Badges/Technology

Open Badges Infrastructure (OBI) Background: Why Are We Doing This?

Enabling learners to earn badges wherever they're learning across the web requires support for multiple individual badge issuers. Empowering learners to use their badges as legitimate credentials requires support for sharing of badges across many display sites. The Open Badges framework is designed to allow any learner to collect badges from multiple sites, tied to a single identity, and then share them out across various sites -- from their personal blog or web site to social networking profiles. It is critical for this infrastructure to be open to give learners control over their own learning and credentials. allow anyone to issue badges, and for each learner to carry the badges with them across the web and other contexts.

Tech Specs

• The OBI is built in node.js using express
• Badges are represented by JSON data blobs embedded in PNG files in the Backpack
• Identity management is handled by Mozilla BrowserID

• Check out our source code on github
• Learn more about Badge Baking
• Read more about Assertion Types and Specifications
• Issuer API information
• Displayer API information

More Information and Documentation

• Infrastructure Technical Documentation Requirements and technical specifications for the Open Badge Infrastructure
• Identity Link to Mozilla Identity initiatives, includes Persona
• Infrastructure plan Draft technology roadmap and goals for 2011 & 2012. Superceded by 2012 roadmap
  
• Earlier Screenshots from the Open Badges Badge Backpack prototype
• Open Web Apps (Repository)