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21st century profiles

seamless digital presentation and data ownership tool for digital workers

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21st century profiles

21st century profiles

21st century profiles

21st century profiles

21st century profiles

seamless digital presentation and data ownership tool for digital workers

seamless digital presentation and data ownership tool for digital workers

seamless digital presentation and data ownership tool for digital workers

seamless digital presentation and data ownership tool for digital workers

Micael Nussbaumer
Micael Nussbaumer
Micael Nussbaumer
Micael Nussbaumer
1 Campaign |
Lisbon, Portugal
$181 USD $181 USD 6 backers
1% of $15,473 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal
Choose your Perk
featured

1 year "no limit" dvouch

Currency Conversion $10 USD
€10 EUR
Est. Shipping
August 2017
0 claimed

Thank you & email

Currency Conversion $5 USD
€5 EUR
Est. Shipping
August 2017
1 claimed

dvouch funder "Bronze Badge"

Currency Conversion $21 USD
€20 EUR
Est. Shipping
August 2017
3 claimed

Silver Badge + lifetime subs

Currency Conversion $52 USD
€50 EUR
Est. Shipping
August 2017
0 claimed

Gold Badge + personal postcard

Currency Conversion $103 USD
€100 EUR
Est. Shipping
August 2017
1 claimed

Retouching a photo of you

Currency Conversion $258 USD
€250 EUR
Est. Shipping
August 2017
0 out of 100 of claimed

Platinum Badge & All previous

Currency Conversion $516 USD
€500 EUR
Est. Shipping
August 2017
0 out of 50 of claimed

Choose next integration

Currency Conversion $1,032 USD
€1,000 EUR
Est. Shipping
September 2017
0 out of 25 of claimed
Overview
dvouch.com is a new way of presenting yourself online, aggregating all your online presences and presenting them in a single coherent place. Built in a way to guarantee data transparency and verification it gives people viewing your profile confidence that the data is “real.” On top of that you can add a sleek portfolio and customise the way its shown. Think of it as a turbo charged business card; easy to share through a customisable link such as “micaelnussbaumer.dvouch.com”

Hi world! 

My name is Micael Nussbaumer and I'm a Portuguese freelancer working mostly through the internet. I love the possibilities internet provides when it comes to connecting clients with the vast world-wide pool of prospective contractors from different backgrounds and skill sets.

While using some of these freelancing platforms I noticed a few things:

  • there wasn't an easy to use portfolio system for the kind of work I was doing, image retouching, specifically something that allowed to show before-after images in an easy way
  • most websites for portfolio display required you to purchase a domain in order to make your personal url "pleasant"
  • the feedbacks and reviews gathered in online freelancing marketplaces were locked in those platforms
  • in case you worked in more than one marketplace, guess what, you were stuck with sending multiple links to a prospective client (which is relevant when you start and might have only a handful of feedbacks in each one)
  • some categories of digital work (say managing social media pages) don't have viable ways of being shown in terms of "portfolio"
  • with so many different platforms for online participation there isn't a seamless way of linking them in a single place, in an aesthetically pleasant way
  • no way of ensuring data transparency and veracity in your personal webpage
  • a profile page that was easy to set-up, customisable yet with verifiable data

That's why I built dvouch.

 

What is it?

 

dvouch stands for digital vouch and it does what the name says.

It's a place where you can:

  • easily create a personalised portfolio,
  • present it correctly regardless of device,
  • with no ads,
  • load data from different places,
  • verify the data,
  • get a single profile with a URL that doesn't look cheesy.

 

For free.

It has been described as a digitally powered business/personal card. It allows you to introduce yourself, your work, present data that you think is relevant, link your other online presences through it and easily share this "profile" with any one.

I've been developing www.dvouch.com for more than 2 years now. You can already use it to build a profile, add a visual portfolio, load reviews from marketplaces such as www.upwork.com and www.freelancer.com, show Github data, Facebook pages you administer, or simply provide links to your profiles in these websites, along with Linkedin and Google+.

