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Eric Cestari edited this page Oct 23, 2023 · 1 revision

Association Website

Introduction to Decidim

Overview: Decidim, derived from the Latin word meaning "to decide," is an open-source platform aimed at enhancing participatory democracy. Developed with Ruby on Rails, it has grown to become a leading solution for organizations and institutions seeking to democratize their decision-making processes.

Core Features:

  • Proposals: Decidim enables participants to propose ideas or solutions. These proposals can be debated, amended, and endorsed by other participants, fostering a collaborative decision-making environment.

  • Meetings: Organizations can schedule and publicize meetings, encouraging offline participation and combining it with online discussions. Details such as the meeting's agenda, location, and attendees can be shared.

  • Surveys: Custom surveys can be created to gather opinions and feedback from participants on various topics, assisting in data-driven decision-making.

  • Participatory Budgeting: This tool allows participants to allocate a defined budget to different proposals, ensuring that financial decisions reflect community preferences.

  • Processes: Organizations can create a sequence of activities or steps (like phases of a project) and allow users to participate in each phase. This is useful for structured decision-making processes.

  • Assemblies: This feature is designed for setting up specific participatory groups or spaces, such as working groups or committees.

Modularity and Extensibility: Decidim's modular design allows for the addition of new functionalities through "modules" or "plugins." This ensures that the platform can adapt to the evolving needs of its users without requiring major overhauls.

Transparency and Accountability: One of Decidim's core principles is to ensure transparency. Every action on the platform, from proposals to endorsements to comments, is traceable, timestamped, and associated with a user. This creates a transparent and accountable system where every user's voice counts.

Integration Capabilities: Beyond its core functionalities, Decidim offers a range of APIs and integrations, enabling it to seamlessly connect with other platforms and systems.

Community-Driven Development: Being open-source, Decidim benefits from a global community of developers, designers, and democracy enthusiasts. This community-driven approach ensures that the platform is continuously improved, adapted, and expanded based on real-world feedback and requirements.

Decidim use within Prometheus X

Prometheus X uses Decidim to power https://prometheus-x.org/ since Q3 2021. It is the initial point of contact for organizations

  • interested in participating the DataSpace for Education and Skills (DASES).
  • interested in joining the Prometheus X association as members.

At the time of writing, https://prometheus-x.org/ has :

  • 192 participants,
  • 16 assemblies,
  • 21 proposals, 20 of which are accepted,
  • 24 debates

Prometheus X is a Frenck non-profit organization, and as such, follows the French Law 1901.

Every year, the organization has to conduct a general assembly to vote on budget, board members etc.

Moreover, budget allocation to new building blocks is also determined by votes.

Individuals vote as representing their organizations in their membership to Prometheus X.
We use Decidim's democratic framework to collect votes.

Proposed New Features and Capabilities

Migration to Kubernetes and Managed Services

Rationale: To improve maintenance overhead and resilience of the platform, moving the platform to Kubernetes and managed services :

  • Object Storage (S3 compatible)
  • Relational Database Service
  • Managed Redis Service

Planned Changes:

  • Set up or connect to a Kubernetes cluster on Orange Cloud for Business
  • Configure managed Redis and PostgreSQL services for data storage.
  • Set up object storage for documents.
  • Write Kubernetes deployment descriptors for Decidim, deploy and validate the migration.
  • Export/import existing site data into new Decidim

Version Update

Rationale: Website is currently running on Decidim 0.26. Keeping the platform updated ensures that we leverage the latest features, improvements, and security patches from Decidim. An updated version can provide better performance, improved usability, and new functionalities. Notable changes are available here Planned Changes:

  • Review and test the latest stable release of Decidim.
  • Backup current website data.
  • Follow the Decidim upgrade guide to update the platform.
  • Validate the upgrade by performing end-to-end tests on all major functionalities.

Enable Authentication by Decentralized ID

Rationale: The Prometheus X identity component provides decentralized identity. The Prometheus X web site should accept valid credentials from the ecosystem. It should also guide users and organizations to create and validate their credentials.

The blockchain selected by Prometheus X is Polygon. It is Ethereum compatible and with excellent performance and sustainability features.

The Ethereum blockchain supports Sign In With Ethereum (SIWE) which will be used to authenticate users.

About SIWE "Sign In With Ethereum" (SIWE) is a protocol for authenticating users through their Ethereum wallet. Instead of traditional email/password combinations, users utilize their Ethereum address to log in, proving ownership of that address by signing a message with its private key.

Benefits of using "Sign In With Ethereum" on a Decidim platform:

  1. Security: Reduces risk of password breaches, as users don't need to remember or store passwords.
  2. Decentralization: Aligns with the ethos of Ethereum and Decidim platforms, promoting a decentralized web.
  3. Sybil Resistance: Since Ethereum addresses can be tied to staked or token balances, platforms can implement additional Sybil resistance mechanisms.
  4. Privacy: Users can interact without revealing personal data like email addresses.
  5. User Sovereignty: Users have full control over their identity, rather than relying on third-party providers.
  6. Interoperability: Ethereum-based profiles can be used across different platforms, reducing the friction of creating new accounts.
  7. Reduced Onboarding Friction: For users already in the Ethereum ecosystem, the process can be simpler than traditional email-based sign-ups.
  8. Trust and Transparency: Blockchain's nature can promote a higher degree of trust between participants, as interactions can be verified on-chain.

Incorporating SIWE into Decidim, a platform for participatory democracy, can enhance user privacy and security, reduce dependency on centralized systems, and promote a more transparent and trustworthy environment for users.

Planned Changes:

  • Integrate SIWE into Decidim platform
  • Conduct integration tests

Proposed timeline

Sprint 1:

  • Review the latest Decidim version and begin the version update.
  • Set up the Kubernetes cluster and begin configuration of managed services.

Sprint 2:

  • Complete the version update and conduct comprehensive testing.
  • Finalize the configuration of managed services and start the migration of the Decidim application.
  • Initial integration SIWE/Decidim

Sprint 3:

  • Complete the migration to Kubernetes and validate with tests.
  • Prepare beta release.
  • Beta integration SIWE/Decidim

Beta release

Sprint 4:

  • Collect feedback from beta release
  • Fix bugs
  • Review, test, and finalize all new features. Ensure platform stability post-integration.

Deliverables

  • A production-level, resilient Decidim platform running on Orange Cloud for Business
  • Ability to authenticate users with SIWE on the platform.

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