django
Doug Belshaw
just small circles 🕊
django and 2 others boosted

I'm nearly ready to launch a public invite-only #BadgeFed instance. I'm offering free access to nonprofit and volunteer organizations in exchange for a few months of feedback. I am looking probably 2-3 organizations.

If your group wants to test Open Badges (aka open credentials, badges, verification) issuance, help shape early features, and influence a community‑focused/fediverse enabled credentialing platform, please reply or reach out!

Thanks for boosting to increase reach!

- @badgefed
#OpenBadges#NonprofitTech#AskFedi#BadgeFed

I'm nearly ready to launch a public invite-only #BadgeFed instance. I'm offering free access to nonprofit and volunteer organizations in exchange for a few months of feedback. I am looking probably 2-3 organizations.

If your group wants to test Open Badges (aka open credentials, badges, verification) issuance, help shape early features, and influence a community‑focused/fediverse enabled credentialing platform, please reply or reach out!

Thanks for boosting to increase reach!

- @badgefed
#OpenBadges#NonprofitTech#AskFedi#BadgeFed

After a few rough weeks where I did not know if I would be still employed afterwards, I survived, and it is shitty and everything, but I got some energy for my personal projects.

I started today with addressing feedback from @andypiper to embed badges from #badgefed into your own sites.

#openbadges #opensource #badgefed #activitypub

After a few rough weeks where I did not know if I would be still employed afterwards, I survived, and it is shitty and everything, but I got some energy for my personal projects.

I started today with addressing feedback from @andypiper to embed badges from #badgefed into your own sites.

#openbadges #opensource #badgefed #activitypub

Hey Fediverse! 👋

We just wrapped up an amazing FediForum June 2025 a week ago, and BadgeFed was right in the thick of it! Here’s a recap of what we did, what we learned, and what’s next for decentralized badges.


BadgeFed at FediForum: Unconferences & Speed Demos

BadgeFed had the honor of presenting and hosting two unconference sessions and showing off our work in one speed demo slots (watch the demo). The energy was fantastic; lots of curiosity, sharp questions, and a real hunger for open standards in the credentialing space.

Community Feedback: Standards, Docs, and Openness

A big theme at FediForum was specs and open standards. We’re right there with you! That’s why we’ve enhanced our technical documentation to explain exactly how BadgeFed uses ActivityPub and OpenBadges together:

  • Issuers are ActivityPub actors, each instance can federate and follow others.
  • Badges are ActivityPub Notes with OpenBadge 2.1 attachments for maximum compatibility and verifiability.
  • Strict linking between issuer and badge, and between badge and recipient, to prevent spoofing.
  • Signature validation for both ActivityPub and OpenBadge data.
  • Federation: badges propagate via follows, and a special announcer actor helps with discoverability.
  • Comments and interactions: badges can be discussed and shared across the Fediverse.

Read more in our DETAILS.md.

Making BadgeFed Easier to Try

We heard you: people want to try BadgeFed! Right now, it’s a solo setup (one admin, one Docker container), but we’re working hard to make it easier for others to deploy, configure, and even federate their own instances. Stay tuned for updates on multi-admin support and streamlined onboarding.

Feedback: Discoverability vs. Spam

One of the most important pieces of feedback we received was about badge discoverability vs. timeline spam (see the issue). We want badges to be easy to find and share, but we also don’t want to flood the Fediverse with unwanted posts. This is now our top priority, we’re rethinking how verbose BadgeFed should be, and exploring opt-in/opt-out models for badge visibility and hashtag use.

What’s Next: Embedding & Profile Badges

We’re also working on ways to let you embed badges in your blog or add them to your Mastodon profile. More news on that soon!


FediForum was a fantastic experience, huge thanks to everyone who attended, gave feedback, and showed interest in decentralized credentials. Let’s keep building a more open, verifiable, and user-empowered Fediverse!

Badge up, and see you in the timeline! 🏅


You can read the article "BadgeFed @ FediForum June 2025: Unconferences, Demos, and Community Feedback" by @mapachehere as well.

#activitypub #badgefed #fediverse #dotnet #decentralization #open-source #openbadges #identity #fediforum #recap

Hey Fediverse! 👋

We just wrapped up an amazing FediForum June 2025 a week ago, and BadgeFed was right in the thick of it! Here’s a recap of what we did, what we learned, and what’s next for decentralized badges.


BadgeFed at FediForum: Unconferences & Speed Demos

BadgeFed had the honor of presenting and hosting two unconference sessions and showing off our work in one speed demo slots (watch the demo). The energy was fantastic; lots of curiosity, sharp questions, and a real hunger for open standards in the credentialing space.