The objective of this crowdfunding campaign is to raise funds to further develop dvouch, so that you can do not only that, but also integrate other platforms, such as:

  • indiegogo - so that you can show campaigns you helped fund, for instance
  • patreon and other places content creators use
  • wordpress, medium, quora, stackoverflow and others of the same nature
  • other freelancing marketplaces
  • video and sound websites (youtube, vimeo, soundcloud)
  • paypal and other payment gateways (mostly for identity purposes)
  • courses/learning based websites

There's also improvements to be made in other areas as well:

  • add other types of portfolio items, such as video, online posts, ads campaigns you ran and many others
  • improve the profile editor to be fully visual
  • allow analytics tracking so you can understand who checks your profile
  • public API so that other web platforms can take advantage of dvouch's architecture
  • multiple "profiles" with privacy settings
  • native translated interfaces and profiles
  • data assessment tools so that you can know at any time all the data that is being saved in dvouch
  • ranking system using an algorithm that translates monetary value and digital contribution, in order to gamify the use of the platform (and thinking about the future, maybe provide better and easier ways for freelancers to access micro-loans or be empowered in different ways)
  • fixing and developing user experience, through trial and error and feedback loops with users
  • allowing reviews aggregation for customers and companies and not only freelancers
  • allowing users to directly hire people through integrated marketplaces (such as upwork, freelancer.com) all from their dvouch's profile
  • allow showing off certificates for courses (such as MOOCS)

 

Why?

 

First, because there's no tool for bringing together online profiles and present an overview of you and your work online.

There are plenty of websites and tools for presenting particular types of work, countless professional, social and interest based networks, several different marketplaces, discussion forums, contribution based platforms, content creation websites and so on, and most probably - looking at how people use and have been developing the world-wide-web - these will only tend to grow. To be able to bring all these into one place will make for a much richer profile.

General to niche functioning networks, they all play a role. You couchsurf through couchsurf.com, you network on Linkedin, you keep up with friends on Facebook, you answer programming questions on stackoverflow.com, you collaborate on software through github.com or bitbucket.com, you apply to jobs on online marketplaces, you rent rooms in Airbnb, you blog on X or Y, you showcase video work in youtube or vimeo, on soundcloud if you work with sound and on other places if you work with images, words, or marketing, you crowdfund on indiegogo or on one of the other countless crowdfunding websites, or get financial support for your content on patreon.com.

It's great - and I think a necessity - to have such a variety of places for each one of these needs, because they're specific, but, when you think about it, they are all part of your digital identity and there's no way of bringing these "personas" together in a single place, in a seamless manner.

Second, there's no way for you to "own" your data inside each one of these networks. It's "silo-ed" in them. Although it's created by your interaction inside these networks, and it's valuable - especially when you talk about reviews on freelancing marketplaces, or any other metric that reflects value (number of likes on facebook pages you administer? audience numbers on youtube? these things have real-world value right now, you can get a lucrative contract based on them alone) - you can't take this data out of these places in a verifiable way.

Third, no way of ensuring data transparency - aka trust - outside the networks where they are produced. If I see your profile on upwork, I can know that profile is yours and the reviews are bona fide, the same if I see your profile on indiegogo, I can know that you funded X campaigns and the same if you give me your blog address, I can check the posts you write, but I need to give you 3 different links for it.

What if I had a place, a single link, that you could check, see my picture, a brief description and then go through my "connected" profiles and dig through what you wanted to check as it made sense? And where I could choose how to display that information, either as direct links to those profiles, abstracted data, or media items? All the while guaranteeing to anybody seeing that profile that the data was actually real? And being able to choose which platforms to integrate and show?

