search

district0x / district-proposals

Proposals for new districts to be built by the district0x Team.
https://vote.district0x.io/
212 stars 36 forks source link

Cyclops - Achieve a Singular Solution Through Competition #176

Open MCDForm opened 7 years ago

MCDForm commented 7 years ago

Name

Cyclops - Achieve a Singular Solution Through Competition

Purpose

The Cyclops district has two purposes: 1. To find the best solution to a problem and 2. To reward competitors for solving the problem.

The district is intended to support community driven, open source solutions to problems using a curation market/gauntlet competition hybrid. The goal is to find a singular solution by presenting ideas, reworking ideas, and building off other ideas all while attempting to win the prize pool. The process will result in reaching a solution that has been peer reviewed, tested, replicated and revised.

This district will play host to problems posed by individuals, businesses, universities or any other entity. The district will also be used specifically to host competitions solely for the sake of competition.

Achieving a Singular Solution - The Odyssey

  1. A competition called an “Odyssey” is introduced by the district. Teams pay a predetermined fee to enter the first round. Team will present their solutions and methods prior to the deadline. The entry fees are placed into a pool.
  2. A voting period will commence allowing interested parties to choose the winner of the round. When the winner has been selected they move on to the second round. To prevent voting abuse, votes will become progressively more expensive for votes cast for each team.
  3. The 2nd round begins with a call for teams. The entry fee is now equal to the pool collected from round one. The team that won the first round receives free entry into the following round. Teams from round one may re-enter the Odyssey by paying the fee or completely new teams may enter.
  4. Teams in round two are encouraged to continue developing the solution that won in round one using the open source information, feedback and new research.
  5. When the deadline for solutions has been reached voting will commence.
  6. Rounds will continue to repeat until no team is willing to pay the entry fee. The winner is the last team to remain in the competition.

Sample Prize Structure

Round 1: 3 Teams. 0.5 Eth fee/team. Total pool: 1.5 Eth Round 2: 4 Teams. 1.5 Eth fee/team. Total pool: 6 Eth (previous winner free) Round 3: 3 Teams. 6 Eth fee/team. Total pool: 18 Eth (previous winner free) Round 4: 2 Teams. 18 Eth fee/team. Total pool: 36 Eth (previous winner free) Round 5: One entrant remains and wins the prize: Total prize: 36 Eth.

Where Do Problems Come From? - The Proposal Process

There are two pathways for a problem to become an Odyssey.

  1. An Odyssey can be commissioned
  2. The Public Odyssey Program
    • Anyone can submit a problems during a nomination cycle. The nominations will be voted on by the public. The winning problem will join the Public Odyssey Program (POP).

Solutions

  1. Teams are encouraged to post updates throughout the round allowing for public comment each step of the way.
  2. Each round the solutions will be posted according to rules specific to each Odyssey. An Odyssey may choose to host the submissions (encouraged to use IPFS) or have submissions placed on a 3rd party site like github.
  3. All facets of the solution should be available to the public for comment.

The Voting Process

There are multiple facets and option for voting systems.

  1. Votes will be registered to the blockchain.
  2. Voting cycles will have predetermined deadlines.
  3. The team with the highest number of votes will advance to the next round and pay no entry fee.
  4. Voting can be conducted using a simple upvote style mechanism or a more complex mechanism depending on the individual Odyssey.
  5. Odysseys may allow a single vote or multiple votes per user. This rule is Odyssey specific.
  6. Voting can be pay to vote or free
    • Pay to vote can be used to prevent multiple votes from the same person or group. Vote fees can remain fixed or can be increase with each additional vote cast to add extra protection against vote fixing. An example of a sliding scale system is: Votes 1-100 for team A cost $.10, Votes 101-1000 cost $.15, votes 1001+ costs $.25.
    • In free voting systems the party who commissioned the Odyssey will be responsible for the gas fees.
  7. Transaction fees (Gas) for voting can be included in the price to vote or can be arranged as part of the fee included in the Commission contract.
    • In a sliding scale system when the gas fee for voting is not covered by the voting fee the fee can be paid from the pool which is then reimbursed by profit generated by more expensive votes. For example a vote that costs $0.01 has a gas fee of $.05. The fee will be covered by the pool and the pool will be reimbursed by the first vote that cost enough to cover two gas fees.
    • In fixed price voting the voting fee should at least equal the cost of gas unless the gas fee is covered by the commission or deducted from the pool. This will be determined prior to the start of the Odyssey.

Use Cases

  1. A think tank in Los Angeles is having a competition to determine the most effective and profitable fee algorithm for use with parking meters with self adjusting fees in Santa Monica. The goal is to find the correct pricing structure required at different times that will encourage drivers to fill all spots, near and far. The winning team collects the prize pool and may also be contracted to deliver the service if capable.

  2. UCLA is hosting a competition to develop a more efficient way to permanently record the genetic code of hybridized beer yeast that it receives through a data exchange with Wyeast Laboratories.

  3. U.S. Frisbee Golf Association has commissioned an Odyssey for the design of a safer warning system for use in public parks. In 2016 the Association received reports of 27 injuries to non participants on or near frisbee golf courses across the country.

