Abstract

As trust in traditional systems erodes and AI development accelerates, IRL interactions and other ‘place-based’ interactions (physical and digital (i.e. DAO cartography)), become increasingly valuable sources of signal for reputation systems. These signals are typically costly, naturally Sybil-resistant, and high-bandwidth. They can be leveraged to authenticate online interactions (e.g. grant proposals). They can also potentially serve as proxies to measure embodiment, relationality and other phenomena with more direct connection to ‘territory’ (as opposed to more conceptual ‘maps’ of reality). These signals could be particularly useful for tokenomics designers seeking to create fairer, more ethical systems that reimagine access to spaces in novel ways.

The goal of this work is to systematically explore place-based reputation in the context of tokenomics. This will be done by reviewing relevant literature, defining place-based reputation in tokenomics terms, imagining possible use cases, exploring data privacy and security issues, and using the SourceCred (SC) reputation protocol to create a prototype application for place-based reputation. Reputation scores will be generated for a sample community, then feedback from the participants will be collected for analysis.

Methodology

• Literature survey of place-based reputation as it relates to tokenomics. How is place-based reputation defined in various domains (academic, web3, etc.)? What are example applications of place-based reputation, in theory and real-world applications? What methods can be used to transpose virtual spaces to physical space representations (i.e. DAO Cartography)?
• Workable definition (if doesn’t already exist) of place-based reputation in token engineering terms.
• Analysis of data privacy, security and other ethical considerations of place-based reputation.
• Survey of web3 reputation systems and other tools applicable to place-based reputation
• Create custom SourceCred (SC) instance to generate reputation scores based on participation in a specific place (physical or digital). I will likely start with the BridgeSpace Commons, a physical community space in Portland (OR) I’ve been participating in for the past year (if participants consent), which was recently host to the General Forum on Ethereum Localism. Custom instance will be created by using an existing plugin (Initiatives plugin) with novel configuration. 
• Present generated Cred scores to participants and gather feedback.
• Publish results and analysis in article, including OS code, data and methodology

Project details

1. Individual or team summary (size, relevant experience, social profiles, etc.)

Seth Benton (@zen_bacon on Twitter/X, @s_ben on discord) will be the main (and potentially sole) contributor. I will be in discussion with SourceCred community members that have collaborated with me in the last year on work that inspired this proposal (notably @AL0YSI0US, @Marcie and @HartVyne), who may also collaborate. I’ll also be reaching out to individuals in the space with relevant knowledge and experience, who may collaborate. 

2. What specific problem(s) do you seek to solve with this grant, and how will you know whether you have accomplished your goal(s)?

By better understanding the solution space opened up by place-based reputation, I seek to create new affordances for designers of tokenomics systems. My baseline goal is to see active engagement with my deliverables from the token engineering community (discussion of findings, references to article, etc.). My larger goal is to see builders incorporate findings from this work into systems I can experience as a participant. 

3. Describe how your project contributes to token engineering and why is it a valuable public good.

Place-based reputation could allow for better management of existing spaces (e.g. parks that can be permissionlessly updated or maintained (City Repair)), the creation of new forms of public spaces not currently feasible due to lack of trust (e.g. property owners that could create permissionless access to currently inaccessible places, functional DAOs, etc)). 

4. What stage do you consider your project is currently in? (PoC, MVP, fully integrated project, etc.)

PoC. I have already created an initial PoC based on meeting attendance (regular video calls, including a space facilitated by a licenced dance movement therapist) in the SourceCred community. I’m confident that extending this to attendance at IRL events will at minimum yield valuable insights, and likely lead to promising new product directions. 

5. Please share any new updates or milestones from the prior months.

In March of this year, SC received ~3k DAI from DAO Drops as part of their first round of retroactive public goods funding. We planned to use the discord plugin to create Cred scores with which to distribute the funds. However, we ran into unexplained errors in the output; likely due to the plugin code not being actively maintained. As a backup, I used an experimental plugin (the Initiatives plugin) that had been largely unexplored, which allowed me to manually enter data on meetings (the primary form of contribution for regular participants). This worked surprisingly well, and I worked with the community to tweak the algorithm parameters and get scores that were satisfactory enough to distribute funds. 

These results gave me confidence that a similar process could be used to analyze attendance data generally, and perhaps other types of place-based data. 

Last month, at the General Forum on Ethereum Localism (GFEL), I created an unconference session on place-based reputation where I pitched this general idea, riffed on place-based reputation generally, and was encouraged by the general enthusiasm of the participants.

6. Previous project funding sources (VC, grants, token sales, etc.)

SourceCred was previously funded by Protocol Labs, however the last distribution of funds to contributors was in April 2022. Since then, the only funding the community received was ~3k DAI from DAO Drops, retroactively funding the community’s work supporting the protocol. The work that inspired this proposal has not received any funding to date.