Report N°1: Arbitrum Education, Community Growth and Events Domain
This report describes the development of the Arbitrum Education, Community Growth and Events domain. So far I’ve been leading a joint work with SEEDLatam, L2 en español, and LayerX. In this report, we will cover the development and execution to date, with a final report at the culmination of this program.
Evaluation system
This document expresses our approach to evaluating the proposals received as domain allocators. The focal point was the organization of various events such as hackathons, bootcamps, webinars, and other similar activities. We emphasized that the proposals should preferably be related to educational institutions to bring Arbitrum closer to a more academic environment. These events were key touchpoints in our overall strategy to foster education and community growth.
Aspect 1: Proposal ideas
During the review of the proposals, we paid attention to those related to hackathons and workshops, especially those related to academic institutions such as universities or schools.
Aspect 2: Budget Description
An integral aspect of our process involved conducting a thorough analysis of the budget for each project. Our objective was to present a detailed breakdown, justifying each fund request and outlining its specific use. This meticulous examination aimed to ensure transparency and accountability in financial matters.
Aspect 3: Regional Diversity
In parallel, we set out to achieve global impact. By actively soliciting proposals from different communities and countries, our intention is to cultivate language, regional, and cultural diversity. This aims to achieve a broader reach that will benefit Arbitrum.
For this reason, we promote the domain in several languages, and we also advertise it in different communities:
Link: https://twitter.com/SEEDGov/status/1714516133116588249
Link: https://twitter.com/SEEDGov/status/1719047916822626480/photo/2
Link: https://twitter.com/SEEDGov/status/1714511875449250223
Link: https://twitter.com/SEEDGov/status/1719047916822626480/photo/1
Link: https://twitter.com/SEEDGov/status/1717276960999538988
Link: https://twitter.com/SEEDGov/status/1716899431713292483
Discord Channels
In order to improve the communication between the proposal builders and the Domain allocator team, we established dedicated Discord forum channels, each serving as a dynamic platform for seamless communication, timely updates, and clarifications.
Our initiative was to ensure transparency throughout the entire process. To achieve this, all communication channels were configured to be public. This deliberate decision fosters openness and facilitates a broader community engagement by allowing interested parties to follow the discussions and updates in real time.
Is important to clarify that everyone has access to these channels to be part of the discussion or see the interaction between the proposer builder and the Domain allocator team.
Work distribution
As detailed in the domain presentation, the team was composed of 5 members of Seed Latam, L2 en español, and Layer X, led by myself. Proposals were evaluated in depth, and questions from bidders were answered, exceeding the number of hours allocated to the domain with fast and fluid responses. As mentioned above, these conversations were public, we also had meetings with the proposers to improve some aspects of their proposal.
The team evaluated each proposal, with my vote as team leader having more weight in case a consensus was not reached. This allows us to make in-depth evaluations of each proposal.
We would like to emphasize that we also carry out diffusion tasks of the domain so that more interested parties, communities, and working groups can approach Arbitrum.
Proposal’s Map
The map presented shows an approximate representation of the regions and countries where all the approved projects are located, providing a global view of the different communities covered by the domain.
We will also update the map at the end of the domain, in this way, we try to have a global vision of the regions that we have not yet covered.
Please let us know if you think there are errors in this map, we are open to feedback.
Budget approved
| Projects | Budget Requested |
|---|---|
| Onboarding of new developers | $ 9.500,00 |
| Arbitrum as official sponsor of Ethereum Mexico 2023 | $ 5.000,00 |
| DeFi Africa - Web3 BUIDL Workshops | $ 9.750,00 |
| Arbitrum Academy | $ 19.500,00 |
| MetricsDAO: Web3 Analytics within the Arbitrum Ecosystem | $ 20.500,00 |
| Blockchain Innovation Hub - A Three Month Bootcamp for Developers | $ 16.000,00 |
| Arbitrum STIP Virtual Event Marathon | $ 6.250,00 |
| Arbitrum Arabic | $ 14.025,00 |
| Total | $ 100.525,00 |
Things to improve
During our process as Domain Allocators, we encountered several challenges. One notable difficulty was the large number of high-level proposals, which complicated the project selection process. Hours were spent studying project budgets in detail, focusing primarily on ensuring projects were of the highest quality at the best price.
Another challenge was the diversity of projects coming from different countries, each with its own regional pricing. This required a concerted effort to match prices with domain costs, which added an additional layer of complexity to our responsibilities.
We would also like to clarify that the domain has a duration of 6 months, this implies that the proposals must be within this time range, so the evaluation also went through the execution time. This also meant that we had many proposals accepted in this first phase since most of them take between 2 and 3 months of execution, considering that the Christmas and end-of-year dates are in between.
In response to the evolving challenges, we initiated improvements to streamline certain processes. Following thorough evaluations of multiple projects, we automated key procedures, such as template usage and rubric assessments. This strategic move aimed not only to enhance efficiency but also to conserve valuable time resources for more strategic decision-making.
Conclusions
The Domain Allocator process is a meticulous undertaking that demands dedicated effort from each team member. It entails a keen understanding of identifying nuanced details within proposals to ensure informed decision-making. As of the current update, we have received a total of 31 proposals. Among these, 8 have been approved, 13 were regrettably rejected, and 10 are currently undergoing thorough evaluations.
Our allotted budget for this program stands at $200,000. At present, the approved projects account for a total expenditure of 100,525.00. In light of our expectations, it appears that there may be room to accommodate only 4 or 5 more projects within our budgetary constraints.
After the Domain Allocators grants program concludes, we are committed to presenting a comprehensive report to the Arbitrum community.