Decentraland’s MENA Community Outreach Plan (DEI) (Pre-proposal)

Governance
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Hello everybody!

This is Ammaro from Taxir, and we have a proposal for you that we have been developing through the past couple of months. The proposal is in line with the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion approach, as it aims to make Arabs and residents of the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa) aware of Decentraland, and provide them with needed educational content, support and guidance to explore the metaverse. We hope these efforts will expand DCL’s core community to include representative from the MENA region and speakers of Arabic languageWe would love to hear from you before we take this proposal to voting, and we are open to modify and edit according to your comments and suggestions.

Taxir: https://taxir.xyz/
Taxir’s Whitepaper: TL;DR - Taxir
Taxir on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/were.taxir/
Taxir on Twitter: https://twitter.com/were_taxir
Taxir on Discord: TAXIR

Decentraland’s MENA Community Outreach Plan (DEI)

Abstract

Please explain the key components of your project. This should include a description of the feature or content you want to create, what needs or goals your work may satisfy, and the skills or experience you have that will contribute to your success. This is your chance to make a good first impression on the community.

Problem

Currently, there’s next to no Arabic content about DCL, neither in media where people can learn about DCL, nor educational content to guide new users through DCL’s ecosystem.

While Arabic is the 5th most spoken language on earth, and MENA residents account for 12.5% of all humans, there is no dedicated language or regional channel for Arabs on DCL’s Discord.

Solution

We want to create and publish a package of media and educational content on DCL in Arabic, launch an Arabic channel on DCL’s Discord, and attract streamers, gamers and interested users and provide them with support in Arabic.

Team

We produced 5 videos in Arabic about DCL & metaverse. Our team includes the first Arab DCL Reporter, and members of CBD.

Grant size

Please enter the exact amount of funding you would like to request. This amount must be within the range of your selected tier.

33550

Description

Our plan aims at building an Arab community in DCL by achieving two goals:

  • Attract attention towards DCL through quality media content published on pan-Arab media with high reach amongst youth.

  • Provide new users with guidance and support, through producing quality educational content and resources in Arabic, beside launching and moderating / activating an Arabic / MENA channel on DCL’s Discord for six months.

The plan consists of the following parts:

Arabic / MENA Discord channel on Decentraland’s main server:

  • Duration: 6 months

  • Activities: wearables giveaways, interaction with Arab youtubers / streamers (more on the below), DCL trivia and rewards, DCL games competitions, memes, bi-monhtly tour in Arabic

  • Cost: $700 / month, $4,200 total

  • Bonus: Taxir is organizing a weekly tour in DCL in Arabic during November

Educational videos in Arabic (to be posted on DCL’s channel or on Taxir’s):

  • Content:

  • SDK 101

  • Builder 101

  • Wearables design on Blender

  • Marketplace 101

  • LandWorks 101

  • DAO Grants

  • Overview of DCL communities ecosystem: CBD, The DCL Reporter, Metatrekkers,

  • Emotes design

  • Decentraland & VR

  • A one-hour-long tour through DCL (Genesis, Museum, Wondermine)

  • Bonus (already produced content):

  • The Metaverse 101

  • Beginners guide to DCL

  • Biggest partnerships in DCL

  • Decentraland 101

  • How to make money in DCL?

  • Duration: 8 - 15 minutes per video, released over 6 months

  • Cost: $350 per video, $3,500 total

Streamers:

  • Two mainstream-level (+100K followers) streamers, one from Lebanon, one from Egypt

  • Taxir to provide blockchain and Decentraland training to streamers

  • Package per streamers: two 2-hours streams, 4 social media shares, 2 sessions of interaction on Arabic Discord channel, over six months

  • Cost: $4,000 per package / $8,000 total

Media buy ins:

  • We will be commissioning established mainstream pan-Arab media outlets to do stories on Decentraland in Arabic

  • Content plan: 4 articles ($500 each), 2 podcasts ($1,000 each), 2 video report ($1,000 each)

  • Cost: $6,000

Events:

  • 1 week-long exhibition featuring 25 of leading Arab NFT artists

  • 1 3-days-long virtual festival (genre: electronic music), featuring leading night clubs and electronic music collectives in Beirut, Lebanon

  • Cost: $4,000 per event, $8,000 total

Decentraland Booklet:

  • 40-pages long pdf booklet in Arabic, featuring a list of points of interests and things to do in Decentraland, and a beginners guide

  • Cost: $800

Budget: $30,500

Contingency: 10%

Total Budget: $33,550

Specification

Provide an explanation of how you will complete your project, listing the tools and methods you plan to use. Include any technical documentation, drafts, or other preliminary work you’ve already completed.

