The news media industry is in a crisis of trust: Lack of reader trust, fake news, censorship, unfair distribution of power and profits, and insufficient monetization for content creators.
MVP of a truly decentralized news platform based on a newly created reputation model that rewards valuable contributions from content creators and users.
This is the total amount allocated to DOON: Decentralized News Platform.
A: Extended Problem Statement:
Free journalism is the foundation of a functioning society and democracy. Today, the mainstream media are facing a major crisis of trust. Declining readership is the result of a lack of trustworthiness. Due to the rapid increase in fake news, it is becoming more and more difficult to assess the accuracy of information and the trustworthiness of information sources.
But it is not only readers who suffer from this development and increasingly turn away from major media. It is also becoming increasingly difficult for journalists to maintain their independence and ensure the quality of their work. On the one hand, this is a result of the growing dependence of journalists on large publishing houses, so that independent reporting is becoming increasingly difficult in this centralized system. And on the other hand, good compensation for independent work is becoming more and more difficult to achieve.
Furthermore, most large media companies see readers as a product to earn money with. But the idea of serving the reader with truthful information is becoming less and less important in this system. The result is that many news stories are designed to get clicks, but less to tell the truth.
Both readers and journalists want and are waiting for a new news system that has trustworthiness and fair reward at its core.
B: Our new P2P approach for open journalism:
DOON is a decentralized, blockchain-based news platform that is based on a newly developed reputation system.
This reputation system measures the trustworthiness of content, sources, and users while providing the basis for a novel reward model for content creators and contributors - all without a centralized authority. This decentralized reputation system will have a major impact and transform our content industry by building trust in a world of "fake news" by helping consumers identify the credibility of content or content creators. In the long run, these reputation scores may even be weighted factors for suitability for tokenized assets.
C: Why combine Blockchain and Media? Decentralization, Transparency, Immutability and fair rewards!
D: Decentralizing reputation to restore trust
Current reputation systems operate in silos and are vulnerable to manipulation, as malicious behavior goes unpunished or even rewarded. Providers and Internet users can create multiple different accounts for each platform with relative ease. Since there is no incentive to improve one's reputation rating, any user with a bad rating need only create a new account to start with a neutral rating.
With blockchain technology, there is now a way to change this management of online reputation. Quantifying and tokenizing users' reputations on the Blockchain based on various factors now provides the incentive for users to build a long-term positive reputation as it relates to rewards. Blockchain and the open-source character of DOON make manipulation much more difficult, and if it happens, it is forever traceable.
In summary, the more users trust you in the long run, the more you will be rewarded for creating your content.
E: How can decentralized reputation be solved for our media use case?
To solve the problems described above, we need to create a decentralized reputation protocol that is open and permission-free. We need to adopt some key principles from blockchain and self-sovereign identity to ensure the decentralization of the system and the associated user sovereignty.
Our reputation protocol consists of four core components:
1. Reputation Quantifying Mechanismen
To quantify the reputation score of a user, we need to define descriptive factors of on the one hand and valuation models on the other. It is important to separate the reputation data from the valuation models. Reputation is simply a combination of facts and opinions. A single opinion and evaluation is always subjective, but the cumulative opinions and evaluation are objective data points, as are additional measurable facts. That's why we separate data collection from data analysis. Thus, reputation are vertices of a directed graph representing facts stored on-chain. The output would be an actual reputation profile.
2. Reputation Tokens
The heart of DOON will be so-called reputation tokens that will serve two purposes:
Yet these two roles are in opposition to each other. A token needs to be exchangeable in order to be liquid. But the more liquid a token is, the less effective it can be as a pure signal of reputation.
Therefore, we propose a two-token reputation system, whereby one token, which we call “REP-points,” which serves as a non-transferable reputation signal. A second token, “DOON-coin,” is a transferable asset dispensed to holders of REP-points on a regular cycle. Effectively, REP-points spin off dividends in DOON-Coins that can be used as tradable currency.
