In my grad class this semester, we're designing and building a reputation system. Today we had some discussions which I wanted to capture and get feedback on. First, the overall idea is that reputation is computed from identity and transactional data. So a reputation, R, is calculated as follows:

I == a vector of identities
Tx_I == a vector of transactions on I
V_I == a vector of verification data on I

R = F(I, V_I, Tx_I)

Some thoughts

• Allow users to assert I
• The system would provide ways for users and others to verify I (forming V_I)
• The system collects related transactions for identities are agreed to by users and provided by relying parties and others.
• Relying parties would authenticate to gain access to the system.
• The function F could be set or changeable. Our thought is that each relying party would be able to define their own F based on data in the system.
• R would be available to relying parties and the user.
• Transparency is important, so users should be able to tell why they got the score they did and see how they could improve the score.