Monthly Archives: November 2011 - Page 3

Social networks could help embed reciprocity says NESTA CEO Geoff Mulgan

Posted by on November 9, 2011 2 comments

Geoff Mulgan’s recent Edith Kahn Memorial lecture included some themes very relevant to the idea of People Powered Change, particularly ways in which the golden rule of “doing unto others as you would have done unto you” could be practically applied across society – whether amongst politicians, banks, commercial situations or daily life.
Geoff emphasised the potential for an explosion of innovation around platforms for giving – making social networks truly social:

So far social networks have generated vast wealth for a few, and have changed much about our daily lives. But they have done surprisingly little to change how social needs are dealt with. Quite what shape the new social networks will take remains unclear – but they have the potential to transform the giving of time every bit as much as networks have transformed retailing and so many other fields over the last decade.

Geoff is the chief executive of NESTA, one of the partners in ppchange. He was giving the lecture at the House of Commons for the UK volunteering and training charity, CSV.
After talking about choice architecture, and the way that commercial pressures shape the options we are given (citing bottled water for sale at airports and stations instead of public drinking fountains), Geoff went on to suggest that we need to embed reciprocity in our institutions and daily lives:

What if we paid the same attention to choice architectures for mobilising time as we do for consumption? What if we paid as much attention to choice architectures that reinforce the golden rule as we do for buying bottles?
What kinds of pattern would we see? I don’t think it’s that hard to imagine some very different patterns.
Imagine as much advertising and communication about how we might share our time as there is about goods.
Imagine that timebanks and carebanks became as visible as monetary banks, perhaps embedded in daily institutions – as the organisation Spice is doing with schools and housing – and imagine if they offered different kinds of accounts, where time given now might get you credits in the future.
Imagine far more networks like the Canadian model Tyze that surrounds a vulnerable older people with an online circle of support, informal and formal, friends and family plus doctor, to coordinate support.
Imagine more ubiquitous prompting to give – we’ve now followed countries like Spain in prompting charitable giving at ATMs and on tax forms, and there are many other places where similar prompts could be made automatic.
Imagine if every station had a digital notice board listing what community activities are happening that day or that week.
Imagine if instead of annoying cold callers selling insurance, once a week you were asked by email to take part in crowd-funding for new projects in the community.
Imagine the many tools now mainstream in business – like recommendation engines; tripadviser type sites – being mobilised for giving.
Imagine if all of the main creative industries – like computer games – found ways to integrate giving and sharing into fun.
Or a world where every employer at appraisal times asked – have you thought of using your skill for a voluntary purpose beyond work?
And imagine an honours system that was as local as national, with much more recognition for the people who give and share their time selflessly.
None of this is far-fetched and elements of all of these examples already exist.
Some – but not all – make use of new technologies that make it far easier to orchestrate giving and sharing. And there are now many examples worldwide of social network technologies being adapted to social needs – like Ushahidi in disaster relief, Kiva in loans, the collaborative consumption platforms like Couchsurfing, Freecycle or Buzzcar.
These are of great interest to me at the moment because NESTA is managing, for the Cabinet Office, the ‘Innovation in Giving’ Fund which will support creative ideas to take platforms for giving and sharing to a higher level.
We’ve received over 400 applications in our first round – all of whose video pitches can be seen online – and the sheer range and quality of imagination is breathtaking.
They are all confirmation that the internet has a great untapped potential to shift choice architectures in this way.
Social networks really are beginning to become more social.
And their promise is to embed different kinds of behaviour in daily life.

NESTA will be contributing more to this blog, particularly around their work on Neighbourhood Challenge.

The future of online sharing is mobile, appified and people-centred

Posted by on November 8, 2011 No comments

Earlier today I went to an excellent seminar on the Business of Collaboration, about online systems and support for knowledge sharing and collaboration. I wanted to find whether experience in the private and public sector could be useful in development of People Powered Change as a knowledge-sharing space.
I had high hopes, because one of those speaking was Steve Dale, who designed communities of practice for local government, and then worked on the successor knowledge hub as I reported here. The hub is built using Intelligus, an open source software platform from PFIKS, who hosted the seminar at the Dorchester Hotel. More here about Knowledge Hub development. This year Steve is again chairing the Online Information Conference.
There was a lot of expertise in the room, and substantial presentations, which I’ll come back to later if they are posted online. Intelligus is clearly a very sophisticated technical product, that goes far beyond the sort of systems that focus on project management, document storage and sharing, with added discussion. It has features like those in Facebook and LinkedIn, emphasising relationships as well as content.
However, our hosts and speakers were at pains to emphasise that tech on its own does not lead to sharing. In organisations that’s highly dependent on leadership from the chief executive in creating a sharing culture, and also on people to support network development and nurturing of the online community. That’s a theme I explored in a workshop a couple of years ago, when – thanks to Steve – I was asked to run a session on The Next Big Thing in Knowledge Management. Scary – but I found a way around the challenge. I tested the idea that we can best learn through good conversations – by giving people in the workshop some conversation starters, and asking them what they thought about the next big thing. It worked pretty well –  reports here and here.
The lessons for People Powered Change are that we’ll need some leadership from Big Lottery Fund and partners in developing a social space, and people who will help with the connecting and storytelling … whether called community reporters, hyperlocal bloggers or social reporters. Watch this blog for more on that from BIG and the partners, who will start blogging shortly. I’m excited by the way their ideas are developing.
In good reporter fashion, I was listening out at the seminar for a couple of unusual stories, and picked those up from Steve, and also from Richard Millwood of Bolton University.