Community Feedback: Standards, Docs, and Openness

A big theme at FediForum was specs and open standards. We’re right there with you! That’s why we’ve enhanced our technical documentation to explain exactly how BadgeFed uses ActivityPub and OpenBadges together:

  • Issuers are ActivityPub actors, each instance can federate and follow others.
  • Badges are ActivityPub Notes with OpenBadge 2.1 attachments for maximum compatibility and verifiability.
  • Strict linking between issuer and badge, and between badge and recipient, to prevent spoofing.
  • Signature validation for both ActivityPub and OpenBadge data.
  • Federation: badges propagate via follows, and a special announcer actor helps with discoverability.
  • Comments and interactions: badges can be discussed and shared across the Fediverse.

Read more in our DETAILS.md.

Making BadgeFed Easier to Try

We heard you: people want to try BadgeFed! Right now, it’s a solo setup (one admin, one Docker container), but we’re working hard to make it easier for others to deploy, configure, and even federate their own instances. Stay tuned for updates on multi-admin support and streamlined onboarding.

Feedback: Discoverability vs. Spam

One of the most important pieces of feedback we received was about badge discoverability vs. timeline spam (see the issue). We want badges to be easy to find and share, but we also don’t want to flood the Fediverse with unwanted posts. This is now our top priority, we’re rethinking how verbose BadgeFed should be, and exploring opt-in/opt-out models for badge visibility and hashtag use.

What’s Next: Embedding & Profile Badges

We’re also working on ways to let you embed badges in your blog or add them to your Mastodon profile. More news on that soon!


FediForum was a fantastic experience, huge thanks to everyone who attended, gave feedback, and showed interest in decentralized credentials. Let’s keep building a more open, verifiable, and user-empowered Fediverse!

Badge up, and see you in the timeline! 🏅


You can read the article "BadgeFed @ FediForum June 2025: Unconferences, Demos, and Community Feedback" by @mapachehere as well.

#activitypub #badgefed #fediverse #dotnet #decentralization #open-source #openbadges #identity #fediforum #recap

BadgeFed Unconference Participant – FediForum June 2025

The verified Badge was issued to @Tim Chambers

This badge recognizes active participation in the BadgeFed Unconference session held during FediForum's June 2025 event. BadgeFed is an initiative dedicated to exploring and advancing decentralized digital credentials within the Fediverse. This session brought together innovators, educators, enthusiasts, curious raccoons, and technologists to collaboratively shape the future of open badges and verifiable credentials in decentralized networks.

Earning Criteria: To earn this badge, participants must have: * Attended the BadgeFed Unconference session at FediForum June 2025. * Actively engaging by asking questions, commenting, leading discussions, or engaging meaningfully in collaborative activities. * Demonstrated a commitment to advancing decentralized credentialing systems within the open social web..
Issued on: 06/09/2025 20:49:45
Accepted On: 06/09/2025 23:08:13

Verify the Badge here.

#badgefed #openbadges

BadgeFed Unconference Participant – FediForum June 2025

The verified Badge was issued to @Tim Chambers

This badge recognizes active participation in the BadgeFed Unconference session held during FediForum's June 2025 event. BadgeFed is an initiative dedicated to exploring and advancing decentralized digital credentials within the Fediverse. This session brought together innovators, educators, enthusiasts, curious raccoons, and technologists to collaboratively shape the future of open badges and verifiable credentials in decentralized networks.

Earning Criteria: To earn this badge, participants must have: * Attended the BadgeFed Unconference session at FediForum June 2025. * Actively engaging by asking questions, commenting, leading discussions, or engaging meaningfully in collaborative activities. * Demonstrated a commitment to advancing decentralized credentialing systems within the open social web..
Issued on: 06/09/2025 20:49:45
Accepted On: 06/09/2025 23:08:13

Verify the Badge here.

#badgefed #openbadges

Follow-up to chat with @mapache and @dajb on #SocialVerifiableCredentials and #BadgeFed's #ActivityPub realization.

Some more draft text of the - thanks to @nlnet support - soon revamped delightful-fediverse-experience curated list, demonstrating how I deliberately step away from strict #TechnicalLanguage.

After all the cold hard #tech is just a click away. Tons of #CodeForges awaiting our #SocialCoding 😄

Not sure if you like the language. Yet feel its good if fluffy and spiky are in balance.

An exerpt from the draft text that shows various section descriptions of the new taxonomy..

--

# Personal social networking

Social experience is uniquely personal, social networking starts with us. A social web supportive of real people allows us to roam freely, to express ourselves, and be with whom we want to be. From global public square to intimite inter-personal relationships, our fediverse must support whom we actually want to be, in connection with those around us.

Personal social networking is where 💪 people are in control and free to live their daily life.

## Social profiles

Be free. Be who you want to be. Proudly show your identities. Manage rich, fun, and self-sovereign profiles for every fediverse experience.

