EF 68: Planting Optimism Fractal
What are the best growth opportunities for communities creating public goods? We explore the new Optimism Fractal grant proposal, RetroPGF, and other grants to fund public goods creators in the Optimism Ecosystem 🌱
Date: September 20th, 2023
Table of Contents
- Highlights
- Discovering Optimism Fractal
- RetroPGF and Optimism Grant Opportunities
- Eden Fractal and RetroPGF Synergies
- Optimism Fractal and Optimism Grants Council
- Respect Game Recap
- MSIG Update
- Topics
- T68: Topics Game!
- Eden Fractal Topics Game
- Timestamps
- Related Posts
- Optimism
- EF 67: Growing with Optimism
- EF 66: Permission Possible
- Attributions
Please Note: These show notes are an early work in progress and will be updated in the future. Enjoy!
Highlights
Discovering Optimism Fractal
Discover the new Optimism Fractal Proposal and the inspiring principles around Optimism Grants Council and the Retroactive PGF grant program. 🌱
For anyone that’s unfamiliar with Optimism Collective, this is a new type of community designed to reward public goods and build a sustainable future for the open internet. Optimism is a pioneering Ethereum L2 community that is highly aligned with our values for creating public goods and improving human coordination for everyone’s benefit!
In case you’ve missed our last episode, we encourage you to watch Dan’s introductory presentation about Optimism at 1:50:20, highlighting the Optimism Fractal grant proposal to start a new community at 2:03:55. The introductory presentation provides an overview of brilliant innovations from The Optimism Collective, including RetroPGF, Superchain, and the Optimistic Vision.
Optimism Fractal proposal, created by trusted Eden Fractal participants Dan, Vlad, Tadas, and Rosmari, was the root for the ongoing Optimism topic. This episode was focused on providing a thorough review of the grant application, including preliminary feedback from reviewers from the Optimism Grants council based on their rubric at 37:10. You can find links to preliminary feedback and to rubic in the Rubic section below. The good news that the grant proposal made it to the final evaluation stage encouraged further brainstorming on possibilities and tickled more engagement.
Dan summarizes the scope of the Optimism Fractal proposal at 1:42:00, including to build the initial toolset for the first season with EVM compatible tools for social games, to host meetings, build educational welcoming materials and market it. At 2:10:00, the group goes through the curated feedback notes where Dan explains the rubric criteria meanings, scores, and ranking process. He goes through the proposed milestones in the Optimism Fractal during 2:18:00, and then presents the many ongoing Optimism grants programs and builder opportunities at 2:20:55.
RetroPGF and Optimism Grant Opportunities
The Optimism RetroPGF Round 3 was mentioned briefly at 1:30:28, and explored further starting at 2:22:22. You can read more in this curated article on how to apply and more grant details. Also for a quick overview, you can go to 1:40:50 where RetroPGF is given a very quick topline view, whilst presented as the biggest opportunity all about retroactive public goods funding. This was done alongside a brief comparison with other Optimism grants shown on the grants page.
The differences between the Optimism Grants Council and the Retroactive PGF grant program are discussed starting at 1:31:00. Details around the specifics about the Optimism Fractal proposal name and a more general grant overview of grant opportunities within the Optimism ecosystem at Perry's request was done around 1:37:19. Dan outlined that the Optimism Fractal proposal which was applied for at the Optimism Grants Council was specifically for the Builders Committee with the aim to bring builders into the ecosystem. Later on at 2:20:52, there are more details given for each of the grants including the Grants Council, Token House Missions, Foundation Missions (RFPs), The Partner Fund, The Partner Fund, and the lovely Retroactive Grants (Retro PGF).
Another useful grant resource is the Optimismgrants.io website made by a community member, which is a changelog and status page for the grant programs of the Optimism Collective. It allows for users to see, for example, which programs are currently open for applications and what their deadlines are. Please keep in mind that this isn’t verified by the Eden Fractal members, so we recommend always to use the main Optimism.io website as a first reference point. A quick way to find the Grants page is once on the website to navigate to the Documentation page, then search for ‘Grants’ on the page in order to reach the page called ‘Get a Grant’. This one is the holy grail! It provides an overview of the grant opportunities happening in the Optimism Collective (you are welcome!)
In case interested in Optimism’s use of governance, check out 1:40:50 when Dan presents about their government system which contains the Citizens House and about 200 badge holders, which grew from 30 in the first season! This is where the badge holders can vote to distribute the RetroPGF funds and allocate them to projects. You can read more information in this Optimism Collective mirror blog post.
Eden Fractal and RetroPGF Synergies
Over the past two years many fractal communities have been inspired by the success of fractally and Eden Fractal tools, games and governance. Now it’s time for fractal communities to start growing on Optimism. While diving into Optimism over the past months, we’re discovering many exciting synergies between RetroPGF and the Respect game. You can see an overview of some of these synergies below and join our weekly events to learn more!
