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GSOC Curecoin Application

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2021 Google Summer of Code Organization Application


9 March 2021

GOOGLE’s RESPONSE

“Thank you for applying to be a Google Summer of Code 2021 mentor organization. Sadly, we were unable to accept Curecoin LLC this year. We had many more application than available slots. We hope you will apply again in the future!”.

Google GSOC 2021 Response

Google’s Response to Our Application

7 February 2021

Curecoin by Tom Hattem

Curecoin – Rendering with permission of @HattemTom (Twitter)

Table of Contents

  1. Project Overview and Application Links
  2. Proposed Ideas
  3. Desired Requirments
  4. Being a Great Contributing Student
  5. If You Are Selected
  6. Googler Endorsements Section
  7. Contacts & Application Link(s)

 

OVERVIEW

The Curecoin team, represented by Joshua Smith , applies to participate in the 2021 Google Summer of Code program based on the list of IDEAS in the section below.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqOEyHhXEYY[/embedyt]

Since 2014, CureCoin has been rewarding members of our *Folding@home (WUSTL/Stanford) distributed computing team who use their PC’s to help power research into various life threatening, and degenerative diseases (i.e. Cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Diabetes, Ebola and a host of others). Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the network has prioritized research into the Novel Coronavirus, in order to expedite the process of understanding molecular dynamics in its structure, and finding new drug targets for both this generation of the disease, as well as the next. The system’s rewards consist of cryptographically secured tokens (registered with the SEC to trade in US markets), based on stalwart Proof-of-Stake technology which guarantees minimal energy consumption to secure our blockchain. Curecoin has a global following from over 30 countries and is currently the number #1 organized team on the Folding@home network – with a record of ~1.5 Trillion cumulative points generated on Folding@home from the contributions of 26,000 individuals and organizations.

Stats

ExtremeOverclocking.org Statistics for Curecoin Team 224497 02/17/2021

To understand what this means in terms of Super Computer (HPC) time, see our 2019 article. Over 95% of the computational “work” produced by our team directly contributes to US NIH and NSF seeded medical research* (rather than wasted on hash-cash mining algorithms employed by other blockchains). Since Curecoin’s founding, our members have contributed computational work to an underlying 112 scientific papers – cited in over 1,100 independent studies.

In addition, Curecoin has established a charity sponsored by the Visions Made Viable 501(c)3 / see also “The Curecoin Project“, which has contributed nearly $45,000 (in converted CURE and other cryptocurrencies) to over 35 different charities around the world; sourced from the donations of team members and other supporters.

We strongly believe Curecoin is an ideal choice for individuals and organizations interested in participating in blockchain technology rooted in citizen science – where real-world work on research benefits all of humanity. We believe hybrid organizations like ours can be MORE impactful to our collective future than other (environmentally disastrous) blockchain alternatives. Our endeavor clears the way for a future where citizen science creates an “Epistemic Economy” based on exploratory science … beyond the concept of simple Universal Basic Income (UBI).

 

IDEAS

  1. Cryptocurrency Uptake Market and Customer Research
  2. Web site modernization for optimized SEO
      3. Familiarity with Chloropleth map dashboard software is a plus.
  3. Produce participation, software installation, and registration instructions and media by platform.
  4. Assist in modernizing reward distribution system to support multiple tokens & citizen science projects (convert to FOSS)
  5. Assist in upgrading wallet app to support latest version of blockchain:
      6. For updated security, and multi-sig capabilities.
  6. Curecoin wallet integration with FOSS accounting or personal finance software (i.e. gnucash).

 

Milestone Details (based on Ideas above)

  1. Cryptocurrency Uptake Market and Customer Research
    • Description:
      • Week 0: applications (see prospective applicant form)
        Week 1: Identification of reliable data sources pertaining to legislation involving cryptocurrency;
        ****************************************
        Week 2: Database collection: “BeautifulSoup” data collection by public open source web resource page scraping, data entry, actionable inference feature extraction, and composite data aggregation;
        Week 3: Implementation and monitoring of continuous data collection process and validation of pipeline correctness;
        ****************************************
        Week 4: Publication of own source code repository with instructions for replication of measured results;
        Week 5: Publication of support, reference, and tutorial documents.
    • Expected Outcome:
      • More efficient outreach to locale-specific mining and advocacy interest groups. Implementation and monitoring of continuous data collection process and validation of pipeline correctness.
    • References:
      • https://www.crummy.com/software/BeautifulSoup/
    • Mentors:
    • Requirements:
      • html5, Python, Pandas, Flask, general knowledge of statistics and data gathering
    • Task Difficulty:
      • Intermediate
    • Desired Skills:
      • Have a familiarity with monetary policy and automated statistics collection.

