Highly Coordinated Care

Why interoperability matters for making crypto multiplayer

This week we’re diving into two problems new internet communities are plagued with and how I’m looking to solve them with Cloud Scouts.

While the web3 space is still in its infancy, maybe experiencing some growing pains, we seem to be working on technical solutions to coordination games but neglecting many of the actual human elements behind the hashes and contracts.

For user-centered design, we need to think of the humans behind the screens, not simply their use of the apps and currencies on those screens.

Discovery

Communities are meant to fulfill some identity we seek through the company of others we care for. They help us define ourselves, our passions, and our surroundings. How do we discover these things and each other in an increasingly digital, increasingly lonesome culture?

Interoperability

In a tech-forward space, of course a lot of interoperability is being tackled through code. A tech-forward culture deserves varied coordination and gathering mechanisms outside of the financial levers.

One of the biggest problems we face on a systemic level is our collective issues with thoughtful collaboration and partnerships. We seek to build a system into our design that allows for deep, value-aligned collaboration.

Discovery and Adventure

We often think of discovery as the curation of media and artists, content, and code. However, one aspect of curation remains—the discovery of members as their full selves.

As communities grow, I like the comparison to building a new digital city. If communities continue to grow or refuse to shrink, there will naturally be focus groups and vibrant small friendships that spring up in channels.

However, not all are equipped to provide meaning and longer-term value to each other.

There is an incredible opportunity within existing communities to implement strategies that harness the power of the neighborhoods in these modern digital cities.

See, it’s been proven time and again in research, media, and social discussions for many years that loneliness is more fragile and dire a problem. It is more important than ever for adults to have diverse and cross-group friendships.

Research also suggests that smaller friend groups, rather than being thrust into a group chat with thousands of other people with little group coordination, result in much deeper, more intimate, and supportive connections.

What we’re offering

Cloud Scouts offers communities a clear framework for providing context, adventure, and collaboration on value-aligned projects.

We exist to help bring new users to applications now and into the future, to provide simple solutions to business-aligned subcultures, and a space for safe exploration. Most importantly, to have FUN!

Key discovery elements we attempt to tackle:

• Intimacy - Smaller groups allow for more close relationships. Research shows the optimal number for close friendships is 3-5 people.

• Trust - You develop trust and reciprocity in groups of 12-15 members or less. Having fun learning with people you trust makes it easier to take risks.

• Backstory - You get to choose the adventure and identity you express to the world. From learning to preferences, you should be in control.

So for this to work, we’ll create a system for members of these groups to claim membership, learn from one another, and take advantage of relevant collaborations.

As we grow and evolve, employers and other communities will see these granular credentials earned by Scouts as signals of experience and confidence.

This diagram shows how a Scout would collect experience from multiple places while acquiring attestations and rewards on quests.

Key adventure elements:

• Safe environments for taking risks and trying new things beyond one's comfort zone

• Creative collaboration spaces for producing quest media, gear, and resources

• Badge, rank, and reward structures to motivate participation and reward discovery of new skills

This allows scouts to stock their Backpack with merit badges earned on exciting quests in their cohorts. Together, troops discover their potential while contributing value back to the broader community.

Why Interoperability Matters

This need for curated discovery also falls on a need for true human interoperability. What I mean here is a structure to clearly collaborate between communities that isn’t so complicated and often one-sided.

We need interconnectedness. 💖

A lot of what we have traditionally imagined about interoperability and collaboration is a single company or collection creating new assets for apps or opening up branded spaces in new apps in exchange for one-sided PR. Siloed resistance.

Instead, we propose a way for the humans who make up these subcultures an outlet to be involved with one another. To get to know each other and feed into respective existing communities.

A structure built on access control and roles through offchain credentials and onchain media rather than tokens for speculation. The value comes directly from members in the form of alignment.

There are so many communities in this space we all wish to get a peek into but are priced out of membership or only actually like one aspect of what they do.

