2013 was a spectacular first year for BadgeOS! Since the initial launch in April, BadgeOS has powered engagement, education, training, certification and game-based experiences on nearly 10,000 WordPress sites. The growing BadgeOS community has contributed to three versions, ten add-ons, and several internationalization initiatives. Our friends at WebHostingHub, for example, contributed the Spanish translation that you’ll find in our most recent release.  

A myriad of BadgeOS-empowered sites and apps recognize achievement in wide range of areas, such as math, science, job training, health, fitness, community engagement, and so much more. We are very proud of last year’s special projects, like the Dallas Museum of Art’s “DMA Friends” program and the YMCA of Greater New York’s “Y-MVP” app, which demonstrate the infinite flexibility of the BadgeOS framework to empower achievement recognition in so many unique real-world contexts. Together, the BadgeOS community has issued over 2,000,000 digital badges! This month we honor one of these programs with our inaugural “BadgeOS Distinguished Site” award.  

In 2014, we will continue to release regular updates and extensions to BadgeOS driven by the needs and contributions of the community. You’ll see exciting new achievement triggers; enhancements to the submission process; and a few add-ons specifically designed to support museum and public library engagement. We will use this newsletter to occasionally keep you apprised of our progress and hope you communicate with us as well. Use the extensive developer resources to build and submit your own plug-ins and add-ons; nominate your favorite sites for recognition; or simply drop us note. We look forward to hearing from you in 2014!

BadgeOS to Empower Library Engagement

BadgeOS will power an interactive discovery platform which will provide a richer reading experience for customers of the Pierce County Library System (PCLS) in the Tacoma, WA area. With a focus on reader advocacy, and through the use of online gaming techniques, the PCLS platform will help educate customers about the Library’s services and resources. This unique engagement initiative will generate four extensions that will be shared with the open source community including the Polaris Library Card add-on; achievement triggers based on ISBN and WorldCat data; and a new Earned Badge Congratulations display option.

The project is funded by the Pierce County Library Foundation, in partnership with the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.