Community Spotlight — April 2019 Edition
April is a wrap! We at ARK are proud of our determined and bright community,
and our monthly Community Spotlight newsletter will keep you apprised on some
notable community activities. Let’s dive into just some of the ways the ARK
community shined in April 2019.
FEATURED COMMITS
As they say, the best things happen with help. That’s why ARK runs monthly
bounty programs for coders who contribute to our codebase on the ARK Ecosystem
GitHub. Independent programmers can work side
by side with our international team and make the ARK toolkit even more powerful
and stable. ARK is awarded to GitHub participants by way of the ARK GitHub
Bounty Program. Learn more about the bounty program
here.
The community Spotlight Newsletter only includes three featured commits, but
you can see all the hard work of our GitHub participants at
blog.ark.io!
- Delegate ‘alessio’ reported a method to user experience in the wallet by
enhancing the address validation schema. This means that users won’t mistakenly
send funds to an address that is 100% confirmed to be apart from the current
network’s address format. For example, all ARK mainnet addresses start with the
letter ‘A.’ - Delegate ‘dated’ removed ‘productivity’ from the ARK Explorer’s delegate
monitor. Productivity refers to the percentage of blocks forged to total
opportunities to forge. Although this was removed for space reasons to allow for
the more important vote weight column to always be visible, there are talks to
bring productivity back with an improved calculation method. Don’t worry, the
ARK team and community developers are still as productive as ever! - Delegate ‘dated’ also handled a chore changing ‘Ark’ to ARK on the
development side. This was handled to bring congruence to what the ARK
communications team puts out.
Multiple coders are contributing to the ARK toolkit 24/7, and you can too — it’s
fun, rewarding, and you can earn ARK as well!
This guide will show you how to get started with coding for
ARK.
If you don’t know how to code, but you have ideas to improve ARK open source
projects, use this video to help you let developers know.
You can also now push issues onto ARK GitHub repos without a Github account
using the Ark.Party Discord
Bot.
NOTABLE REDDIT POSTS
The Ark Ecosystem Subreddit is a great
place to seek ARK knowledge, and you can always find new and engaging content
there. New to ARK? Check out my Welcome to ARK Reddit
Post
with simple instructions to follow.
Here are some notable April posts:
- Cam of Delegate** ‘Cam’s Yellow Jacket’** started a fun
discussion
to speculate why the ARK team assembled in France recently. I gave an official
answer
while we were there. - ‘keeper0ff0n’ asked about the
status
of ACES and ARKVM. - ‘lordfervi’ reminded the
community
that DGameShop supports ARK. - ‘cryptorich13’ asked about ARK’s
funding. - ‘icysx’ asked about mobile wallet
security. - ‘wafflestoompa’ suggested that the ARK.io website should become a Brave
(BAT)
publisher. - ‘dalinvar’ asked about using the Ledger Nano S with mobile
wallet. - ‘ElvenFlame’ showed some much-appreciated support for
ARK. - ‘anotheraccounthere11’ asked about the
difference
between the SmartBridge term and bridgechain term. - ‘ka-ant’ made an easy
post
breaking down some key points of the new
whitepaper. - Cam of Delegate** ‘Cam’s Yellow Jacket’ **asked if you could have lunch with one
person from the ARK team/community, who would it
be? - ‘UnsweetenedMemes’ asked about ARK vs
LISK. - ‘Zzzoem’ asked about
finality
on the ARK public network. - ‘devlin1982’ asked why development is so
slow.
It is? Over 192,000 lines of code added in April beg to
differ
You can browse more content and contribute your own voice to the ARK Subreddit-
who knows, you may even receive an ARK tip from a community member using
Delegate Cryptology’s intuitive ArkTippr Reddit
tipbot.
APRIL 2019 PODCASTS
https://soundcloud.com/thearkcryptopodcast/ark-crypto-podcast-033-all-new-ark-whitepaper-2019-part-1)
https://soundcloud.com/thearkcryptopodcast/ark-crypto-podcast-034-all-new-ark-whitepaper-2019-part-2)
https://soundcloud.com/thearkcryptopodcast/ark-crypto-podcast-035-all-new-ark-whitepaper-2019-part-3)
COMMUNITY SERVICE SPOTLIGHT
Some members mentioned in the community newsletter are ARK delegates, who secure
the ARK network and provide community services. Their inclusion in the
newsletter is in no way an endorsement from ARK.io to vote for specific
delegates, and you should always do your own research and consider all the
options when choosing a delegate for whom to vote.
ARK.io does not run the ARK network.
Here’s the April 2019 Community Service Spotlight:
- ArkTrends has returned, with new community stats this
month.
ArkTrends is now managed by ‘Jorma,’ who also maintains the ARK.dog Roadmap
Tracker. - Delegate ‘Biz_Classic’ continued running their ARK
faucet, which awards free ARK to its
visitors. - Delegate ‘Del’ also continued operations of their ARK
faucet. - Delegate ‘Fun’ continued to run ARK games
online with daily ARK prizes. - Delegate ‘Alessio’ continued combing through ARK
code
to locate and repair vulnerabilities. Delegate ‘Alessio’ runs under a
Forging for Security model, similar to ‘Jarunik’s Forging for Contributions
model. - Delegate ‘Rising_Sun’ ran general bounties for
Spring.
Any community member can earn and win ARK for their creative expressions each
month. Here’s how it
works.
