Establish Ocean Academy as a catalyst for adoption and growth of Ocean Protocol
Key Project Data
Name of project
Project Shrimp 
Website
Proposal Wallet Address
0x5cFDBd9150596b790AAe28e003EFfac9f29081F9
The proposal in one sentence
Project Shrimp delivers a comprehensive education platform designed to act as a catalyst for adoption and growth of Ocean Protocol, involving NFT certificates, a new module on data DeFi, a proactive marketing system, and various improvements to Ocean 101 to make it more appealing to data scientists and the broader community.
Project Category
⌧ Outreach & growth
⌧ Unleash data
Project Overview
Background
Ocean Academy is a community initiative started by Ocean Ambassadors. Its goal is to lower the intellectual barriers required to grasp Ocean Protocol’s mental models and technology.
Many people, including data owners, developers and data scientists, are not familiar with blockchain and smart contracts yet. Web3 solutions are foreign to both developers and the general public, hence we aim to reach the broadest audience possible rather than solely catering to Web3 natives.
Ocean 101 was launched on October 27, 2020. One month after launch, the results are extremely encouraging. The coursework has been effective as an outreach medium, and the site has delivered beyond expectation on enrollment and certification (actuals index 171 and 201 vs. KPI targets).
Ocean Academy has brought in numerous new Ocean Ambassador candidates and contributors to the Academy. The team has grown from 4 people to 14 contributors, stirring innovation and a drive for further development.
Community feedback has been very positive. And the feedback made it clear that Ocean Academy doesn’t have to only teach technical skills, but can serve as an effective outreach platform for Ocean Protocol.
Ocean Academy has all it takes to educate people about Ocean Protocol and its broader impact, and push the message out of the Web3 boundaries to generate healthy growth.
Problem & Opportunity
Many Web3 projects view their target market as ‘crypto-natives’ and fail to reach the broader market they aim to serve. Ocean Protocol is no different; we estimate that >95% of its future user base is not familiar with Web3. The community will have to deploy tremendous efforts to gain traction and adoption by existing data owners and AI scientists.
Network effects can start with the Web3 community, and they must be designed to serve the wider market to compete in a space at the intersection of data, AI and blockchain that is becoming increasingly competitive. The higher the initial growth in active participants, the better.
This is where an education platform fills the gap.
Our Mission
Our vision is to establish Ocean Academy as a catalyst for adoption and growth for Ocean Protocol.
We want to build Ocean Academy as a platform for outreach, onboarding and skill-building for Ocean Protocol. Namely, it will serve the following purposes:
- Support the Ocean Protocol ecosystem
- Onboard selected communities to Ocean Protocol
- Further the outreach of Ocean Protocol
- Increase overall understanding and expertise in Ocean Protocol
- Stir ecosystem engagement
We want to make the Ocean Academy a central piece for onboarding users, builders, ambassadors, and all other community members with Ocean Protocol through:
- Integrative experience for new Supporters and Ambassadors of Ocean Protocol
- Increased collaboration between all people who have a certificate willing to contribute
- Promoting best-practices throughout the Ocean Community
We want to set Ocean Protocol on a path to a flourishing ecosystem at the center of the decentralized data economy.
Project Shrimp is the first tangible step in that direction. It sets the ground for future developments and kick-starts proactive outreach to generate growth for Ocean Protocol.
Project details
Project Shrimp is a set of initiatives brought together with a single objective in mind: ecosystem growth. The project entails four components:
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A coherent and forward-looking concept for Ocean Academy, revolving around the priorities for Ocean Protocol ecosystem growth with 3 tracks:
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Development (the “BUIDL” series)
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Ecosystem (the “ECO” series)
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Outreach (the “OUT” series)
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A new introductory module. Introduction to Data DeFi
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Improvements to Ocean 101:
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Web3 certification
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UI/UX improvements: navigation menus
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Animations/dynamic content
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A new structure for Ocean Academy series
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Gitbook
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Active marketing:
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Social media automation (Phantombuster)
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Ads targeting AI and data scientists (with the allocation of min. 1K OCEAN)
1. Concept
Ocean Academy is a comprehensive project encompassing all competencies relevant to the success of Ocean Protocol.
It is different from tutorials and publications, which are specific to short term needs or development milestones. It is different from reference documentation, which is more complete, often developer-focused and not delivered in a learning-focused fashion.
2. Education Curriculum
The education courses revolve around the main contributions required to develop the Ocean Protocol ecosystem: development/integration, usage, and outreach.
In our proposed design, each field has its own “Series”, with its own learning objectives and corresponding modules. This provides the flexibility to develop modules in the different “Series” independently / on a need basis.
2.a. The “BUIDL” Series
An education track to onboard Web3 builders to develop on Ocean. This series targets the most technical developers and builders, willing to contribute to Ocean Protocol core or build Web3 apps on top of Ocean Protocol.
