Create The_Grand_Timeline.md

[stepahin]

Project Abstract

The Grand Timeline is a historical research project and a massive data visualization covering the entire history of Web3. It’s like writing a book but as a designer. No one has ever done something like this before me. The infographic consists of several layers: People, Events, Market Highs & Lows, Phases, Hacks, I will most likely add more data types in the future.

The idea is to tell the Web3 story in a different way and give people an insight into the market and community in a lighter way. I've been working on this as a side project for 3 years, off and on. There’s no team, company, or sponsor behind it. A lot has already been done, but it's still a rough draft / alpha / work in progress stage. For now the project lives in Figma where I work on it publicly, but close to v.1.0 I’ll create an interactive web version with UI.

Grant level

• Level 1: Up to $10,000, 2 approvals
• Level 2: Up to $30,000, 3 approvals
• Level 3: Unlimited, 5 approvals (for >$100k: Web3 Foundation Council approval)

Application Checklist

• The application template has been copied and aptly renamed (project_name.md).
• I have read the application guidelines.
• Payment details have been provided (Polkadot AssetHub (DOT, USDC & USDT) address in the application and bank details via email, if applicable).
• I understand that an agreed upon percentage of each milestone will be paid in vested DOT, to the Polkadot address listed in the application.
• I am aware that, in order to receive a grant, I (and the entity I represent) have to successfully complete a KYC/KYB check.
• The software delivered for this grant will be released under an open-source license specified in the application.
• The initial PR contains only one commit (squash and force-push if needed).
• The grant will only be announced once the first milestone has been accepted (see the announcement guidelines).
• I prefer the discussion of this application to take place in a private Element/Matrix channel. My username is: @_______:matrix.org (change the homeserver if you use a different one)

[stepahin]

I have read and hereby sign the Contributor License Agreement.

[takahser]

@stepahin thanks for the submission. It looks like the total costs don't match the sum of all milestone costs (in this case: 1 milestone). Could you fix this?

Overview
(..)
Total Costs: 60,000 USD

vs.

Milestone 1 — Research and Documentation of Polkadot and Kusama Ecosystems
Costs: 10,000 USD

[stepahin]

Added Licence and an explanation of why Milestone is only one and doesn't match Total Costs.

[PieWol]

Hey @stepahin
I understand that your whole project and your future plans might be more costly than the work that you are trying to fit in this grant. Though it's a simple constraint of our program that the total cost of an application have to match the sum of cost of all milestones. Please focus your application on the work you are actually planning to do within this level 1 grant.

[stepahin]

Hey @PieWol! Thanks for pointing out how I could improve. I’ve updated the Development Roadmap section to only show the tasks/milestones I plan to complete under the grant. Hope it’s better now. Thanks for your time!

[keeganquigley]

Hi @stepahin thanks for the changes. While the project is certainly interesting, I'm not sure it's a great fit for the grants program. We mostly focus on technical projects and typically don't pay for design work. If we were to fund it I feel it would be unfair to some of the other graphic artists & designers that we've had to say no to in the past. Therefore I won't personally approve it, but I will mark it as ready for review in case other committee members want to leave more comments.

[takahser]

@stepahin thanks for the updates. After studying the proposal in more detail, I do agree with @keeganquigley in that it's not a great fit for our program. Please note that we usually focus on more technical, code-intense projects. Therefore, I've decided not to add my approval to this proposal.

[stepahin]

Hey @keeganquigley and @takahser, thank you for taking the time to review my proposal! I completely understand your focus on technical projects. While my project is more about research and data visualization, I face a unique challenge — many Foundations appreciate my work, they're saying wow, BUT are bound by rules that favor more technical submissions.

If you find my project interesting and want to support it, but are constrained by your rules and criteria, perhaps you could consider a small, symbolic gesture. A nominal grant of just 1 DOT, along with a mention that while the project doesn't fit your usual criteria, you're endorsing it for its unique value, would mean a lot.

Support from respected Foundations like yours is invaluable for someone creating public goods without funding or a large audience like me. I believe my work is worth it, and any acknowledgment would be greatly appreciated.

I hope you had a chance to check out the Figma file where the entire project lives — it really gives a sense of its scale. Please, if possible, show it to a couple more people on your team!

Thank you again for your time!

[Noc2]

@stepahin thanks for the application and all the effort you put into this. However, as pointed out above, the grants committee decided not to support it. Sadly we also are not able to support you with 1 DOT since we had a pretty bad experience with similar grants in the past, and people, for example, were misusing our grant badge. My recommendation would be to apply for treasury funding instead, see https://github.com/w3f/Grants-Program?tab=readme-ov-file#treasury and let us know if you have any questions.

[PieWol]

Thank you for the effort you put into the application and best wishes for you and your project. @stepahin