1.Do you have any questions about the Giving Chain project and what the project GOAL is?
Answer. Will the Giving Chain in this summer focus only on creating a network for the private individual donations and expand the network to NGOs, Corporate social engagement etc in later stages? or would we build a network now in this summer to include them too ?
2.Do you have a preference to part time (20 hours a week from June to November). Or Full time (40 hours from June to August)
Answer. I will choose part time ( from June to November), I want to spend longer time, learn different things and network with other people.
3.Describe what you feel the project must overcome
Answer.
- Writing a business logic to represent all the human interactions in donation would be a challenging task. For example if some donor wants his product back or donated a stolen product or the donor changes his mind and wants his donation back maybe because of some prejudice, how do we help the receiver in such cases. What to do in case of conflict, how do we resolve conflicts.
- For smooth interaction we need a decentralized identity management mechanism.
- We need to protect the privacy of the receiver and also prove to the donor that the receiver needs help. We need to incorporate Zero knowledge proof.
- People will donate a variety of resources and we should represent them fully in the network and make sure the exact resource reaches the receiver.
- Donors may feel that they have nothing to donate. We should build a network that also takes many small donations like giving away your old books or football etc. Maybe donation doesn’t come naturally, maybe it's an acquired taste, we can help people build a taste for donation.
- It's hard for people to ask for help from others and to communicate their needs. I think NGOs and other organisations are trained and can communicate with receivers and understand their unique problems and put forth their needs in such a way that other normal people can understand.
- Some of the time help doesn’t reach on time and people lose hope and stop asking for help. We should build a network that mobilizes resources quickly.
- If we want to include NGOs, Corporates etc we should give them autonomy to follow their plan and at same time we should make sure they don’t undermine the integrity and principles of the network.
- NGOs are answerable to government and local authorities. For example In India NGOs have to take permission from the government and they should show the money trail. We should build a network that helps NGOs, Corporates etc in auditing and other necessary operations.
- Finding volunteers regularly will be hard and creating a token mechanism would be risky.
- Encouraging donors to donate resources that will help receivers in long term and make them self sufficient.
- Help communities to form groups and mobilize resources swiftly in times of disaster later the network can help in checks.
4.What does success look like for this project.
Answer.
- Deploy the network to the cloud with few validators and perform at least few donations and few transactions.
- Understand how donations works and code them into the network. And create a documentation for further uses, evaluations and corrections.
- Discover the gaps, inconsistencies in our present approach and use of technology stack, and give a report whether to adopt a different approach and technical stack or to make improvements and changes to them.
- Write articles and make videos, and reach out to those who work in donation space and get their opinions.
Thank you for reading. I am really excited to work on this project, I hope I get this opportunity.
May 6, 2021
Dear Bobbi Muscara,
I discovered this internship when I was looking for a job on linkedin. I am lost in search of a
job, scared and I am not sure what I should be looking for. The principles that attracted me to
blockchain are looking like mirages. This made me self-reflect and it produced a paralysing
effect on me, unable to choose what to do, and this has helped me think deeper, understand
the world better and I worked on my mental health.
I worked as a freelancer for two projects. I have created a land registry POC using
Hyperledger Fabric and a frontend website to interact with it. I can work with Hyperledger
Fabric, Ethereum and have experimented on a few blockchains, I can build websites using the
MERN stack, I am currently learning Hyperledger Sawtooth and Docker. I am 22 years old, I
graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science 6 months back.
I have self taught myself about blockchain and it's really hard for me to have an honest
picture of where I lack and what to work on. Under your guidance I want to dwell at length
on the Giving Chain and understand all its intricacies, understand how to approach different
problems, understand where to look and what to look, I want to work with your team and
learn from you guys. I wanna work hard and be open, and learn everything this internship has
to offer me.
Due to the pandemic there is huge unemployment in India, I believe there is a similar
situation in other parts of the world, with the Giving Chain we can help communities to share
their resources and help each other. I want to learn and build systems that help people
collaborate with each other. I am and have been in the shoes of those in need, and I can
contribute uniquely to build a humane system. I would be open to everything from reading
social theories to going on ground and working with NGOs. I want to be part of the Giving
Chain especially now a project like this operating in the pandemic would give me so many
insights into blockchain that I can learn nowhere else.
I would welcome any assignment or task you would like to give me to test my skills. I would
be very excited and grateful if I could be part of the Giving chain, if you need any further
details please contact me. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
K Sanjay Kumar