The ALANA Manifesto | Part 02
02 Transparent and Accountable
Rather than defining ourselves by what we’re against, what if we focused on what truly brings us together? At ALANA, our journey has always been about celebrating the values that connect us as a community. That’s why we created our free membership NFT, which encapsulates ALANA’s “10 Principles of a Good Community.” The inspiration for these principles came during a thoughtful conversation with Dani, a fellow DAO member, where we reflected on how Dieter Rams’ “10 Principles of Good Design” distilled the essence of excellence. In the same spirit, we set out to capture the heart of what makes our community thrive.
Last month, I shared how we understand the first principle of Diversity and Inclusion as a necessity for the ALANA community. In the next few weeks, we will walk you through the ALANA Manifesto number by number. Feel invited to follow along with this series and get to know us, maybe in more depth than ever before!
A Good Community is Transparent & Accountable
Transparency equals trust, especially in digitally first communities such as The ALANA Project. The more we share about processes and how they are conducted, the more trust can be developed between members and sub-groups of an organization.
According to Frederic Laloux, radical transparency matters not only on an organizational level but also on a self-management level when working in fields of distributed authority (such as DAOs—Decentralized Autonomous Organizations). In his work "Reinventing Organizations" (published in 2014), he speaks of so-called "Teal Organisation(s)." The point here is that before the first DAO was even built (2016) researchers with insight into organizational structures were aware that self-management, transparency and trust are essential for well-working organizations.
On the other side of this scale, we are talking about accountability, which naturally complements transparency by ensuring that commitments are honored from both ends, the individual to the organization, and vice versa. Elinor Ostrom, famous for "Governing the Commons" (1990), highlights the need and importance of both elements to ensure that self-regulation within communities is enabled.
Transparency forms the foundation of The ALANA Project's operations. We are committed to clear, open governance and communication, actively involving members in decision-making, and maintaining a culture of accountability.
Practical Takeaways for The ALANA Project
The ALANA Project started as a centralized project and continues to decentralize over time. The process is complex, full of obstacles and many tries and errors, but I am confident we will eventually get ourselves to this point. Here are some of the elements we have already put in place and some that are still missing:
We start the list by naming the ALANA Manifesto as a tool for transparency and accountability. By creating the rules for a community together and making them accessible and transparent, I feel we are already heading in the right direction.
Since late last year, we have had a Snapshot governance space for off-chain voting that allows active community members to put up proposals and cast their votes based on their activity level.
We are actively working on the ALANA token evaluation to take that process to the next level and move to onchain (Blockchain-based) voting, making the process even more transparent.
While creating the ALANA Manifesto, we also collectively created dedicated role designs. They are clear and detailed for anyone who is interested in joining. Every role comes with its dedicated membership NFT and ensures that people can be held accountable if they do not fulfill their promises.
Another tool for accountability is the freshly implemented Contribution Calculator. A tool that took months to design and uses a specific formula to evaluate repeated tasks for easier task point distribution. It helps with accountability and transparency at the same time.
Our Discord is openly accessible, and roles can be largely self-assigned, allowing access to and transparency on all information shared within the community and working groups.
We currently do not have a well-designed onboarding flow, but we hope to establish one when we create the new website!
Feedback loops are currently not actively enforced, which is another topic that should be addressed sooner rather than later!
Why It Matters
Principle two of the ALANA Manifesto provides crucial blueprint-like elements to building a community that can self-sustain, be long-lasting, and eventually not have to rely on a centralized figurehead, aka founder figure. If we strive to make our processes transparent, accessible, and, therefore, trustworthy, we can hold people accountable for their inaction or improper action without the need for one person to sanction them. This self-secures a community and what it stands for.
“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.”
— Elinor Ostrom
Get Your ALANA Manifesto
The ALANA 10 Principles of a Good Community NFT is powered by Unlock Protocol and available as a free mint (wallet and email option) directly from the Optimism Blockchain. If you agree with these principles, show us and get your Manifesto here:
The ALANA Project | Manifesto | Unlock App
Unlock is a protocol which enables creators to monetize their content with a few lines of code in a fully decentralized way.
Happy Week, ALANA Adventurers!
This article was authored by Stella Achenbach, a DAO member of The ALANA Project.
Find The ALANA Project on:
