Aera

A decentralized, subjective reputation graph protocol.

June 8, 2023

Reward: 8 Stars + Bonus

ID: P0276

Grantee(s): ~talwet

Champion(s): ~dalten

In ProgressProposalDev: AppsDev: Tool

A new Aera of reputation

Aera is an essential missing piece of Urbit infrastructure which will bring self-sovereign trust to the platform. This will enable application developers to manage, filter, curate, and otherwise manage context dependent trust parameters within their products. Additionally, the fully formed version of Aera will include an interface for users to view and understand the shape of their trust graph. Aera makes it possible to build applications that can’t be built using the current web stack. For a more detailed view of the Aera value prop and future product updates, please visit https://quartus.co/aera

Team

Aera is a project consisting of many Urbit community members. It is the brainchild of ~rabsef-bicrym, but will also include the following key contributors:

  • ~litlep-nibbyt, working on hoon agents
  • ~normul-postem, writing frontend interfaces
  • ~litneb-maltyp, designing graphical user interface & visual content

Additionally, the project has a variety of other advisors and participants, including ~sarlev-sarsen, ~sicdev-pilnup, ~sogrum-savluc, and ~datnut-pollen. For anyone interested in participating, download the %aera desk to learn more: /1/desk/~dister-dozzod-dalten/aera

Milestones & Compensation

This proposal is going to be partially funded by the Urbit Foundation, both by a $10,000 direct commitment, as well as a grant of 8 stars to be released along the below milestones. Additionally, Aera will also grow to include a crowdfunding campaign using %fund to support ongoing development efforts from the Urbit community. Contributors will recieve early reputation scores within the resulting reputatation graph, as well as early access to developer resources and integration support. Funds will be held in escrow by the ~dalten collective, to be paid out to contributors upon milestone completion as determined by the members of the collective.

Milestone 1: Initial Research and Mathematical Modelling - $10,000

Quartus will conduct initial research efforts to understand implementation hurdles and ideal mathematical models for the shape of the aera agents and ‘trust-reduction algorithm’. This work will be released on an ongoing basis to the Aera group, hosted by ~dalten. Bi-weekly meetings will also be held and made accessible to campaign funders.

Milestone 2: Agent and Library Concept Creation - 2 stars

Quartus will begin development of the %aera agents and library and will release them to donors for feedback. Participants will receive a chance to provide feedback on agent architecture and use case requirements.

Milestone 3: Release Candidate Available to Developers for Feedback - 2 stars

Whitelisting of select developers, including all donors, for downloading of the %aera desk, including fully functioning agents and a working library. Participants will receive a chance to provide feedback on specific implementation details.

Milestone 4: Final Library and General Availability to Urbit Network - 2 stars

Developer feedback integrated into Milestone 3 release candidate and final library released to developers along with documentation. Quartus will work with donors through onboarding sessions that will guide developers through the integration of Aera with an urbit application. Additionally, the application will be made available to the network such that end users will be able to experience the product functionality via an example integration in %fund.

Milestone 5: Full Release to the network with End User GUI - 2 stars

Quartus will develop a frontend experience for users to explore their own view of the Aera graph. This GUI will include views of the users own ship, as well as their understanding of the nodes to which they are connected.