What is a badge and how can I earn one (or 100)?
Image courtesy of http://cd1.newhiker.com/media/adult-merit-badges.jpg
I don't know if it is the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts, or the rise of everything "hipster," but this idea of earning "badges" online seems to be everywhere these days--from universities like MIT and the University of Southern California, to location-based social networks and games like foursquare and SCVNGR! The concept of badge-earning is not new (the Boy Scouts have been around since 1907), but the ability to earn them online--and now even receive physical merit badges and real-life credit--is making them one of the hottest topics this year.
According to onlinecollege.org: Badges provide something visual that we identify with and understand when we see it. Whether it is an embroidered patch sewn on a uniform or a digital image added to a website, it's a representation of achievement. A badge, in the context of learning, is defined by Digital Media and Learning Central (DML) as "a validated indicator of accomplishment, skill, quality, or interests that can be earned in [a variety of] learning environments." The list of possible learning environments is long, but includes both online and face-to-face options, such as peer learning, mentorship, extracurricular activities, formal training (e.g. military), and mobile learning.
A quick Google search for "earn badges online" garnered me a slew of articles about earning badges online including this provocative one suggesting that badging is questioning "the tyranny of the degree." (See the "Resources" section below for more articles!).
Let's explore what's out there to be earned and how museums might use it to engage with their audiences...
foursquare Badges and Rewards
Image courtesy of 4squarebadges.com
As Shauna mentioned in her previous blog, foursquare has an extensive badging component to its location-based social media platform. foursquare's mantra is, "Keep up with friends. Discover what's nearby. Save money & unlock rewards." Businesses like it because it is another way for them to generate buzz, engage with their visitors and entice them to become repeat customers. Users like it because they can see where their friends are, compete with others to become "mayor" of their favorite spots, and earn rewards.
Just what are those "rewards" that users can unlock, you ask? Most businesses offer discounts and freebies. Additionally, users can earn different types of badges by checking in and/or doing challenges at various locations. These badges are displayed on the users profile. foursquare offers lots of badges that are the same no matter where you check in, like "Newbie" (1st check-in), "Adventurer" (checking-in to 10 different venues), and "Local" (checking-in to the same spot 3 times in one week). Finally, foursquare offers custom badges (see below) that are place specific. These are difficult to create as foursquare controls who can create badges.Thinking about building a custom badge for your institution on foursquare? Check out these tips from Sprout Insights. Tips include making your badge accessible to many and special to those who unlock it--i.e. offering a sweet reward. Oh, and you'll also need about $75,000--the current rate for customized badges (3 months at $25,000/per month), though I heard through Clickz.com that they waive the fee for non-profits.
But how can museums use foursquare? As Shauna said earlier: It's hard to offer a "deal" if your museum is free, but there's always admission to a movie or planetarium show, a spot in a special behind-the-scenes tour, discounted membership, or the chance to weigh in on an upcoming exhibition. The entrance hall could display a live screen showing how many people have checked in, which would in turn encourage more people to follow suit. Repeat visitors could unlock rewards that have to do with the exhibits or answers to questions posed in the text panels. Museums could offer unique badges for visitors who who repeatedly check in or complete challenges. If you know of any great museum/foursquare badge examples, please share them in the comments section!
SCVNGR
Image courtesy of SCVNGR.com
Along those same lines of checking-in, doing challenges, and earning rewards, is the difficult to pronounce, location-based social gaming platform SCVNGR (pronounced "scavenger" - it's just missing the vowels!). According to their website, "SCVNGR is a game about "doing challenges at places." Seems pretty simple: go places, do things, earn rewards! Sounds a lot like foursquare!
As best I can tell, SCVNGR took the foursquare idea of the check-in, and added on the challenges part. It's for those who want to do more than just say "hey, I'm here." Challenges include tweeting about something, playing a game, sharing a photo, or even building tin-foil origami. When you do the challenges, you earn points. These points add up quickly to form rewards like freebies and discounts. Watch this video for more information about how SCVNGR works.