Importance of the “BUIDL” Series:
- Increase the pool of contributors to Ocean Protocol software
- Provide ideas and guidance for developers to fork Ocean Protocol material and adapt to specific verticals’ need (e.g. build a marketplace)
- Provide ideas and guidance for developers to build new solutions with Ocean Protocol
- Provide a gentle onboarding for integrators and collaborators
- Increase technical understanding of Ambassadors and other users of Ocean Protocol
Potential modules going forward (part of Academy vision, listed for reference, but not in the scope of this proposal):
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Setting up a dataset for Compute to ata (C2D)
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For Data Publishers
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For Data Consumers
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Connecting your data pipeline or your App to OP
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Creating your own marketplace
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Maintaining/ updating/ migrating a dataset/data token
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Monetizing your algorithm
2.b. The “ECO” Series
A track focused on the usage of Ocean Protocol. This series targets business people and organizations dealing with data, data architects, scientists and AI practitioners. Anyone who creates value from data in a business context.
Importance of the “ECO” Series:
- Provide users with basic security knowledge
- Give the market participants structured processes on how to deal with bad actors or compromised accounts/wallets.
- Lower (mental) entry barriers for businesses and institutions that value data protection and security.
- Increase the pool of users to Ocean Protocol software
- Onboard businesses into Ocean Protocol
- Improve data quality signaling through better liquidity pools management and investment guidance
- Provide users with knowledge on reputation and trust-building in the market
- Provide a simple onboarding for users, focused on how to work with the Ocean Protocol stack the easy way
- Provide integration guidance to upgrade data workflows to the Web3 economy
- Expand the Ocean ecosystem by providing guidance on running one’s own marketplace
Potential modules going forward:
- Securing your Web3 assets
- Liquidity Pools implementation (using Balancer)
- Supply liquidity / Bet on Data sets
- Launch a new Data set / IDO
- Data Tokenomics
- Safely trading data tokens
- Best Practices with Data Markets & Pool Lifecycle
2.c. The “OUT” Series
A track focused on Ocean Protocol outreach to society. This series targets non-technical movers & shakers with vulgarized content to maximize the outreach potential of Ocean Protocol. Not everyone can build a new face ageing app, but everyone can use it and share it on their social handles.
Importance of the “OUT” Series:
- Grow the wider community of Ocean Protocol
- Rally influential people with responsibilities in public bodies and the price sector across communities and countries.
- Cultivate a positive image of AI and blockchain, and address skepticism on Ocean Protocol.
Potential modules going forward :
- Ocean Protocol for Dummies
- Ocean Protocol Applications
- An introduction to Data DeFi (delivered as part of this proposal)
3. New Module Delivery
Based on the guidance of the community, we propose the first new module to be an introduction to Data DeFi. This module will showcase the opportunity to earn revenue by betting on data, covering a key use case linked to data tokenomics.
What would you like to see next on the Ocean Academy? (201 votes)
- Compute To Data 21.4%
- Data Token Economics 25.9%
- OceanProtocol Use Cases 52.7%
The new module will contain 5 chapters:
- What is data DeFi
- Current status & potential
- Introduction to Ocean Market
- How to identify data tokens pools
- Principles for valuing data sets
3a. Website Improvements
User experience is very important, and right now the website UI is only designed to accommodate for Ocean101. The website will need new pages and menu restructuring to enable the new modules. The main changes will be:
i) Addition of new module buttons to the front page.
This will allow users to immediately see the courses available to them . Clicking on the course will redirect the user to the Course Information page. (see iii)
ii) Redesigning the left-side menu.
Especially for phone users, easy navigation between chapters is essential. The current left-side menu only shows chapters from Ocean101, because it is the only module on the site. We will be implementing a new side menu which allows users to switch between modules:
[The development of the new side-menu has already started]
iii) The Course Info page
Now that there are multiple courses, we can’t store the information about Ocean101 on the home page. Also, users may want to read about each individual course to decide which one to spend their time on.
Each course will have its own information page, structured like so.
4. Deliverables
- A revamped Ocean Academy website
- New Web3 certification
- An improved Ocean 101 course
- A new module: Introduction to Data DeFi
- A marketing campaign targeting AI and data scientists
5. KPI Targets
By Mid-February 2021:
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Unique visits to Ocean Academy: 5’000
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500 new Ocean 101 certificates issued
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Retain high conversions rates (enrollment, completion)
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Expected short term ROI:
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New visitors who will buy Ocean protocol token: 5%
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Avg. holding per holder: 30K Ocean (613 Mio / 20K holders)
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Demand for Ocean = 5’000 * 5% * 30K = 7.5 Mio Ocean
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Expected impact of extra 7.5 Mio demand for Ocean on USD price : +10% (for reference, a buy of 300K USD would induce +50% slippage on Uniswap)
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Expected impact on Ocean network total value: +15.3 Mio USD (10% on 153 Mio USD)
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Likelihood of sucess: 80%
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Bang = 80% * 15.3 Mio = 12.2 Mio USD
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Bucks = 10K Ocean = 0.0037 Mio USD
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ROI = 12.2 / 0.0037 = 3’297
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Note that the long term community impact will be much bigger, and it was not included in this ROI calcluation.