And now you might ask, is this really important at all? I think so and I'll share some points for its importance:

  • internet usage - from 3.2 billion people in 2015 to 4 billion in 2020 (might even be more since so many companies are aiming to bring internet connectivity to all the globe)
  • registered freelancers on online marketplace elance.com went from 1.5M in 2011 to 3.5M (on this marketplace alone) by 2013 - and we're now 4 years after that with trends pointing to continuous growth on both number of businesses hiring and people freelancing through online platforms
  • increase in the available skill-set of the new workforce - people no longer do only one single thing for all their lives - most of the younger generation uses different tools, skills and participates in several different ways, although specialising in a certain area - the very nature of the internet as a "medium" that allows from the written word to images and sound and mixes both content creation, distribution and consumption requires ways to seamless integrate all these aspects

 

What else?

 

Going back to the second point of the "WHY?", I think it's really important to build tools that allow you to gain some control over the data you have spread on the world-wide-web. At this point this is mostly aimed at online freelancing, where the reviews you have for your work are "locked" inside the platforms where the work was executed.

What this means is that if you either decide to close your profile in one of these pages, it is forcibly closed, or you don't want to use the platform anymore you'll loose those reviews - reviews which are a direct result of your interaction with a client and not of the specific marketplace in question. This can be extrapolated to other things besides freelancing online and funding dvouch will help in bringing this same sort of data-ownership to other platforms.

By loading the data into dvouch you're eventually able to "own" it. I do love freelancing platforms but I still think I ought to be entitled to carry those reviews with me if I so want to, since you know, I paid anything between 10% to 20% of my revenues in them.

This system will need to be improved so that it can be accountable. Perhaps a blockchain system, perhaps some other way. Your funding will help me come up with solutions that don't take away value from these platforms, as I think these marketplaces are empowering, but that also provide ownership of data to the users actually creating it.

 

And more...

 

On top of that, you're able to customise your profile. Most online profiles rely on a total standardisation of the layout, this works by giving a sense of familiarity but everything becomes the same. This is annoying, specially if you work in creative areas.

I believe there's a better way, by allowing aesthetical customisation while having clearly defined sections and ensuring data transparency I think we can achieve the same sense of familiarity and reliability, while giving users creative control over their profiles.

You'll always be able to have a "standard" layout but, in case your work benefits from it, you'll be able to customise it as well, while relying on dvouch's architecture to ensure that the data is trustworthy. 

 

Future?

One of the reasons I believe a tool like dvouch is useful is that it doesn't rely specifically on a certain platform to work. The idea is that it will accommodate whatever digital users are actually using, so that if tomorrow facebook is no more or freelancer.com closes and others take their places, dvouch will still be able to do what it's meant to do, which is working as a presentation hub.

It doesn't aim to replace Linkedin, or Github, or Upwork, or whatever other web pages it integrates, instead it aims to be the glue that connects all these different things, that are part of the digital worker's life. 

It's not a way to build a CV or connect with your network on Linkedin or Facebook, instead, it's a way of having a single-url where people can easily and confidently access some aspects of your work and explore your different online personas. It's a bridge, not an edifice.

 

Vision

 

I started dvouch specifically to solve certain problems of online presentation. During these 2 years other questions rose in my mind, such as data ownership-transparency-trust and they became core to what I am building. One thing that will not be changed is the total control you have over the data in dvouch, the easiness to completely delete your data and the assurance that it isn't being used for anything else, besides for showing your profile as you wish it to be seen. This is non-negotiable. I'm already sketching ways in which you can see in real-time the data that is stored.

But it doesn't have to stop here. Dvouch can in the future provide a public API, so that an external website could use the data reliability ensured by dvouch's architecture to "vouch" the person behind an online comment, for instance. Or through partnerships with different 3rd party services providers perhaps short-circuit micro-loan access for digital workers with a reliable stream of income. 

Everything has to start somewhere and dvouch.com starts as a presentation tool, informed by my own experience working online but I definitively see it as the seed for much more. Being myself one, I will make sure it's a tool for the digital user and work hard on making it the best possible presentation platform, while developing features that aim to empower these same users, even outside the "presentation" scope.