SCVNGR also enables businesses, cities, institutions, and groups to build rewards, challenges, and treks on the SCVNGR platform. Why should museums (or businesses, or cities, etc.) build on SCVNGR? Well...
Image courtesy of SCVNGR.com
In case you can't read that fuzzy screen shot... it says that by using SCVNGR your institution will (1) Attract tons of people, (2) Engage them with fun, and (3) Reward your growing community. All things that museums are interested in doing! But how do they do it? Here are some ideas courtesy of the blog Technology in Museums: Museums can benefit from [SCVNGR] by creating challenges that will help the visitor learn more about the place and objects. This is a great way to get tourists and locals alike to experience the museum in a fun and interactive manner. Rewards such as discounts at the museum store, on museum admission, or in the museum cafe can be offered for earning points. Museums may draw in people that never intended on coming but wandered in just because they were nearby and were intrigued by the challenges and rewards.
Intrigued? You bet! Want to see how to do it? Check out this video. Most importantly, does it work? If you visit the SCVNGR web page, you can see a whole loooong list of businesses, schools, cities, museums, etc. who are using the site. The mighty Smithsonian even used SCVNGR in June of 2010 to get visitors to go on a trek to several of the SI's many museums. Their SCVNGR contest offered some very real rewards: iPads! Do you know any stories of museums using SCVNGR to successfully (or not-so-successfully) engage with their audiences? If so, please share in the comments!
Conclusions and Considerations
Some thoughts to consider with both foursquare and SCVNGR are: (1) How would museums convince visitors to download the app in the first place? (2) Once they download the app, how would they know that these options exist? Possible solutions: In the museum, use signage and instruct personnel (guards, greeters, docents, info desk) to suggest or remind visitors to check-in on foursquare and/or play SCVNGR. Outside the museum, use social media like Twitter and Facebook to advertise the game and urge visitors to check-in on foursquare.
With corporations like Mozzilla and Microsoft, and institutions like MIT and NASA jumping on the merit badge bandwagon, it seems that museums cannot--and should not--be far behind. Let's go back to that definition of a "badge":
A badge, in the context of learning, is defined by Digital Media and Learning Central (DML) as "a validated indicator of accomplishment, skill, quality, or interests that can be earned in [a variety of] learning environments." The list of possible learning environments is long, but includes both online and face-to-face options, such as peer learning, mentorship, extracurricular activities, formal training (e.g. military), and mobile learning.
According to David Theo Goldberg (and I would agree with him): Badges in short are a means to enable and extend learning. Doesn't that fit in line with museums' mission to foster life-long learning in everyone? Shouldn't we be in the business of cultivating life-long curiosity? How better to do that than to throw open our doors, vaults, collections, catalogs, spaces--both online and onsite--and invite our visitors to come in and explore. And clearly, it wouldn't hurt to offer them a little reward for doing so in the form of a badge or reward. I guess we are all just girl and boy scouts at heart.
Resources
N.B.: for an excellent, though slightly steeped in ed-jargon, take on online badging, read this article from DMLCentral. Of course, I found this after I had already finished my post on badges!
http://dmlcentral.net/blog/david-theo-goldberg/badges-learning-threading-needle-between-skepticism-and-evangelism
http://scvngr.com/
https://foursquare.com/
http://newsdesk.si.edu/releases/gosmithsonian-trek-begin-june-24
http://www.onlinecollege.org/2011/10/07/showcase-your-skills-with-digital-badges/
http://www.scoop.it/t/badges-for-lifelong-learning/
http://www.scoop.it/t/digital-badges
http://chronicle.com/article/Badges-Earned-Online-Pose/130241/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/business/digital-badges-may-highlight-job-seekers-skills.html?scp=1&sq=&st=nyt
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/education/edlife/credentials-the-next-generation.html?scp=2&sq=&st=nyt
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/magazine/13fob-consumed-t.html?scp=3&sq=&st=nyt
http://technologyinmuseums.blogspot.com/
http://sproutsocial.com/insights/2011/06/how-to-get-your-badge-approved-by-foursquare/
http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2094542/foursquare-custom-badges-require-usd75k-commitment
