SEA Community Hub Proposal: Hacktivism

Community Hubs
1

Summary of Proposal

A safe space for everyone interested in the hacktivism culture, cypherpunk ethos & practical side of Ethereum social layer.

Motivation and Rationale

    • How would this community hub enhance the attendee experience?

      • At the beginning of Ethereum, values shaped the path forward.This hub will act as a catalyst for those who are interested in Ethereum’s cypherpunk core values, and how they can make the world a better place.

    • How would this compliment the main programme that is happening at Devcon?

      • The main program happening at Devcon will give people the theoretical tools and technical tools, the Hacktivist Hub will be the place for hackers to convey and discuss how they could put what they learnt in practice to effect the change they wish to see in the real world.

    • Why is this topic significant, and why is a community hub the best format to address it instead of a talk or workshop at the main conference?

      • At the beginning of Ethereum, it was all about values and how Ethereum could have a positive impact in the world. This hub wants to be the place for Devcon attendees discuss what they learnt at the main conference, the values that shape Ethereum, how we can uphold them while building.

Implementation

  • What are the production requirements for your space? In addition to what the Devcon team can provide, what other equipment do you plan on sourcing for your community hub?
    - Projector / Screen
    - Flipchart
    - Comfortable seats for 30 people (chairs, couches)
    - 3x magnetic whiteboards to create a historical hacktivism timeline, then we make an open whiteboard for peers to add their hacktivism future
    - Postit
    - Pens
    - 2-3 movable Whiteboards
    - Ideally the space could have nice rugs, puffs and cushions. We will ask people to take their shoes off.
    - If there is availability, we would love to have a room where we could potentially add some ambient lights and make the space cozy.

  • Provide a sample programme planned for the operating hours of the Community Hub. This does not need to be the final one, but a first draft which can be used as a basis to begin discussions.

    • Day 1: roundtable on the current state of the world: what are the main problems we’re facing? How can those problems be addressed by the Ethereum ecosystem? What issues is Thailand facing that can be addressed by Ethereum?

    • Day 2, Morning: Zoom in on privacy: what’s the status of the world and Ethereum ecosystem on privacy and what are the current challenges we face?

    • Day 2, Afternoon: Zoom in on censorship: what’s the status of the world on censorship and OFAC sanctions’ impact and what are the current challenges we face?

    • Day 3: Zoom in on AI: what’s the status of the world on AI and what are the current challenges we face? For example we’ll unpack WorldCoin, Sam Altman and decentralized AI

    • Day 4: Zoom in on the tooling: what are the practical instruments that Ethereum give us to advance human rights?

    • Guests:

      • We will have international and local guests who will share their perspectives on the global picture.
      • We will have Thai guests who will discuss digital human rights in Thailand and APAC.
      • Some guests will be invited and will also launch a call for application for those interested in sharing their experiences.

Team

  • Who are the list of dedicated people that will organise and be fully responsible for the Community Hub?

  • Why are they best suited to drive this community hub? What expertise do they offer in this topic?

    • A diverse group of active blockchain peers who are working on various points of hacktivism. From music to encryption to organisational peer-to-peer networking. This group has joined forces multiple times in the past, ensuring outlets for peers who are keen to build outside the status quo or even battle against it if needed. Expertise ranges from multiple hackathon winners to privacy collective founders to hackathon judges & rave organisers. Combine those forces, and you receive a live mix at devcon from of various perspectives.

  • How will you ensure that the hub stays free from marketing and avoids promoting specific tokens or projects? How will you guarantee that the project’s interests do not interfere with this requirement?

    • By utilising various backgrounds from those who are not working on the same projects, we can guarantee that we’re all representing the topics as a primary point of conversation within the hacktivism hub. There will be no items, projects, or tokens offered or sold during the hub. All of our peers’ external projects are, by their nature, open-source, and we extend this ethos to our knowledge given during the hacktivism hub.