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Ongoing:
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Significant growth of Ocean Protocol Ambassadors (+60 currently joining the program since Ocean 101 was deployed)
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Significant growth of Ocean Protocol Community:
- Data buyers & sellers
- Data curators
- Project supporters
This is expected to significantly impact the growth of Ocean Protocol. Each new ambassador, user, curator, token holder and supporter has the potential to spread the word and extend the outreach of the network further.
Given our program targets users of Ocean Protocol, we believe this will help kickstart network effects, resulting in major growth and adoption of the ecosystem.
Team
Ocean Academy will be built by a distributed team scattered across all continents, with a diverse set of experience and expertise. Talent in the team is considerable, and each member is actively contributing with her/his own skills, all of which blend into our secret sauce.
Processes have been put in place to enable agile development at scale while ensuring maximum quality in deliverables.
Meet the Crew
- Gherardo Lattanzi. AI and Privacy Analyst, China - Italy (LinkedIn).
- Albert Peci. Full-stack Developer, Berlin, Germany (LinkedIn).
- Aymeric Bethencourt. Full-stack Developer, Paris, France (LinkedIn).
- Laurent Rochat. Analytics and Insights Director, Geneva, Switzerland (LinkedIn).
- Kai Meinke, Product Owner, Kiel, Germany (LinkedIn).
- Sarah Kay. Junior Developer, Designer, Melbourne, Australia (LinkedIn).
- Ludovic Grandclement, Technical Project Manager, Hong Kong SAR (LinkedIn).
Our Values
Content Quality. Content should be easy to understand, always correct and updated accordingly…
Inclusiveness. We provide public chats and documentation to onboard new contributors and welcome everyone who wants to improve their skills while helping a real-world project.
User experience. We understand that an engaging experience helps to better grasp abstract and new concepts. We are not just another written tutorial but an interactive learning platform.
Transparency. All our groups, code and planning are public and open source.
Work Processes
Our objective is to be inclusive and to keep growing the team involved in Ocean Academy. We want our project to reflect the values of Ocean Protocol with respect to inclusiveness and openness, and welcome every new contributor.
This has required a change in the way we work as a team. Coordination with 4 people is easier than with 15 people, or 50, and we have now created a structure supporting team expansion.
Some of the new processes we have implemented to support us on our mission:
- A committee responsible for output quality
- A governance & collaboration framework
- Regular meetings
- Agile project management tools
This new structure allows us to work independently, following the transition to a fully decentralized governance model for Ocean Protocol - of course, the inputs from the Ocean Protocol Foundation will always be welcomed.
We may also formalize our organization further with an Ocean Academy DAO.
Supporting Tools
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Communication
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Bi-weekly agile reviews
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Telegram Chat
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Collaboration
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GitHub (DEV)
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Trello (Task management)
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Doodle (Meeting scheduler)
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Google Hangout (Meetings)
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App software stack
Deliverables Roadmap
December 2020
- OceanDao Proposal (here)
- OA Team organization (completed)
- Ocean 101 promotion (completed)
- Improvements to Ocean 101: addition of dynamic menu (completed)
January/February 2021
- Website improvements delivered
- NFT certification
- New module delivered
- Marketing campaign live
February/March 2021
- Performance review
Future plans
Q1 2021
- 2x 5 New modules
- New marketing campaign (tbc)
Q2/2021
- 2x 5 New modules
- New marketing campaign (tbc)
Why this proposal makes sense
Project Shrimp represents the first step in moving towards the Ocean Academy mission to drive adoption for Ocean Protocol. It kicks off a virtuous cycle of community engagement and growth for Ocean Protocol.
Project Shrimp creates structure and transparency around the different learning verticals.
It provides a modular foundation for ongoing development, following the principles applied during the development of Ocean101.
- It provides an open environment where contributors are free - and encouraged - to develop the Ocean ecosystem from their own initiative.
- It also makes it adaptive to the needs when they arise.
- It makes it easier to align contributor skills with specific learning objectives.
The creation of a new module is suggested, with the aim to significantly contribute to Ocean Protocol ecosystem growth. This particular module was chosen as a vehicle to showcase the unique and exciting features of data DeFi to drive adoption, following the guidance from the Ocean community.
This is the only project looking to invest in marketing activities beyond Medium and social media, which are typically limited to the Web3 community. This will significantly improve the visibility of Ocean Protocol, and offer valuable learnings on this new activity.
