PIG: Improved social evaluation protocol for a more diverse and inclusive future

[Boo]

Team members: Ada, Boo
Problem Area: Protocols for art and culture production
Domain: Lifecycle and ossification/maturation/renewal management of protocols

We want to improve social-evaluation protocols such as Trip Advisor, Yelp, Letterboxd, TikTok, etc. This will be achieved by providing users with an on-chain protocol supporting sharing, reviewing and curation based on various contexts, thereby aggregating diverse content.

Additionally, we intend to capture the values embedded in the commenting, sharing, and curating processes, building a foundation for a reputation-based new type of social media.

01 Target protocols

The evolution standards/protocols have transitioned from authoritative institution’s rating systems such as Michelin Guide and QS University Ranking, to crowd-sourced evaluation apps such as Yelp and Trip Advisor, and further to social-oriented, customized evaluation protocols based on platforms like TikTok, Reddit, and Instagram.

We aim to elevate the social-evaluation protocol to a new level, catering to a broader audience of users, creators, and communities while accommodating diverse and personalized needs. This protocol will also enable more builders to actively contribute to its development process.

02 Potential improvement we want to pursue

1. Diverse Value Assessment: Algorithms vs Communities

   A single algorithm inevitably leads to a singular value judgment, resulting in tension and echo chambers. We aim to replace conflict with diversity and inclusivity, using community evaluation instead of platform algorithms to create a diverse decentralized community.

2. Trusted Data: Authentication vs. Recorded Cumulative Reputation

   Social media authentication doesn’t guarantee information accuracy. In some cases, anonymity can be more truthful than using real names. By assessing a user’s credibility record, we can gauge the reliability of their content. The most effective way to build a reputation is by constantly creating new records (sharing more content), much like using a credit card.

3. Data openness: data silos vs. permissionless information

   Blockchain allows us to establish an open evaluation database allowing unrestricted data submission, where users can retain data ownership.

The outcome will be based on Open-source SDKs and Bots.

We believe that open-source SDKs will inspire more developers to create apps that cover a richer range of scenarios, such as coffee shop recommendations for digital nomads, Asian music labels in Europe, Education materials for people with dyslexia, recommendations for the coolest apps about AI, etc.

We plan to incorporate existing social platforms such as Telegram, Discord and Twitter, using bots to help data capture information more naturally.

Improved protocols will define the data structure for commenting and content sharing in different scenarios and communities.

03 Discovery methodologies

1. Observation:

   • We’ll start by looking at how people share things based on our own experiences with social evaluation protocols. With experience using social evaluation protocols across different language regions, our discovery database will have greater diversity.
   • We also have experience in managing and collaborating with communities. In our research phase, we’ll investigate how people co-create content within them.

2. User/Community Interview:

   • Qualitative research: We’ll interview both individual users and community members to gain insight into their current sharing experiences and discover design opportunities.
   • Quantitative research: We’ll also use surveys to gather more data and prove our hypothesis.

3. Theoretical Support:
   We plan to bring in scholars and researchers who have backgrounds in subjects like sociology and economics to discuss our proposal.

04 Prototype forms

1. We will construct a dApp as the first MVP using the initial protocol framework.

2. In alignment with our field test plan, we will collaborate with researchers to refine our prototyping method. This includes strategizing data acquisition, parsing raw data for storage, and devising models for value allocation and community engagement in value assessment.

3. Additionally, we will aggregate data from various web2 and web3 social media platforms to enrich our dataset. Through this, we want to see what will happen when we use data from the open internet. We also hope to find out if the improved protocol will distribute those data more inclusively.

05 Field-test Plan

1. We will conduct a field test for a protocol-based dApp (Unlib), which serves as a platform for sharing articles. Unlib has already established a partnership with Uncommons（a community for Public Goods Builders and researchers). Unlib will function as a bot on Telegram, and we also plan to collaborate with more communities on this platform.

2. We also plan to partner with independent KOLs who are capable of forming communities to test additional content-sharing scenarios through user workshops.

3. We plan to provide an SDK and collaborate with more developers through different communities. Our goal is to engage in multiple rounds of collaboration (iterations) to validate the protocol’s suitability for a community content-sharing scenario.

06 Potential judges

1. This product will be judged by people who will use our protocol: communities and their members. One of the communities we’re interested in is Metalabel and Kiwi.

2. If we get support from Summer of Protocols, we’d also like to interview some experts who might be interested in creator economies and web3 social, such as rafa@folklore_0x, Li Jin @VariantFund, Vitalik, Sunquan Huang @China Academy of Art, Director of Institute of Network Society.

07 How will we publish our idea

1. We will provide documentation that records the research, prototype and development process.

2. We will release the open-source social protocol on GitHub and provide a series of SDKs.

08 Successful vision

1. For sharing scenarios that have not yet been standardized or documented, we hope more builders can use the improved protocol to build new dApps (such as Unlib).

2. People will rely less on big review platforms with overall ratings. They will be able to freely explore a wide range of information and opinions from social media, forums, blogs, and channels. This will help them understand things from different perspectives. It will also help marginalized communities find more information tailored to their needs.

3. Our database aims to encompass everything in the world, serving as a new generation of Wikipedia as a public good, managed openly by the community. Around this public database, the data gathered through protocols forms a new Whole Earth Catalog. A catalogue where everyone can contribute together, supported by an improved evaluation protocol.

[Adazz]

this soooo muuuuch

[zeer0wan]

his is a really open and generous model of rearing a self organized community culture. Would love to connect further and learn more about how the implementation is going. I am also a huge fan of Steward Brand’s work and would love to see you take on Whole Earth.

[KKBurrito]

Would love to see how a meta-curation protocol for our chaotic cyberspace! Let the emergence of info flows from beneath and get sorted with people’s will.