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

While the 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.

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, a lot of interoperability is being tackled through code. A tech-forward culture also 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 or vibrant small friendships that spring up in channels.

There is an incredible opportunity within existing communities to implement strategies that harness the power of the spaces that form neighborhoods in these modern 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 than ever. 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 existing, vibrant communities a clear framework for providing context, adventure, and collaboration on value-aligned projects for self-discovery.

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

Key discovery elements we attempt to tackle:

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

• Trust - It's easier to develop trust and reciprocity in groups of 12-15 members or less. Larger groups often breed anonymity and less accountability.

• Management - It's easier for a leader to manage and coordinate a small team of up to 12 people. Larger groups require more complex systems of organization.

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

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

Every Scout needs a Backpack 🪩 for their digital adventures, though, so we’ll make sure everyone is stocked up for the journey ahead.

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 and gear earned on thrilling quests in their cohorts. Together, troops discover their potential while contributing value back to the broader community.

We seek to build a system into our design that allows for deep, value-aligned collaboration.

Why Interoperability Matters

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

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

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 membership rather than tokens for speculation. The value comes directly from members with 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 membership in a friendship doesn’t need to be extractive nor speculative, but it 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 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 in an interoperable way. 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 troops over time.

This is how we pollinate the community through playful adventure! 🌼

Conclusion

One of the toughest, most necessary parts an open ecosystem requires is the need for interoperability for building human connections. Early protocols allowed us to build interoperability into web pages, links, and systems for distribution.

My question is, in an increasingly disconnected world met with challenges of AI and indecipherable human layers, how do we implement identity standards to center community members in ways that truly contribute to aligned value systems?

At Cloud Scouts, our goal is to connect the unconnected and form bonds that span hypercultures through interoperable credentials that allow us to discover new friends, new adventures, and a renewed sense of self.