In this week’s event, we explored RetroPGF and discussed it’s nature as ‘backwards looking’, similarly to how Eden Fractal and ƒractally work. This is about funding people on what they have done in the past - retroactively. Dan Singjoy gives an example of great thinkers such as Vitalik Buterin and Dan Larimer that have inspired the idea about it being easier to allocate funding and decide how much things are helping after you see it happened. Watch this clip to learn more:
This analogy is a central part of the Eden Fractal meetings as players rank each other’s contributions based on what is done in the past week or so. This is done weekly in a live environment in the breakout rooms during the respect games and all participants rank each other starting from Level 6 and work their way downwards to Level 1 by ‘who contributed the most to Eden Fractal’. All vote and consensus is reached for each level (2/3s) in order to proceed. All players submit their consensus votes for each level on chain and then rewards get distributed based on the fibonacci ratio starting with Level 6 as the highest. A list of some fractal communities that have played these consensus games is presented during 44:53, which can help you understand with the scope of fractal opportunities.
Contributions in fractal community are rewarded retroactively, which aligns with RetroPGF’s core model and beliefs about rewarding contributions on past performance.
Optimism Fractal and Optimism Grants Council
Dan Singjoy collated several pages with key information in this topics page which shows an overview of the feedback from reviewers, alongside rubric scores used for evaluation of the Season 4 Cycle 15 grants. This was first being given an overview between 39:12 - 49:51, and later discussed widely at 2:08:32. You can check out the feedback from the Optimism Fractal grantees to the grant reviewers in this Notion article.
This delved into each of the written page responses created as a response to the preliminary feedback, which were shared with the reviewers. These pages were giving more information about the sections on ‘Development of OP stack’, ‘Likelihood of Success’, ‘Builder Draw’ and more. Dan gives more clarity on the scope of the proposal at 2:14:10 including EVM based community synergies, ideas on respect tokens and governance tools as social games ported over to Optimism’s ecosystem.
The following clip shows an overview of the Optimism Fractal proposal from this event:
The pages within the article aim to help reviewers better understand the value of the grant scope, while establishing the importance of Optimism Fractal. In 1:45:54, the reviewers’ feedback was initially introduced. Dan goes through the rubric for Proposals for builders sub-committee between 2:00:00 - 2:07:53, including the Builders’ Cycle 15 Preliminary Roundup review, amongst which was Optimism Fractal. For more clarity, Dan shows the comments section of the grant proposal page at 2:07:53 where you can find the original correspondence.
The main outcome at the end of the Eden Fractal meeting was that the preliminary feedback is a great resource of reflection into the way that the grant is presented, and what might be the sections for improvement. Taking in account the possibility to cohesively apply to future grants as a collaborative whole discussed at 1:47:12 which was brought up by Perry. Thank you to everyone for your support 🌱
Respect Game Recap
During the Respect Game, Perry shared that he continues monitoring Eden On EOS meetings, though his opinions are not always appreciated during 4:28.
Rosmari shares her screen, showing her work refining show notes using AI tools like Claude, adding a respect game recaps section and outlines more marketing efforts at 7:05.
At 12:26, Eric discusses promoting Eden Fractal at the upcoming Interplanetary Conference and incorporating fractal frameworks into organizations. He also adds info on the Dynamics of Hegemony game.
Tadas demos the Firmament DAO syncing across EVM networks like Ethereum and EOS at 15:58, and later mentioned he finds the Firmament demo issue and solution (59:38).
Joe opens up about the Fractalien Worlds fractal meetings he recently volunteered to host and get experience with starting at 32:04, about which you can find out more in this article.
Dan shares updates on the Optimism Fractal proposal, while also responding to preliminary feedback at 37:17.
To close off the game, the group decides who will run Fractalgram, while Tadas touches on guidance on logging out and back in in case of previous issues at 53:57. Later at 1:11:43, Gudasol followed up with a few technical questions about Firmament, which Tadas mentioned he’ll answer in the community group. Furthermore at 1:13:14, Gudasol invites all to a new season of Aquadac which is a self-development and empowerment group that follows a format similar to fractally. Also shares updates on CXC and Tetra app with the aim of launching local currencies for the entire globe. He shares that the new season 3 starts on 24th September at 4 GMT, and will continue weekly. The theme is Synergies, and you can read more on how to reserve your spot this invitation post and RSVP here.
MSIG Update
At 1:27:35, Dan provided the latest on the Eden Fractal MSIG permission updates, which has been happening with Vlad's help. He assisted with coding the three proposals which were passed during EF 66.
Topics
T68: Topics Game!
Eden Fractal Topics Game
Timestamps
0:00 Welcome!
