The Recognition Commons (RC) aims to link academics with their achievements, utilizing trusted third-party services to authenticate affiliations, publications, and awards through digital badges. Its technology employs existing registries and allows for the creation and management of visual representations of recognition that also collect metrics. Ultimately, RC acts as a comprehensive system for enhancing academic reputation, facilitating open science metrics, and helping individuals and organizations manage their scholarly identities.

1. CONCEPTS FOR A
RECOGNITION COMMONS
THE RECOGNITION COMMONS (RC) DURABLY LINKS
INDIVIDUAL ACADEMICS WITH THEIR ACCOMPLISHMENTS,
ASSOCIATIONS, AND DIGITAL PUBLICATIONS
BRUCE CARON: BRUCE@NMRI.ORG
FEBRUARY 6, 2011

2. RC MAIN IDEAS
RECOGNITION IS THE CURRENCY OF ACADEMIC SUCCESS
AND REPUTATION
A RECOGNITION SERVICE CAN SUPPORT NEW, OPEN
SCIENCE DIGITAL METRICS AND TRADITIONAL ACADEMIC
REPUTATION MARKERS
A TRUSTED 3RD PARTY SERVICE CAN BE USED BY ANY
ORGANIZATIONS AND INSTITUTIONS TO RECOGNIZE
AFFILIATIONS, PUBLICATIONS, AND PRIZES

3. RC TECHNOLOGY LEVERAGES
EXISTING SERVICES
DURABLE IDENTIFIER/LICENSING REGISTRIES
FOR PEOPLE, PUBLICATIONS, AND DIGITAL
OBJECTS ALREADY EXIST.

4. RECOGNITION WOULD BE
DISPLAYED IN THE FORM OF
DIGITAL BADGES

5. EXAMPLE: MOZILLA
THE FOLLOWING DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATES THE MOZILLA OPEN BADGE INFRASTRUCTURE. THE KEY
TAKEAWAY FROM THIS DIAGRAM IS THAT BADGE ISSUERS AND DISPLAYERS ARE INTENTIONALLY
INDEPENDENT FROM THE INFRASTRUCTURE. THE INFRASTRUCTURE PROVIDES A METADATA SPEC AND
API THAT ANYONE CAN USE TO ISSUE BADGES WITHIN THE SYSTEM. SIMILARLY, ANY SITE WISHING TO
DISPLAY BADGES CAN DO SO USING THE API AND METADATA SPEC.
HTTPS://WIKI.MOZILLA.ORG/BADGES

6. SAMPLE RECOGNITION ARENAS
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS/DEGREES
EMPLOYERS
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIPS
PRIZES AND AWARDS
PUBLICATIONS
PROJECTS AND RESEARCH UNIT AFFILIATIONS

7. RC AUTHENTICATION ISSUES
AFFILIATIONS WITH INSTITUTIONS/ORGANIZATIONS
AND PUBLISHERS NEED TO BE AUTHENTICATED
INSTITUTIONS (ETC.) GENERALLY WANT TO BE IN TOUCH
WITH MEMBERS, SO REQUESTS FOR BADGES MAY NOT
BE BURDENSOME.
BADGE GRANTING CAN BE INTEGRATED INTO
MEMBERSHIP/ AFFILIATION REGISTRATION PROCESS
SOME FLAGS FOR MISUSE CAN BE IMPLEMENTED
BADGES CAN HAVE TIME CONSTRAINTS AND WILL
AUTOMATICALLY DEPRECATE WHEN EXPIRED

8. USERS MANAGE BADGE DISPLAY
RC SIDEBAR “MODULES” FOR
COMMON CMS AND SOCIAL
NETWORKS:
WORDPRESS, DRUPAL,
JOOMLA, ETC.
FACEBOOK, LINKEDIN,
DIGITALOCEAN, ETC.
HTML 5, MICROFORMATS,
ETC.
BADGES CAN BE SORTED AND
ARRANGED BY USER IN EACH
ENVIRONMENT