  4. A pawn shop owner is currently paying customers for gold but then must wait 10 days before selling the gold due to local laws. He would like a smart contract written that enables him to have his money held in escrow until the gold is cleared for resale. After being cleared the smart contract would deposit the money into the customer's account.

  5. The Silicon Valley Humane Society is looking for a way to improve the chipping process in dogs and cats. The current microchip does not allow the recording of transfer of ownership of a pet. Some pets arrive at the local animal shelters and have multiple chips and there is no way of determining who the legitimate owner is. The Society would like to identify a method to tie proof of ownership to the pets chip and to allow the transfer of pets to be recorded permanently.

  6. A local school district has asked its students to find a solution to the lack of widespread use of the school courtyard during lunch. The school’s lunch benches are overcrowded and very few students are occupying the adjacent grassy field. In this case, a token reward system may be used rather than money.

Rules of the Odyssey

  1. All Odysseys must be completely open source and/or transparent during the entire process unless a private Odyssey has been commissioned with a specific rule set.
  2. Each Odyssey may have limitations such as budget or time limitations for possible solutions.
  3. In commissioned Odysseys the commissioning party may offer additional rewards for the winning party. If an Odyssey is completely private a non monetary award may be used as the sole reward.

How long do Odysseys last?

  1. The length of an Odyssey can vary. A university may want to host a weekend coding competition or a multiyear microbiology research project.
  2. On the Odyssey page the timeline will be listed for each submission and voting period.
  3. POPs will be hosted simultaneously but only one from each duration range can be active. (One week or less: One year or less: Multiyear)

How will stakeholders make money?

There are a couple of possible profit pathways:

  1. The district can be completely profitless by redistributing all fees to the prize pool.
  2. Voting fees can be collected as profit.
  3. Fee for commissioned Odysseys can be collected as profit.

Notes

  1. Due to the emphasis on open source material and transparency this district could attract a large user base in Academia. This demographic will also likely be interested in utilizing cryptocurrency.
  2. Teams can attract sponsors to cover entry fees. Sponsorship money belongs completely to the teams.
  3. The party who commissions an Odyssey may have a sponsor to cover the fee. e.g. Connecticut’s High School Coding Competition hosted by Microsoft
  4. Teams can enter during any round of the competition. They may skip rounds and rejoin. Two teams can combine to form a new team as this may lead to a better solution. As the price to enter the Odyssey increases teams may be more inclined to pool their knowledge and resources.
  5. Odysseys do not have to be tech related. They can include any type of problem, examples including athletic uniform design, safety equipment, more comfortable toilet, etc.
  6. Teams would be encouraged to use open source sites like github to post work in progress. The individual rules of each Odyssey would dictate how submissions are made.
  7. If needed, submissions may be tokenized and recorded to the blockchain to provide a permanent time stamp recording.
  8. The goal is to find the most powerful singular solution to any type of problem.

Eth: 0x1c63a09C62558B2A614f48e7495291f02f99AC40

rongomaib commented 7 years ago

A voting period will commence allowing interested parties to choose the winner of the round.

need more info on this part of it...

Otherwise sounds like it could work...

On 13 September 2017 at 16:47, Steve notifications@github.com wrote:

Name

Cyclops - Achieve a Singular Solution Through Competition Purpose

The Cyclops district has two purposes: 1.) to find the best solution to a problem and 2.) to reward competitors for solving the problem.

The district is intended to support community driven, open source solutions to problems using a curation market/gauntlet competition hybrid. The goal is to find a singular solution by presenting ideas, reworking ideas, and building off other ideas all while attempting to win the prize pool. The process will result in reaching a solution that has been peer reviewed, tested, replicated and revised.

This district will play host to problems posed by individuals, businesses, universities or any other entity. The district will also be used specifically to host competitions solely for the sake of competition. Achieving a Singular Solution - The Odyssey

  1. A competition called an “Odyssey” is introduced by the district. Teams pay a predetermined fee to enter the first round. Team will present their solutions and methods prior to the deadline. The entry fees are placed into a pool.
  2. A voting period will commence allowing interested parties to choose the winner of the round. When the winner has been selected they move on to the second round. To prevent voting abuse, votes will become progressively more expensive for each team.
  3. The 2nd round begins with a call for teams. The entry fee is now equal to the pool collected from round one. The team that won the first round receives free entry into the following round. Teams from round one may re-enter the Odyssey by paying the fee or completely new teams may enter.
  4. Teams in round two are encouraged to continue developing the solution that won in round one When the deadline for solutions has been reached voting will commence.
  5. Rounds will continue to repeat until no team is willing to pay the entry fee. The winner is the last team to remain in the competition.

Sample Prize Structure

Round 1: 3 Teams. 0.5 Eth fee/team. Total pool: 1.5 Eth Round 2: 4 Teams. 1.5 Eth fee/team. Total pool: 6 Eth (previous winner free) Round 3: 3 Teams. 6 Eth fee/team. Total pool: 18 Eth (previous winner free) Round 4: 2 Teams. 18 Eth fee/team. Total pool: 36 Eth (previous winner free) Round 5: One entrant remains and wins the prize: Total prize: 36 Eth. Where Do Problems Come From? - The Proposal Process

There are two pathways for a problem to become an Odyssey.

