25 Jun The NEMscription Public Experiment

By RadioRadio

Following on from the recent post on the idea of developing a vaccine passport system on the Symbol blockchain. Kitsutsuki-san has introduced the NEMscription Public Experiment built on the Symbol blockchain.

What is the NEMscription Public Experiment?

It sounds a bit ominous but actually it is a proof of principle experiment which uses a prototype blockchain-based subscription billing system. It was this experiment that led to the idea of the vaccine passport discussed in our recent blog post. In the NEMscription Public Experiment a Symbol node monitoring service is provided to users but the idea is that this could be replaced with other use cases such as music streaming or video subscription billing. It could even be used to gain access to, for instance, a gym or other services provided on a subscription basis.

What does it provide the user?

The concept seems quite abstract but actually the idea allows users to gain experience with Symbol and the concept of its use in subscription billing. Kitsutsuki-san has stated that it is an experiment to get people interested in the technology. Specifically he has highlighted the following key aims of the project:

• It provides an opportunity for people who are knowledgeable about software but have no experience of blockchain to get acquainted with it. The aim here is to highlight the ease of use of Symbol.
• It provides an experience for those who want to develop blockchain applications to get “something to stimulate their ideas”.
• It reduces the psychological barriers for non-programmers in the blockchain community thereby enabling them to start using the  technology and proving that “even a non-programmer can easily create a system of this size”.
• It provides a simple, yet powerful use case for Symbol and gives software developers who are interested in blockchain but have no previous experience an opportunity to participate.
• It provides developers with experience in the use of blockchain application services and promotes sharing of technical information with others.

How can I participate?

You can participate in this open experiment by sending an empty transaction (0 XYM) to NAXXB6RI4FTXAKEY57P4ZKNYBAYEXBVCEEL2Q3Y. It is important that the message is in the correct format, is encrypted and contains a message with a contact email address and the Symbol node that you would like to monitor (e.g. the node that you are harvesting on). An example of the message format is shown below:

[agree],[your email address],[node address that you want to monitor]

e.g.: agree,***@kitsutsuki.tokyo,https://nem1.kitsutsuki.tokyo:3001

Here is an example of what it would look like when you send the transaction in your Symbol wallet:

• Please make sure you encrypt your message before sending it in order to keep your details private
• It is recommended that you use a one time email address for this experiment
• Please complete the transaction according to the message format referring to the images and instructions above
• If you haven’t sent the message, the transaction will be considered invalid
• You don’t have to send any XYM (just pay the transaction fees)
• If you do send XYM with your message (don’t do this!) then it will not be refunded.

The current experimental system relies on sending the participation message but the aim would be to build a well-designed user interface in the future to make the system easier to use.

Further information

There is additional information in Japanese at NEMscription Platform – OPEN EXPERIMENT but hopefully we have summarised everything in English here so you should be able to try it out for yourselves!

Use case – integration with XEMBook

XEMBook is an app that allows you to view statistics of a Symbol account such as balance, blocks harvested, recent transactions etc. When an address with metadata from the NEMscription Public Experiment accesses XEMBook, it is recognised and the information is provided in “fast mode”. So if you join the NEMscription Public Experiment then XEMBook should be faster when accessed by the address used to participate (give it a try and let us know!).

To check that you are connected in “fast mode” and that your account has the required metadata you will see the notation [JP] as shown in the image below.

Further details on XEMBook can be found here: https://github.com/mediaprogramer/xembook

Summary

The core principle behind this experiment is that Kitsutsuki-san does not store the proof of service registration on his own servers, but instead inscribes it in the user’s Symbol account. This shows merchants that they can offer the user services without having to get the information directly from Kitsutsuki-san. In the previous vaccine passport post the same principle would apply. For example, an airline would be able read the account metadata on check-in and be able to confirm that a customer has been vaccinated enabling them to fly.

This system is an example of Decentralised Identity (DID) built on the Symbol blockchain. Allowing a user to manage their own data without being tied to a third party data controller.

NineLives

I’m a Symbol and NEM enthusiast and run this blog to try to grow awareness of the platform in the English-speaking world. If you have any Symbol news you would like me to report on or you have an article that you would like to publish then please let me know!