Badge levels

Each badge identifies a level of achievement in open data publication.

• BRONZE: data is openly licensed, available with no restrictions, accessible and legally reusable.
• SILVER: satisfies the Bronze requirements, the data is documented in a machine readable format, reliable and offers ongoing support from the publisher via a dedicated communication channel.
• GOLD: satisfies the Silver requirements, is published in an open standard machine readable format, has guaranteed regular updates, offers greater support, documentation, and includes a machine readable rights statement.
• PLATINUM: satisfies the Gold requirements, has machine readable provenance documentation, uses unique identifiers in the data, the publisher has a communications team offering support. This is an exceptional example of an information infrastructure.

	Bronze	Silver	Gold	Platinum
Legal
Openly licensed & legally reusable (= ‘open’)	✓	✓	✓	✓
Clear rights statement, detailing any copyrights		✓	✓	✓
Privacy issues addressed		✓	✓	✓
Machine readable rights statement			✓	✓
Practical
Accessible on the web	✓	✓	✓	✓
Discoverable (linked to from other web pages)		✓	✓	✓
Data is timestamped or up to date		✓	✓	✓
Data will be available for at least a year		✓	✓	✓
Guaranteed timeliness (data always up to date)			✓	✓
Regular backups of data			✓	✓
Quality issues documented			✓	✓
Technical
Data uses a machine readable format		✓	✓	✓
Data published in content appropriate formats		✓	✓	✓
Data uses open standard machine readable formats			✓	✓
Single consistent URL for downloading data			✓	✓
Machine readable provenance documentation				✓
URLs used as identifiers within data				✓
Social
Data is documented		✓	✓	✓
Contact details for people to provide feedback and ask questions		✓	✓	✓
Machine readable metadata (documentation)			✓	✓
Social media accounts used to promote data			✓	✓
Forum or mailing list for users			✓	✓
Dedicated comms team building user community				✓