 

Current and future expenses

 

Advancements in technology have made it much easier to develop, deploy and maintain software products. It still has costs though:

  • 25$/mon - Basic Heroku Instance (Heroku)
  • 50$/mon - Basic Production Level Database (Postgres)
  • 9.95$/mon - Basic Email system (Sendgrid)
  • 16€/mon - Google accounts for business (4 different emails)
  • 1€/mon - Domain
  • 4€/mon - SSL Subdomain Certificate (so data is encrypted)
  • 10$/mon - Amazon Storage (will increase with usage)

Right now this adds to 116$ per month, just to have it running. A year will cost 1400$ if no additional costs are subscribed.

If dvouch starts getting used this value will increase accordingly and linearly on par with the usage levels. Besides that there are plenty of other services that are required to run it on a serious level and require paid subscriptions - backup software and storage, continuous deployment solutions, customer support services and many others.

Hiring people

  • minimum hourly rate for a junior web-developer on a freelancing platform will be somewhere around 30$/h. A somewhat experienced developer will usually charge anything from 50$/h to 100$/h.
  • hiring a full-time developer in Portugal, paying them a salary of 1.000€/month will account for 20.000€/year with all legal stuff, this isn’t a very high salary and probably won’t allow to hire super proven and experienced people but is to give you an idea
  • effectively creating a legal company also has costs and they are a real money sink, between bureaucracy and taxes

 

Business Model

 

dvouch will be based on the freemium model. To make it profitable long-term it will offer in the future paid plans (but very cheap ones say $2 to $5 monthly) where some special features will be offered or certain quantity limitations lifted (like number of portfolio items, total connected data-sources, etc).

 

Where your funding will be spent

 

Your funding will help offset these previously mentioned expenses and also my personal expenses. Not because I'll be buying a villa somewhere but because I want to be able to fully dedicate myself to dvouch. This requires me to focus on architecting it, developing it, marketing, provide customer support, networking and be constantly studying/learning in order to integrate new sources of data and expand both functionality and capabilities.

Like I said on the video introduction, I've been developing dvouch on my own time with my own resources, for more than 2 years already. I deeply believe it is something that is missing on the web landscape, that with the expected growth in number of people working online, using the www and the increased variety of required skills and positions the digital economy brings it will become even more important.

Having said that, the amount of funding I gather will dictate how I can push dvouch further.

  • Less than or the goal I set - 15.000€ - will allow me to focus and work solely on it for up to a year creating many more new features, spend a bit on online marketing to get the word out and pay the running costs

If the goal is achieved 3.000€ will be spent in different freelancing online marketplaces, both as a marketing strategy to get dvouch out there and also in order to get some small improvements done. These jobs will be made public so that you can verify. Keep in mind that from the total raised I will need to pay indiegogo & payment providers fees, which will be 8%~10% + 25€ to transfer funds to a non-US bank account. This means If I reach my target and add the 3.000€ to spend on freelancing marketplaces I will receive a total amount of 10.475€.

  • 35.000€ will allow me to hire a person locally, or a couple of part-time freelancers for some tasks and expertise

 

  • 50.000€ will allow all of what I mentioned before, plus register a legal company and probably hire an intern locally 

 

  • From 100.000€ on - start building a team, aggressively search partnerships and develop systems that empower the digital freelancer economically (imagine direct micro-loan access based on digital job/income history, with direct instalments subtracted from future paid works? could this work? I think so), marketing and dissemination in order to quickly create a paying customer base to turn dvouch profitable on its own - based on cheap subscriptions (say 2$ to 5$ monthly) for people who need lots of portfolio items and integrations - while keeping it free for people who just use it for a few items. 

 

Perks

 

Perks will be executed and delivered once the campaign ends. Including emails, profile badges, postcards, edited images and integrations.

On www.dvouch.com main page there's a link to "indiegogo", that will take you to a new page where the name of all backers will appear. This page will have different sections, starting by the total amount of crowdfunding received, then sections for "Platinum Funders" (larger fonts and more prominently ) down to basic funders (smallest font and at the end of the page), to reflect the level of funding provided. Nonetheless all funders will be mentioned in this page, that will stay on dvouch's home page for as long as dvouch works and the goal is reached.

