After spending the last 5 months meeting with many different Zcash stakeholders and lots of internal planning, we are excited to present our plan for Zcash Media for 2023! We’ve consolidated our plan and frequently asked questions into a presentation and FAQ. Also, here is the link to our proposal on the Zcash Grants platform: Gallery View: Zcash Community Grants Program.
We look forward to continue developing Zcash Media into a powerful tool for Zcash education and adoption.
First of all, I love the colors and layout of the menu . My favorite video ideas are Privacy Stories (6) and Whiteboard (4) – a lot can be done here. Reflecting on my initial thoughts I’ve come to the same conclusion, I support this grant in full. The quality of the story telling is by far my favorite part and I think is needed moving forward as privacy concerns come front and center.
For reference:
Another thought – as wallets either get fixed or released and orchard shifts into gear, we need to be ready.
Zcash Media videos are really great all so far. so the continuation of videos and other things will be great for Zcash.
saw also de short videos part in presentation - bet dis will be de biggest impact. consider postin on tiktok maybe even facebook or instagram? more places de better. personally hate tiktok but if done rite dere can be huge impact and new people comin to Zcash iwo.
smol knows many mite say 900k is so much money, but its really needed investment iwo and worth it
also maybe haf test runs wif new videos on sum zcash community people and sum total strangers before going live wif it . moar transparency and more instant feedback mite help make videos even better?
maybe also sumhow community cud be integrated or help wif sum small tings?
2023 is de year Zcash gets moar industry standard media presentation - like Apple ads
hope dis gets funded dis tiem
I approve. I think funding Zcash Media will be a net positive for Zcash.
Coincidently I was recently watching a MATPAT interview and he was commenting on how you should only make 1 call to action. I’d love to see Zcash Media team experimenting with different calls to action . Can’t wait to see what the Zcash Media team can deliver!
My thoughts, written is essay format as thats how i keep from rambling more then i do here.
Zcash media’s proposal targets key hurdles to adoption a) education, b) narrative, and c) perceived reliability. It does this by pragmatically approaching potential adopters as people without the specialized knowledge regarding zcash, that we as advocates have.
A) Finding concise and reliable information regarding zcash is a massive hurdle to adoption in a vast ocean of both accidental and intentional disinformation. Similarly the topic and tech of zcash is complicated. The link below Future of Money Technology: What is Zcash (ZEC)? - YouTube is a masterclass display in how to educate a complex topic to an individual with; no assumed prior knowledge, in a way that is accessible, and concise. It enables individuals to think and talk about zcash and share it with others through their own understanding of the subject or by providing a link.
B) Zcash’s narrative has been dictated for the most part by others. Zcash is an amazing story, with a compelling past and future . This narrative has unfortunately been shared most by dispassionate journalism and passionate enemies. It is integral that zcash dictates its narrative on its own terms. This must be done in a way that is attractive to someone with no prior loyalty to zcash. Short, succinct, compelling.To have and fund a body to focus specifically on this arena is an incredibly strong asset.
Zcash’s very devoted team works tirelessly to create great stuff. Unfortunately without specialized knowledge it’s very difficult to appreciate the work and achievements that take place. It requires no specialized knowledge however, to hear and believe that what is produced is either late, or not good enough. (see halo, bloat attack, wallets) Zcash media has proven through three previous successful grants that it can deliver quality content and deliver it on time. This proposal provides a continued presence for zcash. Presented with a high standard that brings professionalism and dedication to our entire ecosystem.
Widespread zcash adoption requires accessible education, taking control of our narrative and proving reliability. Potential adopters must be assumed to have either no specialized knowledge, or be misinformed regarding zcash. When this is the case, education, narrative, and perceived reliability are hurdles to adoption. With the specialized knowledge that zcash media has proven they can provide, these three hurdles become integral arguments to zcash’s superiority as a digital currency, and its importance and value as an entity in the digital Wild West.
I support this grant being funded. I believe that Zcash Media created high quality education materials and has the potential to build a mainstream brand with Zcash at the center.
I feel that we are in a critical period for Zcash, in term’s of public opinion and perception of the project. I still believe that private payments are needed for mainstream crypto adoption, and Zcash has the best technology in this area. If this is the bear cycle before crypto expands into more mainstream use cases, I would be disappointed if Zcash didn’t capitalize and ensure its place among the most talked about projects in crypto.
I would agree that most of the problems Zcash Media listed in its proposals are things Zcash needs to solve for (WRT narratives). I acknowledge the premise that we should rely on ECC, ZF and more community-centric marketing arms, but I would argue that Zcash Media produced some of the most viewed individual pieces of content in crypto, let alone Zcash. If we can sustain their efforts, we could see more Zcash virality in our social channels (Privacy is Normal + Zcash Media docs were 2022’s examples imo).
If Zcash Media gets funded, you have a state where Zcash’s narratives can stretch outside of of the standard crypto bubble, and you also have a content arm that delivers a great first/returning impression for crypto natives. I think their content, if of similar quality to their previous efforts, can solve for a lot of the issues Zcash community members speak about regularly.
What Zcash Media is looking to do is very difficult. However, they are very good at what they do. So the monetary side of this grant doesn’t concern me very much.
What does concern me is:
-Does the content really support adoption?
-Will they coordinate / cross-amplify other community resources?
But, they address both of these things in the FAQs and their answers were sufficient (for me) considering their track record.
