Today’s the last day at work for our members, before we take our traditional three weeks off over the festive period. We published 32 posts on this blog in 2024 — about everything from strategic uses of ambiguity to how we’re using AI — but which were the most popular?

You can tangle yourself up in knots thinking too hard about end of year retrospectives. After all, anything published at the start of the year has almost 12 times more chance to be popular than something published last week, right? Also, we might have shared some posts on the socials more than others 🤔

That’s where a little light editorialisation comes in, meaning I can mention some of the work we did this year. For example, with the Digital Credentials Consortium on communications strategy, Friends of the Earth around AI Sustainability principles, and an evaluation project we carried out for Jobs for the Future and the International Rescue Committee around Verifiable Credentials for New Americans.


The rest of this post is divided into five thematic sections featuring three posts each:

  • Open Badges & Verifiable Credentials
  • Community Building
  • Open Recognition
  • Systems Thinking
  • Everything Else

I hope you enjoy (re-)reading them as much as we enjoyed writing them. Why not use that clap button and/or reshare your favourites on whatever social network you’re using this week? 😊

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Open Badges & Verifiable Credentials

Why Open Badges 3.0 Matters
A less technical community-centric guide
Examining the Roots
Unpacking the foundations of Verifiable Credentials
A Compendium of Credentialing
From badge design to the future of recognition in networks
Pattern featuring gifts, holly, bells, and Christmas stockings

Community Building

The Power of Community Knowledge Management
Celebrating Open Education Week 2024
Building a Minimum Viable Community of Practice (MVCoP)
Using a design workshop to jump start your CoP
Finding your activist friends
Solidarity, common ground, and intersectionality in the climate movement
Pattern featuring gifts, holly, bells, and Christmas stockings

Open Recognition

Open Recognition — A feminist practice for more equal workplaces
How can we use Open Recognition to create better workplaces?
Towards a manifesto for Open Recognition
Advocating for a more diverse future for the recognition of talents, skills, and aspirations
A Little Open Recognition Goes A Long Way
WAO at ePIC 2024
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Systems Thinking

An Introduction to Systems Thinking
Part 1: Three Key Principles
Finding Unexamined Assumptions Through Systems Thinking and Ambiguity
How to gaining additional perspectives by focusing on boundary judgements, interrelationships, and feedback loops
Pathways to Change
How to run an impactful workshop using our free template
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Everything Else

How to find the right mental models for your audience
Demystifying technology through common language
Staying on Track
What to Do When Your User Research Project Starts to Veer Off Course
The Business Case for Working Openly and Transparently
Greater agility, faster innovation, increased engagement
Pattern featuring gifts, holly, bells, and Christmas stockings

Whatever you’re doing over the holiday season, have a great one! We’ll be back in January with more insights at the intersection of learning, technology, and community.

Might we be able to help you in 2025? Why not get in touch?