  1. An Odyssey can be commissioned
  2. The Public Odyssey Program
    • The public will submit problems to be voted on by the public. The winning problem will join the Public Odyssey Program (POP).

Use Cases

1.

A think tank in Los Angeles is having a competition to determine the most effective and profitable fee algorithm for use with parking meters with self adjusting fees in Santa Monica. The goal is to find the correct pricing structure required at different times that will encourage drivers to fill all spots, near and far. The winning team collects the prize pool and may also be contracted to deliver the service if capable. 2.

UCLA is hosting a competition to develop a more efficient way to permanently record the genetic code of hybridized beer yeast that it receives through a data exchange with Wyeast Laboratories. 3.

A pawn shop owner is currently paying customers for gold but then must wait 10 days before selling the gold due to local laws. He would like a smart contract written that enables him to have his money held in escrow until the gold is cleared for resale. After being cleared the smart contract would deposit the money into the customer's account. 4.

A local school district has asked its students to find a solution to the lack of widespread use of the school courtyard during lunch. The school’s lunch benches are overcrowded and very few students are occupying the adjacent grassy field. In this case, a token reward system may be used rather than money.

Rules of the Odyssey

  1. All Odysseys must be completely open source and/or transparent during the entire process unless a private Odyssey has been commissioned with a specific rule set.
  2. Each Odyssey may have limitations such as budget or time limitations for possible solutions.
  3. In commissioned Odysseys the commissioning party may offer additional rewards for the winning party. If an Odyssey is completely private a non monetary award may be used as the sole reward.

How long do Odysseys last?

  1. The length of an Odyssey can vary. A university may want to host a weekend coding competition or a multiyear microbiology research project.
  2. On the Odyssey page the timeline will be listed for each submission and voting period.
  3. POPs will be hosted simultaneously but only one from each duration range can be active. (One week or less: One year or less: Multiyear)

How will stakeholders make money?

There are a couple of possible profit pathways:

  1. The district can be completely profitless
  2. Voting fees can be collected as profit
  3. Fee for commissioned Odysseys can be collected as profit.

Notes

  1. Due to the emphasis on open source material and transparency this district could attract a large user base in Academia. This demographic will also likely be interested in utilizing cryptocurrency.
  2. Teams can attract sponsors to cover entry fees. Sponsorship money belongs completely to the teams.
  3. The party who commissions an Odyssey may have a sponsor to cover the fee. e.g. Connecticut’s High School Coding Competition hosted by Microsoft
  4. Teams can enter during any round of the competition. They may skip rounds and rejoin. Two teams can combine to form a new team.
  5. The goal is to find the most powerful singular solution to any type of problem.

— You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/district0x/district-proposals/issues/176, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/Adg2XUF4MZnMd5FS2ecJopPL8fDibaZCks5sh4GJgaJpZM4PVre3 .

MCDForm commented 7 years ago

@imdying Thanks for the comment. I have added a Voting section to the proposal. Let me know if you'd like some more details or have any suggestions.

uvizhe commented 7 years ago

The weak part here IMO is that teams put on risk not just their time but also their money. This model works well in professional sports when every competition gives players a chance to rise their score and improve their skills. But when you deal with problems in different areas and there's no rankings giving you arbitrary privileges this model don't give enough motivation.

Who is interested in a problem solution? Teams or those who define a problem? I think the latter. So they should motivate teams and hence to form a prize pool. This does not negate the idea that voters can put their money in the prize pool as well of course.

Another problem I see here is that there's a possible situation when a few teams have a complete working solution at some iteration. Should we stop the challenge or let the teams go to the next iterations by paying an entry fee? There may come some amendments which will give us the new winner.

MCDForm commented 7 years ago

@uvizhe Your first point I totally agree with and that's why I focused the non commissioned competitions to the academic crowd. University clubs compete all the time in competitions with paid entry. Think about battle bots. Team invest money and time in their robots then lose. I'm thinking the open source transparent model of these competitions could expedite develop in some cases. Many groups of researches work together but this adds a time factor, reward factor and also a peer review process through the entirety of the project. In the end teams would lose money but not necessarily their time because they have helped advance research that they themselves could continue pursuing down multiple avenues.

The 2nd point I am mixed on. In a commissioned competition those who define a problem would be interested in a solution but in some settings (academia) everyone might be interested in the solution.

Your last point I thought about while preparing the proposal. Some solutions would include a set number of rounds, the right for the commissioning party to stop the process or even a certain number of votes could stop the process. Also, the goal of this is not to find a working solution but the single best solution to one problem so extra rounds could help to refine a solution.

I also think a solution to some of the problems you mentioned would be to use a token mechanism where the sponsor sets a prize pool ($10,000) and provides teams with a certain number of tokens in return. The tokens could be used (for free entry) into the competition and for each round. In this case if you don't have enough tokens to finish a round you'd have to collaborate with another team to pool your tokens. I haven't been able to figure out an end game to this version yet. Any suggestions would help.