Profile Badges

These will be implemented on dvouch through an automatic process by integration with indiegogo, which will be able to match your email to the list of backers for the campaign and automatically provide you the option to turn the badge "on". In last case scenario or in case indiegogo's integration is taking more time than expected to be implemented these badges will be made available manually on a request-basis, either through the upcoming user forum or direct request through indiegogo or email. These badges will be available from then on until dvouch closes or the universe contracts back to nothingness, whatever comes first.

Votes

Perks that include a vote require you to cast your "vote" for the next integration to be made available on dvouch.com. This means that you can vote for any website that either has a public API or allows you to scrap your own info from your profile there. You vote by commenting/question here or sending an email to info@dvouch.com. The websites that have the most votes will be integrated before anything else, following the logic of user feedback and necessity. The only exception to this order will be "Next Integration" perks, since these will take precedence over any other.

Suggested platforms to vote are (but as long as they follow what is previously mentioned any platform can be integrated and suggestions are welcomed):

  • indiegogo, reddit, quora, stackoverflow, peopleperhour, guru, wordpress, behance, vimeo, youtube, google-analytics, etc

If possible you should also mention what you want to see "integrated". For instance if you vote "indiegogo" you might add "the ability to load total amount of contributions given on indiegogo, breakdown of funded campaigns, campaigns that I ran, profile picture and about", etc, and/or how you would like to see it shown.

Choose Next Integration

If you own a website that has a public API or allows consensual scrapping and want to see it integrated in dvouch, or you just want to help but at the same time think it would be great to have a certain website integrated, this perk is for you. The order by which these will be integrated will follow the order on which the perks where acquired and will take precedence over the "voted" platforms.

Other options

If you work for a company or own a company and want to support directly dvouch you can also contact us. Besides integrating your API we can also show your company's logo on the backers page on www.dvouch.com

Image Retouching Perks

I've mentioned (probably way too many times already) that I've studied photography and worked as an "image retoucher". By choosing a perk that includes this you'll need to provide me with an image you want retouched (it can be anything, a profile picture you want touched up professionally for your linkedin page, a picture of you and your family, a vacation shot to show off on your blog, a product image, a picture you want to print or gift, whatever really). I specialised in natural portrait retouching, architecture and product image, and I still know my ninja photo-chops (did you get the pun? photshops? photo-chops? ok...)

The original quality of the file is important as there are clear limits to what I can do depending on what I have to work with, so a RAW image file will be (much) better to work with than a low-resolution phone picture - low quality pictures greatly limit what I can do. 

I will spend up to an hour editing your picture with love, attention and dedication while making it look natural. I will send you the finished version through e-mail.

 

About me

 

I'm a web-developer based in Lisboa, graduated in Photography. I practice meditation, enjoy traveling, discovering cultures, people, music, swimming in the open sea and playing the didgeridoo. I believe I have good ideas, although that doesn't mean much, but having used digital tools ever since and being interested in them I think I can contribute to building tomorrow's tools.

Data, transparency and digital trust are very important areas for me, because I've been pleasantly surprised countless times while using digital systems, be it finding clients, friends in distant places, helping hands out of nowhere, or just a good restaurant/accommodation. Digital trust is at the basis of this. 

I think that digital identity accountability is important in the building of a more open and connected global society and I believe that dvouch can help in shaping that landscape, while helping people showcase their work and in time mitigate some of the worse aspects of digital usage - like false identities and all they carry with it - be it fake news linking, online shaming and what not. And these are all reasons why I started dvouch and will keep working on it.

I hope I was able to turn on your interest in dvouch and what it aims to become. If you want more information, feel free to post questions and/or reach out through micaelnussbaumer@dvouch.com or info@dvouch.com - I will love to hear from you.

 Thank you so much for your time and hope to see you on the backers list!

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