Events methodology:

Our events organization efforts will be spearheaded by a highly experienced trio. Ammar Manla Hasan who has worked before with Boiler Room and Ma3azef magazine, and produced many videos and events reaching pop culture status. Adele Jarrar, an art researcher and curator who recently launched the successful virtual exhibition titled ‘We are sorry to inform you that…’ And Nour Ezzedine, who worked in cultural events organization and curation for over a decade, and is well connected in the clubbing scene in Lebanon.

Educational video production & Booklet methodology:

This effort will be spearheaded by Moustafa Sbeity, the first Arab DCL Reporter and Taxir’s inhouse streamer, and Peter Houaiss, an expert in Blender, SDK and Builder, and Taxir’s inhouse NFT artist.

We have produced 5 educational videos in Arabic on Decentraland and the metaverse previously, which you can view here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKTAxsbcmCpdGy-qAdyRjyYWnk9E5xVXp

We have also produced an Arabic course on Discord Essentials, which can come in handy onboarding new DCL users to DCL’s Discord communities. You can view this course here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKTAxsbcmCpe0pq_jGXSyhev7rwrNJttB

Streams & Media buy ins methodology:

Over the past year, Taxir has been developing a business directory that indexes highly localized and specialized service providers in the fields of media, education and research, who are interested in offering their services to the blockchain industry. Today, the directory, named Tajsir (Arabic for: bridging) includes: 21 youtubers / streamers, 24 media organizations, 3 researchers, 7 social media influencers, 4 developer collectives, and 7 graphic and video editors.

We will be leveraging our Tajsir network to find the best streamers and media outlets to partner up with for this plan. We will commission multiple proposals and go with the ones with the highest result per dollar efficiency.

Discord channel methodology:

Members of our team will rotate brainstorming and organizing activities on the Arabic / MENA channel for the duration of the plan (six months).

Personnel

Please list who will be working on this project, along with an explicit overview of their relevant skill sets and experience. You may provide links to portfolios or profiles to help the Decentraland community get to know who the DAO will be funding and how their backgrounds will contribute to your project’s success.

Ammar Manla Hasan. A journalist and media entrepreneur with over a decade of experience, Ammar is the former Editor-in-Cheif of Ma3azef, the leading Arab music magazine. He has collaborated with AFAC, Sharjah Art Foundation, Boiler Room and Roskilde Festival amongst others.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ammaro/

Adele Jarrar. An independent curatorial and cultural worker and a researcher. Adele has an MA in arts and cultural management and a BA in architecture. She is experienced in curating, writing, and production. Recently collaborated with The Question of Funding, and has been a resident artist at Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adelejarrar/

Moustafa Sbeity. The DCL Report’s first Arabic reporter, and member of CBD, Moustafa is Taxir’s metaverse lead on the community front. He’s well versed in Twitch, streaming, gaming culture, memes culture and tech, and is a dedicated and thorough researcher.

Peter Houaiss. Video producer, NFT artist specialized in video games photography, and 3D designers cooking Taxir’s line of wearables, Peter is our metaverse lead on the technical front, gaining experience with builder, the SDK and Blender.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterhouaiss/

Nadim El Roz. A media virtuoso with filming and video production expertise spanning the Lebanese video industry, Nadim worked with news channels and music video directors.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nadim-el-roz-a2a40a126/

Roadmap and milestones

Describe the roadmap of your project, making sure to include any relevant milestones that the community should be aware of and how you will share progress you have made. Clearly communicating progress for long-term projects funded by vesting contracts will help prevent the removal of your funding.

