Total to date

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Background

The Everscale blockchain and the Japanese Cardano community have started to work on the planning of common projects that will allow Everscale engineers and the Japanese Cardano community (engineers, students, enthusiasts) to actively develop on Cardano.  

For Everscale, the strategic importance of developing on "the most important blockchain in Japan" (quote from the Everscale representative) is indisputable. For the Community Manager of the Japanese Cardano community, it is imperative to find ways to consolidate the development skills of the growing community in his country, facilitating access to tools of proven efficiency at a practical level and a record of results (startups or projects created in Cardano).

In this scenario, Gimbalabs enters as a partner that can contribute to the achievement of the objectives in the development area.  

Gimbalabs is a project born in Cardano, which over time has excelled in building a quality technical, educational and community infrastructure for people who want to show the world what Cardano can do.

At our first meeting, as a member of Gimbalabs, I had the opportunity to present our Plutus PBL. Plutus PBL stands for "Plutus Project-based Learning". It is a learning program based on the practical development of real-world tools and use cases, which progressively creates a space in which the student can develop a deep understanding of what Cardano can do while getting better and better at building on Plutus, Cardano's native development platform. Among some of the startups and projects supported by the first version of Plutus PBL are:  

Loxe Inc (https://loxeinc.com/)

Martify (https://martify.io/)

jpg.store (https://www.jpg.store/)

Rarety (https://rarety.io/)

Gods of Block NFT (https://www.godsofblock.art/)

There was agreement on the benefits Plutus PBL educational program can bring to the purpose of integrating Everscale into Cardano and to the consolidation of the Japanese Cardano community in the development area. Educational material of Plutus PBL characteristics is non-existent in Japan. However, the language barrier arises as a possible obstacle in the teaching process in particular, directly impacting the adoption factor of Cardano in one of the most creative places on the planet.  

Solution

The second version of Gimbalabs' Plutus PLB educational program will be released on July 18th. From this second version it is worth noting:

• It contemplates and includes the Plutus updates resulting from the Vasil Hard Fork. Therefore, it is a really updated Plutus teaching piece.

• Once the program is launched, the first students to enjoy this new version will be those at Oxford University, who have organized a summer workshop starting on July 19.

Each module of the program (see image Plutus PBL - Curriculum in attachments section) is a mix of text and video delivered in plain English, low jargon and technical language, suitable for self-paced learning. The technical context is supported at a visual level with the video material: the student can identify specific technical aspects and their effects on the code and actions he sees on screen. 

Plutus PBL is divided into four main sections:

1. Onboarding
2. Building Background Knowledge (BBK)
3. Specialize
4. Contribute

It is estimated that each section will take one (1) month to translate. The translation will include the text material and the video material. The final result will be a Plutus PBL translated into Japanese that will be assigned its own space in our educational platform (https://gimbalabs.instructure.com/), so that Japanese students will enjoy the benefits of a quality educational material translated into their language and an educational platform with recognized functionalities for online learning. 

Justification for the proposal

Immediate action must be taken for the following reasons:

• Support should be provided for the efforts of other blockchains seeking to connect with our blockchain. They should find in their collaborative and interoperable ventures a Cardano community willing to work side by side with them and to walk with them the path that leads to mutual value creation.  That is exactly what we intend to provide to Everescale.

• Education is the best way to strengthen our ecosystem. When a group of students is looking for a way out of isolation to play a more active and productive role, that effort must be supported. Providing the tools to students in the best possible way for them to fulfill their destiny does not wait. Action must be taken immediately. That is what we intend to provide to the Japanese community of Cardano.  

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

As stated in the Challenge, the purpose of this proposal is to foster collaboration between blockchains while strengthening our own subserved communities.  

The path to interoperability and collaboration is cultivated once we provide other blockchains with adequate tools to understand and build upon our infrastructure. A mutual understanding begins when we start speaking a common language.  

Our educational project is a successful project that seeks to open the gateway to other blockchains and existing Cardano communities: both groups looking for ways to take action by building on Cardano.  

We are a solution created in Catalyst that wants to be adopted by other blockchain and sub-served Cardano communities.

We are completely in line with the ultimate goal of the Challenge:  

"Let's create an enriching, open and safe environment, where people from different communities can find common ground and share knowledge, resources, skills, ideas and visions with one another."

And we are definitely aligned with the Challenge's strategic objectives for Fund 9:

• Prepare a group of people willing and able to make contributions to the ecosystem.

• Turn Cardano into an open source project.

• Accelerate the growth and evolution of developer & app ecosystem.

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

Inadequate translation of the material: linguistic differences or inaccuracies in the translation process may make the Plutus PBL program translated into Japanese unreadable and incomprehensible to Japanese students. To counteract this possibility, the Everscale - Cardano Japanese Community - Gimbalabs working group will be consulted frequently during the translation process to test the partial results obtained in the translation of each module. 