They also generously agreed to provide some ARK each month to the ARK Community
Committee for various project maintenance. - Delegates ‘Goose’ and ‘ArkMoon’ continue their service, ARK CSV
Generator and Income
Estimator,
to aid in trading and income reporting. You can input public keys to ARK
addresses and get a report including fiat values. The resource does not
constitute formal tax advice. - Delegate ‘Civseed’ released an improved website, featuring a QR builder and
method to rebroadcast failed JSON transactions. Take a look at the new
ark.party! - Delegate ‘Jarunik’
(website)
runs a continuous coding and non-coding general bounty service, with
opportunities for both smaller and larger projects. Get involved
here.
Jarunik also published a
motionmap
of ARK Core development over time. It’s interesting to see all the efforts of
the ARK team and community developers in a visual way.
- Community member ‘bootstr8’ published an
idea
to collaborate with their music channel on Youtube. The community liked it and
some sponsors came on board. Listeners can win ARK every day for thirty
days,
but then it was extended to 60
days,
and then the prizes
tripled. - ACC member ‘rhakht’ launched a bonus
day
to the 30 Days of
ARK
by asking for feedback regarding the new ARK
whitepaper. It will be integrated into
ArkThoughts.com soon. - The ‘Ki Foundation’ joined us for an AMA this
month.
They plan to use ARK technology. - Delegate** ‘Biz_Classic’** launched an easter egg
hunt
to celebrate the holiday with ARK puzzles and prizes totaling over 2000 ARK.
People enjoyed participating and collaborating to find the
answers. - Delegate** ‘Echo’** published an article and
opinion
about recent SEC guidelines. Delegate **‘Echo’ **is spearheaded by a
bar-certified lawyer and legal research team. - Delegate ‘Cam’s Yellow Jacket’ launched a funding
campaign
for their third video. Their second video is completed and awaiting release at a
predetermined date. Below is their first release.
- ‘doubled1c3’ shared a media article where Coinplan featured
ARK. - ‘dealeris’ published an
overview
featuring some ARK stats relating to initial distribution, inflation mechanics,
partnerships, and more. - Delegate** ‘Mak’** authored a comprehensive
article
on crypto adoption and how we can get there. Delegate **‘Mak’ **authors ARK
Improvement Proposals among other works. - ‘doubled1c3’ created a handy GIF
pack
from a recent ARK video contest submission that
can be used on Twitter, Slack, and more. - **‘miahs123’ **shared an article on why ARK deserves our
attention.
TEAM IN THE COMMUNITY
The ARK team has been sighted in the real world in April. Here are just some of
the activities:
- In late April, a large portion of the ARK Team made their way to Paris, France
to hold a General Assembly of the ARK business entity, listen to presentations,
and meet with various arms of the French government. A full breakdown of the
activities and implications therein can be heard on episode 37 of The ARK Crypto
Podcast, and below you can see some of the highlights. ARK is incorporated in
France as an SCIC, the first of its kind for crypto in the country.
https://soundcloud.com/thearkcryptopodcast/ark-crypto-podcast-037-ark-team-in-paris-april-2019-breakdownHere’s a full breakdown of the ARK Team’s activities in France with additional
details.
- ARK is doing great work in France, both as a pioneer in bridging crypto with the
traditional world and driving adoption for the technology. French communication
arm MCBG Consiel and recent French ARK hire Loïc Natchoo will be coordinating
more heavily with the ARK blog to highlight ongoing efforts in France. Stay
tuned to blog.ark.io for a catchup article on France activities in 2019 followed
by monthly updates. - There is also a new ARK Adventure video on the way, where I take you along with
us and show you what happened during our visit in Paris. You may also learn
something new about ARK, as I will also cover some various ARK concepts in the
video. Subscribe to youtube.ark.io and enable
notifications and stand by for a premiere date.
GET INVOLVED
Watch this video on how to get involved with ARK, all skills welcome.
ARK COMMUNITY COMMITTEE
The ARK Community Committee creates and deploys community resources through
anonymous and sponsored ARK donations.
- The ACC’s first completed project is
ArkTimeline.com. ArkTimeline now supports URL query
string, to create links leading to custom
views!
Delegate ‘Rising Sun’ assists ArkTimeline maintenance by providing some ARK
each month to the maintenance team. - The ACC completed and released its second project
ArkThoughts.com. This ARK resource has information
on 30 ARK concepts and over 60,000 words from community members like you. It is
the result of the 30 Days of ARK Campaign that ran in December 2018, sponsored
by Delegate **‘Jarunik.’ **Here’s the launch
article. - April produced
fruit
for the ACC in the form of a promo video produced by new member
‘MotionFactory.’
- I am also working with the ACC dev team on a new project, details yet
unreleased, codename ‘Project VISCOSI.’ - The entire ACC will also soon act as participants alongside the entire community
in two upcoming contests/bounties, with details coming soon.
To join the ACC, locate me on Discord.ARK.io which by
the way, just increased its powers
significantly
with new bots, features, and feeds, courtesy of CMO Travis Walker’s oversight.
ACC Projects are funded after the fact and pay is not guaranteed (fun is,
though).
ARK COMMUNITY FUND
If you have an idea for an ARK project, large or small, and you are looking for
funding, consider submitting a proposal to the ARK Community Fund for review.
The ARK Community Fund started as a community initiative, and the elected board
reviews ideas and projects that enhance ARK. Their website is
ArkCommunity.Fund.
The opportunities that ARK Ecosystem provides are ever growing, and there are
many ways you can get in on the action. To reach me, you can contact me on the
ARK Slack or
Discord: @Justin (doubled1c3).
Looking forward to May!
Follow us on social media ( Twitter | Facebook | Reddit | YouTube), join our community ( Slack | Discord ) and stay tuned to our blog on Medium.
