Cardano SSI standards contributors

RootsID regularly engages ToIP/DIF/HL working groups, establishing a consistent Cardano/Prism/Catalyst voice at the table of SSI leadership

RootsID is a group of Cardano/Prism/Identity specialists who are called the 'Cardano people' at ToIP/DIF/HL working groups. We have been funded multiple times by Catalyst to build open source SSI software (like RootsWallet) for grass roots efforts that are also funded by Catalyst

[IMPACT]

• In order to establish a regular Cardano/Prism/Catalyst voice at the leading SSI working groups, we will continue attending over 10 SSI working group meetings in the Trust over IP (ToIP), Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF) and Hyperledger (HL) communities. Some of the groups call us the 'Cardano people' as we continue to make them aware of Cardano, Atala Prism, and Catalyst.
• By participating in these ToIP/DIF/HL spec and working group meetings we have the opportunity to stand on the shoulders of giants in the industry, but also make these SSI leaders aware of Catalyst/Atala Prism progress. We are able to contribute to these evolving spec/tools, so that our Catalyst/Atala Prism voices can be heard!
• We will produce a weekly blog/vlog from these working groups and detail how Cardano/Prism/Catalyst can benefit from these specs/tools. We will also detail and produce identity software (like RootsWallet) with features that enable interoperability with the wider identity ecosystem.

By contributing to these SSI standards working groups, the Cardano/Prism/Catalyst community is brought into the circle of SSI leadership. The KPIs for this Catalyst SSI Challenge overlap heavily with the focus of these working groups:

• SSI Participation and adoption growth
• SSI Portability
• SSI Usability and accessibility
• SSI Governance frameworks
• SSI Interoperability
• SSI Privacy and minimal disclosure (Zero Knowledge Proofs)
• SSI Security
• SSI Regulation
• SSI Equity and inclusion
• SSI Philosophical implications

Adoption of these standards and tools within Cardano/Catalyst will happen naturally as we include them in RootsID software for use by our partners.

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

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.

• 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 significant undertaking and we hope to ramp our development efforts significantly after Fund 7. We believe this project is worth much greater investment and so we have submitted multiple complementary Fund 8 proposals. We will continuously adjust our efforts based on the Catalyst community voting choices.

[FEASIBILITY]

• We will attend ~40 working group meetings (about 40 hours of time) during the 13 weeks of Fund 8, logging each meeting with notes here.
• We will produce ~10 almost-weekly blog/vlog posts during the 13 week period of Fund 8. We will post it to our discord, website, YouTube channel, and Catalyst community outlets.
• These working group meetings will heavily influence the design/implementation of future RootsID software such as RootsWallet, allowing us to better serve our Catalyst partners with SSI software that is designed with interoperability/portability and SSI standards in mind. Here is a visual timeline (also attached) of our current and planned RootsWallet SSI features by Catalyst fund.

The budget was computed with a development rate of $100/hr. The team is composed of 1 core developer and 3 supporting developers with a peak velocity of 12 cumulative hours per week, and a mean velocity of ~6.5 cumulative hours per week for this effort, totaling 84 hours over 13 weeks.

Based on the effort estimated above, our budget is:

• Hours spent engaging ToIP/DIF/HL meetings: $4,000 (~40 hours)
• Production of Blog/Vlog: $3,500 (~35 hours)
• Updates to our software roadmap and designs, based on SSI standards/tools: $900 (~9 hours)

Total: 84 hours * $100/hr = $8,400

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.

Lance Byrd of the RootsID team 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.
• He is a co-founder of RootsID, 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]

Progress will be measured weekly, by the following:

• We will log each meeting attended here, with notes of what specs, tools, and communities were discussed.
• We will produce a nearly weekly blog/vlog and post it to the Rootsid YouTube channel, discord server (rootsid), and website rootsid.com
• All SSI features that impact our roadmap will be added to our feature timeline for RootsWallet and/or tracked in our Github repo.

Success includes:

• Increased awareness of Cardano/Prism/Catalyst among ToIP, DIF, and HL through repeated attendance and participation (the 'Cardano People') at ToIP, DIF, and HL working groups.
• Contributions to specs/tools/discussions that foster interopability, portability, security, etc. features within the SSI open source community.
• Raising awareness of SSI standards through the publication of a nearly weekly blog/vlog giving the Cardano/Catalyst communities an easy connection to benefit from these specs/tools/communities.
• Adoption/use of ToIP, DIF, and HL specs/tools in RootsID and Cardano/Prism/Catalyst software by our growing list of partners.

• The blog/vlog would be a new contribution to Cardano/Prism/Catalyst community.
• RootsID software has been funded over several previous funds, and currently in Fund 7. We have been attending and implementing ToIP/DIF/HL working group specs/tools during that time... for instance RootsWallet alpha release from Catalyst Fund 7, Prism WAL-CLI for developers, Hyperledger Prism Interoperability

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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