@ludium.near [Posted on DevHub](https://near.social/#/devgovgigs.near/widget/Post?id=760) ## Solution: [Ludium] Minithons Proposal ###### Requested amount: 25000 USDC ###### Requested sponsor: @neardevgov.near ## 0. Korea Mini-Hackathon & Education Series for NEAR Ludium is seeking 25,000$ in USDC to fund a NEAR/BOS focused education and Minithon series in Seoul & Incheon over 3 months. - For more details on our requests for funding and support, please see the “Requests” section below. - For more details on who we are and why you can trust us to execute, please see “Who are the Organizers” section below. - We also have concrete objectives & deliverables as outlined in “KPIs/Impacts” below. We welcome feedback and modifications if necessary! ## 1. What are Minithons? Minithons is a consecutive series of small hackathons in which participants, mostly developers, attend to launch their ideas. It is almost identical to hackathon with three differences a. Focused Tracks - Many hackathons tend to focus on a broad topic like “build a dApp using Near”. While it can be beneficial to present novel ideas, the results tend to be dispersive and not accumulative for development of the protocol itself. - By giving more specific topics in accordance with the direction of the protocol, the results are in align with where protocol is going towards. One good example would be Proximity Track provided during ETH Seoul. (Reference: https://ethseoul2023.devfolio.co/prizes?partner=Proximity+Labs) It clearly states the goal and is in line with Proximity’s objective to enhance features of Defi through BOS. b. Education / Workshops - On each hackathon, there are different types of hackers with different expertise. Without the proper guidance and workshops, newly on-boarded developers are not familiar with the stacks enough to make something actually useful. - Education is intended to provide the basic guidance. It could utilize pre-existing resources including Near Examples and NCD resources. That way, minithon can even serve as an official NCD testbed. - Workshops are for giving space and time for development. For each track, teams will make workshop pages in which their progress will be written. There can be some online/offline hand-on workshop sessions to help developers figure out how to use tech stacks properly. c. Continuous events - Instead of a big, one-time event, there will be a series of minithons regularly. - A series of minithons can be stacked up for an end goal of a final product. - A “minithon series” in this way encourages developer retention and building on skills over time. - Our current plan is one minithon per month, as we get sponsors & interest. ## 2. How Does It Work? Minithon process works as follows: a. Education - Education program will be open before - Ludium is targeting to open 10wk Near dApp Development in Typescript course by Mid July b. Minithon Announcement - At the end of each month, next Minithon schedule and tracks will be open - Track information, team formation, sign-up will be open c. Team Formation - Team formation can happen at anytime during the Minithon period - Each team must select a track that they want to participate in d. Workshops - Workshops happen every week at designated time and site - Depending on the condition, online programs may be open e. Judge / Award - At the end of the month, minithon results will be judged and award will be given - Next minithon announcement happens simultaneously ## 3. Who are the Organizers? a. Overview - Web3 Community Solution focused on builders' education and career transition - 500 + Attendees on Dev / Non-Dev program since 2021 - 800+ Community members on discord, 1000 + Community contents published b. Developer Education - ECD(EVM Contract Developers): 8wk developer education program focused on launching simple dApps using Solidity - Incheon Blockchain College: 10wk developer education program focused on launching simple dApps using Typescript on Near - All materials and track records are public and open sourced on Ludium website(https://ludium.world/) c. Developer transition - As a follow-on program for ECD, we formed a team dedicated to BOS bounty programs on proximity. - Participants met once a week every Sunday to figure out what BOS is and how to utilize it using EVM contract - Their study is recorded on the workbook. (https://proximitybounty.ludium.world/forums/Q7J8O26KT/threads/T3CPQ8U88) - They won the 2023 ETH Seoul Proximity Track (https://devfolio.co/projects/liquity-widget-in-near-bos-9d2e) d. Organized Events - ETHSeoul Co-organizer since 2022 (https://ethseoul2023.devfolio.co/overview) - Hosted 2023 Bridge the Hurdle during Buidl Week (https://event-us.kr/bth/event/63516) - Expertise in event planning and execution ## 4. What are the Impacts / KPIs? There can be quantitative and qualitative impacts expected from each minithon a. Quantitative - Participants(Including the audience): 30-50 - Number of Projects: 10 - Winnersl: 3 - 5 - Retention(Number of re-participance): 50% of projects b. Qualitative - Protocol benefit: Quality of the results are usable and helpful for the long term development of Near Protocol - Feedbacks: Developers write down their hardships and problems they face during the development process which can be used for the enhancement of Protocol and Minithons. BOS Proximity Track team gave feedback in Korean describing what problems they faced. - Culture: Cultivate a setting and environment where devs can exchange ideas, work together and receive help along the way. ## 5. How will it look like in the future? Ludium would like to contribute to the builder community in Korea and Near Developer community in general through the series of Minithons. These minithons will not always be solely dedicated to Near Developer Hub or Near Protocol. Currently, we are working with developer community in Korea called KBM to invite Klaytyn, EVM Layer 1 Protocol in Korea to provide some tracks. In the Near future, Ludium would like Minithons to be - Connected with Near initiatives: For one, it would be great if the Minithons can be closely in touch with Hackbox initiative. It seems that Ludium Minithons can be considered as a part of Korean Hub events. Also, we are talking with Proximity to see if more diverse tracks can be provides. Similarly, we would like to talk to Satori, Near Horizon and/or any other Near ecosystem focused organizations. - Connected with Hackathons: We would like to see developers who on-board into the ecosystem through Minithons to reach out to Nearcon or other hackathons. It would be great if we could come up with some type of interconnecting system - Beyond Developer: Minithons are intended to be small and more focused in the beginning. However, if it shows enough traction, it could developer into designthons, ideathons or demodays as it progresses on. ## 6. Requests a. Non Financial Resources - Track Prompts / Workshops: When assigning tracks, it is crucial that minithon objectives are in line with the Near Developer Hub. For example, it could be building libraries or other tools on BOS for everyone to use. It would be helpful to know what those objectives are and plan tracks in detail. - Judges: It would be helpful to have someone from Developer Hub to be the judge of the projects pertaining to the track provided by the Hub. - Connections: As was mentioned earlier, it would be beneficial to connect with other initiatives and organizations in Near ecosystem for the continuity of the event. One of the initiatives would be to invite hackathon winners to b. Budget(Equivalent to USDC) - Education and Planning - Ludium: 4K - Education operator and materials: 3K - Promotion: 3K - Total: 10K - Minithon - Venue operation: 3K - Community Managing: 3K - Prize: 9K (3K x 3) - Total: 15K c. Total Requested Sponsorship: 25K USDC ## 7. Additional Information - Website: https://ludium.world/ - S5 Education: https://ludium.oopy.io/b8eadae4-62e5-4b52-8b45-25afb51664cd - Twitter: https://twitter.com/ludium_official - Discord: https://discord.com/invite/c8Snswayuw