The Badge Archive

If you’ve noticed things have been a bit quiet at The Badge Archive this week, it’s because we’ve been back in the classroom. Specifically, the school of hard knocks! We’ve been learning a ton about copyright, trademarks, terms of use contracts, and the “business” side of scouting resources.

We have a simple mission. It’s to provide you with incredible, easy-to-use resources. But as we’ve learned this week, simple is often very complicated.

The Sorting Dilemma

Last week, we were excited to show off a new sorting system for our archive based on the decimal classification system many libraries use. However, we hit a major legal wall: that classification system is actually a registered trademark and copyrighted system owned by OCLC.

As creators ourselves, we have a deep respect for the intellectual property of others. We want to ensure that The Badge Archive is built on a foundation of ‘following the law of the land’, which is one of the very principles we teach our Scouts. We’re the first to admit we don’t always get it right on the first try (we are still smarting from our recent misstep with the Cookie Copyright free resource list), but we want to do our best.

While we all use it a decimal classification system at the library for free, using the structure and names for a commercial database (like our Archive) requires specific licensing. To respect the work of other creators (just as we hope others respect ours) we’ve had to pivot away from that system entirely to build something uniquely ours.

The “Festival of Nations” Snag

We were also ready to launch our first four country kits: Denmark, UK, Iceland, and Italy. After testing them with local Scouts on Feb 6th, we found they were a massive hit! But before we hit “publish,” we sent them off for a final check by someone with more experience in copyright.

We discovered a “Terms of Use” trap. While it’s true that facts aren’t copyrightable, the way information is presented on sites like Britannica or National Geographic is strictly protected by their digital contracts. Because The Badge Archive is a small business (not a 501(c)(3) non-profit) those terms often prohibit us from using their sites as a source for our packets, even if we don’t use their exact wording.

Essentially, while a physical book is only bound by Copyright Law, a website is bound by a Terms of Use contract.

That was a wake-up call that ‘Terms of Use’ can be tricky, and ‘Good Intentions’ aren’t a legal defense. Because we hope others will respect the time, money, and heart we pour into our own original materials, we’ve decided to pivot away from some of the online trusted sources entirely. To protect our Archive and ensure we are beyond reproach, we are sticking to physical copies of books and direct government resources where our only ‘contract’ is a respect for the facts.

CIA World Factbook

Then, in a stroke of bad timing, our primary public-domain resource (the CIA World Factbook) went offline on Feb. 6th! This resource has been a staple for researchers since the 1970s, so for it to simply vanish without warning was a massive hurdle for our country reports.

We tried to turn to the ‘Wayback Machine’ (an online archive of old websites) for help, but it was struggling to keep up with the sudden surge of traffic from everyone else likely trying to do the same thing.

To save the project, we had to become our own ‘digital archaeologists.’ We dug deep into our internal history and managed to find our own local backups from January. We even tracked down a GitHub repository that held January backups for countries we hadn’t viewed directly yet.

However, the data wasn’t in a ‘ready-to-read’ format. It was stored in source code, which looks more like computer gibberish than a country report. We spent hours painstakingly converting those files back into readable text so we could verify every fact. It was a tedious, technical detour, but we wanted to retrieve the information before anything else happened. This ‘all-hands-on-deck’ effort was the only way to ensure that the Festival of Nations project stayed on track and that the data we provide to your troops remains accurate and reliable.

The Real Cost of “Doing it Right”

Building a professional resource like the Festival of Nations project has been a significant financial investment as well as time to ensure we provide you with the best possible experience.

To make this project work:

• We purchased a second domain and server (The Youth Activities Archive) to ensure the main Badge Archive site stays fast and organized when we add hundreds of country files.
• We paid for researchers and freelancers to help gather data (a process that taught us that “low cost” often means “low accuracy,” leading us back to doing much of the work ourselves!).
• We invested over $800 into graphic-based videos to make these countries come to life. Because of the recent data and copyright shifts, that project is currently on hold as we evaluate how to redo them within our new legal framework.

We want to be transparent about what it takes to run a small, family-owned business in the digital age. We are swallowing these “bitter defeats” and financial setbacks because we believe scouting resources should be high-quality, legally bulletproof, and ethically sourced. When you support us, you’re helping us keep the lights on for a library built on integrity.

In scouting, we teach our youth to be “Honest and Trustworthy.” We want to model that. Many people in the volunteer world “borrow” images and text without a second thought, but as a professional resource for leaders, we can’t cut corners.

What This Means for You

We’ve spent the last few days:

• Scrubbing and Rewriting: Every packet is being rebuilt using copyright-free data and government-direct sources.
• Image Audits: We are double-checking every photo to ensure it is Creative Commons or Commercial-use friendly. No “derivative” sketches of protected photos allowed. We didn’t have many, so we did well there, but the new test requires new photos so it’s back to ground zero for many pages.

The New Launch Date

We are aiming to release our first batch of countries on Monday, February 23rd. While we missed the “pre-Thinking Day” window for some, these kits will be a permanent, high-quality addition to the Archive for use all year long.

We’ll be adding more countries throughout the year as we continue to build this “World-Friendly” library. Looking ahead, Ms. Tia is already drafting a Rio Carnival-themed Festival of Nations specifically for the South American region of WAGGGS countries! This will be a game-style country display designed for Service Units, communities, or even Senior and Ambassador Scouts looking for a fun, high-energy money-earning activity.

Here’s a look at the four displays made from our prototype kits for our local Festival of Nations event:

Why We’re Sticking With It

We don’t say all of this to brag, but rather to let you know why, even with the delays and the ‘failure’ to hit our original launch date, we are more committed than ever to the Festival of Nations project. Despite the major setbacks, we truly believe this resource is special. We’ve seen firsthand how it sparks curiosity in scouts and simplifies the lives of busy leaders, and we feel it’s a project worth the ‘blood, sweat, and source code’ it takes to do it right.

Our goal is to build a global library that we can all be proud of. We have big plans for the future of this archive, and we are so grateful to have you all along for the ride as we build it.

Thank you for your patience while we “stumble” toward excellence. We’re learning, we’re growing, and we can’t wait to show you the (legally!) polished results.

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For More Fun Ideas and Plans

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Disclaimer: The information published on The Badge Archive is built from the references listed below. These sources demonstrate that our content is grounded in facts and research, not opinion or speculation. Readers may consult them directly when looking for additional material.

• This article draws solely on the author’s firsthand experience and does not incorporate outside sources.

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