9. RC GRAPHICS ARE SERVER SIDE
USER ORGANIZATIONS
AND INDIVIDUALS LOG IN
TO MANAGE THEIR
GRAPHIC ICON BUILDER SERVICE CREATES RC BADGES
MULTIPLE STANDARD SIZES WITH CUSTOMIZATION
FEATURES FOR LEVELS AND PRIZES, ETC.
THE GRAPHICS ARE THEN SERVED UP TO WIDGETS
LINKED TO THE SCHOLAR’S RC IDENTITY, ETC.
SIMILAR TO CC GRAPHICS
<li id="text-4" class="widget-container widget_text"><h3 class="widget-title">Creative Commons
License</h3> <div class="textwidget"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
=
nc-sa/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0;" src="http://
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href="http://cybersocialstructure.org" rel="cc:attributionURL">http://cybersocialstructure.org</a> is
licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License</a>.</div>
</li>
NOTE: EACH INSTANCE OF A BADGE IS UNIQUE

10. FROM ATTRIBUTION TO
RECOGNITION
ATTRIBUTION IS THE
CORNERSTONE OF
RECOGNITION
RECOGNITION IS
ATTRIBUTION +
+ AFFILIATION
+ VALUATION
+ HISTORY OF
ASSOCIATION
PHOTO CREDIT: CC BY -NC -ND 2.0 ON FLICKR BY JWINFRED

11. BADGES ARE ACTIVE LINKS
BADGES ARE LINKS TO
INFORMATION STORED IN
THE RECOGNITION REGISTRY
HOVERING OVER THE BADGE
SHOWS MORE INFORMATION
CLICKING ON THE BADGE
ACCESSES THE REGISTRY
ACCORDING TO THE ADMIN
SETTINGS FROM THE
ORGANIZATION THAT
AUTHORIZED THE BADGE

12. BADGES COLLECT METRICS
BADGES COLLECT SITE
METRICS FOR USE BY
HOLDERS AND
ORGANIZATIONS
BADGES FROM PUBLISHERS
LINK BACK TO ORIGINAL
CONTENT
BADGES REGISTER THE
CONNECTIONS BETWEEN
PEOPLE, OBJECTS, AND
ORGANIZATIONS, CREATING
A REUSABLE WEB OF INFO.

13. ORGANIZATIONS WILL LOVE THIS
BADGE SPACE ALLOWS
ORGANIZATIONS TO KNOW/
SHOW SUCCESSES OF THEIR
MEMBERS, ETC.
EVERY TIME A MEMBER
EARNS A NEW BADGE THIS IS MEMBER OF
BECOMES A METRIC OF
SUCCESS FOR THE
ORGANIZATION
WHEN ORGANIZATION
EARNS HONOR, THIS JOINS
THE BADGE SPACE ALUMNI JUST EARNED

14. PEOPLE HAVE BADGES TOO
BADGE SPACE IS LIKE A CV.
WHEN A PERSON’S BADGE IS
LINKED TO AN OBJECT, THE
OBJECT CAN BE SEARCHED/
FILTERED BY/THROUGH ANY
OF THE BADGES SHE HAS
ACQUIRED.
ONE COULD, FOR EXAMPLE,
USE “BADGE SPACE” TO
SEARCH FOR IEEE PAPERS
WRITTEN BY PEOPLE WITH A
DEGREE FROM U. OF PENN.
WHO HAVE PUBLISHED IN + + +
PLOS

15. RC IS LIKE CC FOR REPUTATION
THE RECOGNITION COMMONS GOES BEYOND A LICENSE
FOR REUSE TO BUILD RECOGNITION OF THE AUTHOR/
SCHOLAR/ORGANIZATION
THE RC CONTINUES TO REWARD INDIVIDUALS AND
ORGANIZATIONS THAT HAVE BUILT REPUTATIONS,
WHILE IT OPENS UP A NEW SPACE FOR OPEN SCIENCE
METRICS
THE RC HELPS SCIENTISTS BUILD RESUMES FROM
REUSE IMPACT METRICS GATHERED AUTOMATICALLY

16. WHAT ARE YOUR
THOUGHTS?
SLIDE 9: PHOTO CREDIT: CC -BY-NC -ND 2.0 ON FLICKR BY JWINFRED