Open Badges and the ambiguity of recognition

After all, the most basic form of recognition is: "I see you."

When most people think about earning a badge for something, they think about being recognised for that thing. This is correct: badges do in fact signify recognition.

However, most badges are issued for a subset of recognition practices, namely to indicate that something is in some way 'valid'. For example:

• This person completed a course (without cheating)
• This person attended an event
• This person has skills which are useful

Badges of this type are useful, particularly when thinking about people who are in transition. To use my continuum of ambiguity, we can say that validity badges are 'productively ambiguous'. That is to say that most people looking at the badge and its associated metadata will understand what it is for and how it is useful.

I want to talk about badges for recognition which fall in the other two parts of the continuum: generative ambiguity and creative ambiguity. After all, we don't only engage in recognition practices to validate other people's skills. Sometimes we recognise things such as:

• Potential
• Aspiration
• Attention

In fact, sometimes it's enough just to recognise somebody or some thing's existence.

In my work on digital literacies, I often talk about power dynamics that are at play when people come up with definitions. By naming things we attempt to exert power. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, and productive ambiguity is how we get things done at scale.

But focusing on scale isn't always useful. Our relationships with family, friends, and community members don't always scale. Instead of only leaning towards ever more denotative badges, I want to suggest that we leave room for badges that connote relationships, potential, aspiration, and even existence. After all, the most basic form of recognition is: "I see you."