Proposal description
Bit to Byte: Proposal Update and Roadmap
Bit To Byte
Student STEM Services
[size=100][b]Bit To Byte: November Report[/b][/size]
Recap Video:
Tao from Dash Nation Interviews August and talks about Bit To Byte and the teams plans going forward:
What is Bit To Byte?
Bit To Byte is an organization that employs high school and college age students as mentors to teach after school STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) related classes paid in Dash/Hour for elementary school students. Three branches make up the Bit To Byte Foundation, the STEM Mentorship Program, the Building Futures Program, and the Emerging Technologies Program.
How We Help Dash:
We have seen some requests from the Dash community to summarize the benefits our proposal has on the Dash Community. Here are some of the defining features and benefits that Bit To Byte provides to the Dash community.
Supporting Bit to Byte is an investment into the short and long term development and adoption of Dash.
Short-Term Benefits:
Long-Term Benefits:
View Dash Core Team CEO Ryan Taylor Interview:
“I think it’s important to teach children about all the emerging technologies that are likely to impact the future, for a lot of different reasons, but if for nothing else to inspire them, to identify with something that excites them and provides the motivation to learn.â€
-Core Team CEO Ryan Taylor
Notice something different? Â
Yep, you guessed it. Due to a multitude of reasons we had to change our original name and Twitter tagline from #BitByBit to > “Bit To Byte: Student STEM Servicesâ€. We are confident that our new name and brand illustrates the core concepts that we want our program to convey. 8 Bits = 1 Byte. The new name signifies a transition from small to large, older mentors inspiring and teaching young students and allowing them to build up their knowledge of STEM related topics. Our new tagline is a quick summation of our overarching goals, we offer STEM related classes, programs, support and experiences for young students taught by older students.
More on marketing...
For the past few weeks I've made the local student-led Marketing/PR firm that we chose basically my second home... Why? For our program to succeed and expand its outreach I believe that first impressions are important. That’s why I spent countless hours in order to find that perfect mark and brand recognition. The firm called Model Farm works with our University’s official newspaper, Iowa State Daily and the program operates in a similar structure to “Bit To Byteâ€. They employ students pursuing careers in marketing, graphic design, journalism, etc. and provide mentorship learning opportunities and real world experience in their field. Sounds familiar!
Departmental Updates:
Brand:
-Marketing/PR firm: Model Farm
-Rebranded as “Bit To Byteâ€
-Refined mission statement
-Website copyright and Front-End development
-reworked 3 branches
-created a style guide and brand identity
“We have been very focused this month on setting up a strong foundation for Bit To Byte. A strong foundation will be essential when we start to scale to many locations. We created a company structure that allows us to expand to many locations, while adapting to the changes that will come from doing so.â€
~Xander
Structural:
-Created a company structure and management procedures
-Fiscal Policies and Procedures
-Contacted an attorney knowledgeable in blockchain about tax concerns regarding paying mentors in Dash
-Our Exec. Team has been scheduling business consulting services through our university's Business department https://iowasbdc.org
Software Development:
-Started developing a scheduling and payment API that allows our mentors to “clock-in†with their Dash Addresses and when they clock-out they receive payment for that class in Dash/Hr.
-Done with initial testing of the DashBot on discord with tipping features implemented. Adding the ability for Discord members to tip with reactions on a post.
Please read our Development Update Here:
https://notehub.org/zge4m
Local Updates:
-Our classes in La Grange have expanded to introduce Blockchain technology. We’ve hired sixteen new mentors and we plan to hire 20 more next month.
-We held 3 meetups at Iowa State University with over 120 students in attendance
-We’ve reached out to more districts in Ames, Chicago, and Kalamazoo to expand our reach as an organization.
-Started to create specialized curriculums to accommodate the needs of students in each region.
Moving from Bits to Bytes
Dash Distribution:
Operating Costs
-Facility Costs
-Marketing/Brand Development (Working with Professional PR Firm)
-Dash branded van for transporting supplies and also for traveling between states
-Travel Expenses
-Miscellaneous costs (ie. Insurance, )
Costs: 48 Dash per month
STEM Mentorship Program:
The Mentorship Program consists of older students leading classes and discussions for younger students to establish skills in the STEM field.
