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About DAOs and DHOs

Samara is using a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) to coordinate all of our important activities, such as assignments for roles, claims on contributions or votes on proposals. A DAO records token-based transactions of an organization in a ledger that is decentralized and immutable - there is no 3rd party involved (like a bank or broker) - and every record is transparent and traceable back to its origin in the chain and its protocol in the smart contract.

A DAO, very much like the Chinese word 道 (pronounced in the same way, "dow"), signifies a “way”, a “path”, or a “road”. The question is: to where? The DAO enables two things - first, it provides a framework, a scaffolding to build your organization from the ground up, and together with others, in an organic and participative way. It is anchored in an evolutionary process that can move the organization and its members past disorganized and rivalrous states. Second, it enables participants to grow, to mature and to provide value by tapping into a multitude of talents and motivations.

But unlike DAOs in the crypto and blockchain space, our DAO is really a DHO, a Decentralized Human Organization (focus on Sociocracy) or Decentralized Holonic Organism (focus on Holacracy). Unlike DAOs that put technology at the heart ("code is law"), the DHO places the human at the center ("code is not law"). With this mindset, we provide the following core functions:

  • Decentralized Payroll
  • Distribution Accounting
  • Decentralized Decision Making

Decentralized Payroll is a new kind of payroll system that rewards people fairly and – unlike traditional payroll systems – sees participants as humans, not as resources. Thus, you are able to create your own role templates, get buy-in from your group, and then vote people into assignments (or apply for yourself). We have integrated this system with the Telos blockchain which takes care of secure token transactions in the background to reward your hard work. This feature is manifested in Roles and Assignments that work across the organization.

Distribution Accounting is a new kind of project-based work in a decentralized environment. It allows you to dynamically assemble a team around a project or contribution and define rewards for each contribution in a fair and transparent manner. Similar to role assignment, project contributions go through pay cycles and evaluations that allow teams to adjust work loads and tasks ongoingly. This feature is manifested in Quests and Badges that impact the organization.

Decentralized Decision Making is a new kind of governance framework that is designed for both scalability and resilience. While the former pushes decisions to the edges of the organization (and into the relevant circles), the latter ensure that the decisions are open, just and equitable for all participants. This feature is manifested in the 80/20 voting method (min 80% unity and 20% quorum required to pass a vote) as well as SVOICE, a token that determines your voting power.