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On 8/9/2012 5:24 PM, Eric Moore wrote:<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:502454D8.5030905@fastmail.fm" type="cite">
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My impression is that the only people who want badges for
Thunderbird are Mozilla employees. I don't see the point.</div>
</blockquote>
Anne presented some of these ideas at the weekly Thunderbird video
conference a few weeks ago, and my initial comments were much like
yours. My impressions were that this is something akin to t-shirts
that we give people to persuade them to work a little harder for
free on Mozilla projects.<br>
<br>
But as I thought about it some more, my attitude has changed. As I
understand it, open badges are attacking a very different problem.<br>
<br>
As people develop in their professional careers, they collect a
series of verifiable achievements that can be used to introduce
themselves to potential employers or clients - or simply to their
colleagues. When I read resumes (and I have probably read tens of
thousands over my career), I am always looking for little signs of
excellence that show ability and motivation outside of the norm.
Certain activities fit well here: colleges issue degrees, technical
organizations like Cisco and Microsoft have certification programs,
some groups have achievement awards. Regular jobs also provide a
verifiable record of experience. But "volunteered for Mozilla" is
not really in the same class currently. Open badges, done well and
with integrity, could provide an alternate form of credentials that
would recognize achievement and ability in activities performed at
Mozilla.<br>
<br>
So the ideal of open badges is to provide defined, verifiable
credentials that would be added to other credential programs.
Personally I think this is a worthy goal in general (particularly
since the costs of college education have gotten out of control, and
technical innovation in education and recognition is sorely needed).
I am at a point in my career where I don't think that I would be
motivated by badges, but I suspect that there are others would be.<br>
<br>
rkent<br>
<br>
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