The NDC is building a truly decentralized form of governance that will allow Web3 communities to fund, develop and vote on how they grow and develop.
One of the cornerstones of the NDC is transparency and communication. The NDC believes that the best work happens out in the open, where the community can see, contribute and challenge where appropriate.
In this article we’ll be sharing how the GWG goes about instilling transparency and communication in how it works, and helping others do the same.
What does the NDC think about transparency?
The topic of transparency has been discussed a lot on the Near.gov forum. It’s a topic that draws passionate debate, and so it should. A community project has to be able to demonstrate its value for the community.
For the GWG, transparency is an approach that aims to allow people to observe the inner workings of the NDC, ask questions, and hopefully take part in shaping where the project goes next. This includes things like roadmaps, discussions, and documentation. It does this by communicating as frequently as seems appropriate.
What is Transparency? - We (the Community) need your help
In the eight months since the GWG has been set up, it has developed a number of channels including Telegram, Discord, the near.gov forum, townhalls with the Near Foundation, open calls of its own, Twitter and Medium. But transparency is not a single goal. It’s a process. As such it’s something that evolves with time.
As a starting point, all members of the GWG have shared details on who they are, their background and the role they play in the GWG. You can find these on the Near forum.
But there will always be challenges, and limits to how much can be communicated. For example, some members of the community might miss moments where feedback is open and projects are in discussion. Or they might be in a channel that doesn’t contain information. One particular example is newcomers to the NDC feel it has been difficult to understand how certain individuals became champions or assumed key roles.
This is something we hope to improve with time, and we invite anyone to help take part, by joining the Transparency Commission Workgroup: Telegram: Join Group Chat
Separating privacy and transparency
It’s important to explore how privacy and transparency overlap. The NDC respects every member’s right to privacy. But there have been instances on the forum where anonymous members of the community have been accusing other members of the NDC community of foul play.
While there may be merit to these, it’s important the community can hold all members to account, even anonymous ones. There have also been instances of bot involvement in polling, distorting the process of creating trust and transparency. This is something we’re looking to address.
The I-am-Human project is designed to help create what’s being called “proof-of-personhood”, which helps verify people are who they say they are. This comes with a number of benefits: it can give access to voting, DAOs and Dapps in the ecosystem. This is important to help create a safe space for all members of the NDC.
However, the groups that form part of the NDC ecosystem need to be able to demonstrate their commitment to transparency, and have structures in place to help others understand how they work, how people have been put in positions of power and authority, and be available to answer questions from the community.
Standardising how the NDC approaches this topic has led to the formation of the Transparency Commission, which we’ll explore below.
The Transparency Commission: a formal response for transparency
The job of the transparency commission is to protect the ecosystem from malicious and nefarious actors. Its remit is to ensure there are no cartels, self-interested proposals, or coordinated attacks on looting the treasury.
It does this by investigating complaints filed by ecosystem members. The Transparency Commission has the power to investigate and if necessary, remove members from houses, and disband the relevant threat.
If this ‘Gridlocks’ the house to the point of it no longer being able to operate effectively, the Voting Body can dissolve the House and hold new elections. However the Voting Body can likewise do the same thing to the Transparency Commission, if they feel that it’s abusing its power.
The transparency commission is essentially the watch dog of the NDC.
You can read more about the Transparency Commission here.
What is the Transparency Commission?
When will the Transparency Commission be established?
The Commission needs to be in place before V1 of the NDC governance model is in place. We aim to have this completed in the summer 2023.
In the meantime, join the Transparency Commission Workgroup: Telegram: Join Group Chat
About the NDC
The NDC, originally proposed by NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin, is now an independent movement led by the NEAR Community. Its goal is to establish a community treasury and governance model that allows the ecosystem to collectively make decisions on everything from funding intiatives to electing representatives. NDC’s purpose is to steward NEAR towards becoming a truly decentralized network that can self-organize and self-govern.
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The NDC’s approach to transparency and communication was originally published in NEAR Digital Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.