently proposal submissions in Cardano Project Catalyst are locked into a single vendor. This has the effect that the data collected is also locked behind a specific vendor giving rise to the risk of "vendor lock-in". This would mean that as time goes on the de facto platform holds an ever increasing position of power in the ecosystem and it becomes more difficult to move away from.

The purpose of this proposal is to begin the process of offering a community lead and community build alternative.

The ethos behind its development is to offer a trailblazing project that creates a path on which future projects can tread and build.

To accomplish this, the best approach is to first undertake research about an alternative “proposal submission” process that takes advantage of the blockchain technology and then develop a draft of an open protocol.

To demonstrate the full potential of such an approach and begin the transition towards a decentralized community iteration process, we will develop a usable MVP as first implementation of the protocol. With a practical example it will be easier to identify possible gaps, collect feedback and engage people to start a conversation about possible updates and improvements as well to start defining collectively a mechanism to update the protocol itself. 

The definition of the protocol is extremely important because it will allow different implementations for different wallets and tools, allowing anyone to participate in the process because they can interact directly with the blockchain.

Project Catalyst is an experiment in how the Caradno 5th leg of the roadmap will look, that being the Voltaire governance era. It is a small but ever growing part of the Cardano ecosystem. We believe that in time it'll become an important and ever present part of the ecosystem. It is therefore with this proposal that we look to begin bridging the gap between the Catalyst process and the broader Cardano ecosystem.

The initial experiment was under the stewardship of the IO team and with the requirements of a corporate entity they chose an existing platform with an existing track record in the ideation space. However, as the community has embraced the Project and its goal, many who have participated in the Catalyst process have identified the flaws and shortcomings of using an existing one-size-fits-all solution and have repeatedly asked for the development of an alternative. With this proposal we hope to offer a way of offering a solution  and a way forward for both IO and the community. One that will start to fulfill on the promise of offering a community created and developed solution that is expandable, adjustable, flexible and decentralized. One where the community has access to the data and can participate in its development and its future.

Technical details

After the definition of a data schema for a proposal (mainly based on the data structure currently in use) we will develop a SPA (Single Page Application) web-app that will allow proposers to draft and create their own proposal.

The web-app will be connected to web-based Cardano wallets (like Nami, Flint, CC-Vault, GameChanger Wallet) and will allow proposers to submit their finalized project directly on-chain, taking advantage of transactions metadata.

Example process for Proposers

• The user opens the tool and prepares the proposal in a user friendly UI, according to the data structure
• The proposal is saved locally in the browser (in future iterations it could be temporary saved in a centralized environment to allow sharing before the final submission)
• The user submits the proposal:
• The tool will:
• Parse local data and organize it according to the defined protocol
• Generate transaction metadata containing the proposal
• Create and submit the transaction with his data (min fee of 0.17 ADA required per submission)
• Data are stored immutably and forever on chain
• Can be anonymous (if you keeps their wallet anonymous)
• Data for the subsequent process (like Assess and Governance) can be aggregated directly querying the blockchain
• 
  

Outcome: complete transparency - censorship resistance - data not alterable/tamperable - open to anyone to participate - open to anyone to build tools and integrations

Main risks are related to the interaction with the blockchain from a technical point of view: for example a bugged protocol will be stored immutably and forever and it could be challenging to maintain compatibility for future upgrades. The key point on addressing this risk resides on the research that will precede the implementation that will analyze possible technical problems.

The absence of a central storage for draft proposals (similar to the current Ideation platform) implies the impossibility to share draft ideas and doesn’t allow general users to interact/comment with them before the submission to the blockchain. This problem, a solution for which is extremely important from a collaboration point of view, could be easily addressed in future iterations with the addition of an external API that will be used only to store comments, interactions and drafts before the on-chain submission. If developed in the proper modular way, also this collaboration layer could be moved in later iterations to tools and protocols that take advantage of the blockchain technology.

