Expanded design space

Public reality layer

A public reality layer is many physical objects sharing resolver-backed truth that strangers can read without an account — what is true about this place right now, with honest limits shown. That is the physical-internet shape: pointers stay on stickers; state changes when stewards sign updates.

Models and strangers need the same grounding: public, current, verifiable state about the physical world — not scan graphs, popularity scores, or AI-written profiles. Optional readers may summarize a signed snapshot; they never replace signed object state.

What walkthroughs explore

Scenario cards from the hub — research walkthroughs, not shipped product surfaces.

Footnote: walkthrough examples (menus, crisis cards, civic flyers, etc.) are scenario and research ideas — not shipping claims. Try the shipped loop: create, scan a live node, update or revoke from your objects, open the Cedar Rapids board.

Spine: mutable public truth on physical pointers. The sections below extend it; they do not replace it.

Interaction verbs

Next layer: verbs applied across use cases — not more one-off examples.

• ReadScanner sees current signed state · shipped
• RequestAsk owner for action · live control today
• OfferFinder message without identity trail · partial (lost-item relay pilot)
• DelegateTemporary capability to scanner · research
• ContributeAppend to public history · partial (city game)
• InheritSuccession when signer or org ends · research
• ArchiveLive → read-only canon · research

Design dimensions

Research patterns that stack on walkthrough scenarios — not shipped unless noted partial in the verb list.

Blind spots to name explicitly

Gaps in the walkthrough list — missing vocabulary, not missing product.

• 1 · One-way interaction biasMost ideas are scan → read; request, offer, delegate need names
• 2 · Time underplayedSchedules, expiry, dormancy — not only game route windows
• 3 · Custody and handoffCheckout, loan, signed transfer — not only revoke + reprint
• 4 · Degraded connectivityHonest stale cache and offline maintainer sync
• 5 · Governance gapsSigner loss, disputes, succession, archival canon
• 6 · Adversarial physical worldSticker swap, decoy nodes, social engineering at scan
• 7 · AccessibilityCamera-centric hub; NFC, audio, SMS, no-smartphone paths
• 8 · Institutional operatorsLibraries, museums, schools — multi-staff signing and audit trails
• 9 · Deferred domainsHealthcare-adjacent, payments, regulated goods — jurisdiction and liability
• 10 · Anti-patterns unnamedEngagement loops, surveillance beacons, opaque scores on objects
• 11 · Object-scoped intelligenceAny reader summarizes signed public snapshot only — labeled not network state; no scan profiling

Additional QR patterns

Research patterns — QR as handle for a mutable claim, not a content container.

• Witness / co-signTwo volunteers confirm shelter open tonight
• Conditional revealDetail unlocks when another object’s state is true
• Public ballot stubSigned tally without voter ID
• Queue tokenRepair café holds #4 on the object, not your phone
• Recall registryBatch recall without knowing who bought it
• Permit plaqueOperator-attested permit current — not a government API
• Tip / support pointerRevocable support link; payments elsewhere
• Correction chainPrevious statement superseded with signed history
• Presence ping (opt-in)Ephemeral “I’m here for office hours”
• Pairing anchorOne-session bind for exhibit audio or setup

What a live object can do

Research patterns — object as endpoint, not QR as label.

• Multi-tenant streamsCity, artist, and game each own a channel on one bench
• Append-only historyGuestbook and maintenance log; revoke entries, not only wipe-all
• Derived stateComputed from checks and quorum without hiding signers
• Sleep / wakeOff-season archival; reject game scans until season start
• Rate-limit / quotaObject policy: N contributions per day
• Opt-in subscribersNotify when shelter opens — not a scan graph
• District anchorNearby objects share a district ID for map-less discovery
• Self-describe limitsMachine-readable “I prove X, not Y” on scan

Network of live objects

Research patterns — a network is a graph of signed state with conflict rules, not many QRs in a folder. Partial demo: Cedar Rapids board.

• Quorum / thresholdThree nodes agree → bulletin or unlock updates
• Route state machineTrail open only if upstream nodes are maintained
• Trust propagationCompromise at one node → warnings along the graph
• Coverage mapsWhich crisis resources are live vs stale in an area
• RedundancyTwo stickers, one logical object; revoke one, other resolves
• FederationObjects on different operators compose in one scan view
• Season / act resetLore resets without deleting object IDs
• Load sheddingMesh/cache reduces resolver hits in dense crowds

Shipped network proof: Cedar Rapids public board. Research demos: combining ideas.

Technology combinations

Research carriers — same resolver semantics in theory; not shipped as product surfaces. Research directions for NFC, mesh, and Humanity node.

• NFCSame /c/… URL — wristbands, accessibility
• BLE meshLocal relay of signed blobs; resolver stays source of truth
• Solar + e-inkDisplay last resolver state without a phone
• SMS / voiceShort code → status for dumb phones
• Calendar (iCal)Signed hours feed for menus and shelters
• Web Push (opt-in)State-change subscription — not scan analytics
• Passkeys / hardware keysField maintainer signing without browser tab
• FederationCross-operator object graphs

Avoid by default: blockchain provenance, permanent IPFS “can’t revoke,” opaque ML trust scores.

Deferred domains (and why)

Object expansion

Cross-cutting capabilities — engineering shipped (field pilot open). Canonical doc: docs/OBJECT_CAPABILITIES_EXPANSION_V1.md in the repository.

• Steward mediaParent-signed hero image on child object types — attested illustration, not scan proof
• List in discoverySigned public_listing on objects → regional browse pins — separate from “join game network”
• Place boardsmenu_board / resource_board reuse sign scan chrome with type-specific photo labels
• Honest verbsList in discovery · Register game node · Relationship edges (OG-2) — do not collapse into one button

Deferred with architecture: federation, mesh offline sync, append-only guestbook, scanner photo galleries, GPS geofence on scan.

Open questions