Wikipedia and open recognition: writing the future of work

Abstract

This article defines the concept of open recognition and places its development within the context of the development of Wikipedia. The potential impact of open recognition on higher education is explored. This article defines Open Recognition as consisting of three elements a philosophy, a framework, and a practice. Open recognition has the potential to fundamentally alter higher education by lowering costs of reporting learner knowledge, skills, and abilities, while altering the scope of recognition to add informal recognition. Both open recognition and Wikipedia share common features and can both be categorised as open knowledge movements. However, in order to succeed as a robust network, Wikipedia had to overcome scepticism and public distrust around reporting accurate and relevant knowledge, partly by making its writing around knowledge formation visible. This article observes how Wikipedia overcame these obstacles and demonstrates how a fully mature and robust open recognition framework can create more durable experiences to connect learners to employers and the public.