MLabs - "The Universal Joint"

[IMPACT]

Market

Community members and blockchain newcomers interested in learning more about the Cardano project and the teams building upon it.

Problem Space

Many YouTube channels and media outlets covering Cardano focus on superficial aspects – most notably the unit price and other areas of speculation. While this type of media has a time and a place, educational, editorial, and human-interest content is underrepresented. We believe this type of media is necessary for helping consumers form a knowledgeable and positive impression of our community. After all, we are a group of individuals working to influence the world for the better, and the content we create should reflect that.

Per the guidelines of the “Film + Media (FAM) creatives unite!” challenge setting, we will take a multimedia approach to content creation. More specifically, we will publish:

• regular podcasts featuring engaging and easy-to-understand conversations with Cardano builders

• frequent video segments, focused on visual appeal (e.g., graphics and/or animations), aiming to dissect dense technical topics in an approachable manner

• educational articles for listeners and viewers who want more in-depth coverage

What is "The Universal Joint?"

A universal joint is a mechanical connection used for transmitting motion and power between intersecting parts. The main design concept is based on gimbals, which are widely used including in film production for balancing video cameras. More notably, gimbals and the associated mechanics were described in detail by the Italian mathematician and physicist Gerolamo Cardano. In Europe, the universal joint is often called the Cardano joint in respect of his contribution. 

How does this proposal fit into this challenge?

The “Film + Media (FAM) creatives unite!” challenge setting is about communicating a clear message toward media while creating educational and inspiring content. As an integral builder on Cardano, we have our "ear to the ground" for the technical developments of the blockchain and, in fact, are contributing to those developments ourselves. The objective becomes presenting this information in an accessible manner – exactly the area in which our team is experienced.

How will this campaign add value to our ecosystem?

A thriving multimedia platform and content ecosystem will serve as a robust and novice-friendly onboarding experience for newcomers to Cardano and the blockchain space. Our content will focus on teaching core concepts while highlighting ecosystem developments. Also, our materials will be freely available for reproduction by other media companies.

How is this studio decentralized?

Cardano transcends borders, and so does "The Universal Joint." Our team consists of Cardano enthusiasts turned full-time builders. Early settlers, we hail from locations across the globe.

That said, the content we create will be freely distributed and available for use under a creative commons license. We will work with community members where possible while encouraging others to adapt our content to their own needs. We also intend to open-source our branding after establishing our platform so that others can contribute their voice to the conversations we begin.

Outlook and future challenges?

Internally, MLabs has expertise in creating and editing educational materials and documentation as well as video content (vlogging). However, we will need video editing and graphics/animation support. We intend to use the majority of any funding towards this end as we partner with a video editor and motion graphic artist.

Ideally, we'd like to rely on explainer animations and incorporate them, as a hook segment, into each episode. However, this may prove prohibitively labor-intensive -- scripts will be necessary and editor blockchain training may be necessary. To avoid this, we will look for editors/animators from the community who are familiar with the Cardano project. If that proves difficult, we will have to rely more on simpler graphics that will still be explanatory, but much simpler in scope.

[FEASIBILITY]

Past success:

SPO and core team member Anthony Stachowitz has operated a YouTube channel in support of the SoPHi stake pool, while Luke Mahoney previously articled for AdaPulse before joining MLabs full-time. Maksymilian Brodowicz is a Plutus lead developer with extensive experience in several early-stage projects. Maksymilian has also led the creation of internal documentation as well as blog posts focused on the technology underpinning Seabug, an NFT marketplace developed by MLabs. These team members are already salaried and will not require additional compensation through Project Catalyst.

Roadmap:

Bootstrapping – Acquire some basic equipment, set up media accounts, hire video editor and motion graphics artist, settle on specifics of content format.

Initial Phase – Establish a release cadence centered upon succinctly edited video content, longer-form podcasts, and in-depth articles. Videos and podcasts will be released biweekly and structured and edited to be easily digested by lay viewers. In-depth educational articles will be released on a monthly schedule.

Refinement Phase – Incorporate community feedback into our content design, begin marketing efforts to promote our platform, begin forming partnerships with other media outlets and projects in the Cardano space (and beyond where appropriate).

Budget: 6 months

Initial equipment costs: $2000

Video Editor and Motion Graphics Artist part-time salary 6-months: $15500

Training: $500

Marketing, Partnerships, and Promotions: $7000

Anthony Stachowitz: Anthony is currently the business development manager at MLabs. Anthony has run a YouTube channel in support of his SoPHi (youtube.com/channel/UCZQKh0ES8805lgULFSh4e5g/videos) stake pool and other catalyst related content. He was a DJ at his college radio station and has acting and production experience in amateur theatrical productions over the past 30 years. He was also a supporting actor in an episode of the (bad) “scripted” reality show, Mystery Dinners.

Luke Mahoney: Luke has over ten years of experience in education including producing educational content. He also formerly worked as a technical writer/editor and also has several years of experience in content creation. He has produced research content for major platforms including marketing research firms, geopolitical content based on peer-reviewed research for academic outlets, and, most recently, Cardano-specific technical writeups for Project Catalyst proposals for adapulse.io. Finally, he has several years' experience with audio production as a hobby.

AdaPulse: adapulse.io/author/luke-m/

Maksymilian Brodowicz: Maksymilian, despite being educated as a Mathematician and a Computer Scientist, has always had a knack for acting and storytelling which nowadays is mostly used for playing tabletop roleplaying games the likes of DND5E, PF2E, and VtM.

At MLabs, he heads the development and specification of various Cardano-based projects, with a lot of his time spent in research and requirements gathering. Brave souls who qualify for the MLabs internship program, 'the Dark Souls of internships,' also get to work directly under his supervision. Does not have a gambling addiction.

GitHub: github.com/zygomeb

[AUDITABILITY]

3 Months: Studio up and running, content formats more-or-less determined and streamlined, established steady cadence of content releases. Strong brand identity and a notable catalog of high-quality releases as well as evergreen content. Growing media partnerships.

6 Months: Partnerships and releases with more traditional content partners (i.e., media outlets and influencers outside of the crypto space). Notable presence across typical social media platforms. Substantial interactivity and community engagement centered upon our educational content. Growing multilingual support.

What success looks like:

Bi-weekly (or more frequent) uploaded video and audio long-form interviews mixed with educational/news content. Cleanly and succinctly edited and visually impressive.

Bi-weekly (or more frequent) podcast conversations (podcasts will be long-form and more free-flowing)

Sizeable content engagement across platforms (subscribers, views, likes, etc.)

Media partnerships and Cardano project outreach

Attracting large numbers of laypeople to blockchain (particularly Cardano) and relevant technologies/projects.

This is a new proposal.