Please describe your proposed solution
This project introduces a revolutionary web application designed specifically for academics. By employing Cardano smart contracts, it not only facilitates hosting and sharing of scholarly work but also ensures maximum financial returns to the content creators by entirely removing commission fees compared to traditional platforms (IEEE, Elsevier, Springer, etc.).
Technical Architecture
Web Application:
- User Interface: The user interface is designed to be simple and user-friendly, allowing academics to easily navigate through the platform. Key features include tools for uploading academic papers, creating detailed profiles, and setting specific access permissions for each piece of work.
- Academics open their own accounts on the site, upload their publications to these accounts, and set their own prices in terms of ADA tokens.
- Web Hosting: The platform utilizes a robust web hosting setup to maintain academic profiles and store all uploaded content securely. Each academic's profile acts as a personal repository where they can manage their publications. The hosting service also includes functionality to handle permissions given by smart contract execution, ensuring that only authorized users, who have paid, can access the protected content.
Cardano Smart Contracts:
- Transparent Access Management: Utilizes smart contracts to handle access permissions, ensuring only authorized users can engage with the content based on the owner's stipulations.
- Immutable Transaction Records: Employs Cardano’s blockchain to log transactions, maintaining a transparent and tamper-proof record of access and payments.
- ADA Wallet Integration: Facilitates integration with Cardano wallets, optimizing transaction efficiency and reducing costs, which allows more funds to directly benefit the content creators.
Security and Privacy:
- Robust Authentication: Implements strong authentication protocols, including two-factor authentication, to protect user accounts.
Financial Benefits
- Removed Platform Commission Fees: By removing scholaring platform (such as IEEE, Elsevier, etc.) commision fees and leveraging the cost-effective transaction capabilities of Cardano’s blockchain, the application ensures a greater proportion of any revenue generated (from access fees, subscriptions, or donations) is received by the academics themselves.
- Direct Monetization Options: Academicians have the opportunity to set their own pricing models for access to their work, be it through one-time payments, all facilitated through ADA smart contracts.
This application aims to empower academics by providing them a platform where they are in full control of their work and its monetization, counteracting the high fees and lack of transparency often associated with conventional publishing and hosting platforms (such as IEEE, Elsevier, etc.). By using Cardano's blockchain technology, the project promises enhanced security, reduced operational costs, and an equitable distribution of income, ensuring that the majority of the financial benefits go directly to the creators of the content. This approach not only supports the academic community financially but also encourages a broader dissemination of knowledge.
Use Case: Professor Smith sets up a profile on the ADA Scholar website and posts his research similar to how one might on Google Scholar. Interested individuals can then pay Professor Smith directly in ADA coin for access to his publications or to attend his workshops. All transactions are secured and validated using Cardano Smart Contracts, allowing Professor Smith to retain the full amount he sets, unlike traditional publishing platforms like IEEE and Elsevier that often take significant commissions. This cost-effective model could encourage more academics to use ADA Scholar.