BIRT Exchange Forum: BIRT Exchange Forum -> Community BIRT

As Community Manager I get excited whenever we add new means to recognize and reward members who participate and contribute to BIRT Exchange.

For those of you who have visited DevShare and the Forums since last weekend, you probably noticed that we added a new awards for all participants in our community. Currently these awards take the form of badges that are displayed on posts to the forums, and on DevShare submissions and comments. You can also find all the badges assigned to you on your My Profile page under a new tab there called Awards.

Badges are assigned automatically to members when pre-defined objectives are achieved such as making a certain number of forum posts or DevShare submissions. You can find a complete list of available awards on the BIRT Exchange Awards Wiki page.

In the very near future we will add additional awards for exploring the site and completing sets of tasks (like updating your member profile).

So why are we doing this?

First of all, many BIRT Exchange members take time out of their day to assist others and those efforts deserve recognition. Activities such as adding content to the site through answering questions, blogging and writing technical articles and code for DevShare is what makes BIRT Exchange the place most BIRT developers use to improve their BIRT knowledge and skills. Even asking questions helps others because often a question (and the answers provided by others) can be extremely valuable for those who have the same problem.

Secondly we want to encourage members to become more aware of the content and tools available on BIRT Exchange - so we will provide badges to those who try stuff out. In fact, if you haven't voted in the BIRT Poll yet, try it out and get a badge (note that you must be logged in to get the badge).

Lastly we want to learn more about our members. what they want and how we can improve BIRT Exchange - as well as encourage developers to participate more fully in the community in a way that adds a little fun and some friendly competition for those who enjoy a challenge!

Keep an eye out for more soon. I think you'll like what you see.

And please, let us know what you like or dislike about the badges and Award System by commenting on this blog or on the forum topic set up for feedback on this subject.