-Expand into several more locations including a program in Phoenix close to Arizona State University
-Hire more mentors and host incentivised coding competitions with Dash as prizes to identify talent
Costs: 22 Dash
Building Futures Program:
-Sponsor STEM resources for financially challenged students and underrepresented groups
-Represent Dash through name attachments to robotics teams
-Host Blockchain themed Hackathons
Costs: 36 Dash
Emerging Technologies Program:
-Increase impact in universities including more meetups, presentations and sponsored events
-Give presentations at student organizations and focus on International Study Organizations
-Host Dash giveaways and student competitions
Costs: 16 Dash
Teaching Materials:
-Bitsboxes (Coding Books for Kids)
-Devices (Laptops & Tablets)
-VR Headsets
-Software
-DIY Coding/Computer Kits
-Vex Robotics Kits
Costs: 20 Dash
Student Employees:
-Senior Mentors
-Mentors
-Development Team
-Regional Coordinators
-Head of Software
-Head of Marketing
-Head of Curriculum
-Student Programmers
-Writers
Costs: 56 Dash (Employing 32 Mentors)
Total Per Month: 198 Dash
Updates:
We will provide weekly updates including pictures and video content of our classes. We will also be actively working on PR and be in touch with news and media sources to cover our programs and talk about Dash. For a consistent progress report and update structure we are working on a designated website page that we will keep updated weekly.
Please feel free to reach out with questions/comments/feedback.
Also be sure to follow us on twitter for updates:
www.twitter.com/BitToByte_Org
www.twitter.com/augustjamesd
Bit By Bit: Interview With Mark Mason: Dash Force News
Links:
https://www.dashforcenews.com/dash-funds-stem-education-program-teachers-paid-dash/
https://www.dashforcenews.com/dash-force-mvp-contest-winners-august-september-2017/
www.BitToByte.org
www.youtube.com/augustjamesd
https://gofundme.com/Bit-To-Bit
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/burr-ridge/community/chi-ugc-article-lt-programmers-start-class-for-aspiring-coder-2017-02-08-story.html
https://www.lionnewspaper.com/news/2017/04/11/incredible-coding/
https://www.dashforcenews.com/neocash-radio-appearance-on-dip001-venezuela-conferences-and-augusts-crowdfunded-london-trip/
Bit To Byte
Student STEM Services
[size=100][b]Bit To Byte: November Report[/b][/size]
Recap Video:
Tao from Dash Nation Interviews August and talks about Bit To Byte and the teams plans going forward:
What is Bit To Byte?
Bit To Byte is an organization that employs high school and college age students as mentors to teach after school STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) related classes paid in Dash/Hour for elementary school students. Three branches make up the Bit To Byte Foundation, the STEM Mentorship Program, the Building Futures Program, and the Emerging Technologies Program.
How We Help Dash:
We have seen some requests from the Dash community to summarize the benefits our proposal has on the Dash Community. Here are some of the defining features and benefits that Bit To Byte provides to the Dash community.
Supporting Bit to Byte is an investment into the short and long term development and adoption of Dash.
Short-Term Benefits:
- Multiple news articles, publications, feature stories, and interviews about Bit To Byte and its educational partnership with the Dash DAO.
- Using and applying Dash and it’s defining features in real world employment scenarios. Student and professional mentors paid immediately with Dash as well as the development of a Auto Payment system with Dash for Mentors who attend our programs.
- A significant number of community members, educators, and students will be introduced and familiarized with Dash and blockchain technology.
- Establish a positive and friendly first introduction of Dash/blockchain to students and community members
Long-Term Benefits:
- Students will learn about Dash and blockchain at an early age
- Inspiring and educating future blockchain and Dash developers
- Dash will be recognized as the first cryptocurrency to support, fund, and revolutionize the STEM education indus
View Dash Core Team CEO Ryan Taylor Interview:
“I think it’s important to teach children about all the emerging technologies that are likely to impact the future, for a lot of different reasons, but if for nothing else to inspire them, to identify with something that excites them and provides the motivation to learn.â€
-Core Team CEO Ryan Taylor
Notice something different? Â
Yep, you guessed it. Due to a multitude of reasons we had to change our original name and Twitter tagline from #BitByBit to > “Bit To Byte: Student STEM Servicesâ€. We are confident that our new name and brand illustrates the core concepts that we want our program to convey. 8 Bits = 1 Byte. The new name signifies a transition from small to large, older mentors inspiring and teaching young students and allowing them to build up their knowledge of STEM related topics. Our new tagline is a quick summation of our overarching goals, we offer STEM related classes, programs, support and experiences for young students taught by older students.
More on marketing...
For the past few weeks I've made the local student-led Marketing/PR firm that we chose basically my second home... Why? For our program to succeed and expand its outreach I believe that first impressions are important. That’s why I spent countless hours in order to find that perfect mark and brand recognition. The firm called Model Farm works with our University’s official newspaper, Iowa State Daily and the program operates in a similar structure to “Bit To Byteâ€. They employ students pursuing careers in marketing, graphic design, journalism, etc. and provide mentorship learning opportunities and real world experience in their field. Sounds familiar!