At a high level, this design promotes a feedback loop whereby users derive REP-points from high-quality contributions on the platform such as contributing content, moderating or evaluation. And then, when the users with REP-points receive DOON-coins, these can be traded as a currency. Users’ demand for DOON-coins drives the need to acquire REP-points, which in turn incentivizes high-quality contributions.
In summary, contributors receive a non-tradable token for their reputation that spins off tradable tokens.
3. Pseudonymous and private by default
Users are identified by their decentralized identifiers [DID] and are free to choose real names or pseudonyms for this purpose. To ensure the long-term value of the DOON DID, we develop a reputation system consisting of a general reputation protocol, a reputation pipeline interface, a reputation data-on-chain and algorithm library, a reputation incentive mechanism, a reputation account management and a fake account identification mechanism.
4. Open source and community oriented
In web3, you will not gain acceptance or success by developing a complete solution in isolation. Instead, we are thinking about how to combine the amazing work of many open source projects. Reputation systems remain largely fragmented, but there are some interesting experiments being done in the community. What is missing so far is an open, interoperable solution for use cases like DOON.
When it comes to reputations, the open source character becomes also very important in terms of transparency of the rules on how to gain reputation points. Users need to know the rules of the 'game' before they start playing.
F: What will DOON look like?
The DOON- platform works according to the following scheme:
1. journalists and content creators create articles and content that they post on the platform under their DID.
2. readers get access to content via DOON coins.
3. the reputation-protocol determines the relevance of a content and thus the author gets reputation-points (REP-points)
4. the author receives DOON-Coins according to his REP-points as a reward for his content.
Business-Model and Tokenomics:
The problem with many token-based projects (rewards through tokens) is that the underlying value of the token is hard to qualify. Especially when rewards should be a financial incentive. So you need to get real money into the system.
There are several ways in which the demand for DOON coins naturally arises and thus a real and liquid market for these tokens exists. Here are a few possibilities listed. At this stage of the project it is not mandatory to choose the final business model. What is important in community-based projects is to engage in a dynamic learning and development process to find the best business model.
Cycle of Coins:
How to stabilize the value of the DOON-coins?
At the beginning the platform may need to undertake monetary policy by adjusting the overall supply of DOON-coins. This area needs deeper investigation during the MVP phase with the first test users and will be relevant at a later stage of the project.
The two-token system we have described offers a simple approach: adjust either the point accrual rate or the dividend flow rate. For example, the council that governs DOON could change the reputation-system as a way of slowing down or accelerating point accumulation, or could reduce total dividend size, as a way of decreasing/increasing the long-run DOON-coin supply. But we have to be careful with these sorts of interventions, as every change in the overarching incentive structure for contributors impacts contributor behavior. In particular, anything that degrades point value unexpectedly could harm user trust.
Key-elements of the DOON platform:
Parameters of the reputation protocol:
Our protocol will be designed to incentivize valuable contributions to the network and discourage participants who make fake or biased contributions.
The final definition of the reputation protocol (parameters and alogrithms) for the MVP version is part of the proposal. After the launch of the platform again this aspect will be a permanent iterative process. There are already studies for the measurability of the individual parameters. Nevertheless, research on this topic will be a permanent part of DOON. The following parameters are examples:
- Objectivity
- Truthfulness
- Relevance
Long-term activity: The link between REP points and DOON coins provides a natural mechanism to reward users who have made high-quality contributions. However, since REP points are not transferable, there is an element of hysteresis: those who accumulate points early could end up owning a disproportionate share of DOON coin dividends. In many crypto projects, the largest shareholders are the people who learned about the project the earliest. But these early adopters are not necessarily the most valuable to the future of the ecosystem. Therefore, it is important to incentivize continued contributions and engagement. This means that REP points lose value over time. To maintain your REP point level, you need to continuously contribute value to the system.