## Social verifiable credentials

We all deserve to be recognized for who we are and what we do. Get attribution for our work and acknowledgment for our skills and human traits. Social verifiable credentials as envisioned by Doug Belshaw makes strides towards open recognition of all the splendid individuals that make a fediverse thrive.
An exerpt from the draft text that shows various section descriptions of the new taxonomy.. -- # Personal social networking Social experience is uniquely personal, social networking starts with us. A social web supportive of real people allows us to roam freely, to express ourselves, and be with whom we want to be. From global public square to intimite inter-personal relationships, our fediverse must support whom we actually want to be, in connection with those around us. Personal social networking is where 💪 people are in control and free to live their daily life. ## Social profiles Be free. Be who you want to be. Proudly show your identities. Manage rich, fun, and self-sovereign profiles for every fediverse experience. ## Social verifiable credentials We all deserve to be recognized for who we are and what we do. Get attribution for our work and acknowledgment for our skills and human traits. Social verifiable credentials as envisioned by Doug Belshaw makes strides towards open recognition of all the splendid individuals that make a fediverse thrive.
@mapache@badgefed@vocalcat.com @badgefed@badges.vocalcat.com @julian

Okay, okay then 😜

Inspired by @dajb I will use 'Social verifiable credentials' as the category for #BadgeFed in the new taxonomy I am creating for delightful-fediverse-apps curated list. Which I am in the process of giving a complete makeover and revitalization. Hope to have it live soon

https://delightful.coding.social/delightful_fediverse_apps

PS. Was also talking badges & credentials with @RyunoKi today, regarding #Keyoxide roadmap.

#ActivityPub#OpenBadges#SocialVerifiableCredentials

BadgeFed Unconference Participant – FediForum June 2025

The verified Badge was issued to @Johannes Ernst

This badge recognizes active participation in the BadgeFed Unconference session held during FediForum's June 2025 event. BadgeFed is an initiative dedicated to exploring and advancing decentralized digital credentials within the Fediverse. This session brought together innovators, educators, enthusiasts, curious raccoons, and technologists to collaboratively shape the future of open badges and verifiable credentials in decentralized networks.

Earning Criteria: To earn this badge, participants must have: * Attended the BadgeFed Unconference session at FediForum June 2025. * Actively engaging by asking questions, commenting, leading discussions, or engaging meaningfully in collaborative activities. * Demonstrated a commitment to advancing decentralized credentialing systems within the open social web..
Issued on: 06/07/2025 20:23:27
Accepted On: 06/08/2025 04:26:28

Verify the Badge here.

#badgefed #openbadges #fediforum #fediverse #activitypub

Hey Fediverse, we’ve got some exciting news—BadgeFed is moving out of the prototype phase! That’s right, what started as a scrappy proof-of-concept is now becoming a real, structured, and (dare we say) polished federated badge system.
And since we believe in working out in the open, we want to share our roadmap with you.

The Big Three Priorities 🏆

We’re focusing on three major areas to take BadgeFed from “hey, this kinda works” to “oh wow, this is actually usable.”

1. Authentication 🔐

Right now, logging in is a bit of a mess. So we’re tackling authentication properly, integrating OAuth so you can log in using your Mastodon (or other Fediverse) account.
We’re building this with .NET and Blazor because performance and scalability matter. Plus, no one wants to manage yet another username/password combo.

2. Federation & Spec 🌍

We’re making sure BadgeFed speaks ActivityPub fluently. Right now, federation kinda-sorta works, but we need to define a proper spec that makes badge issuing,
earning, and verification seamless across different platforms. Whether you’re on Mastodon, Pleroma, or something else entirely, BadgeFed should just work.
We’re ironing out the kinks so badges travel as smoothly as your cat pictures. Also we want to support export and import from OpenBadges spec, and we need to do some experimentation on how this could travel on the fediverse.

3. Packaging, Docs, and Docker 📦

What’s cooler than a decentralized badge system? A decentralized badge system that’s easy to set up.
We’re working on clear documentation, making installation painless, and putting together a Docker container so you don’t have to wrestle with dependencies or even dotnet.
One command, and boom—you’re federating badges like a pro.


The “Would Be Nice” Priorities ✨

Once the big three are solid, we’re setting our sights on some much-needed improvements:

  • Approval Process & Expiration – Not all badges should last forever. We’re adding controls for expiration dates and approval workflows.
  • Stats & Insights – Want to see how many people are earning badges? We’ll be adding analytics to track adoption and engagement.
  • CSS & UI/UX Love – Let’s be honest, the prototype is functional, but it’s not winning any beauty contests. Expect smoother UI, better mobile support, and fewer “why is this button here?” moments.
  • Landing Page – BadgeFed deserves a proper introduction. A clean, informative landing page is in the works.

What’s Next? 📅

We’re heads-down working on these priorities, but as always, feedback, ideas, and contributions are welcome.
This is an open-source project, and the best way to make sure it fits the needs of the Fediverse is to have the community involved.

If you want to help, hop into our discussions, check out the repo at https://github.com/tryvocalcat/badgefed, or just share your thoughts. Let’s make federated badges a thing! 🏅


You can read the article "BadgeFed: From Prototype to Reality" by @mapachehere as well.

#activitypub #badgefed #fediverse #dotnet #decentralization #open-source #identity #roadmap