listen to ‘Richard Millwood’ on Audioboo


Richard is seeking to develop a degree qualification based around people’s learning in the job they are doing – not from the formal offerings of an educational establishment. I thought that since community groups often learn on the job, in developing their projects, rather than consulting toolkits and knowledge portals, there might be value in exploring the approaches Richard is developing for people-centred learning. More here about inter-disciplinary inquiry-based learning.
The other story I focussed on was in Steve’s presentation, when he mentioned the idea of a store of enterprise apps. An increasing problem in knowledge sharing is that people want a kind of one-stop-shop, but find content spread around lots of different places. One solution might be rather like the way that we increasingly get content through purpose-built apps for our phones and tablets, rather than web sites. Companies and public bodies will develop apps that aggregate and package data and other content for specific services and solutions. An enterprise app store would be the framework within which those apps were developed so they worked together.

listen to ‘Steve Dale’ on Audioboo


Steve’s ideas gave a boost to my thinking about a social app store – which I’ve written about here as approach for People Powered Change, and which co-reporter John Popham has also developed. Put simply, people involved in local action will want useful stuff bundled up and accessible on their phones … not spread around lots of different sites run by various organisations. It’s up to the organisations involved in People Powered Change, and other programmes, to think about the user experience, and how they can make access to knowledge as easy as possible. Linda Quinn, who heads up ppchange, mentioned apps in the interview we did recently, so I think there’s scope for further thinking there.
Steve also suggested that technology development for knowledge sharing should be mobile-first. It used to be that you designed for a desktop PC, and then thought about the mobile experience. That should now be reversed. The use of phones and tablets is developing rapidly in business because it frees people from the constraints that may be applied to their desktop machines. In the community, practically everyone will have a phone – increasingly a smartphone – but not necessarily be good at using a computer.
Steve and I also talked about the importance of online facilitation, community management and social reporting (which I describe here). Maybe there’s scope for a network of networker builders, and some knowledge sharing among ourselves.
As you’ll see above, I used the excellent Audioboo app on my iPhone as a change from shooting some video. It is much easier to use in a noisy environment. Also available for Android and Nokia. I also found it is a bit more conversational: the technology isn’t getting in the way … and that’s what we should aim for.
Update: I posted this over on my personal blog, where Steve Dale has commented:
A great example of ‘social reporting” – thanks for being there and for your excellent summary of the event. I hope we can follow-up on the ‘App Store” discussion – so far an untapped resource on Knowledge Hub. The technology is in place – we just need the apps. Hope to talk soon.
I’ll be following up on that
Update:

 

Making sense of localism for academics and activists

Posted by on November 4, 2011 1 comment

One issue I’m exploring in this work on People Powered Change is how we might help bridge the communications gap between what policy people and researchers talk about at conferences, and what information and conversations may be useful to local groups. That seems particularly significant when the topic is community action.
I’ve a hunch it is a big gap, so I was interested when James Derounian got in touch about a conference on Localism, because James is a principal lecturer at the University of Gloucester who has also been a rural community worker. He was presenting at the conference on Big Society, which  I think has faded as a call to community action, but it still a policy framework.
I asked James if he would guest blog a piece here, and let me have his slides for upload, which he kindly did – see below. There are some really interesting story lines which I hope to follow up later – particularly around neighbourhood plans.
I then pushed James a bit more, and asked him what he would say, conversationally, in non-academic/policy terms, to someone in a group who asked “after going to the conference, what is localism and what does it mean for my neighbourhood?”
Here’s James’s slides, his community-friendly summary, and report. I’ll now see if I can get a contribution from someone working on neighbourhood plans or asset transfer, and hopefully spark further conversation. Meanwhile a big thank you to James, who is definitely a gap-bridger, further demonstrated by enthusiastic contributions over on Our Society. 

