[Request] Decentralized Ecosystem Map

[shawntabrizi]

Let's create an easy to use, decentralized ecosystem map in the polkadot-developers org.

[saumyakaran]

@shawntabrizi why do we need this now that we have projects listed on the official website? (https://polkadot.com/get-started/dapps)

[shawntabrizi]

That is fair, perhaps we don't need a third party site, but Distractive, the team that made the Polkadot site, directly referenced this third part site on their brochure:

https://distractive.notion.site/Polkadot-Booklet-26dbbb9392954fa1a00c66da9acb9f34

We need a way to make sure that any list is up to date.

It could also be that the Polkadot site uses a more specific list than a broad one like the third party.

In any case, out of date sites for Polkadot make the ecosystem look stale / bad.

[saumyakaran]

I see your point. The only way I can think of solving this is having one central conversion funnel where any serious project in the ecosystem will list themselves and update their profile when there's a change - user ratings may be useful for ranking, but could be gameable.

Regardless, I think the main Polkadot.com list is the way to go. We would need distractive to make periodic tweets from the Polkadot account featuring community projects to encourage people to actively list their work.

[shawntabrizi]

@iammasterbrucewayne I think you are right about the source of truth being somewhere in Polkadot. I will update the issue accordingly.

i think i would like to take a "decentralized" approach.

Ideally we have a repo which has a JSON list of projects, their websites, their icon, their github etc...

Then each day/week/month, we run a script which checks:

• all the sites are still active
• somewhere on the site they have "powered by polkadot" or similar branding
• their github has seen activity in the last 3 months

Then, each project would also have a Polkadot account, and we send everyone a super small, incentive, like 20 DOT per month, if this data works.

Fake projects or grifters could be called out by community, who would then earn their 20 DOT instead.

This would be funded by treasury, and even with 1,000 projects, not be super expensive, and at least DOT would go into the right hands.

[dotgraphic1]

I think this is amazing and I fully support it. This will help libraries and small teams to keep working. I have written a thread based on this scenario. We all know that Web3 Foundation has funded 1000s of projects and I can assure that half of the projects are not working or they have been archived. Awesomedot is a good repo and they have been working on this for a long time and if Fardeen can push this forward. We can create a good visible Decentralized Ecosystem Map for Polkadot ecosystem.

[shawntabrizi]

Relevant Forum Threads:

• https://forum.polkadot.network/t/visibility-initiative-for-funded-projects/10604/15
• https://forum.polkadot.network/t/awesomedot-central-library-of-polkadot-ecosystem/6529/4

[faultcore]

We have one at https://github.com/JUSTBeteiligungen/ecosystem-map
Paused the maintenance recently though, as the internal team didn't have enough resources to make a decent frontend/marketing for it and the ecosystem teams who I asked either had no interest, or no capacity.

[shawntabrizi]

@faultcore what would be needed for you to maintain the project and take it to the next level?

If you are passionate about making a project like this work, I would be happy to help find a way to make it happen :)

[saumyakaran]

@faultcore Also, I think you can probably reduce the work by using a no-code tool with a directory template given the goal is to maintain a list - this will free up your time and allow you to focus on the critical part i.e. maintaining the list and potentially marketing it.

Tools like that are built with strong SEO in mind and make it a lot easier to iterate quickly.

[haquefardeen]

Hi Thank you Shawn for opening this discussion. I have been maintaining this awesomedot repo for the last three years and recently started a podcast where we talk to developers and learn more about the projects that they are working on. I have answered all your queries on the forum.

Thank you @dotgraphic1 for the support. We have started working on the design based on Shawn feedback, will keep you posted about the progress.

[faultcore]

@iammasterbrucewayne can you please recommend one? I checked open source tools (which is a requirement) but haven't found one that ticks all of the boxes yet. What we did instead, per suggestion, was to put it all into a markdown table for now.

@shawntabrizi I suppose we should start with aligning on who we are doing this for, as awesome lists and ecosystem maps usually serve different purposes. We recently updated the map, adding the activity indicators, links to documentation and community channels.

[saumyakaran]

@faultcore i don't have an open source recommendation unfortunately, i personally just use unicorn platform for the simplicity.