The Playground
The question behind the Emaji Skills Wallet — and an invitation.
The question and challenge we want to answer with this project (and its sisters) is: how can we create a system that works for humans? For us that means:
1
Technology adapts to human needs — not the other way round.
2
A human claim of skill or competence exists even if it is not officially recognised or certified.
3
Individual potential is bigger than what can be turned into money.
Why this cannot be a technical solution (alone)
The technology has to disappear
We cannot require users to understand the technology in order to use it — or to trust it. The user experience must be so good that the technology enabling it disappears.
Ownership must be learned — and enabled
Most people experience learning and upskilling top-down, even monopolised: schools, higher education, on-the-job. The credentials you earn are typically bound to those institutions. People need to be empowered to actually own them.
Any credential, any claim
It's not the user's job to know which kinds of badges and credentials belong here. The system must make it possible to store and manage ANY badge, any credential — even an undocumented claim — whatever regulation says.
Smart — but never at your expense
The system's smartness comes from an intelligent technical layer connected to external data. No user can be expected to track what data goes out, and to whom, for what purpose. So the technology itself must guarantee that nothing leaves that could hurt the user — or that is not in their best, and confirmed, interest.
Key questions for this playground
What we want to find out here — please add yours:
1
How can the wallet experience promote and encourage lifelong learning?
2
How can AI suggest the best next steps for a human?
3
How can the wallet encourage people to collect as much data about themselves as is relevant for their skills, their recognition, or smart suggestions?
4
How can visible learning progress (e.g. achievement steps) encourage further learning?
5
How can a wallet use digital means — social features, gamification — to motivate learning?
6
How can a wallet smartly educate its users about self-sovereign governance?
7
How can a wallet help enforce user-centric and self-sovereign principles?
8
How can a self-sovereign wallet succeed economically - so it can afford to be excellent without having to compromise?
9
How can we import ANYTHING, from any system, without the user having to understand how?
…and a few that building it keeps raising:
10
How much verification does a skill claim need before it becomes useful — and useful to whom?
11
How can smart suggestions work without the system quietly deciding who you are?
12
Where is the line between motivating and manipulating?
13
What must a wallet do so that leaving it is easy? (Portability as a design constraint, not a promise.)
What's yours?
An invitation
None of this is solved — that's why the beta is called a playground. If you work on wallets, identity, recognition or learning and any of the above resonates (or provokes): we'd love to compare notes, exchange showcases, or build a bridge between your system and ours.