Collaboration platforms are increasingly used to address complex societal challenges, enabling actors from different organisations and communities to work together across geographic and institutional boundaries. For these platforms to sustain participation and build trust between contributors who do not know one another, reputation and recognition mechanisms are essential. A reputation system makes past behavior visible so that trust between strangers becomes possible, while recognition mechanisms acknowledge contributions to motivate continued participation. When a platform hosts multiple distinct communities with differing norms and value priorities, designing these mechanisms becomes significantly more complex. This multi-community design challenge, and the absence of design principles that address it, is the knowledge gap this research fills.
The research question is: What design principles are needed to support value-aligned reputation and recognition mechanisms in multi-community collaborative platforms?
This thesis was conducted in collaboration with Alkemio, an EU-built platform for multi-stakeholder collaboration, using Value Sensitive Design as the research approach. The conceptual investigation drew on a structured literature review, the empirical investigation consisted of nine semi-structured interviews with three stakeholder groups and a focus group, and the technical investigation translated the findings into design requirements through value hierarchy specification.
The conceptual investigation established that reputation and recognition are deeply intertwined in practice, and that a purely ethical VSD value inventory is insufficient for motivational systems. Supplementing VSD with Self-Determination Theory produced a preliminary value inventory of thirteen values. The empirical investigation confirmed ten of those values, added respect as an empirically grounded addition, and removed benevolence, integrity, and reciprocity, producing a final inventory of eleven values: accountability, authenticity, autonomy, competence, fairness, inclusivity, privacy, relatedness, respect, transparency, and trust. Three consistent findings emerged across all stakeholder groups: personal connection and relational trust consistently outweighed formal reputation signals, automated recognition and quantitative metrics were broadly experienced as hollow and demotivating, and privacy and autonomy were the dominant values with contributors drawing a clear line between a platform that supports collaboration and one that controls it.
The technical investigation translated all eleven values into 28 consolidated design requirements through value hierarchy specification. Value conflict analysis revealed that all conflicts clustered around the privacy requirement that no profile fields are mandatory and display is always contributor-controlled.
Five design principles emerged from combining these results. The first is that the platform makes the collaboration network visible, enabling trust through trusted third parties. The second is peer recognition over platform automation, prescribing that recognition must come from people rather than platforms. The third is visibility as the default with privacy as the choice. The fourth is that the platform enables but the human chooses, keeping mechanisms non-prescriptive and non-competitive. The fifth is that respect matters but design possibilities are limited.
These principles point to one overarching conclusion: human connection is the design goal, and simultaneously the element that platform design is most limited in achieving. A platform can create the conditions that make human connection more likely, but it cannot produce it. For public interest platforms, this establishes not only what design principles are needed but also where design reaches its limit ... Read more

This report presents a conceptual masterplan for a green ammonia export terminal at Punta Quilla, integrating renewable power generation, ammonia synthesis, storage, and maritime logistics. The project responds to Argentina’s ambition to develop new export industries based on renewable resources while creating local economic opportunities in a remote and underdeveloped region. While Argentina’s Santa Cruz region holds world-class wind energy potential, it lacks large-scale infrastructure to connect these to global markets. The goal of this research is to determine whether, and under what conditions, the Santa Cruz region can harness its exceptional renewable energy potential to develop a technically, financially, and institutionally viable green ammonia export hub in estuary Rio Santa Cruz region that creates both national value and local socio-economic opportunities. A systems-of-systems approach, integrating environmental, social, institutional, and technical perspectives, was applied. Using the context analysis and the requirements analysis, a morphological chart was created. Two alternatives arose from the morphological chart: a Greenfield jetty in the Port of Punta Quilla and an Offshore Monobuoy System offshore outside of the estuary. A multi-criteria analysis (MCA) was used to evaluate these two terminal layout alternatives, assessing their safety, cost, scalability, and environmental performance. Stakeholder interviews with local authorities, landowners, and port officials informed the governance and social impact considerations. A jetty-based terminal emerged as the preferred option over a monobuoy due to its stronger long-term perspective. Although the monobuoy offers lower CAPEX and easier integration with the Port Authorities, the greenfield jetty solution scores higher on all other criteria: productivity rate, scalability, constructability, robustness, flexibility, and environmental footprint. The proposed layout includes two storage tanks linked by insulated pipelines to the head of the jetty, enabling safe and continuous loading operations. Prefabrication of key elements, such as jetty modules, pipe racks, and tank sections. This can further reduce local labor demands, reduce initial capital expenses and accelerate delivery. However, successful implementation depends not only on engineering choices but also on social and institutional readiness. Santa Cruz faces constraints in housing, healthcare, education, and skilled labor. Without parallel investment in these sectors, the project risks over-reliance on imported contractors, raising costs and weakening local ownership. Therefore, active engagement with authorities, unions, and landowners is critical to building legitimacy, while clear governance and risk management are needed to attract investors and maintain confidence. The study concludes that a green ammonia export terminal at the Port of Punta Quilla is technically feasible but economically sensitive to production costs, market prices, and institutional capacity. While Argentina’s ex- ceptional wind resources provide a strong natural advantage, long-term competitiveness will depend on stable policy frameworks, infrastructure development, and coordinated governance between public and private actors. If these enabling conditions are met, the project can anchor Santa Cruz as a key player in Argentina’s renewable export economy. The selected jetty configuration offers a robust and scalable foundation for phased development, integrates well with existing port infrastructure and minimizes environmental risks. Beyond its technical merits, the terminal could catalyze socio-economic growth by creating employment, stimulating local supply chains, and strengthening regional institutions. Ultimately, the Punta Quilla project can become a cornerstone of both industrial and social development, transforming Patagonia’s renewable potential into lasting economic value and positioning Santa Cruz as a pioneering region in Argentina’s green hydrogen and ammonia transition.F ... Read more