In order to develop a secure and sustainable protocol, one focus of the proposal is to find the right parameters and algorithm. This requires research and collaboration with the community (content creators and content users).
Before we explain why we have chosen this challenge for DOON, let's first tell you why we chose Cardano and Project Catalyst as the best place to start this project.
We believe that Cardano is the blockchain for true decentralization. We support and contribute to this community by making our projects open-source, so that everyone can understand and learn from it. By developing and implementing reputation and governance models we will help other projects become truly decentralized. We are also open-source because we have benefited from the experiences of other projects and because we want others to learn from our experience.
Our team has been involved in Project Catalyst since the beginning, and we see it as the best playground in which to experiment on novel models for decentralization and governance. We see this fund as a great opportunity to find real solutions to real problems. That's why we've been a part of this movement so far and will remain so.
Why this challenge?
This Challenge is looking for 'impactful use cases' that will run on Cardano. We understand the goals and main KPIs of this challenge to be the following:
Our solution contributes to this quest. Why is our approach impactful and who will benefit from us?
Comparison to some other existing projects in and outside the Cardano ecosystem:
- DeSo: Layer-1 blockchain built to form the ground up to scale decentralized social applications with heavy databases.
- DNN: Decentralized News Network, combining news creation with decentralized networks to deliver factual content, curated by the community. ICO in 2018, but doesn't exist in is original form anymore
- Mindplex by SingularityNet: Decentralized magazin, based on collaboration but with centralized editors
In summary, as we as a community head more and more into the voltaire stage, we think it is the right time to shift the focus more and more towards systems and use-cases that fully use the potential of the Cardano blockchain when it comes to governance.
We have analyzed related initiatives in the blockchain industry and identified the following risks for our project:
a. The reputation model does not work as desired
b. The business model and underlying token-based reward and incentive model does not take effect
c. There is not enough capital to put enough time and development into the platform
d. Adoption within the industry and community takes too long.
e. The technical requirement of Cardano blockchain is not evolving in our needed direction
f. Underestimating the complexity of the development and implementation required.
Our strategies
We are adopting the same strategy that we have used for different business ventures: build a buffer into our development forecast that leave room for refactors. Our strategy is to remain transparent on our progress and report any adjustment in our monthly reporting within Catalyst.
a. The main focus of this proposal is to explore different paths for a novel incentive model in a real-world setting. By doing so, we ensure that we can test multiple variants and thus develop a reputation model that meets our requirements.
b. The underlying business model and tokenomics are designed from the ground up so that the underlying value of a DOON Coin (the core of the platform) does not depend on pure supply and demand (and is thus highly susceptible to price fluctuations), but has an underlying value (cash flow via treasury management).
c. We act transparently, we reward participation, and we hire an experienced community manager from the beginning to build a long-term and sustainable community. Our goal, of course, is to ultimately operate as a pure community-driven DAO. In addition, DOON does not depend on a network effect. It is important that the size of the community is proportional to the cash flow and the amount of content created. This makes even a smaller ecosystem sustainably viable. Of course, the goal is to become a big player in the media world. But that's a long road and depends on many variables.
d. DOON is part of a startup factory (Conu21) and thus has access to experienced entrepreneurs and a network of seed investors. DOON will access various resources (private and venture capital, pre-token sales, ICO) to be solvent in the medium term. Catalyst funding forms a building block of seed funding for this project.
e. Currently, Cardano Blockchain meets our requirement and its corresponding future roadmap is aligned with our plan. And fundamentally, we are very confident that Cardano is the right Blockchain for our use case.
f. Our approach is to overestimate development on this part and make sure our capacities are well used in order to leave space for unexpected developments.
Detailed plan and timeline:
We have established a six-month timeline for implementation of all items in the plan, assuming a start date of September 1, 2022.