0:31 Dan shares a presentation to recap recent Eden Fractal activities and shares the Topics game
4:20 Starting the Respect Game
4:25 Perry says he continues monitoring Eden On EOS meetings, offering opinions though they are not always appreciated
7:00 Rosmari shares her screen, showing her work refining show notes using AI. She added respect game recaps and more details
12:20 Eric discusses on promoting Eden Fractal during the upcoming Interplanetary Conference and incorporating fractal frameworks into real organizations. Also adding info on the game Dynamics of Hedgemony
15:53 Tadas demos progress on Firmament, showing how a DAO can be created in one EVM network and synced across other EVM networks like Ethereum or EOS. Great feedback from members, despite the small bug on the testnet during the demo which was later resolved. Gudasol followed up with questions which will be answered in the Telegram group by Tadas. Perry also asks Tadas for clarification.
31:59 Joe shares about Fractalien Worlds meetings he hosted, enjoying personal growth though groups are small. He thanks Rosmari for Fractalgram help, coordinating the development of the Interplanetary Unconference Events space
37:10 Dan shares screen on his further work on the Optimism Fractal proposal, responding to the grants’ preliminary feedback based on the rubric and going through each section. He’s worked on creating educational materials to better communicate the value, including listing out all fractals, also attended and updated the Aquadac article
51:40 Perry is interested in going more in-depth about the feedback with the aim of overcoming the obstacles, which will help to inform the group. He offers to do this during Cagendas
52:34 Eric announces he’s looking to fund a proposal councillor at the Center for Governance. Also Dan comments on Eric’s dissertation
53:57 The group decides who to set up Fractalgram, Tadas shares updates on the Fractalgram app and brief guidance on the solution of logging out and logging back in from the Fractalgram’s app. These instructions help Eric successfully troubleshoot and work on setting up the Fractalgram group
59:32 Dan asks Tadas to summarize what fractalgram issue was and what he achieved to get it fixed. Tadas mentions that he uncovered what the issue was with the Firmament demo earlier. Answers more questions on the Firmament progress Consensus voting Level 6 - Dan, Level 5 - Tadas, Level 4 - Rosmari, Level 3 - Eric, Level 2 - Joe, Level 1 - Perry Delegate - Perry
1:11:00 Return to main room
1:11:40 Gudasol provides details on technical questions for Tadas on Firmament
1:13:14 Gudasol invites all to a new season of Aquadac which is a self-development and empowerment group that follows a format similar to fractally. Also shares updates on CXC and Tetra app with the aim of launching local currencies for the entire globe
1:16:01 Dan shares links for Aquadac on Eden Creators
1:17:30 Lets play Cagendas! Dan shares the Topics Database list, provides context and shares a link to the Notion database where people can view and vote on topics to discuss.
1:23:11 Dan shares screen on Firmament article
1:24:50 Dan transitions the discussion to determining the next discussion topic, with a focus on Firmament or Optimism Fractal. The group decided to go with Perry’s suggestion of exploring further the Optimism Fractal grant reviewers’ feedback
1:26:20 Eden Fractal Notion page overview by Dan - Dan gives an overview of the Eden Fractal Notion page they have been collaborating on, which contains the meeting agenda database.
1:27:35 Dan comments quickly on the latest with Eden Fractal MSIG happening with Vlad’s help as he did the necessary code
1:31:00 Dan outlines the differences between the Optimism Grants Council and the Retroactive PGF grant program
1:36:36 Perry asks about the proposal name and grant specifics. Dan responds to Perry and clarifies different grants
1:42:00 Dan summarizes the scope of the Optimism Fractal proposal at Perry's request
1:43:19 Perry wants to go through grant feedback’s objections and obstacles
1:48:00 Perry advocates for collaborative rather than individual project proposals
1:52:00 Dan walks through finding the proposal feedback in the Notion page. Troubleshooting of screen size view issues occurs
2:10:00 Going through the feedback screenshots, Dan explains what the rubric criteria refer to
2:18:00 Dan summarizes the differences between Grants Council and Retroactive PGF programs. Comments on what Dan and Rosmari are working on, tools, hosting first season and educational materials
2:30:00 Dan and Perry express encouragement and appreciation to conclude the discussion
2:34:18 Dan wraps up the meeting. Hats on!
Related Posts
Optimism
An introduction to the Optimism Collective, a new type of community designed to reward public goods and build a sustainable future for all 🌞
EF 67: Growing with Optimism
What are the synergies between Eden Fractal and Optimism? In the next stage of our epic journey we explore opportunities to help humanity flourish and summon Ether’s Phoenix with innovations in retroactive public goods funding 🌱 🌞
EF 66: Permission Possible
Hip hip hooray! Our mythical heroes approved three proposals to update the eden.fractal permissions and explored an introduction to the Optimism Collective, a new type of community designed to reward public goods and build a sustainable future for all 🌞 🔴
Attributions
Music by Kjartan Abel. More details at EdenCreators.com/attributions
