“The limit of my language means the limit of my world” Philosopher Wittgenstein”
Need for Inclusive Language in Web3 and #ReFi
Attending Web3 conferences globally, the common denominator and greatest barrier to community engagement is often language. As the lingo is often western driven; phrases, colloquialisms and abbreviations are often lost in translation.
- #ReFi (Regenerative Finance), a space within the Web3 world that focuses on using blockchain technology for supporting Regenerative Finance models, is a fairly new and emergent space.
- It claims to provide necessary tools and frameworks which aligns economics with ecological health to proliferate sovereign, bioregional, and regenerative economies.
- However, in order to collectively move forward, there is a pressing need within the larger ecosystem to create a common language and understanding derived shared and culturally rooted epistemology. And this stands true even for people who are actively and regularly engaging with the space. There is a need to create knowledge commons through a compiled set of vocabularies and definitions that allow us to communicate outside of our current capitalist/extractionary systems on different levels — social, financial, technical and ecological.
- For global adoption and true participation of varied stakeholders practicing regeneration and standing at the fore-fronts of the climate crisis, it is the responsibility of #ReFi leaders to ensure that the communities they are engaging with are fully aware of the technology they are being introduced to and the risks involved. For true decentralisation and distribution of power to happen, it is crucial that all stakeholders can make their own informed decisions.
- The larger Web3 and ReFi space has in the past been obscure and exclusive which in return has created artificial scarcity of information. We at Regen Foundation believe that Web3 Encyclopaedia could play a crucial role in bridging the gaps and levelling the play-field.
Web3 encyclopaedia → Knowledge Commons
A global-collaborative effort led by various Web3 enthusiasts, be they Web3 conversant or not.
The aim is to create a knowledge commons that will explain complex Web3 and ReFi specific terminology and break it down into digestible and understandable language, which is rooted in local-cultural context. This will boost and facilitate participation from on-ground communities with the various ecosystems of their choice.
Who is it for?
The project, spearheaded by Regen Foundation was launched at ETHSafari. It was one of a kind workshop, held beneath the baobabs in Kilifi, inviting non-web3 individuals and the larger community to dig deeper and explore understandings of the different buzzwords from the industry.
The project aims to create an insightful handbook for beginners to gain a better understanding of the ecosystem.
Our Approach:
- Non Web3 community members were especially encouraged to participate and their opinion and feedback was taken into consideration right from the inception.
- We strongly believe that in order for the project to be successful, we don’t just need technical but also cultural translations to be included.
- The inspiration and idea to spin-up this project came directly from the communities that RF is working with, realising that
Planetary health through community ownership and governance cannot happen without adequate understanding and engagement. The encyclopaedia would be the first step at addressing this.
The trajectory of the encyclopaedia would lead to translations to Swahili, Portuguese, Arabic, Korean and many other local languages spoken by communities that are interested in engaging with this space.
Journey so far
The project launch in Kilifi was a huge success attracting over 250+ contributions from Web3 technicians, Web2 techies, non technical persons as well as enthusiasts in the space.
- In October 2022, we followed this up with a twitter space that was aptly titled “Explain Web3 to your grandma” Here we broke down the terms for the encyclopaedia as if we were explaining the various terminology to someone who was completely non-technical.
- In November, we attended several events in Nairobi and Nyeri to gather more contributions, test and peer review the body of work to ensure we crowdsource sufficiently.
- We also started to actively fundraise for the project so we can take this encyclopaedia to on-ground communities and get their inputs in developing it further. These funds will also be used to set up better backend systems to collect contributions from the larger community.
- In Dec 2022 we started our own Twitter Channel where we host fortnightly spaces in Swahili to boost community engagement for people trying to learn more about Web3.
- In Jan 2023, we began conversations on token compensation and incentivising contributors.
- In February 2023, we joined forces with the Chatafisha crew from Tanzania and made the first of its kind, cross-country language DAO.
- In March 2023, the core team will be meeting for the first time for a workshop at the PolkaDOT safari where we will collect more contributions from community members.
Learning is a continuous process and we believe in the need to engage various stakeholders in the ecosystem and translate it into different languages in collaboration with diverse allies.
Where will this project be piloted?
Although the project will begin in Africa, like all life did, it will spread out all over the earth to be a truly global, crowdsourced community project.
Potential Partners
*yet to be formalised
- Chatafisha DAO
- Safari DAO
- HER DAO Kenya
- ETH Foundation*
- Cryptolingo
- Bitcoin Mtaani
- Mbogi ya NFT
Regen Foundation believes in the power of education and informed choice to create sovereign, bioregional, and regenerative economies. This project will serve as the baseline for informing and onboarding on-ground community partners for Regen Foundation’s various initiatives such as:
Rights of Nature DAO → One Pager
Since this will be an open source community built project, other organisations will have free access to use this and build on it further.
Want to contribute to the encyclopaedia?
- Fill out this google Form and submit your translation:
- Regen Foundation Team will review your submission and add it to the Web3 Encyclopedia database.
- If you want to suggest changes or add edits, please use comment on the encyclopaedia. Regen Foundation Team will review your comment and incorporate it accordingly.
Beyond that, you can also engage with us via these mediums:
- Regen Foundation twitter
- Web3 Encyclopedia twitter (Kamusi ya Web3)
- Telegram
- Slack
- Get in touch with us via contact@regen.foundation