1st month:

  • Arabic / MENA Discord channel: launch, 4 activities, participation from streamer (Egypt)

  • Streams: First stream (Egypt)

  • Media buy ins: 1 article

  • Educational Videos: SDK 101, Builder 101

2nd month:

  • Arabic / MENA Discord channel: 4 activities, participation from streamer (Lebanon)

  • Streams: Second stream (Lebanon)

  • Media buy ins: 1 article

  • Educational videos: Wearables design on Blender, Marketplace 101

  • Booklet release

3rd month:

  • Arabic / MENA Discord channel: 4 activities, invitation to exhibition, interaction with curators and artists

  • Events: Exhibition

  • Media buy ins: 1 podcast + 1 video report (on the exhibition)

  • Educational Videos: Decentraland & VR

4th month:

  • Arabic / MENA Discord channel: 4 activities, participation from streamer (Egypt)

  • Streams: Third stream (Egypt)

  • Media buy ins: 1 article

  • Educational videos: LandWorks, DAO Grants

5th month:

  • Arabic / MENA Discord channel: 4 activities, participation from streamer (Lebanon)

  • Streams: Fourth stream (Lebanon)

  • Media buy ins: 1 article

  • Educational videos: Overview of DCL Communities, Emotes

6th month:

  • Arabic / MENA Discord channel: 4 activities, invitation to festival, interaction with DJs and organizers

  • Events: Festival

  • Media buy ins: 1 podcast + 1 video report (on the festival)

  • Educational Videos: 1-hour tour

4 Likes
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Hey really like this proposal, as it will have huge potential in attracting quality users into Decentraland. I also really like the Decentraland Booklet having POI’s. I would love to see huge organizations in that POI booklet such as MetaParty, Dice Masters, Dollhouse, Ice Poker, etc. But also potentially big artist and content creators in that booklet would be incredible as well.

I just saw the YouTube videos as well, and it’s really amazing quality!

I suggest doing a little bit of wordsmithing, and providing a little bit of background of Taxir in the abstract. Like how you got into this space, information about your company and etc. This will also build rapport with community members reading the proposal.

I would love to hear other community members insights, but I see huge potential on this and really support this!

6 Likes
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Thank you friaky, your feedback is dearly appreciated! We will def modify the proposal with more on Taxir, our other projects, and the entire team. Cheers :beers:

3 Likes
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Hey no problem at all Ammaro! You got a solid team as well, and really excited for this proposal. I see huge potential attracting quality users to the platform, and if you need any help too man. Please shoot me a DM, take it easy man! :beers:

3 Likes
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Wow, y’all have done a really great job getting this pre proposal together. Well written and thorough.

I think the video content, even tho I don’t speak Arabic, is really well created and laid out. I can still follow along and understand whats being discussed because the accompanying visuals really contribute a lot. I think what you have planned is honestly what we need in english too! I really want to see this come to life, and I’d love to feature any of this content on the CBD screen we plan to put up!

5 Likes
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You have a detailed timeline with specific milestones and deliverables, an experienced team, and quality examples. There were a few things I learned from your DCL partnerships video.

I particularly like the statistics you mention about the Arabic speaking, world population. Since DCL is a truly global endeavor, it seems prudent to fund an effort like Taxir’s that seeks to reach that audience.

One area you could give more detail on is how you plan to reach those viewers. Perhaps cutting down a 30 second highlight reel you post to TikTok, Instagram, SnapChat, or their equivalents in MENA region.

Best of luck to you and your team.

4 Likes
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Thank you lots for your feedback ck! I really appreciate you putting the time and effort to watch and evaluate videos in a foreign language to you, we really enjoyed working on these videos :))

We will be turning to CBD for advise and collective wisdom on many tasks, like listing the POIs for the Arabic booklet, or building the media discourse around the metaverse and Decentraland. We’ve been looking for a narrative that speaks to the MEAN residents in particular, and we think it might be good in this regard to highlight how DCL is democratizing events attending for people who have travel limitations, which are most people in MENA.

Excited to work on this with ya’ll :smiley:

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Hi AwedJob, lovely to see you on the forum! Your details feedback and support is truly appreciated :slight_smile:

We have indeed been experimenting with 30-60 seconds reels on instagram, you can check our reels section below, the last three reels are on DCL:
Taxir - تكسير (@were.taxir) • Instagram photos and videos

We have also included in our streamers package 4 social media shares, this will help us reach a large community of gamers and tech heads for certain pieces of content we want to have the most reach.

Lastly, we will ask the streamers and other partners of Taxir to bring their community to the proposed Arabic channel on DCL’s main Discord server, where we will be sharing all of Taxir’s content with the Arab community there.

1 Like