Submit Outreachy project (December - March 2022)

Objectives

1. Identify all possible motivations or values that we can use for gamification [add reference operators gamification projects already built, rob blog post compiling a bunch of papers, and possibly a list of third party projects that have implemented gamification.]
2. Build a classification system to organize them - including highlighting any 'don'ts' for such experience
3. Produce a final report and a blog post summarizing the most interesting findings.

Outreachy Application Form

Project short title: Mapping values and motivations of the Tor network's relay operators

Long description:

The Community Team at the Tor Project is looking for an intern to help us create the foundation for our gamification project with Tor relay operators.

About Tor & the Tor Network

At the Tor Project, we fight for everyone to have private access to an uncensored internet, and the Tor network has become the world's strongest tool for privacy and freedom online.

The Tor network is a decentralized network made up of thousands of nodes (aka "relays") run by volunteers around the world. Here is a list of publicly maintained relays, from the Tor Project Metric's portal: https://metrics.torproject.org/rs.html. But the Tor network is more than just software. It is a labor of love produced by an international community of people devoted to human rights.

The Tor Project aims to engage this dispersed relay operator community in a meaningful and sustainable way. We have begun creating a gamification project that will help us to better acknowledge the value of long-term contributors and encourage new operators to join the network. We aim to create a happy, healthy, a clear and engaging path for all relay operators to volunteer and stay engaged with the Tor network.

About the Internship

As part of this internship we're looking for someone to:

• Research about relay operators' motivations, community core values, relay flags, the biggest relay families, and other Tor metrics that can be used for gamification. This research should include all types of relays: Guards, middle nodes, bridges, and exit nodes.

• Learn from the previous gamifications efforts, and use research to imagine how we can improve and create a new gamification project. Previous efforts:

• Relay Awards (2016)

  • https://gitlab.torproject.org/gus/relayawards
  • https://web.archive.org/web/20161028105701/https://relayawards.com/about.php

• Roster (2015) https://github.com/seansaito/Roster

  • mirror: https://gitlab.torproject.org/gus/Roster

• Other references:

  • "Tor incentives research roundup: GoldStar, PAR, BRAIDS, LIRA, TEARS, and TorCoin" https://blog.torproject.org/tor-incentives-research-roundup-goldstar-par-braids-lira-tears-and-torcoin

  Other examples from other projects or open source communities: https://www.cryptokitties.co/

• Build a classification system to organize the different motivations and values expressed by relay operators, including highlighting any "don'ts" for a potential gamification experience.

• Produce a report analyzing the findings and highlighting the most promising paths to be used as part of the gamification project.

• Build a prototype project brief with suggestions of possible gamification methods with realistic mockups.

• Produce a blog post summarizing the project, including its findings and the project brief.

Minimum system requirements:

None.

How can applicants make a contribution to your project?

Applicants should contact the project's mentor for orientation during their first week of the contribution period. The orientation will cover the tasks and communication channels to use during this process.

Applicants should attend the Tor Project's Community Team weekly meetings to introduce themselves, present their progress, and clarify any questions.

During the contribution period, the applicants are expected to complete the following tasks. The tasks must be done in order, as each task builds on the one before it.

First Task - Complete self-guided education about Tor relays and relay operators community:

Read these documents to learn about the Tor network:

• Types of relays: https://community.torproject.org/relay/types-of-relays/

• https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/network-health/team/-/wikis/Criteria-for-rejecting-bad-relays

Visit the Tor Project Metrics portal and view relay search to look up relays: https://metrics.torproject.org/rs.html#search

Check out an example of a relay page to understand the different components of a relay's configuration: https://metrics.torproject.org/rs.html#details/9695DFC35FFEB861329B9F1AB04C46397020CE31

Read messages on the Tor relay mailing list: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-relays/. Note: Please do not use this list to interact with relay operators about this project during the contribution period. If you have questions about the project or relay operators, please reach out to your mentor.

Second Task - Identify opportunities to apply gamification:

Identify a value that could be used to award points to a relay operators in a gamification scenario (for example values, see below). Use your research completed in the first task to choose these values--what do you think would resonate with relay operators?

Try to find examples that match at least two of the following categories:

• value related to 'quality' (e.g. bandwidth that is available)
• value related to 'stability' (e.g. uptime)
• value related to 'diversity' (e.g. operating system)
• value related to 'trust' (e.g. 'myfamily' and 'contact_info' are configured)

Third Task - Gamify these examples:

Create a spreadsheet using the examples you have identified in the second task, and develop different levels that a relay operator could acheive, as if in a game.

For instance, in a sporting event, you win a bronze medal in third place--but if you work harder, you can earn a silver medal, and if you work even harder you can win first place and a gold medal.

We want to apply this "bronze, silver, gold" concept to different benchmarks a relay operator can achieive with their relay. For example, there could be different badges that a relay operator receives for the uptime of their relay--the longer, the better.

Instructions for how applicants can make contributions during the Outreachy application period.

Make sure to include links to getting started tutorials or documentation, how applicants can find contribution tasks on your project website or issue tracker, who they should ask for tasks, and everything they need to know to get started.

Intern benefits

Collaborating with the Tor Project will help interns to learn about open source communities, cooperating in open environments, digital safety and security, and of course Tor itself. Interns that are interested can also learn essential frontend skills and develop self-guided initiatives.

Interns will be part of a transparent and open organization structure, where decisions are made collectively. Since we are a small team, every collaboration has a significant impact on our end-users.

(Optional) How will the intern benefit from working with your team on this project? Imagine you're pitching this internship to a promising candidate. What would you say to convince them to apply? For example, what technical and non-technical skills will they learn from working on this project? How will this help them further their career in open source?

Community benefits: (Optional) How will this internship project benefit the FOSS community that is funding it? As a nonprofit, the Tor Project relies on volunteers to build our capacity in order to be to do more with limited resources.