Yesterday I’ve went on a search to find out more about how to start an open source project, because I want to launch Quantified Prestige as (at least one) open source project.
I’ve found a couple of informative webpages about starting open source projects, each focusing on different aspects:
However, I think there’s a definite guide to open source projects that’s much more comprehensive than the webpages above. It’s the free book Producing Open Source Software – How to Run a Successful Free Software Project. I’ve started reading it, and I really like it. It’s pretty well-written and comes with timely and useful advice.
I will use that book to inform my decisions about how to proceed with Quantified Prestige. Also, I have the hope, that this book will also help other projects to succeed.
This QP system sounds pretty cool. How do you plan on implementing it? Or are you not sure yet?
I think the best way to implement a system like this is to first make it open source, check. And second, find a way to implement it into social media, apps. Sort of how reward points systems were embedded in the infrastructure of e commerce, and flourished that way.
If we could do something similar with the QP system, chances of successful integration would me much higher. But yea, its all about taking this big idea, streamlining in it to something simple to use and implement into easy to access systems (apps, social media).
Thank you very much for expressing your interest in QP. My plan for implementing it is by creating small scale demo version of the system, first. I’m currently trying to set up a web implementation based on a node.js server, but I’m still struggling with learning how to use all the technological components I plan on using for that:
And all the other small things I need to use for that project
Previously, I tried to create a web implementation of QP with Python and Django, but I’ve given up on that at that time, because my health sabotaged my efforts. Then I started creating a simple PHP implementation, but stopped working on that, in order to focus on creating a community around the QP system first. Turns out I’m neither a natural born programmer, not a very talented community builder, so these things are pretty hard for me. Developing the QP system was manageable for me, because I studied mathematics, but I’d pretty much prefer to have support for the other aspects of bringing QP to life from the start.
At least my health is now stable enough to allow me to spend some consistent effort on creating a QP implementation. Anyway, the medium term plan is to convince others to create their own local implementations of QP. In the long term, QP needs to become decentralized, like Bitcoin, but preferably without the problems that plague that cryptocurrency. I know, it’s probably too optimistic to expect that QP can be implemented smoothly in a decentralized way, but one can always hope for things to do right.
Honestly, I’m not sure whether it’s the best way to start with PHP, or node.js, or Django, or anything else for a QP demo version. I’m open to change my mind, if I get any actual support with my implementation or community building efforts. Currently I’m betting on node.js, because that seems to be the “trendiest” of the web technologies that have proven their worth at the moment. I also see only having to deal with a single programming language as a significant advantage.
I definitely intend QP to be open source. Which open source licence to choose, I am not so sure about. Currently, I tend to favour the MIT licence for its flexibility, but perhaps the GPL would be better to encourage the growth of a complete open source ecosystem around QP?
Yes, but that will come later down the line, when the QP core system is already established and has been proven to be sufficiently reliable. Integration with social media and social networks is pretty much a must for a system like QP, if it is to be adopted by the masses.
Hmm. Music is a pretty important digital good. I think it could help this system become successful. As a producer, just seeing how interconnected music and social media are (but everybody knows that they are), especially for the new generation, the one that will adapt to the new income system, social media is uber vital. But you know that, i was just reading more documentation on your blog. Very interesting. I’m thinking of how imogen used Ethereum to release her latest single, I wonder to what extent she involved social media. If social media didnt have a large part to play in her release with Ethereum, I don’t see it being successful. Maybe you would want to target digital music goods first? If you do, it has to be integrated into SM, or the kids just won’t buy into it.
I see a couple of categories where QP could be adopted rather quickly:
Software
Text: Books, blogs, articles, magazines, papers
Music, as you said
Videos would also be interesting, but the ad model on YouTube already enables producers to get organic revenues from what they create, so that’s not my priority right now.
My current plan is to focus on software first, simply for the reason that QP needs a software implementation first, so the open source software community should be the natural birthplace of a QP ecosystem.
Once the software infrastructure stands, QP needs to be pitched to the “creative class”, so that they can give their creations away for free, but still get rewarded for them. Music is of course a part of that, but I also think that artists and writers would love to work or experiment with a system like QP. Of course, creative people already naturally use social media, so an integration with that becomes necessary at that stage.
Yes, agreed. Integrating the blockchain tech with something like spotify would be awesome. Would allow for much needed transparency, but also we can definitely see how spotify (artists) could benefit from a reputation system like QP.
I don’t see “transparency” solving that problem. Instead, the Prestige scores of QP would create an allocation of income for writers that is proportional to their popularity and the value of their texts as perceived by the readers. Whether that’s the most “proper” way to do it, can be debated, but it would at least be democratic and to a large degree meritocratic.
My plan for implementing it is by creating small scale demo version of the system, first. I’m currently trying to set up a web implementation based on a 