Founders: Anne Casselman, Jennifer Gardy, Jeffrey Helm, David Ng, David Secko
Funding: N/A
Project Start: 2007 – 2013 (no longer maintained)
Website: http://badgesforscience.org
Science Scouts was a fun and humorous online project that re-imagines badge culture, but with a scientific twist. When initially conceived, it led to a massive outpouring of commentary by many science bloggers, who proudly described why they would deserve specific badges. A small sampling of examples include the below (you can click on the stars):
This did lead to two independent outlets for the purchasing of badges (no longer active), as well as period of time, where a Vancouver based pub meet and greet (in collaboration with the Brain Trust and Nerd Knights) happened.
Given the popularity of the badges, the website was revamped in 2011 with an aim to allow science folk to leave their stories as comments. A sampling of the badges are shown below – you can click on the image to go to a description of the badge (as well as some stories of why individuals deserve the badge). You can also visit the main site if you need some solid procrastinating time.