A secondary risk is to build awareness and participation with the protocol. As it will be a novel process building understanding both technically and amongst the community user base will be paramount. Building the technical knowhow and broader agreement can be explored in this proposal: https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/400140

[FEASIBILITY]

Project Catalyst’s success as a treasury and protocol ideation process will lay in its ability to adapt quickly to the changing landscape it operates in. The focus of this project is to start the process and discussion about moving from a centralized property iteration platform, that being Ideascale towards open and participatory community driven and operated one. The request for treasury funds through proposal submission could be an open ideas ecosystem and the data stored on the Cardano blockchain.

The opening of the proposal process, currently focusing on community funding in front of the treasury could also lead to opening of the Caradno protocol level adjustment proposals and voting. In this way this proof of concept proposal offers immense potential value in exploring ways of decentralizing the governance of Cardano. 

The proposal will deliver a working dApp, even if in the MVP state, that takes advantage of transactions metadata, producing transactions for every submission and exploiting the immutability of the chain. Even if not adapted for the official Catalyst process, it could be used by side treasuries, continuing to produce transactions in whatever context will be used.

It could address the problem related to the vendor dependency of the current Catalyst process without too much technical complexity.

It could be a great showcase and how “the bigger innovation fund” based on blockchain that distributes funds through blockchain, and allows people to vote through a blockchain also uses the blockchain for the practical part of the process. We believe this could drive adoption for general users.

Roadmap:

• May 2022 - Preliminary research - Literature review of current research about some key problems (time-lock encryption, db-like storage onchain, etc.)
• June - July 2022 - Protocol definition - Based on the preliminary research, choices will be made on the solutions and technologies to be applied and the actual protocol will be defined.
• The research and the choices made will be documented and open-source.
• June - July 2022 - Graphic Design and UX - the graphics for the frontend tool will be prepared  
• Aug - Oct 2022 - PoC Implementation - The defined protocol will be implemented in the current MVP as a PoC and it could be tested from the community.

Deliverables:

• Research and Protocol proposal
• PoC implementation (proposal submission tool + wallets integration)
• Toolbox to query the chain for proposals and aggregate data

Developers, developers, developers! Cardano AIM is tooling up with the hiring of developers who are capable of taking on this extraordinary task.

We have the vision, we will develop the plan and we will implement and deliver.

Lucio Baglione: Technical Lead - Developer with 9+ years of experience (mainly focused on web/mobile. Languages and frameworks: PHP, Javascript, Typescript, Python, Ruby - Laravel, Ruby on Rails, Wordpress, Angular.js, Vue.js, Node.js). CA and vCA, co-creator of the Community Tools (Proposer/CA/vCA/Voter Tools) https://github.com/Project-Catalyst/ https://github.com/coire1 .

Victor Corcino: Promotion and marketing - Veteran Community Advisor (vCA), Proposal Mentor, CAs' elected representative for the 1st Catalyst Circle, co-creator of the Community Tools (Proposer/CA/vCA/Voter Tools), Catalyst Swarm core member, engineering/science/developer and 'hands-on' teaching background.

Phil Khoo: Project Lead - Veteran Community Advisor (vCA), co-creator of the Community Tools (Proposer/CA/vCA/Voter Tools and Community Landing page), front end UI/UX designer and finance and business background.

Juliana & Plamen - The AIM Developer team.

Design Studio - External / to be identified and hired

[AUDITABILITY]

• Number of Github commits
• Number of Github issues opened/resolved
• Number of Github PR reviewed / merged / accepted
• Number of feedback received and implemented

The success of the project will be:

• The delivery of the research and the definition of the first iteration of a protocol to submit proposals on chain
• The delivery of the first usable MVP that implements the protocol and allows any ADA holder to submit a proposal directly on-chain

Beyond success:

• Adoption of the protocol and the tool by side treasuries systems
• Adoption of the protocol and the tool by Project Catalyst

This project is closely related to and an expansion on the Fund 8 Proposal Framework Tool - AIM (https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/397324) being worked on by AIM as well as the previously funded.

However, its focus is to explore moving the data structures on chains and provide a general expansion to the AIM proposal-tool.

This is also the natural evolution of the Fund 7 Community Tools on Chain! - AIM (https://cardano.ideascale.com/a/dtd/384018-48088) that addresses the same problem of the decentralization of a different part of the Catalyst process and it is currently under research/development.