Scope of this proposal: At the end of the six-month period, we will be able to present a functional MVP version of the DOON platform .We have divided the proposal into 3 areas:
1. Reputation protocol
Step 1: Research
Identification and validation of the variables of the reputation model using the scientific method of structural equation modeling, which we intend to conduct with at least 200 (preferably 500) participants in order to adequately test each variable and hypothesis. Dominik Tilman & Wolf Hiemeyer have already applied this method many times and even published a whole chapter for the application of this method in their last publication.
Step 2: Technical Development
Formalization of the reputation model and protocol as a basis for technical implementation. The development of the reputation protocol includes the following components and is based on our research:
- general reputation protocol
- reputation pipeline interface
- reputation data-on-chain and algorithm library
- reputation incentive mechanism
- reputation account management
- Non fundable token integration
2. MVP development
Step 1: Tokenomics
Based on our business model, we formalize the token model, which in turn forms the basis for the technical implementation. This section also includes the technical preparation for native token integration into the platform.
Step 2: Platform functionalities
Define the basic functionalities of the MVP version of the platform. Based on this, the design of the platform is created. After that we can start to develop all the features:
- creating & managing account
- content editor
- individual feed
- rating & reviewing & commenting features
- Ui/UX-Design
- Integrate web-interface with blockchain
Step 3: Web & blockchain integration
The last step brings together all the previous steps: reputation-protocol, web-platform and on-chain-data. This will result in the first MVP version. We then test it for full functionality. If necessary, we will make improvements and then present the finished MVP version.
3. Project & community development
We already see community management as an important part of the proposal, in order to involve the target group (journalists and readers) in the development of the platform from the very beginning and also to do justice to our open source character. Therefore, we will participate in different online & on-site events and, if necessary, organize online events to discuss with the community and present our progress.
What happens after the proposal
With the completion of the MVP version, phase 2 of DOON will start. This includes market entry, further technical development and extension of the platform's functionality.
We will be looking for funders outside of Catalyst to fund phase 2. Our core team already has many years of experience in this field. In the event that other projects in the ecosystem could benefit from the technical development (for example, in the area of DID and native tokens), we can imagine further proposals in Catalyst.
We have divided the budget into 5 areas. We have calculated the estimated time to the best of our knowledge. Of course, there are always uncertainties, which is why we have, for example, planned an additional sprint for open tasks in both development sections. The hourly rates represent a fair payment for our team. For the development (product & technology) we have given an average hourly rate, since both senior and junior developers are used.
including the following tasks: organization and coordination of proposal execution, communication with contractors, accounting, monthly reporting, community management (onboarding, events), marketing activities, presentation of milestones & results, audit & documentation
40 hours/month x 6 month x $60/hour = $14,400
including the following tasks: Review and summary of previous research results, review of related use cases, definition of variables (constructs and items), creation of the hypothesis model, creation of the questionnaire and pretest, conduction of the study, analysis of the study, writing and publication of the results
80 hours/month x 3 month x $85/hour = $20,400
including 8 bi-weekly sprints for the following tasks: 1. define tokenomics 2. define functionality, 3. Mockups and web design, 4. + 5. Website development, 6. integration web-interface & blockchain 7. additional sprint for open tasks, 8. MVP testing
80 hours/sprint x 8 bi-weekly sprints x $60/hour = $38,400
including 8 bi-weekly sprints for the following tasks: 1. reputation protocol & interface, 2. data-on-chain integration, 3. algorithm library, 4. NFT integration, 5. native token integration, 6. integration web-interface & blockchain 7. additional sprint for open tasks, 8. MVP testing
120 hours/sprint x 8 bi-weekly sprints x $65/hour = $62,400
Software licenses, fees, events, unexpected costs: $3,000
Core Project Team:
The core team consists of experts who have many years of experience in building startups. In addition, we have an expert for each area (business, research, product, community) in the team.
To ensure that our team meets the requirements of technical development, we have decided to work with experienced partners for the respective tasks and steps, as they have a wider range of relevant experts who have already successfully worked together on projects. This includes experts in technical writing, front & back end developers, graphics and content specialists, and UI/UX specialists, Plutos & Haskell specialists. This gives us the necessary flexibility and depth to ensure the completion of the proposal.
