As research-oriented DAOs and Decentralized Science (DeSci) become increasingly prevalent in Web3, questions around rewards, incentives, and participation become that much more relevant. That’s precisely why Orange Protocol is collaborating with TalentDAO — one of the leading communities in decentralized social science research — to utilize reputation in novel ways to incentivize researchers and community members.
As TalentDAO exists as a community of organizational scientists, strategists and researchers, implementing systems for individuals to build and maintain reputation becomes increasingly paramount. Orange is here to help TalentDAO build the world’s first decentralized community-reviewed publication protocol for the social sciences. And collectively, we can apply what we learn to help the larger DAO, DeSci, and Web3 ecosystems thrive.
Here’s how TalentDAO is implementing reputation-based NFTs to enhance their community and how such systems enhance trust and efficiency in Web3 communities, especially in DeSci research.
Why Research DAOs Need Reputation
TalentDAO functions like most others in that it is a self-organizing, autonomous system based on peer-to-peer (P2P) behaviors. And in P2P systems, social control mechanisms like trust and reputation are essential to evaluating the trustworthiness of individuals and incentivizing behaviors that are most in alignment with the DAO. Reputation systems are also necessary to combat potential malicious behavior and make spaces more sybil-resistant.
Recent research shows the benefit of reputational systems in DAOs. For example, the use of reputation techniques was proposed to motivate the peers in a P2P network to cooperate, to motivate them to abstain from cheating or plagiarism. The results showed that the use of reputation systems in P2P systems considerably reduces the number of malicious transactions in decentralized networks and overall encourages more ethical behavior.
In a fully distributed P2P system involving numerous peers, a peer often cannot assess another peer’s reputation effectively but must rely on collective opinion from other peers. However, this introduces new challenges, such as how to determine the accuracy of the collected opinions and how to aggregate the conflicting opinions to yield a global reputation.
Yu Feng, Hori, et al., Characterizing Economic and Social Properties of Trust and Reputation Systems in P2P Environment
So as TalentDAO continues to build out its structures, frameworks, and processes for social science research, review, and publication, addressing key reputation topics in parallel becomes critical.
The TalentDAO Reputation System
The initial reputation system for TalentDAO will be just the first step in the ongoing collaboration with Orange Protocol. It will build upon the previously successful deployment of Orange Protocol reputation-based NFTs, which were claimable based on various reputational scoring models and data sources such as NFT holding history and on-chain behaviors. Orange will now help TalentDAO implement a similar system tailored to what reputation means in their DAO.
Eligibility for TalentDAO reputation-based NFTs will be based upon a variety of key factors built into the reputational model, such as:
- Level of Discord activity and engagement
- Cryptocurrency holding activity and length
- Governance and DAO activity history
- Attending events and onboarding calls
- Participation in research studies or surveys
- Starting a unique research project
- Contributing to existing research projects
- Peer feedback and work impact reviews
While the specific reputational factors that TalentDAO chooses to implement and incentivize may change over time, the primary goals of fostering a rich research ecosystem and enhancing self-sovereign work will remain consistent. Reputation NFTs will not only help existing members engage with each other in more meaningful and authentic ways but also provide new members with a clear framework in how they can begin contributing and enhance their reputations.
Wider Applications to DeSci Research
Implementation of reputation systems within research DAOs and DeSci is still in its infancy, and it’s our hope that TalentDAO’s creativity and willingness to explore this space sets an example that other DAOs can follow. We have previously explored some of the key issues in DeSci that reputation can help address, such as encouraging citizen scientists to improve decentralized peer-review.
In the future, reputation NFTs earned in TalentDAO and other spaces might hold even more meaning as individuals travel between DAOs and Web3 spaces. As reputation in DeSci matures, so will the ability for specific self-sovereign researchers to build their careers and explore topics that are most meaningful to them as individuals. This should also enable better cross-pollination of talent between social science DAOs like TalentDAO and others like VitaDAO that are working on more specific topics.
Implementing reputation systems and NFTs in TalentDAO is one of the most exciting collabs for Orange Protocol in 2022. Together, we’re breaking new ground in designing P2P systems in research and DeSci DAOs that can unlock massive creativity and new research in the social sciences.
About Orange Protocol
Orange Protocol’s vision is to put digital reputations back in the hands of the users, builders, and developers. Our mission is to enable developers to incorporate reputation into dApps, projects, and communities, maximizing the value of each individual’s reputation.
Website | Discord | Twitter | Mirror
About TalentDAO
TalentDAO is a community of organizational scientists, strategists and researchers building the world’s first decentralized community-reviewed publication protocol for the social sciences and applying what we learn to help the DAO ecosystem thrive.