Data has, without doubt, become the new gold with almost every major company accumulating information about consumers. This scientific data is that which is collected for the purpose of research in any sector and can be used by NGO’s, researchers and others to understand and deduce from. Data is being produced exponentially and will continue to do so with approx. 160+ Zettabytes of data expected to be produced by 2025. data collected is hoarded by large institutions and not available to nascent entities who may be able to use it in groundbreaking developments related to IoT.
Data Providers themselves are reluctant to contribute on centralized platforms due to a few reasons.
- Hosting – High cost due to high demand for storage space for hosting
- Tracking – Tracking data is impossible once it has left the hands of the data creator.
- Pricing – Impractical dynamic pricing models
- Maintenance – High maintenance charges for managing and licensing data.
- Compliance – Absence of a regulated framework
- Hidden Costs – Unforeseen transaction fees are common
- One Stop Shop – Lack of a complete ecosystem for data exchange
The SciDex Solution
SciDex uses the power of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency to create an opportunity for its members to contribute through access to an unprecedented collection of scientific data. SciDex Market Space provides users a global index for scientific data listings and AI tools to manipulate them as required. It also works both ways. Users can provide their data requirements and then calls will be issued for relevant data sets. The MarketSpace is governed by the user and its tokenization enables an incentivized and rewarding ecosystem. Tokens also accelerate data creation and accessibility by attracting new customers. Decisions are taken by the community through a voting system on the blockchain.
SciDex is the first decentralized Market Space for exchanging scientific data and is capable of connecting datasets from different domains.
SciDex Ecosystem
The SciDex ecosystem consists of the following products:
- SciDex – an index holding detailed information about data seller according to a certain template.
- SciEngine – An AI and NLP powered search engine to access the index.
- Call for References – A call for members to find or add a new entry in the index of the existing dataset.
- Call for Contribution – A call for members to create new datasets or metadata sets.
- Call for Services – Call for services from members like advanced analysis and betterment of datasets.
- Call for Curation – Call for members to curate data by checking availability and consistency.
- Exchange – A smart tool based on smart contracts for the exchange of data and tokens.
- Subsidy and Investment Model – A self-governed model to subsidize and invest in projects.
- Ranking system – Ranking is based on all actions in the market space. Higher rankers gain additional privileges.
- Peer to peer tools
SciDex Community
- Data Providers – Those who provide data
- Data Curators – They manage the content and ensure it is valid and of high quality.
- Science Experts – Create reports using data or provide advanced services.
All members of the community are rated for their actions. In case of transactions, buyers are able to approve or disapprove the quality and validity of content provided while in case of contributions, community members involved rate and discuss it.
SciDex believes that rewards are necessary to promote the organic growth of the Market Space. Rewards in the form of SciTokens incentivizes the community and lends credibility to SciDex’s official token. The total release of tokens is linked to the curators and volume of content required, If curators are less, the number of tokens awarded increases while if the volume of data needed is fewer tokens are released.
Trusted Members
They are the most valuable, active and engaging members of the community and gain this position when they acquire and hold a certain number of SciTokens, perform a specific amount of work and complete a specific number of transactions. He has a key role to play as he can vote for investment and subsidies, participate in creating rules and regulations and vouch for peer Trusted Members.
SciExchange
This exchange is a scientific tool allowing users to exchange data subject to smart contracts. It possesses functionalities like providing or purchasing data, calls for a reference, calls for contribution and calls for service.
Datasets are difficult to organize and handle. Optimally they require a meta-language and associated frameworks for easier comprehension
A register is maintained of all those who provide content indexed by the quality of data, called the Data Providers Registry. These ranks are publically visible. To avoid flawed content, a probation period is invoked where the provider has to stake tokens for a predetermined time wherein the data is examined by experts and challenged if necessary.
Curators are allowed access to limited sections of data by providers in order to check for inconsistencies. They are of two types, manual and automatic. Manual curators are when market actors call for service or data curation. Automatic is whenever a new dataset is indexed or an existing one is updated. The goal of a curator is to verify and validate whether data is available, consistent and compliant to rules.
Curators make the data structured and discoverable. They interpret it for any flaws and complete datasets by providing links to context related datasets. They improve the accuracy, quality, and consistency along with timely updates as and when required.
Threats
The major threat to any such system is Sybil threats where the attacker creates a large number of false identities to gain influence and thus redirects the attention of the system. This is countered by using Trusted Members and Security deposits or probations.
Price Model
Data is priced solely by the provider but an estimation tool is provided to seller and buyer to calculate process based on popularity, quality, and quantity of concerned datasets. It also factors in the previous history when calculating prices.
Subsidy Model
This model allows companies that generate significant amounts of data to monetize it further by providing those datasets which may not be useful for them but beneficial to others. This is targetted at governments and universities that wish to provide data for free. The companies are either nominated by trusted members or selected by the SciDex foundation and confirmed through a second round of voting.
Investment Model
Investment is provided to upcoming and promising startups who provide applications detailing their vision and after confirmation by the self-governance council provides investment in return for revenue share and not stocks. This revenue is then shared within the community. An example of such is Silencio, an app to measure peripheral noise.
Security & Privacy
SciDex has adopted the new European Union General Data Protection Regulation as a template for global privacy and adheres to all global data privacy and security rules and regulations. No private data is stored on the blockchain and geographical limitations are imposed. Request system is in place to handle any individual rights of those whose data is being handled and all security concerns are examined regularly.
Team
SciDex is a non-profit foundation based in Singapore. The Scidex team are a mix of engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs led by co-founders, Shuo Wang – an AI and cognitive science expert, Alex Bouaziz – Head of business development and strategic decisions, Pierre Bi – who leads the financial and legal teams, Phillip Bouaziz – who assists in strategic decisions and leads partnership building, Constantin Overlack – Marketing and community growth and Ofer Simon who is in charge of the development team.
For More Details of SciDex :
Official Website: https://www.scidex.co
Whitepaper: https://www.docdroid.net/S4rAzxZ/scidex-whitepaper-short.pdf
Telegram: https://t.me/SciDexOfficial
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/scidexofficial
Medium: https://medium.com/scidex
GitHub: https://github.com/Scidexofficial
Post By Anton De Mel
Bitcointalk Profile: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1770640
