dRep tool for non-English speakers

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

We propose to create a searchable tool for dRep use and to save time. It contains the proposal summary’s content and review in 3 languages: English, Japanese, and Vietnamese. This searchable tool will be available in other languages after its trials and obtains the feedback from the above dRep communities.

We plan to implement this exciting tool in Fund 10 to assist English, Japanese, and Vietnamese dRep communities to test the functionalities, improve from the community feedback to create a workable tool for these languages and start to release it to other communities in the coming funds.

*Main items comprise in a searchable tool:

Challenge Name

Proposal Name

Proposal Link

Summary of proposal content (100-300 words)

Average PA score

A short summarization of all PA’s assessments for each proposal 

Why do we implement this searchable tool in English, Japanese, and Vietnamese?

Not all dReps are sufficient in English to read, understand, and summarize the proposal’s main points of all challenge settings and each fund circle, where they need to carry out the delegation roles for the voters who have delegated the voting right to them.

dReps would have high expertise and knowledge in the areas of the submitted proposals, but the English efficiency is a significant barrier and affects the speed and quality of the voting decision.

Moreover, dRep are highly respected members and usually are very busy supporting the Cardano community overall. Thus, dReps may not have enough time to review all the proposals thoroughly.

Therefore, we want to create a searchable tool to assist dReps who are not excelling in English. Especially in Japan and Vietnam, two countries with low English-speaking populations but with a high global crypto-acceptance index, are enthusiastic about Project Catalyst activities and building the Cardano ecosystem. Please see below for further stat (1) to support this data.

(1)

Japan

Japanese English proficiency index is 78th out of 112 countries (EF EPI score: 468, ranking in Asia 13/24)- it is lower than the others.

Cardano originated in Japan and has had a lot of ADA holders since its infancy.

Due to language barriers in English, Japanese and other languages, despite the presence of active community members and SPOs, participation in Catalyst is still small compared to the number of holders. Therefore, Japanese language tools and documents are required to support dRep Japan.

Vietnam

Vietnamese English proficiency index is 66th out of 112 countries (EF EPI score: 486, ranking in Asia 12/24)- it is lower than the others.

In addition to the above data, Vietnam is fourth of the Top countries with the highest Global Cryptocurrency Adoption Index（GCAI）in the world [1]. It is 2nd for Index scores and Top 3 of 20 countries with the highest interaction with DeFi platforms worldwide between April 2019 and June 2021 [2]. In Japan where 95% of pre-launch sales volume between September 2015 to January 2017 has sold to Japanese holders [3].

[1]       "Cryptocurrency across the world." TripleA. https://triple-a.io/crypto-ownership/ (accessed 25 June 2022).

[2]       "Index of the 20 countries with the highest interaction with DeFi platforms worldwide between April 2019 and June 2021 " Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1263257/global-defi-adoption-by-country/ (accessed 25 June 2022).

[3]       "Ada Distribution Audit." Cardano. https://cardano.org/genesis/#audit (accessed 25 June 2022).

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

• The proposal creates a searchable tool to assist dReps for international communities. In our case, Japan and Vietnam as the targeted communities to carry out the convenient, efficient, and time saving approaches in coming fund voting.
• Proposal contribution is to attract more the number of dRep from the Japanese and Vietnamese communities by solving the problem of the English language barrier.
• Proposal to help diversify voting delegation by making it easier for dRep around the world to maximize their voting capacity in a short time space.

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

Risk 1:

The number of proposals entering each voting round varies and increases per fund as current, making it challenging to manage translation costs corresponding to the proposal quantity.

Risk mitigation

We take the average number of funded proposals from Fund1 to 8 as a base value for budgeting.

In a scenario where the number of proposals entering the voting round is more than the expected number of proposals to translate, we will take the top descending order of PA scores until matching the expected numbers to be translated into Japanese and Vietnamese. In addition, we include a contingency cost of up to 30% of the total submitted proposal to be translated. For instance, in Fund10, Project Catalyst has 1300 submitted proposals, but we plan for 1000 proposals to be translated into Japanese and Vietnamese.

Risk 2:

With the greatly ADA fluctuation, the stable value of ADA may be subject to sharp slippage due to market volatility that could lead to a lack of funding when carrying out the actual incentive calculation.

Risk mitigation

Create a reserve fund for ADA value fluctuation. At the same time, convert ADA at the time of receiving into stablecoin or USD to mitigate the risk of value fluctuations.

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

We plan to create this searchable tool to assist dRep from Fund10, so the implementation roadmap will be in parallel with the Fund10 schedule (3 months)

Details milestones: (From Fund10)

Note: The number shown in phases below is only estimated, we will endeavor to mirror close to the actual Project Catalyst schedule once it releases in Fund 10.

Phase I: Preparation phase

(Fund 10 proposal submission (30 days))

• Access to proposers to understand ideas clearly.
• Starting summarizing Proposal content for complete proposals.

