The 2023 Community Letter

Hi RSS3 Fam!

It’s Joshua and the RSS3 foundation here. As we approach the end of 2023, we're eager to share a comprehensive rewind of achievements this year in the RSS3 ecosystem and offer an exciting preview of what's ahead for 2024.

Wrapping up 2023

2023 has been a fruitful year as some critical fundamentals have been set up for the RSS3 ecosystem. At the beginning of the year, we changed the primary metrics to monetizable calls, and the testnet has averaged more than 28 million calls per month, resulting in an annual number of around 350 million. This is the result of the collective dedication and progress of everyone in our ecosystem, particularly in the following areas:

Network coverage:

Starting with blockchains, RSS3 Network has extended its coverage to the latest ones including Base and Scroll. These low-gas blockchains with high-security levels make it possible for more Open Information to be produced at a higher efficiency.

It has been a remarkable year for decentralized social and information networks. RSS3 has fully covered the top networks including Farcaster, Lens, and Nostr. The growth of these networks significantly boosted the quality and quantity of Open Information, and RSS3 is destined to better serve to those in need.

RSS3 also started supporting the federated protocol ActivityPub. As the backbone protocol of the popular decentralized social app Mastodon, ActivityPub serves as a major Open Information source. Now top Mastodon instances are covered by the RSS3 network.

Traditional websites, as the largest source of Open Information, are now also on their way to being covered by the RSS3 network through the integration of RSSHub, paving the road to its thousands of instances.

Information Dissemination:

Social: on the social front, as the network supports more protocols and information sources, projects like Plasma Finance and Firefly have greatly benefited toward better social experiences.

Search: the RSS3 network made a big step toward global-scale open web search in 2023. With Hoot being the demo of what it could achieve, it’s expected to see that capability be available to everyone soon.

AI: 2023 has been a big year for AI, especially LLMs. RSS3 provides by far the best data source for language models to be trained with open web information. Demonstrated by the ChatGPT Plugin, Lens Copilot, and Web3 User Activity GPT, RSS3 is poised as the pioneer of the upcoming Web3 AI revolution.

A reminder of who we are

This is the second year of RSS3. As the leading advocate of Open Information and the Open Web, lots of effort has been put into elaborating and amplifying its mission, vision, and value.

A foundation letter was sent to re-introduce RSS3 as the Open Information Layer. Being a part of the Open Web movement, RSS3 is structuring and making information universally accessible, thereby supporting the development of decentralized projects. The network addresses information coverage, interpretation, standardization, distribution channels, and incentives with different nodes and channels. Therefore, a wide range of open applications and services will be significantly fostered.

RSS3 presented and advocated for the Open Web through multiple events, including, of course not limited to, ETHDenver, Zero2Hero hackathon, DWeb Camp, and Hong Kong Web3 Night. The project also adopted a new website with a new branding guideline. The whole branding upgrade will be continuously rolled out with new elements once in a while.

Joshua published the Open Information Manifesto. It again emphasizes the importance of free and unrestricted access to public information, which is a form of public power. It criticizes the current dominance of major internet platforms over information dissemination and advocates for the use of decentralized networks, blockchains, or independent web hosting to share information. The manifesto encourages individuals to contribute to this movement by sharing content on open platforms, developing technical solutions, and redirecting power away from data giants towards the public good, advocating for a future where information empowers everyone.

A Sneak Peek at 2024

2024 will be hosting the biggest milestone of the RSS3 Network - the Mainnet. While more is to come with the roadmap later on, here are some heads-ups:

The Data Sub-layer

The data sublayer is the core of RSS3 as the Open Information Layer. It refers to the serving nodes that constantly index and interpret information, and the global indexers that handle, route, and response to requests.

With the mainnet, the data sub-layer will first be joined by some partner node operators, and then anyone with an adequate computation device would be able to join - yes, you will be able to join the network with a cluster of servers, a single cloud server, or simply your computer. And you will be able to interact with the nodes through any app on any device.

The data sub-layer will allow all node operators to choose what and how they want to cover information. Whether you want to cover a specific network like Ethereum, a group of addresses across multiple networks, or all information related to a specific keyword, you can always configure your node the way you want it.

With that in mind, the nodes will also evolve and choose to gain the capability of providing search of any kind - yes, you will be able to set up your own search engine across anything in the Open Web simply by hosting a node.

And, last but not least, with the advancements of open source language models that could be deployed on local devices, nodes are likely to be equipped with their own AI models, serving different needs of different users. Finally, what if these language models can also talk to each other?

The Value Sub-layer

The data sub-layer alone doesn’t complete the RSS3 network. With the mainnet, the value sub-layer will also be introduced. Information has ownership and value, and the decentralized tech stack makes it possible to build such a value sub-layer to help better serve them.

What should be the form of such value sub-layer? On what infrastructure should information be weighed and valued? How to ensure the security and efficiency of such layer at the same time?

The RSS3 community should be participating in the most significant decisions in constructing such layer. And this will pave the way for unlocking tremendous potentials of RSS3 - adding the long missing materialization part of the current testnet.

With the mainnet coming, the complete tokenomics of RSS3 will be proposed and realized. This should be like a glue that holds everything together, incentivizing all participants according to their contribution to the Open Information Layer.

In addition, the value sub-layer should also be an open environment for anyone to come up with innovative and experimental ways to interact with all the information covered by the data sub-layer. And nothing less than a thriving ecosystem is expected.

With 2023 laying such a strong foundation for the RSS3 ecosystem, we are more than excited to welcome 2024.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!