by 0x4df61fb35629c58088cdd4451276097c7754e13e (Hypatia)
Should the following $12,000 grant in the Documentation category be approved?
Abstract
As part of this community, our team wishes to assist DCL in reaching its highest potential.
For more than a decade, we have studied the links between humans and virtual space as a new possible habitat.
Our experience shows that in order to trigger DCL’s growth we must focus on the current state of users’ psycho-social interactions at the virtual common space.
The aims of our work are: (1) to address problematic dimensions that remain veiled, (2) so that we can offer perspectives and concrete solutions to encourage social interaction and enrich the potential of empathy. These are key points for DCL’s future.
The resulting report shall be directed to users, people involved in decision-making within the platform and public in general.
Grant size
12,000 USD in DAI
Project duration
6 months
Beneficiary address
0x4dF61fb35629C58088cDd4451276097c7754e13E
Email address
Description
Human creativity together with technological updates were capable of creating such groundbreaking spaces that, on the one hand, came as wonderful, and on the other hand, produced certain unrest in their new inhabitants. The virtual space of DCL is one of these special creations, and for this reason we perceive it wonderful but also challenging.
As animals, humans are adaptive beings and they are not precisely used to living in a space that augments discomfort, fears and concerns. These prejudice the development of human capacities and of socio-productive environments.
The feeling of unrest can grow when, for example as in DCL, the management of the environment is not centrally controlled, for which there is a lot more uncertainty around the directions that this space can take. This can be perceived not only in many critics but also in potential users.
Nevertheless, the fact of DCL’s management being precisely decentralized and its immense future civilizational projection is exactly what puts us together to work.
This is why we look forward to offering new perspectives and tools to unveil the new configurations of the psycho-social relationships and understand more deeply the virtual spaces where these take place. We consider this to be of huge importance in order to harmonize the ways of living and interacting in DCL and to harvest the social and productive potential wealth of this virtual environment that surrounds its users.
Getting to identify and work on these issues will unlock new levels of interaction inside DCL. This may help its sociability and productivity, which is (for now) only partially achieved.
Even though the DCL Community may conceive similar interests and operate in that direction, we believe that our constancy as well as our practical and theoretical experience as professional researchers will more quickly obtain accurate, visible and long-lasting results. The philosophical and socio-cultural document that we offer will organize, deepen and show practical solutions.
Our experience indicates that if we are seeking for a more empathic space at DCL and a wider access rate we need undoubtedly to identify the problematic and invisibilized dimensions that hold back the users from: creating more interesting content; sharing higher-quality proposals; and developing committed, diverse and enriching ways of interaction.
History shows that empathy and cooperation allowed communities of all times to outmaneuver their competitors in many ways. We hope that our report collaborates in this direction and enables a significant growth in terms of quality and quantity in all aspects of DCL.
Specifically, our report will intertwine studies, analysis, reflections and conclusions all directed to solve problematics related to the following issues:
-DCL and civilizational projects in the 21st Century
-New societies, communities and individualities in virtual times
-Exploration and acknowledgement of collective and individual virtual identities
-Psycho-social relationships in the virtual spaces: types of sociability and psychological dimensions
-Cooperation and empathy for fruitful environments
-Roles, commitments, responsibilities and benefits
-Social and productive interactivity
-Community and economy in empathic and competitive societies
Finally, we will make a brief presentation with the ideas that appear to solve the detected and analyzed problems so that our work enables a transparent and successful path for the growth of DCL.
Roadmap and milestones
Our work will be accomplished in 6 stages:
I. Opening analysis
-Identify psycho-social keys of the virtual interactions at DCL
-Detect the issues linked to sociability and productivity that depend on the keys previously identified.
II. Practical and theoretical bonding
-Analyze bibliographical and audiovisual material (both academic and other kind of specialized material)
-Apply theories and concepts to the issues and key points detected
-Address the background of the current psycho-social panorama
III. Initial structure and analytic insight
-Organize and deepen the analysis following an integral perspective
-Elaborate a framework for comprehension of the most relevant problematics
IV. Advanced problematization and reflection
-Project DCL in the current technological global moment
-Detail positive and negative aspects of the analysis
-Ponder the socio-productive relevance of the different aspects considered
V. Fundamental elements and counterposition
-Apply the theoretical background according to the experienced in the platform
-Project the dynamic of the DCL psycho-social relationships
-Compare alternatives to solve the problematics identified
VI. Final elaboration
-Choose the best alternatives to develop the main aspects
-Prepare, write and edit the report for its presentation/publishing
The results of this research are thought to be contained in a large-scope report that may be splitted and published and/or presented in official formats (journals and events).
