Introducing Walkable™ apps, a new kind of software. Walkable™ apps all work together, and people are allowed to add whatever new features they want. And it's always under the user's control.
For software that connects people, that's a powerful combination that has never existed before. In general, multi-user platforms are silos, tightly controlled and barely connected to the rest of the user's computing world. The exceptions to that, the open platforms like email, end up heavily constrained by ecosystem factors. As a result, we've all had to live with software issues we were powerless to address.
Until now.
With the new Walkable™ application platform, developers can deliver freedom and power to their users, and users get the benefits. Autonomy, privacy, and seamless integration, at last.
The initial app suite will focus on community information sharing and knowledge management. People are encouraged to build out from that core and provide highly-customized features. Some of the best candidates for early adoption will be any group that shares information in a spreadsheet, shared document, mailing list, or group chat. If you've found these techniques growing increasingly cumbersome, even painful, Walkable™ apps may be the answer.
The system is currently in closed beta. This is new software. Security and reliability always take time. This is still an experimental system. It is not yet ready for important or sensitive data.
Integrated: Move between apps with ease, always having access to the same data, even when it's social interaction data. In a Walkable™ social media app, your "followers" remain with you when you (or they) switch apps. This goes far beyond data portability, where you export data from one system and import it into another. Here, the apps all work together at the same time.
Trust-Aware: We’ve created a “credibility network” to provide safety without censorship, as each user guides their community in assessing trust. Users are empowered to navigate successfully, on their own terms, through high and low quality information. There is no central authority, but rather the system helps each user navigate with the best guidance from the sources that user has decided to trust.
Privacy: (IN PROGRESS: sandbox not ready) Your data stays under your control. Application software runs in a “user data sandbox”, protected from commercial surveillance. As with most systems, users may still be subject to law enforcement surveillance and no system can guarantee complete security.
Trustworthy: (IN PROGRESS - decentralization not active) The system is designed for resistance to bots, scams, corruption, and behind-the-scenes influence. Walkable™ apps follow the principle that a person's computing resources should be fully, demonstrably on that person's side. As people become increasingly able to trust their tech, they may become open to a far greater range of applications.
Customizable: Apps are highly customizable, and can generally be modified or extended by end-users and third-parties.
Cross-platform: Initially implemented as webapps, available to anyone with a web browser, but also fully functional on mobile devices.
Stable App Versions: App versions change when you want them to, and you can go back to an older version, if you want.
Fair Pricing: (IN PROGRESS) We’re committed to ensuring that content providers, app developers, host operators, etc, get fair compensation for their work, while the system remains available to everyone
Adaptive: The platform is welcoming to new software developers, so the market for new apps is highly responsive.
Practical: While the system contains new technologies, they’ve been engineered to be as simple and maintainable as possible, so you can rely on them. The apps can run in an ordinary browser, there is no blockchain, and AI features are optional.
This talk by project founder, Sandro Hawke, explains some of the motivations and technology behind this work. It does not directly cover the Walkable™ apps system. You may want to open slides in another window and open video in another window.