Mimo: Decentralized Online Profiles & Universal Login Dapp

[ghiliweld]

Aragon Nest Proposal: Decentralized Profiles Based on ENS

Abstract

Mimo is a standard that enables the creation and use of decentralized online profiles. The standard aims to build a common informational interface by which social networks, games and other Dapps can host user experiences on their services without hosting or owning user information. We envision a future in which apps are sorely focused on the UX of their apps and crafting the best experience and where users can switch to any apps they like while sill maintaining their following and profile info.

What Mimo is going for can be summed up in three words: Experiences, not services.

Login in meant to be incredible smooth and easy, here’s a sketch I posted demonstrating how login/signup would look like.

Deliverables & Development Timeline

1. Develop JS library for use with Mimo. (1-2 weeks)
2. Working on main Mimo Dapps to create user profiles (2-4 weeks)
3. Releasing Alpha test on Rinkeby for a select group of users to try (~1 month or so)
4. Working on other Dapps to demonstrate Mimo functionality (throughout the whole timeline)
5. Add any new features that should be added based on feedback from the Alpha test (2-3 weeks)
6. Release Beta test for the world (TBD)
7. Aiming for a mainnet launch around Winter 18' - Spring 19'.

Grant size

Funding: $8k / month for 8 months would fund additional team members on minimal salaries. Mimo aims to be very capital efficient.

Success reward: Up to $20k in ANT, given out when all deliverables are ready.

Application requirements

• Proof of concept of the smart contracts: https://github.com/D-OZ/tokenless

• Details of the team members, alongside with their willingness in terms of implication: Ghilia Weldesselasie:

  • I’ve been involved in the blockchain space since May 2017. Having initially started as a trader, I eventually began searching for a job in the space and I managed to land a job at AirSwap as a community manager. I’ve always been resourceful enough to build cool things. I once built a makeshift OTC trading subreddit built on 0x. It’s called r/tokentrade and you can read more about it here: https://www.ethnews.com/bootstrapping-an-over-the-counter-cryptocurrency-exchange What I love the most about this project was the fact that it took just a few minutes to get up and running and its use was almost immediate. We really hit the nail on this one, product-market fit wise. I’ve been hard at work on Mimo ever since January 2018.

• Estimated average burn rate for completing the deliverables: We have no outside funding so $8K/month would be our burn rate.

• Legal structure to be adopted, if any: None, but we could set something up if necessary.

[Quazia]

I think a major element of the success of this project hinges on getting buy-in from established DApps, and a lot of the "magic" revolves around the idea of creating a standardized way to "follow" other users. Even so, it's still hard for me to fully buy into the idea that a user would want to maintain a single set of followers and a profile from site to site. For example, the people I would follow on Soundcloud, Facebook, and Twitter would share almost no overlap. On Soundcloud I want to follow musicians I like, on Facebook it's geographically close to people, and on Twitter, it's people I find interesting and thought leaders.

While I may have doubts about how necessary this project is to the overall Ethereum ecosystem it feels like a great project for you to build out as a learning experience. You have 9-13 weeks of deliverables but you're asking for 10 months of burn and I really do feel like the scope of this project is something you could tackle in 2 months..

I think given the fact that you are admittedly new to development, and this project doesn't feel like something that we as a community need, you'd be a really good fit for the upcoming summer Blockternship (collaborative effort from Aragon, Giveth, Swarm City, and Chainshot). The goal is to get people who are learning DApp development skills to come together, form teams, and hack on a project for 2 months. This program feels more consistent with your goals and timeline for Mimo. Mimo feels like a very good fit for the summer Blockternship but unfortunately does not feel like something that's currently a must have for the Ethereum ecosystem, or as a result of the Aragon nest program. I would really encourage you to pursue this project under the Blockternship though, as I believe the mentorship and visibility that would offer could easily help you achieve a position doing DApp development.

[mariapao]

Hi @ghiliweld thank you so much for submitting your proposal. @Quazia is going to be supporting the Aragon project with the nest program. Thus, after reviewing your proposal and as per Quazia's comments, we have decided to not move forward with this proposal.

We appreciate very much your participation and If in the future you are working on something that fits the program, do not hesitate to apply again.

[ghiliweld]

Hey @Quazia to address your first point, I'm not really trying to get buy-in from existing and established Dapps. While that would be great, I'm more interested in getting buy-in from Dapps that still aren't here yet.

Your point about not wanting your followers to overlap is a fair one but also keep in mind that that's how YOU use social media. Personally, I have a lot of overlap in my following lists except for chat apps like Messenger. Something like overlap could also be dealt with one a site's frontend by "muting" a profile or something like that. I think being able to see what a person is up to across several sites is a good feature. Say you follow Vitalik on Twitter for his thoughts, you might also follow him on Medium for more fleshed out versions of his tweetstorms, I don't see why someone would not want to listen to his podcast if he had one on Soundcloud. It all comes down to preference and that can be handled by the Dapps themselves.

As for the timeline, while the project may seem simple at first there are some complex elements to it. To make Mimo decentralizated, cheapness of txs and privacy need to be balanced. I could certainly build this in ~2 months but it would come at an expense. Either a superior product gets built later on and Mimo gets replaced or worse, Mimo (an inferior product at this point) becomes widely used with all of the drawbacks that it would come with and the network effects become so strong that it still keeps on being used. I'm really trying to make it work well, and while it would be ideal for things like secret contracts (by the Enigma team) or The Graph to get developed quickly if it doesn't happen we'll have a solution within 8 months.

I also can't build this alone since I'm really trying to build the future of online profiles, hence why I need the money for team members. At least one more engineer and a designer. I do admit I could tighten the budget a little more which I will do now.

@mariapao is it too late to appeal?