     

  2. Web Site Modernization
    • Description:
      • Week 0: application
        Week 1: Identification of reliable data sources pertaining to public sentiment, investment behavior, and associated data involving cryptocurrencies;
        ****************************************
        Week 2: prototyping and implementation of plotly chloropleth maps in streamlit;
        Week 3: Implementation of continuous data collection process and validation of dashboard data display correctness;
        ****************************************
        Week 4: Publication of repository with instructions for replication of UX results;
        Week 5: Publication of tutorial, reference, and support documents.
    • Expected Outcome:
      • Give users an improved online experience, with ability to view real-time data from our global network.
    • References:
      • https://plotly.com/python/choropleth-maps/
    • Mentors:
    • Requirements:
      • html, python (intermediate), or similar
    • Task Difficulty:
      • Intermediate
    • Desired Skills:
      • Interest in Choropleth data map integration in web sites

     

  3. Produce Instructions and Media
    • Description:
      • Week 0: application
        Week 1: Identification of reliable data sources pertaining to information automating the installation, operation, and accruals from CureCoin mining;
        ***************************************
        Week 2: Database collection: “BeautifulSoup” data collection by public open source resource scraping, data entry, inference, or any combination of those;
        Week 3: Implementation of installation software scripts and packages on the most popular platforms;
        ****************************************
        Week 4: Publication of repository with instructions for replication of installation results;
        Week 5: Publication of tutorial, support, and reference documents.
    • Expected Outcome:
      • Provide improved user experience on multiple platforms.
    • References:
      • https://curecoin.net/knowledge-base/knowledge-base-faq/
      • https://github.com/cygnusxi/CurecoinSource
    • Mentors:
    • Requirements:
      • html, javascript/php, access to media production tools(
    • Task Difficulty:
      • Novice
    • Desired Skills:
      • Web Page Publishing, Media Editing

     

  4. Modernizing Rewards Distribution System (Assist)
    • Description:
      • Week 0: application
        Week 1: Brainstorm and outline parallel distribution system for ERC-20 tokens (in addition to existing CURE tokens based on Peercoin) for cryptobullionpools.com;
        ****************************************
        Week 2: Work with our developers prototyping and implementating cryptobullionpools with parallel distribution.;
        Week 3: Convert cryptobullionpools into an open-source project with necessary annotations;
        ****************************************
        Week 4: Publication of repository with instructions into github.;
        Week 5: Publication of tutorial, reference, and support documents.
    • Expected Outcome:
      • Help expand the capabilities of the distribution server into other tokes and projects
    • References:
      • https://www.cryptobullionpools.com
      • https://github.com/cygnusxi/CurecoinSource
    • Mentors:
    • Requirements:
      • Some knowledge of C++, PostGREQL and Cryptocurrency systems
    • Task Difficulty:
      • Advanced
    • Desired Skills:
      • Some background implementing a blockchain is a plus.

     

  5. Upgrading Wallet App (Assist)
    • Description:
      • Week 0: application
        Week 1: Brainstorm and outline requirements to upgrade existing QT and headless wallets to utilize the latest Peercoin clone;
        ****************************************
        Week 2: Work with our developers prototyping and implementation of latest version of the blockchain;
        Week 3: Test new wallets on new blockchain fork;
        ****************************************
        Week 4: Publication of repository with instructions into github.;
        Week 5: Publication of tutorial, reference, and support documents.
    • Expected Outcome:
      • Updated Blockchain read for new fork on our network.
    • References:
      • https://github.com/cygnusxi/CurecoinSource
      • https://github.com/peercoin
    • Mentors:
    • Requirements:
      • Some knowledge of C++, and Cryptocurrency systems
    • Task Difficulty:
      • Advanced
    • Desired Skills:
      • Some background implementing a blockchain is a plus.