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

Plutus PBL is divided into four main sections:

1. Onboarding
2. Building Background Knowledge (BBK)
3. Specialize
4. Contribute

Each of these sections defines the translation stages of the program. The translation process begins once the proposal is funded.

Stage 1: Onboarding section translation (1 month)

• Translation of the section

• Verification (feedback): Everscale - Japanese Cardano community - Gimbalabs working group and/or other external sources will review the quality of the translation, elaborate remarks to be implemented in the translation.  

• Correction: implementation of the necessary improvements.

• Continuation: translation process continues with the following section

Stage 2: Building Background Knowledge (BBK) section translation (1 month)

• Translation of the section

• Verification (feedback): Everscale - Japanese Cardano community - Gimbalabs working group and/or other external sources will review the quality of the translation, elaborate remarks to be implemented in the translation.  

• Correction: implementation of the necessary improvements.

• Continuation: translation process continues with the following section

Stage 3: Specialize section translation (1 month)

• Translation of the section

• Verification (feedback): Everscale - Japanese Cardano community - Gimbalabs working group and/or other external sources will review the quality of the translation, elaborate remarks to be implemented in the translation.  

• Correction: implementation of the necessary improvements.

• Continuation: translation process continues with the following section

Stage 4: Contribute section translation (1 month)

• Translation of the section

• Verification (feedback): Everscale - Japanese Cardano community - Gimbalabs working group and/or other external sources will review the quality of the translation, elaborate remarks to be implemented in the translation.  

• Correction: implementation of the necessary improvements.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

Translation work: ~40 hours/month

Verification work: ~20 hours/month

Correction work: ~20 hours/month

Total hours/month = 80 hours/month

Total months = 4

Total hours project = 320 hours total

Hourly rate = ~ $30,62 usd/hour

Total: = ~$9800

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

Sebastian Pabon: Teacher. Plutus instructor European Business University of Luxembourg. EMURGO Academy council member. Gimbalabs Plutus PBL working group member. Experienced in translating Plutus educational software into languages other than English (F8 funded and closed proposal: https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/403070) Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ing-sebastian-pabon/

Gimbalabs. Gimbalabs builds technical, educational, and community infrastructure for people who want to show the world what Cardano can do. We believe that people learn best by doing things. If you've been looking for an entry point into how you can participate in Cardano, we think you might find it here. We are piloting a "Plutus Project-Based Learning" (PPBL) team that gives developers a chance to gain hands on experience with Plutus by working on real projects. One outcome of PPBL is that we are creating documentation and task suggestions for additional developers to learn Plutus by using it. Another is that we will apply what we are learning about Project-Based Learning to other tools, like Atala Prism and Dandelion. https://gimbalabs.com/gimbalgrid

Support: Everscale - Cardano japanese community - Gimbalabs working group. This working group is represented by a representative of Everscale Japan, the Community Manager of Cardano japanese community, and Sebastian Pabon member of Gimbalabs. This working group will assist during the translation process.  

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

No. This proposal is a one-time project. If necessary, improvements to the project after completion will be made without requiring additional funds. 

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or any member of your team working on any other proposals in this Fund9?

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or your team working on any other proposals from previous Funds?

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

Initially, the greatest measure of progress will be the monthly completion of each stage of translation described in the timeline of the Feasability section. At the end of the 4 month project duration, the greatest measure of progress will be to have the Plutus PBL translated into Japanese on our educational platform https://gimbalabs.instructure.com/, ready to be accessed by Japanese students.  

In the long term, we expect to impact the following metrics of the Challenge "Cross-Chain Collaboration":

• On-chain activity growth due to new cross-chain implementations
• Number of proposals including participants from other blockchain communities
• Number of technical implementations connecting Cardano to other blockchains
• Projects and dApps from other chains implemented on Cardano
• Number of events / workshops / sessions arranged with other communities

These metrics will be tracked after the launch of Plutus PBL translated into Japanese. Especially, the number of events / workshops / sessions arranged with Everscale students and students from the Japanese community of Cardano will be an indicator of the health of this proposal and the role our Plutus PBL is playing among Japanese students.

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

Two are the results we expect in concrete terms once this project comes into effect:

• Increasing participation of the Everscale blockchain in the creation and building scene of Cardano.

• Increasing participation of the number of students of Japanese origin in the creation and building scene of Cardano. Strengthening of the Cardano Japanese community in the area of development.

As a collateral effect we seek with this proposal to permanently open a gateway to Cardano for the Japanese development community in general. 

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

No, this proposal is not a continuation of a previously funded project. 

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Rating

4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

8 - Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all