These individuals are involved in the project:
Dominik has been an active part of the Catalyst community since Fund 3. He has been part of the Catalyst Swarm initiative since the very beginning. He co-founded IdeaFest and has successfully organized and executed it since Fund 5. He is also part of several successful proposals. Professionally, he mainly advises startups and actively helps in the founding phase to develop the right business model and to market the ideas sustainably.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominikstumpp/
https://www.dominiktilman.com
Susanna is Executive Director of Unification Fund at ICV and a well-known expert in the field of DAO, blockchain and startup building. She supports DOON with building the business and token model.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/susannachoe/
He is a professor at the University of Economics in Munich. Together with Dominik he has conducted research projects and consulted multinational companies.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-wolf-dieter-hiemeyer-6297a985/
Thomas is and has been successfully involved in a variety of startups and businesses. He brings his expertise from the media industry (e.g. Discovery Channel). In addition, his experience as an entrepreneur will help DOON to start operations and to prepare and execute the market entry.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomaszuchtriegel/
Vera is a marketing consultant specialized in design, content creation and B2B multichannel marketing. She will create the design of the platform and will help to establish our marketing and community channels.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vera-stumpp-436b971b1/
Contractors & Partnerships for the execution of the proposal:
Conu21 is newly created startup factory to help transformative ideas turn into reality. The network behind Conu21 will assist with business modelling, financing and mentoring of the team. Furthermore it will provide the legal framework for DOON during the MVP phase.
https://www.conu21.com
MetaLamp has a tremendously talented team that have already developed a variety of MVPs and products in the Cardano Ecosystem (including an NFT marketplace for IOG). Many have worked with Haskell for 5 years or more. Many of the team members have completed the Plutus Pioneers course and are active in the community. Contact persons: Rostislava Glebovich, Iana Geidrovich
https://www.metalamp.io
The CatalystSwarm explores and maintains key community infrastructure to provide a great experience that maximizes participation and collaboration within the broader Cardano ecosystem.
https://www.catalystswarm.com
If the further technical development of the platform includes open-source elements from which other projects could benefit, we would consider further proposal(s). Basically, we will secure our capital needs for the market launch through other sources. There are different options like VC or token sales.
Our approach is to operate as transparently as possible, so that the community has the maximum possible insight into the project on the one hand and can also participate in the project on the other. Therefore we provide different sources for the documentation:
Metrics to measure our progress and success:
1) Research results:
2) Community growth:
3) Product adoption:
Successful completion of the proposal means that we will have a functional MVP version of the platform within the specified timeframe, which we can then use to approach both market entry and further financing of the project. However, we would like to further define success in two levels:
'Good' & 'Very Good'
'Good' means:
1) Research results:
2). Community growth after 6 / 12 months
3) Product adoption after 6 / 12 months
'Very Good' means:
1) Research results:
2). Community growth after 6 / 12 months
3) Product adoption after 6 / 12 months
Going further, it would be a great success for us if our reputation protocol is interesting for other use cases. Even if this is not directly part of the proposal, it means for us: The more adopters, the greater our impact and therefore our success.
This proposal is completely new and independent from previous proposals of this team. However, the involved persons have been part of multiple successful funded and executed proposals (like Idea Fest Fund 5 - Fund 8, Fund 7+8 Campaign).
Also: The DOON project has no other proposal submitted (neither in this challenge or in any other). To make the scope of our project more transparent and comprehensible to voters and proposal assessors, we didn't split the tasks in different proposals.
3 - Promote well-being for all at all ages
5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
8 - Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9 - Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
12 - Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13 - Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
15 - Promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
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
17 - Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development
Team of experienced entrepreneurs, blockchain- and DAO specialists and media experts. The team has been part of Catalyst since Fund 3 and part of several funded projects.