Activity Claims

Maintaining an open-source library, restoring a wetland, or running a community workshop all involve work worth describing. An activity claim, or hypercert, gives that work a shared record that other people can refer to.

The word claim matters. The record is someone's account of the work. Evidence and assessments help others judge that account over time.

Give the work a clear description#

A useful activity description answers four questions:

• Who contributed?
• What are they doing, or what did they do?
• When does the work take place?
• Where does it happen, whether in a physical place or online?

For example, a team might describe “maintenance of an open-source mapping library, January to June.” It can name the maintainers, explain the work covered, and link to the repository. Someone reading it has a much clearer starting point than a broad claim to be “supporting open source.”

An activity can describe planned, ongoing, or completed work. Make that distinction clear in the description. A plan for restoration and a report of completed restoration should not be mistaken for each other.

Recognize the people involved#

Contributor details let a team name the people or organizations involved and describe their roles. One person may have maintained the code, another written documentation, and another organized user testing.

Simple identity and role details can be included directly. Reusable contributor and contribution records are available when you need more detail. Optional weights can express relative contributions, but how to choose those weights is a decision for the people and application using them.

Naming someone is the publisher's account of their involvement. A response from that person can add confirmation. We'll return to this in Trust and Recognition.

Let the picture develop#

The activity provides a common point of reference. Later, the team can link a progress report, users can publish measurements, and reviewers can assess the results. These additions can live in other accounts without changing the activity itself.

This is why a hypercert can become more useful over time. The description of the work remains connected to what people learn about it.

You can start with a short record and add detail as it becomes useful. The schema requires a title, short description, and creation time; contributor, time, location, and other details are optional. The Activity Claim reference covers the exact fields, including descriptions, work scope, and rights or licensing information.

Next: Projects and Collections, for work that spans more than one activity.