[APPROVED] NEAR Academy platform - grant proposal

NDC Community and nodes Community Fund
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TLDR of the proposal:

NEAR Academy powered by the same backend and team behind tezosacademy.io and ocean academy.

Submitting here on behalf of @amgando

Detailed proposal - max 450 words, if more info is needed link to docs:

I connected Sherif to Aymeric from Tezos Academy and Ocean Academy fame. Aymeric created the system that underpins both of those educational properties.the team has submitted the following proposal for NEAR Academy

Details:

  • $13k USD worth of NEAR tokens on signing
  • delivery mid-February of something like Tezos Academy and Ocean Academy for NEAR
  • targeted at web2 devs with (a) why web3? (b) how web3? … including examples in AssemblyScript and Rust
  • 101 Labs will handle 90% of the work of designing, configuring and deploying the system and content. I will handle the other 10% and reach out to others internal to NEAR as needed, although at this intro level it’s unlikely that anyone else needs to be involved
  • 101 Labs also has in mind a longer-term vision for the platform into which we will be invited to expand throughout 2021 but this small project is intended to build our relationship together and produce a quick win in 4ish weeks

Potential ROI/impact on the NEAR Ecosystem:

  • streamlined NEAR onboarding experience for new devs and non-devs (not core focus)

Amount of funding:

  • $13k USD worth of NEAR tokens on signing

Project lead (internal/external):

@amgando (NiMA and Eunice supporting)

 Voting and quorum thresholds:

- <2K$ - 1X Yes - no minimum quorum (* quorum defined as min number of members needed for the vote to be valid)
- 2-10K$ - 2X Yes - no min quorum
- 10-30K$ - 3X Yes - min quorum 4 of 7 - 4X members should vote in either direction
- Above 30K$ requires Erik or Illia's additional approval
- Above 100K$ requires NEAR Foundation Council approval
  • Yes
  • No
  • Abstain

0 voters

2 Likes
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I really like this plan! :raised_hands:

Picking up from our discussion yesterday about transferrable credits, for the longer term stuff, we could even look the possibility of adding a credit/certificate/NFT equivalent on Discourse and Discord.
For instance, if I’ve completed all the levels of the course, I could have an exclusive flair on Discourse indicating that with some terminology- NEAR rookie, NEAR Guru etc. We could also play around with privileges- for instance, funding requests from members that have completed certain levels on NEAR academy will be prioritised.

2 Likes
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Shit. This is brilliant :slight_smile: I guess we can make this a v1.2 feature request? The general idea being using NFTs and/or fungible tokens as certificates/signals for accomplishment. We should just do it in a way that it’s interoperable with other NEAR initiatives like hackathons.

@mattlockyer WDYT?

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I strongly disagree to approving this “urgent” request until we understand overlap. I am all for approving this quickly, after someone has taken the time to explain why it’s different:

e.g. will it help attract developers not already in Figment / GH Kernel, will it produce new content and app examples that don’t already exist? This is currently unclear.

Message in Slack re: existing projects.

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@amgando do you wanna respond here?

@mattlockyer please abstain from voting if you are not comfortable with this proposal. I and Sherif have more context and trust in the team behind this project.

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Just a couple of thoughts on this:

  • more is better

    small, inexpensive experiments, the more orthogonal the better, are the best strategy in our complex operating environment: The Cynefin Framework - YouTube)

  • the “candy crush” factor

    this project will appeal to an audience that is likely turned off by Figment’s bone-dry (but effective) content presentation

  • the platform

    this is fully under our control and will continue to improve under our influence which is a bonus

1 Like