     

  6. Curecoin Wallet Integration into FOSS Finance Software
    • Description:
      • Week 0: application
        Week 1: Brainstorm and outline requirements to implement Curecoin into FOSS personal and business financial software;
        ****************************************
        Week 2: Work with mentor to prototype curecoin (along with general cryptocurrency) into a FOSS personal and business financial software app, like gnucash securities feature;
        Week 3: Test implementation with current Curecoin wallet;
        ****************************************
        Week 4: Publication of repository with instructions into github.;
        Week 5: Publication of tutorial, reference, and support documents.
    • Expected Outcome:
      • Demonstration Functionality of FOSS financial app with Curecoin wallet.
    • References:
      • https://github.com/cygnusxi/CurecoinSource
      • https://github.com/Gnucash/gnucash (or similar (TBD))
    • Mentors:
    • Requirements:
      • PERL, C++ intermediate
    • Task Difficulty:
      • Intermediate to Advanced
    • Desired Skills:
      • Have an interest in economics and cryptocurrency

 

REQUIREMENTS

It is assumed that the incoming student meets some basic requirements as highlighted here:

  1. Intermediate level of familiarity with C++ (blockchain application experience a plus), Python, PERL, Javascript, PHP, html5.
  2. Demonstrable skills in web and media development.
  3. Have an interest in economics and cryptocurrency (especially when implemented in hybrid structures in for-profit / non-profit organizations).
  4. Have an interest in bioinformatics, physics and biology (with at least a solid “101” understanding of the subjects)
  5. Comfortable with using git and github (Curecoin source code is managed under github) If you are unfamiliar with github, this tutorial can help.
  6. Eager to learn new skills, and ability to work in an Agile environment from Trello task board.
  7. Has suitable tools/environment for web and C++ development. For example, be familiar with WordPress, CSS, and any associated development tools. Have a familiarity Visual Studio, and common Mac and Linux gcc build tools.

Additional skill preferences may be listed with the details of specific project ideas.

We can help you get up to speed, however students demonstrating ability in advance will be given preference.

 

BEING A GREAT CONTRIBUTOR/STUDENT

If you want to participate as a student and want to maximize your chances of being accepted, start talking to us and either try fixing a smaller problem posted to github to familiarize yourself with our core project. Communicating with us will elevate your chances of being selected.

Some Other Suggestions:

  1. Read through the website and knowledgebase – join the team, and fold some proteins to earn CURE yourself.
  2. Examine the source code.
  3. Contribution! Curecoin would love to see how you engage with the development process. Take a look at the issue tracker for Curecoin that interests you and submit a Pull Request. It can be a simple bug or a documentation change. Don’t worry about trying to pick something to impress us, we just want to see how you work in our environment.
  4. Make a suggestion, write an article for us to submit to our webpage, or come up with a unique “air-drop” or contest idea.
  5. Do research on how other real-work blockchain ventures operate. Base your path on your interests and your skills. Show us you’re serious about taking the initiative.
  6. Draft a proposal about what you want to do. Include what you understand the current state of the project to be, what you would like to improve, how, etc.
  7. Discuss the proposal with us to get feedback.
  8. Have patience! Especially on Discord. We will get to you when we’re available, or just send an email. Most questions are already answered in the docs or somewhere else and can be found with some research. Your questions should reflect that you’ve actually thought through what you’re asking and done some rudimentary research.
  9. Most of all don’t forget to have fun and interact with the community on Discord and github. The community can be both helpful and challenging in blockchain ventures. Some who are financially driven can be impatient, other – especially open-source contributors, can leave you hanging – since they have personal priorities outside of the community.

 

IF YOU ARE SELECTED

  1. All students should join the #support and the private #curecoin_headquarters Discord channels daily, this is how the development team communicates both internally and with the users.
  2. You and your mentors will agree on two week milestones for the duration of the summer.
  3. Development will occur in your fork of the master branch of CurecoinSource on github, we expect you to submit at least one PR a week from your branch into a branch reserved for you in the primary repo. This will be your forum for reporting progress as well as documenting any struggles you encountered.
  4. Missing 2 weekly PR or 2 milestones will result in rejection unless due to extenuating circumstances. If a situation beyond your control were to arise, please inform your mentors as soon as possible. If a milestones seems out of reach we will work with you to reevaluate the goals.
  5. Your changes will be merged into master once the project has been completed and we have thoroughly tested on every platform that is relevant.

 

Endorsements from Google Developers (Googlers)

Pending

 

Contact information, website links, and forms for applicants to fill out

Application Link: Google Summer of Code 2021 (pending – stay tuned March 9, 2021 for announcement)
Contact: [email protected] (please cc: [email protected])
Web: www.curecoin.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CureCoin_Team
Discord Invite: Discord Channel Invite

* The Curecoin LLC rewards system is independent of Folding@home, which is owned and operated by a consortium of Washington University St. Louis, MO and Stanford University, Redwood City, CA, et al.