I say fund and give them the creative space to do what they do well!
I support funding this proposal fully, Zcash Media have a lot of hard work to do so let’s fund so they can continue the great work they’ve started.
I agree with the sentiments of the other posters in this thread so far and my more detailed comments on previous grant submissions by Zcash Media linked below.
As with all things done by Zcash Media, this proposal communicates its purpose and methods with a clarity rarely seen in crypto projects. I love the idea of collaborations with experts/entities overlapping with Zcash, and the diversity of formats and approaches to conveying the story and purpose of Zcash.
The past work done by Zcash Media speaks to the quality of the output we can expect.
I am fully supportive of this grant in its current form and believe is as important as any technical improvements in the pipeline.
What are the estimated staff size(s) over this 12 month period? and are there any risks to staffing retention for core contributors?
20 videos are the deliverable, but I didn’t see any specific commitment to their avg duration? (30 second clips, or 13-minute mini-docus?)
Generally, I am in favor of this proposal but considering the $900,000 funding cost, I think detailed estimates for the staffing and the deliverables should be addressed upfront.
I also continue to fully support Zcash Media. As some supporters here have already explained in detail, Zcash is at an important point in its lifecycle. We need to get the product out there, so to speak. High quality, educational content is necessary for this. 37L has a strong track record and has demonstrated its capabilities with previous Zcash Media content.
David and his team have proven that they work community focused and are responsive to criticisms and suggestions from the entire Zcash community. There has been an ongoing open exchange one the forum/social media and the ZM team also reached out to the community to gather feedback.
I think the idea of dividing the compensation into three parts and spreading it over the whole grant period is good and appropriate. This results in a constant motivation to produce high grade content for Zcash.
In 2023, we can look forward to very exciting Zcash Improvements. As described in the “30-year vision” blog post, the focus this year is on UX Foundations. In a best case scenario, this year we will see an ECC mobile wallet, shielded hardware wallet support and a formal proposal for the switch to PoS. This in combination with prepared ZM content, ready for release, should be quite effective “marketing”
The Zcash Media team and the project they propose, can become an essential part of the community for its educational vision of great impact inside and outside of Zcash.
From the perspective of the Global Ambassador Program, it can be a fundamental resource to support the educational and marketing activities that each of the ambassadors organize.
In the specific case of Zcash en Español, we have a YouTube channel with a lot of educational and informative content, but we do not have the possibility to produce videos of the quality, professionalism, and narrative that Zcash Media proposes.
That is why I support this proposal, which I believe will greatly benefit Zcash in the coming years.
This grant proposal, and the community support that I’m seeing in the thread, makes me very happy. Zcash Media @37L have shown Zcash what they can do, several times now, and I have no doubts that they will deliver top-quality work this time around, again. Working with them on the Zcon3 livestream was a pleasure and I look forward to more collaborations in the future. I vote yes!
@David_Heisenberg please join the next ZF A/V Club meetup (2023-02-23) and talk with us about your hopes and dreams for 2023!
I appreciate your diligence, and think your questions are reasonable, but I also think we can defer detailed audits until after the first quarter has passed?
I think the best way to answer your questions is empirically, that is, rather than setting constraints like “video length” lets get ZcashMedia rolling, and then offer suggestions to them based on how their videos are received.
Basically I just want to quit discussing… kick back… and watch some TV! ZcashMedia TV!
It is quite dangerous to suggest setting a precedent here, that a $900,000 grant could expedited and be approved for 20 videos and 12 calendar months - without the producer giving any detailed estimates, not even napkin numbers about staffing, or content size of their deliverables.
We can watch what they’ve produced. Do we want more of this?
I do.
And given that these folks are trusted members of the community, I trust them to use their judgement to deliver.
Personally I am not in a position to recommend video lengths, content etc.
That’s what I would like the ZCG to pay them to figure out. They’re the community members that we need to perform the kind of analysis you’re requesting.
Am I advocating for a precedent here? Yes. The precedent is:
Trust the judgement of community members who’ve demonstrated their trustworthiness.
ZcashMedia has demonstrated BOTH necessary qualities for me to consider them trustworthy:
Intention
Competence
We should trust them, and give them what they need to succeed in our shared project.
Does anyone else in the community have a similar level of competence producing quality media? Then those folks should weigh in, with expert insight.
Perhaps you forget what happened with the first Zcash Media grant. They delivered ~10 months later than originally proposed, and to keep their work going they required additional tack-on proposals. Did they ultimately get the job completed up to par? Yes, but it was to the context of a significant schedule slip and required an extra $200,000 or so. The videos and content did okay but were by no common use of the word “game changing”.
The community paid about $700,000 for 3 videos and a new youtube channel with 2300 subs, and 270k views (and the corresponding twitter handle, and its tweet views. Can @David_Heisenberg provide those numbers?)
I really don’t like how some people are now falling over themselves to double down on trusting 37L for a notably larger project, where they haven’t even squared out the very basics of what the deliverables will measure to, or how they intend to staff the production across a 12-month timeline.
Shields up 
. My favorite video ideas are Privacy Stories (6) and Whiteboard (4) – a lot can be done here. Reflecting on my initial thoughts I’ve come to the same conclusion, I support this grant in full. The quality of the story telling is by far my favorite part and I think is needed moving forward as privacy concerns come front and center.
. Can’t wait to see what the Zcash Media team can deliver!