Departmental Updates:
Brand:
-Marketing/PR firm: Model Farm
-Rebranded as “Bit To Byteâ€
-Refined mission statement
-Website copyright and Front-End development
-reworked 3 branches
-created a style guide and brand identity
“We have been very focused this month on setting up a strong foundation for Bit To Byte. A strong foundation will be essential when we start to scale to many locations. We created a company structure that allows us to expand to many locations, while adapting to the changes that will come from doing so.â€
~Xander
Structural:
-Created a company structure and management procedures
-Fiscal Policies and Procedures
-Contacted an attorney knowledgeable in blockchain about tax concerns regarding paying mentors in Dash
-Our Exec. Team has been scheduling business consulting services through our university's Business department https://iowasbdc.org
Software Development:
-Started developing a scheduling and payment API that allows our mentors to “clock-in†with their Dash Addresses and when they clock-out they receive payment for that class in Dash/Hr.
-Done with initial testing of the DashBot on discord with tipping features implemented. Adding the ability for Discord members to tip with reactions on a post.
Please read our Development Update Here:
https://notehub.org/zge4m
Local Updates:
-Our classes in La Grange have expanded to introduce Blockchain technology. We’ve hired sixteen new mentors and we plan to hire 20 more next month.
-We held 3 meetups at Iowa State University with over 120 students in attendance
-We’ve reached out to more districts in Ames, Chicago, and Kalamazoo to expand our reach as an organization.
-Started to create specialized curriculums to accommodate the needs of students in each region.
Moving from Bits to Bytes
Dash Distribution:
Operating Costs
-Facility Costs
-Marketing/Brand Development (Working with Professional PR Firm)
-Dash branded van for transporting supplies and also for traveling between states
-Travel Expenses
-Miscellaneous costs (ie. Insurance, )
Costs: 48 Dash per month
STEM Mentorship Program:
The Mentorship Program consists of older students leading classes and discussions for younger students to establish skills in the STEM field.
-Expand into several more locations including a program in Phoenix close to Arizona State University
-Hire more mentors and host incentivised coding competitions with Dash as prizes to identify talent
Costs: 22 Dash
Building Futures Program:
-Sponsor STEM resources for financially challenged students and underrepresented groups
-Represent Dash through name attachments to robotics teams
-Host Blockchain themed Hackathons
Costs: 36 Dash
Emerging Technologies Program:
-Increase impact in universities including more meetups, presentations and sponsored events
-Give presentations at student organizations and focus on International Study Organizations
-Host Dash giveaways and student competitions
Costs: 16 Dash
Teaching Materials:
-Bitsboxes (Coding Books for Kids)
-Devices (Laptops & Tablets)
-VR Headsets
-Software
-DIY Coding/Computer Kits
-Vex Robotics Kits
Costs: 20 Dash
Student Employees:
-Senior Mentors
-Mentors
-Development Team
-Regional Coordinators
-Head of Software
-Head of Marketing
-Head of Curriculum
-Student Programmers
-Writers
Costs: 56 Dash (Employing 32 Mentors)
Total Per Month: 198 Dash
Updates:
We will provide weekly updates including pictures and video content of our classes. We will also be actively working on PR and be in touch with news and media sources to cover our programs and talk about Dash. For a consistent progress report and update structure we are working on a designated website page that we will keep updated weekly.
Please feel free to reach out with questions/comments/feedback.
Also be sure to follow us on twitter for updates:
www.twitter.com/BitToByte_Org
www.twitter.com/augustjamesd
Bit By Bit: Interview With Mark Mason: Dash Force News
Links:
https://www.dashforcenews.com/dash-funds-stem-education-program-teachers-paid-dash/
https://www.dashforcenews.com/dash-force-mvp-contest-winners-august-september-2017/
www.BitToByte.org
www.youtube.com/augustjamesd
https://gofundme.com/Bit-To-Bit
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/burr-ridge/community/chi-ugc-article-lt-programmers-start-class-for-aspiring-coder-2017-02-08-story.html
https://www.lionnewspaper.com/news/2017/04/11/incredible-coding/
https://www.dashforcenews.com/neocash-radio-appearance-on-dip001-venezuela-conferences-and-augusts-crowdfunded-london-trip/
Show full description ...
Discussion: Should we fund this proposal?
Submit comment
padecious993@yahoo.com
I'm trying to boil down some basic numbers
How many children do you reach, daily, weekly? Number of classes, total number of mentors is 32 or 36 or more? How many classes you will be able to equip using hardware budget?
Not trying to be an accountant here just would like to understand better the project and the reason for such large organizational overhead.
https://youtu.be/IEZVrHqG6Wc
This is a great project and I at instantkarmafund.org will document the progress and highlights for public consumption.
