Proof of Competence
This proposal combines 2 of my other projects, useWeb3 and Proof of Competence into a generic platform.
useWeb3 is a learning platform for developers to explore and learn about Web3. Whether youāre a new dev getting your hands dirty for the first time, or a seasoned developer making the transition into the Web3 space.
Explore the latest resources, tutorials, challenges, tools, courses and boilerplates and start learning. Once youāre ready, browse the job board to land a job at some of the leading companies that work on core, open-source infrastructure, products, tools, frameworks, DAOās, etc.
Proof of Competence (PoC) started as a hackathon project at ETHLisbon (2021). Itās an open, modular framework to create on-chain quests and on-boarding journeys into Web3. It uses a pluggable task system which can verify that on-chain actions have occurred. This allows to build up reputation or social (DAO) scores that prove an address is familiar with the specified technologies or protocols.
This allows to:
- Create on-boarding quests for developers to learn about a protocol
- Proof an address is competent enough to have a basic understanding of a protocol
- Novel ways to use the social (DAO) scores instead of token-weights for governance
Both projects were a great PoC (no pun intended) and have provided invaluable insights to take this to the next level.
Description
This proposal describes Proof of Competence V2. An open education platform for communities to design their own, unique learning experiences using on-chain data where members can learn and level up their skills and reputation about their projects.
The platform will be free, fun and engaging way to learn more about Web3, itās projects and their communities.
Learning by doing and level up your skills with fresh challenges.
Learning Module
A fully open-source and modular system allows anyone to design custom learning modules, using common building blocks that are relevant to their projects. This can be any combination of:
- Learning (content) modules
- On-chain verifications
- Signing messages or other type of transactions
- Quizzes
These modules can be followed linearly or in any preferred order to maximize an individualās personal learning experience. Completing these modules would allow members to gain experience, level up and receive a ācommunity-scoreā.
The quests are currently read from simple JSON files configured in the Github repository. To become a permissionless education system, these should be served from IPFS content directories, using similar JSON metadata files and markdown to include rich text, learning materials and any other additional resources. As long as itās using the same, standardized structure anyone can upload their materials on IPFS so that it can get served from the platform.
Since it is such an open, permissionless system it would require some form of cryptography to ensure the answers of the quizzes arenāt stored in clear text.
Reward Module
Completing such modules could result in configurable rewards. Communities can configure the type of rewards and when these will be rewarded. Which can be for completing the entire quest or different levels and scores. Multiple rewards (e.g. bronze, silver, gold) could allow a member to level up their knowledge. Reward mechanism could be any combination of:
- Adding badge/attestations to their profile
- Automated POAP distributions
- Minting NFTs
Note that configuring rewards will be fully optional. Using incentives might bring in more people to learn, but are often not values-aligned. Rewards diminish the intrinsic motivation to learn. Members might come in to pick up the rewards instead of meaning to learn anything.
Integrations
The current PoC platform would already allow integrations using an API. Integrating with a memberās community score would give new, novel ways to on-board them into the community. Some examples:
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Gated-access on community websites, wiki and forums
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Gradually unlocking new channels on Discord
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Governance power to provide an alternative to token-weighted
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Recurring airdrops
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Developing such integrations are not in scope for this proposal, although looking forward to bouncing ideas/suggestions/discussions for future releases.
Scope
The current implementation of PoC focuses more on the verification system, but only provides limited information and context. To become an education platform, communities need to be able to add their content, resources and learning materials in a structured manner. Integrating with existing identity solutions so people can build up their reputation on the profiles they already have.
Example of a quest for Proof of Humanity - Proof of Competence
Requested Funds
Iām requesting a total of $5.500 USD in stablecoin for developing the following components that will help move PoC to a new V2.
$1.500 Develop content & learning system
$1.500 Develop quiz module
$1.000 Integrate profiles using existing identity solutions (Ceramic/Self.ID/ENS)
$1.000 Design an initial Web3 / Solidity course to showcase the new features of the platform
$0 Collaborate with Communitas WG to spec out a TEC learning experience using the developed components
+10% for contingency
Team
Wesley (@wslyvh) has been an active member in the space, working on a variety of different projects as an indie hacker (PoC, useWeb3, Tokenlog, a gas tracker, a good first issue explorer) and as contractor for several leading companies (ConsenSys, EF).
PoC is also brought in as a project to Developer DAO and has several members supporting and contributing in varying capacities. The current work is currently focused on research on user/player-centric design, gamification and how competence can help people land their jobs in the space. This will continue in parallel.