Phase II: Creating the searchable tool and translation

(Fund 10 Finalize proposal to the end of the PA submission stage (15 days))

• Day 1-7: create a summary table and summarize the content of the proposals
• Day 8-15: translate into Japanese and Vietnamese

Phase III: Summarizing assessments and translation

(Fund 10 Assess flagging to the end of vPA review stage (20 days))

• Days 1-10: summarizing all assessments from each proposal into a simplified and readable version, but the original meaning of those assessments would be retained unchanged
• Days 11-20: translate those assessments into Japanese and Vietnamese

Phase IV: Checking and sharing

(Fund 10 Pre-voting stage (7 days):)

• Day 1: Summarize the proposal's average score
• Day 2- 6: Check and correct the final version from phase II
• Day 7: share this searchable tool dRep in Japanese and Vietnamese communities.

Phase V: The survey, evaluation, and improving

During and after the voting phase: feedback on tool usage and feasibility (21 days)

A survey on the satisfaction level from dRep of the searchable tool after Fund10 will be considered and used as the tool development life cycle.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

The budget breakdown calculation below is estimated for 1000 proposals that contain “Main items” listed in the impact part above. These “Main items” will be translated into Japanese and Vietnamese.

If the number of proposals entering the voting round is more than 1000, then the contingency fund will kick in to cover the extra cost for any proposal above 1000s.

*The translation unit price below is discounted by 40% compared to the market price. We receive translations at a discount unit price to help Catalyst develop dRep, specifically supporting the Japanese and Vietnamese dRep communities.

• Cost of the tool per proposal: 1000p x 5USD = 5000 USD (5 USD per proposal)
• English/Vietnamese translation service cost: 1000p x 300w x 0.02USD = 6000 USD

(300 words/proposal, unit price 0.02 USD/word)

• English/Japanese translation service cost: 1000p x 300w x 0.03USD = 9000 USD

(300 words/proposal, unit price 0.03 USD/word)

• Checking and adjusting cost: (6000USD + 9000USD) x 30% = 4500 USD
• Provisional expense: 2000 USD

Total: 26500 USD

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

Our team consists of 7 members fluent in English-Japanese-Vietnamese responsible for the project implementation phase. We will hire additional interpreters (if necessary), manage the progress, and evaluate the translation quality.

1.Ms. Ha Nguyen (Team leader): Japanese interpreter, translator, and blockchain project reviewer

 Experience: (please see related certification in attached file)

•  10 years of experience in translating and interpreting Japanese.
•  N1 Japanese language ability, fluent in listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
• 3 years of translation management experience.
•  2 years of learning Cardano and evaluating blockchain projects.

2. Mr. Duc Dang: Japanese interpreter, translator

Experience: (please see related certification in attached file)

•  5 years of experience in translating and interpreting Japanese.
•  N2 Japanese language ability, fluent in listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

3. Ms. Diem: Japanese interpreter, translator

Experience: (please see related certification in attached file)

• 8 years of Japanese translation experience
• 8 years working in a Japanese company
• Japanese language ability N2
• Fluent in English.

4. Ms. Uyen: Japanese interpreter, translator

Experience: (please see related certification in the attached file below)

• 10 years of Japanese translation experience
• 10 years working in a Japanese company
• Japanese language ability N2

5. Ms. Oanh: Japanese interpreter, translator

Experience: (please see related certification in the attached file below)

• 6 years of Japanese translation experience
• 6 years working in a Japanese company
• Japanese language ability N3

6. Ms. Nhi: Japanese interpreter, translator

Experience: (please see related certification in the attached file below)

• 5 years of Japanese translation experience
• 5 years working in a Japanese company
• Japanese language ability N3

7. Mr. Igarashi (Japanese): expert in editing, editing English-Japanese, Vietnamese-Japanese translations

• 5 years of experience in translating and interpreting, editing translations.
• Currently working in a large corporation in Japan.

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

Yes.

In the intermediate term, I will cooperate and share this tool with the dRep communities that are not fluent in English. In the longer term, I will continue to serve the designated communities and propose proposals that can address the needs of multilingualism issues and tools for the Cardano blockchain. And the ultimate gold is to grow alongside the Cardano ecosystem and its communities into a sustainable stage and fully decentralization.

[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?

• Score a minimum of 500 downloads would be deemed successful at the trial phase. (2)
• Gain at least 50% of dReps or downloaders (3) are satisfied with the tool’s usage and feasibility.
• Obtain at least 50% comments of dReps or downloaders that the tool should be translated into other languages.

Notes:

(2) A set of criteria will be required for dReps or downloaders to fill in before they can download, where we can track the legitimacy of each download to prove the stat is reliable and trackable.

(3) Downloaders can be dReps, voters, or whoever wishes to use the tool for reference purposes.

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

• Satisfactory of dReps with the tool functionality and usage that assist them in saving time along with the accuracy of summary of proposal content after Fund10.

• Increase the participation rate of Japanese and Vietnamese communities in both Project Catalyst proposal voting and accelerate the dRep voting model to improve the quality of proposal selection in the coming fund rounds.

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

This is a new idea.