Imagine learning from the shared knowledge of each of those communities for their unique perspectives. Completing objectives and advancements through skill trees to collect meaningful rewards.

It is our belief that friendship doesn’t need to be extractive nor speculative, but it absolutely can be bookmarked by moments in time, like chapters in a book.

What we’re offering

Part of discovery is about finding the strengths of members and aligning roles based on qualities and passions.

Membership lets you easily move between troops if your goals and passions change because users of a platform or protocol should be able to move freely.

Members have access to discovering new friend groups they find compelling in fluid, intuitive ways because there shouldn’t be friction in a system meant to bring people together.

Our troop model utilizes credentials to award badges, ranks, and skills, allowing you to take them with you for continued advancement. Each badge represents participation in interactive learning experiences ranging from workshops to hands-on quests.

For example, the App Explorer badge may require Scouts to attend a demo of an app led by Troop 1. Scouts then have to actively use a selected app and submit a report, feedback, review, etc., to earn the verified App Explorer credential added to their profile.

Troop 1 then earns rewards for teaching the skills workshop. And because skills are awarded as interoperable credentials, the App Explorer badge can also be displayed and used by Scouts who earned it in other troops. This allows diverse Scouts to come together in learning experiences related to their interests and be rewarded for expanding their skills.

This incentivizes troops to create valuable skill-building adventures that attract members across the ecosystem. By earning stackable credentials, scouts continuously enrich their identities even as they engage with multiple groups over time.

Cloud Scouts is expressive, adventurous, and connected.

This is how we cross-pollinate community through playful adventure! 🌼 

Updates in The Nursery

As Scouts, we are explorers, adventurers, and observers. It is our mission to craft these onchain narratives that breathe life into our shared spaces and take us into the Clouds ☁️ 

So far, I’ve heard from four Scouts who want to participate and have given individual guidance for submissions.

Want to be part of this collection? This is your chance to have your work featured early as we grow into an onchain Scouting organization. Anyone with 3+ newsletter Bookmarks 🪩 or a Cloud Scouts Badge can submit to The Nursery! The collection will have free mints or a small fee, but the creator rewards earned go to the artist/writer.

Expansive Communities is minted as a 15-page PDF including extra details and visualizations, the first of the series to live in The Nursery. 🪴

Your weekly source for all things upcoming with our lovely Scouts. Learn more at our website!

Bringing Scouting Onchain ☁️ 

While our identities are an internal mystery, our onchain adventures aren’t. Scouting offers adults an opportunity for coordination through service to self and others, exploring new technologies, media, and apps our friends build.

Show your support by Bookmarking this newsletter issue, sharing it with others and collecting our membership.

Troop Chat!  💖 

Sign up for all sessions here!

Every other Thursday, we come together for Patrol meetings, feedback sessions, and updates.

Exploring Spatial Worlds! 🏕️ 

Event Coordinator Scout Sarah takes us on adventures to explore virtual worlds in Spatial and other platforms. Sarah is planning new explorations coming up, I’ll update here once they’re ready, in the meantime, subscribe to our Luma events.

We’re on Charmverse!

Not a fan of Discord or group chats but still want to keep up with everything happening at Cloud Scouts?

Join our Charmverse space to read up on how the future of digital-native Scouts is curating peer development and what work, collective decisions, and collecting skills look like at the edges of the Internet.

Where to next?

Want to partner with Cloud Scouts? Send me a DM on Twitter or reply to this email for a chat.

Disco is your Friendly Data Backpack 🎒 

Verifiable Credentials (VCs) allow you to take your identity, including memberships, GMs, self-attested credentials (shirt size, dark-mode preference, etc.), and Badges 😏 anywhere and keep them private!

Oh… and it’s totally free! You just need to have a web3 wallet to claim!

Already have a Backpack?

Click below to claim your Bookmark for this issue and share it on Twitter! 🪩