What is the cost of the BitViews project?
Costs explained: trust and transparency.
The target of BitViews' conditional crowdfunding is £250,000 (approx. US$330,000).
What is this amount for?
The main cost of the BitViews project is the design, development, testing, and distribution of the open-source blockchain application. Successful completion of these tasks requires the hiring of an experienced and knowledgeable blockchain developer, assisted by developer with experience in online data validation, especially COUNTER.
Preliminary enquiries suggest that the minimum timescale for the completion of all tasks is 12 months, but the BitViews project is budgeting for an 18-month long project. Given the fluctuating nature of the blockchain developer market in the UK, it is very difficult to pin down the precise cost of fixed-term 18-month contract (starting in June 2020), but we estimate a full cost of £72,500 p.a. for the blockchain developer post and of £48,500 for the data validation developer. It is also envisaged that the free public ledger of online usage events created by BitViews be presented in a user- and researcher-friendly manner, requiring the design and implementation of an appropriate website (costing £3,500). Hardware and software costs add up to £9,500.
The whole 18-month project is to be managed by Dr M. La Manna: 9 months will be covered by his 9-month sabbatical and the remaining 9 to be covered by a temporary fixed-term contract for a Lecturer (grade 5) costing £33,500. Notice that all salary costs include a 22% allowance for National Insurance and pension contributions and are gross of tax.
Given the collegial nature of the project and the open-source features of the blockchain application, the BitViews team will attend conferences and workshops as well as direct meetings with individuals and organizations. The travel budget over the 18-month period is forecast to be £14,500. The allowance for unexpected expenses is £10,000 (4% of the total budget).
Projected costs are summarized in the table below:
Projected costs of BitViews project (in GB£)
| Type | Description | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Labour | 18-month contract for experienced blockchain developer | £108,750 |
| Labour | 18-month contract for data validation developer | £72,750 |
| Labour | 9-month contract Lecturer (grade 5) to replace Dr M. La Manna | £33,500 |
| Website design etc. | Design and implementation of specialized website | £3,500 |
| Hardware & software | Server, computers for 2 developers, specialized software | £9,500 |
| Travel | Attendance of conferences/workshops; meetings with external experts, etc. | £14,500 |
| Contingencies | Allowance for unbudgeted expenses (e.g., external consultants, etc.) | £10,000 |
| £250,000 | ||
Trust and transparency are essential features of the BitViews project. Apart from the robust supervisory structure detailed in Who owns and manages BitViews?, the BitViews website will itemize and record every expense incurred.
As explained above, the budgeting for the project is rather cautious and thus it is quite possible that there may be an underspend. In this case, it will be the Supervisory Board to decide whether to commit the balance for further development or to return it pro rata to all contributing libraries.