    • How are the people driving the Community Hub representative of a community?

      • They are activists engaged with the Ethereum for years matching social layer with the complex tech, cultural attributes (music) & local contexts (Venezuela, Italy, Ukraine, Belgium).
7 Likes
2

Im very excited to make this story a success! So far we have been creating great ideas, and it feels great to work with all of us on the next steps of this

3 Likes
3

Hey all! Thanks for putting this together. Extremely excited to see a proposal for a community hub that focuses on cypherpunk values!

Just a minor note on the production requirement:

  • The space that is provided is around 32 sqm. We might need to factor that in to see in what configuration it would be possible to fit all of the above without the space becoming too cramped. Also, the space will already have about 20-25 chairs and seats to accomodate people in the community hubs. The Devcon team can also provide a limited number of desks, power sockets, whiteboards, and maybe 1 TV-screen to connect your laptop to. Beyond this you might need to think about what else you’d like to source externally and what the space requirements for that would be - but this doesn’t really affect the proposal, just is something to think about at a later stage if applicable.

General Update on the Process

  • The RFP is open until the end of August.
  • Shortly after this (early first week of September), we will share which Community Hub proposals got accepted and will work with those accepted teams to fine-tune the proposals/hubs and how we can best meet their production requirements.

We’ll keep you updated, should we have any more questions!

Thanks!

3 Likes
4

Thanks for space optimization feedback! We will fit our activities with the limited space + adjust once it will be finalized (if accepted).

Plus I want to highlight that we as a part of Web3Privacy now are doing a Cypherpunk Congress, so exprect speakers coming to our Hacktivism hub to share insights, participate in conversations, foster discussion of the Ethereum Social Layer etc.

We didn’t put any names yet on the list (because of the proposal nature of the hub), but we will have them as a part of hub’s program.

4 Likes
5

I think this idea is wonderful and will provide an important educational opportunity on Cypherpunk values to help strengthen Ethereum’s social layer.

Too add, I also wanted to raise that it would be awesome to add an All-women educational panel to this Hub. Women In Privacy, which focuses on producing original education content, can help with his :slight_smile:

3 Likes
6

This is a very meaningful proposal. Love to see ETH uphold its cypherpunk values,instead of being captured by incumbent institutions. Make it as decentralized, permissionless and censorship resistant as much as possible or it will be captured.
We must try to avoid that.

Love to collaborate as 1) an eth user, educationer & product builder since 17’, as well as 2) share my perspective from a crypto native person who’s also coming from a legal background.

1 Like
7

Hi!

Thank you so much for your patience as we review all the community hub proposals. A quick update: We have extended the deadline to submit a community hub application by one week, to the 7th of September 2024 (AoE time). You can now expect to hear from us about the outcome of your proposal by mid-September.

Thank you again! In the meantime, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.

2 Likes
8

Thanks, Shyam! Will wait for the further news.

9

Looking forward to hear any feedback! :slight_smile: @Shyam_Sridhar Doo you have any closure on if this fits within the Devcon program?

10

Hi there,

Thank you again for putting together this proposal!

We’re excited to let you know that your proposal has been selected as a Community Hub for this year’s Devcon!

What’s next?

  1. Submit a DIP: To confirm your commitment, please submit a DIP in our DIP repository. This helps us track all community initiatives, and your Hub will be featured in the DIPs section of the Devcon website. Please tag proposal with ‘Community Hub’. Here’s an example from last year.
  2. Production details: We’ll collaborate with our production team to prepare a manual covering all the logistics for your space. Expect it within the next week or two.
  3. Program planning: We’ll work with you to refine your program and offer feedback to help create an amazing experience for Devcon attendees.
  4. Communication channels: We’ll set up the necessary channels to stay in touch from now until the end of Devcon.

Thank you again for your initiative—we can’t wait to see your Community Hub come to life at Devcon SEA!

Best Regards,

Shyam & The Devcon Team

2 Likes