And of course, I think I could make a compelling argument for how critical it is for us as a society to have more members that are fluent in the hard sciences. From the Dash ecosystem point of view, that's irrelevant in the short term. But in the long term, it likely is significant. August is playing the long game. We need some visionaries.
solarguy
50.000+$ is an yearly American wage - for that I would expect an army of students enrolled and managed by one or two management guys.
Most of your budget is management and VR headsets...
Voting no.
1. Based on what I have seen so far from August, I have little doubt that he is capable of administering such a program. In the event that I have judged the situation incorrectly, He also strikes me as a task oriented, get-it-done kind of guy who would rise to the occastion.
2. On the merits of the project itself, think back to what strategy Apple used to go from a tiny irrelevant company compared to IBM/PC's, to a force to be reckoned with. Schools. Apple gave away lots and lots and lots of computers to schools, along with a "free" curriculum.
The sooner we introduce them to cryptocurrency in general and Dash in particular, the better off we will be in the long run.
Oh yeah, and a friendly reminder to Masternodes, we do have a few trolls that may attempt to prevent the group from making well researched logical decisions.
I vote yes. Solarguy on the forums
We have three planned ways of verifying that a mentor showed up on a given day.
First, there are at least two mentors at every class. They will report that the other mentor was present.
Second, the software on our laptops will notify our server what network the laptop is on. This, along with student logins on the same network, will verify that the mentor was present that day.
Third, the mentors may submit an image of themselves within thirty minutes of the class next to a room number or similar marking and upload that to our server. This will then be checked by the staff member and approved if necessary.
Verification options one and two will normally be sufficient. In the event that only one mentor shows up to class that day then verification option three will be required for payment approval. Disputes will be settled by evidence provided by completing verification option three.
Payouts will be done in Dash immediately after both mentors' presences are marked accordingly.
From:
nija123098
Senior Developer of Bit To Byte
But I like what you guys are doing for sure, maybe just a recommendation is target a older crowd that could get into this space faster. But keep up the good work!
This part looks also interesting :
"Started developing a scheduling and payment API that allows our mentors to “clock-in†with their Dash Addresses and when they clock-out they receive payment for that class in Dash/Hr."
That said, I don't believe you yet possess the experience nor the know-how to manage $50,000 per month. If you keep it up, you will have both someday, however.
Start small. Then work bigger. You have the potential to be a long-term, big-time DASH player within the educational outreach and charity fronts.
In other words, you have the potential to make DASH look very good. But I won't allow this level of funding to overwhelm you at this early a stage -- which it would.
Scale back your plans, and come back asking for a significantly smaller sum.
Your support is greatly appreciated and thank you for addressing the concern with the size/scope of our mission and ability to properly manage the funds.
To begin, let me make clear that we have taken this into account. Starting a few weeks ago, we addressed the fund management concern internally. We have been working behind the scenes to develop a decision making process for fund distribution and purchase requests in our organization. We have a purchase request form that all departments fill out and each consecutive management tier has to approve the request individually.
On a personal note, I did not mention this in the proposal but after receiving feedback from professors and community members I have decided to postpone some of my engineering classes for the current semester in order to prioritize our proposal and to not attempt to over commit myself with responsibilities.
Additionally, I’ve made arrangements to work with an Engineering professor at our university and have established an Independent Study credit hour course where I will be documenting my experiences and progress in running Bit To Byte. This will allow me to receive consistent feedback and be responsible for progress reports to my designated mentors.
Lastly, I’d like to clarify that this is not a ‘one man’ job, we are compartmentalizing the Bit To Byte foundation as well as hiring additional team members to assist in the responsibility of the funds. We are in the process of hiring a professional accountant as well as streamlining our purchase management system. Our core team has also been receiving consistent business consulting services through our university's Business department via. http://iowasbdc.org
I hope that clarifies any misconceptions about our management capabilities as a student startup and reassures the community that we take these concerns seriously.
Sincerely,
August Domanchuk
CEO of Bit To Byte
(I've also included a copy of the response to this comment on the Dash Forums for future reference. View at https://www.dash.org/forum/threads/bit-to-byte-a-personal-message-to-the-community.17562/ )
The key component is that we will be operating hands on programs in dozens of communities, states, and countries. These physical impressions that we can have in these communities will never be comparable to "Digital impressions" with online advertisements.
We see our program as a catalyst for STEM education, individualized learning, and Dash/Blockchain education. We have interviews and news articles lined up for our program and as support for Bit To Byte increases, Digital Cash acceptance will have a direct correlation.
Our team is fully committed to following through with our mission and that mission includes informing students and communities about exciting emerging technologies. Dash is the emerging technology that we are passionate about and we wish to share that knowledge with the world.
I hope that clarifies your concern.
-August