Localism regional studies presentation by James Derounian

James’s summary

“The conference showed how the word ‘localism’ is vaguely and variously thrown about……rather like the term ‘sustainability’. So a speaker working in Manchester believed that his work across the city demonstrated ‘localism’……
There are two sides to the localism ‘coin’: First, central government is saying that it will give power to local councils and communities to make decisions; but in fact a lot of this seems to be centralism masquerading as localism; just take the Neighbourhood Plan idea – these DIY community plans will only be able to approve the same or more development than that set down by the district-borough-unitary councils. So localism is heavily constrained.
On the other hand there are real opportunities for communities to develop their own neighbourhood/community plans, and take over assets. Here’s where you can get more help: On Neighbourhood Planning = PlanningAid tel: 020 3206 1880 email: info@planningaid.rtpi.org.uk; and if you are thinking of taking over a local asset try the Asset Transfer Unit http://atu.org.uk/ ”
James Derounian’s conference report
I wonder whether it’s particular to academics, or if it’s just a truism about conferences? The Regional Studies Association conference I attended in Manchester, 3 November – “Localism: sufficient and fit for purpose?” – had a familiar mix of thought-provoking presentations, plus useful networking, interspersed with the inane and unearthly! At the less edifying end of the spectrum there was one speaker who, in explaining a straightforward point, insisted on prefacing it with “it’s what I call”! Not to mention another gem earnestly communicated as “consumption cleavages”….the mind boggles!
So what pearls of wisdom were gleaned? The Town & Country Planning Association representative was refreshingly direct, referring to the localism agenda as a “vomit of policies”; and he foresaw that “the disappointment and resentment of failed Neighbourhood Plans will be massive.” Meanwhile Tim Brown, from De Montfort University, pointed to the “top down role of government in approving Local Enterprise Partnerships and their board membership”. This theme of localism as centralism in disguise was a running theme. Prof Mike Raco from UCL, raised the interesting possibility, related to the conference title: how to assure localism “sufficient and fit for purpose”, of landed estates – like those of the Dukes of Westminster and Northumberland – being transferred (back) to communities…in order to foster Big Society ventures and make them happen.
There were sessions on localism and the environment and sub-national manifestations of localism. In addition there were international contributions about Ireland, Italy, Poland, Finland, Poland and Brazil. In my own presentation I asked the question ‘Big Society: BIG Deal or big deal?’ I tried to strip away some of the obscuring language to see Big Society for what it (ideally) is: Encouraging communities towards self-determination. I also raised issues like – do we spectate as far as localism is concerned or engage? Regardless of the Localism Act I believe that communities need to make localism their own. How can they do this? For example by assuming a community right to support – whereby parish councils & local charities finance initiatives addressing community needs. Similarly a community right to plan – this would put the onus on the community as to whether or not to pursue a Community Led Plan, which may (or may not) incorporate a statutory Neighbourhood Plan.
I also pointed to the ‘bad and ugly’: For example the very real concern that the gap between haves and have nots is inexorably widening: “for he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath” (Mark’s Gospel). This picks up on a theme in the wonderfully titled article ‘Community participation in development: nine plagues and twelve commandments’ (2000 page 45), in which the authors argue that the “main aim of community participation programmes is less about improving conditions for the poor or to modifying forms of decision-making, than maintaining existing power relations in society and ensuring the silence of the poor.” Ouch.
It would seem that the Big Society house is being constructed whilst – simultaneously – the foundations are undermined by cuts. As time goes by it is interesting to see the way in which the toxic/tainted brand – Big Society – seems to be giving way to a revival of EF Schumacher’s 1973 credo Small is Beautiful. In which he argued that the “best aid to give is intellectual aid, a gift of useful knowledge. A gift of knowledge is infinitely preferable to a gift of material things.” A variant on the community development slogan “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. But then – as a teacher – I would approve of this!

Social reporting through the social silicon valleys

Posted by on November 2, 2011 No comments

Events where citizens can work with councils and other agencies to design innovative projects and services are a great way way to give a real boost to people powered change. Two years ago Amy Sample Ward and I helped facilitate and report Transformed by You with Kent and Medway Councils. The event was preceded by online ideas generation, and an online community.
Kent is noted for working with other partners, as you can see here , and Noel Hatch is at the heart of that as Project and Research Lead.  We thought Noel was the ideal person to give us an update on digitally enabled innovation with communities in the run up to the next event in Kent. He came up with this really rich mix. – David Wilcox

As we’re preparing for our innovation camp, we’ve been reflecting on how we can stimulate collaboration between entrepreneurs, students and communities. Having just seen the impressive Civicrowd being used in South Holland (to my surprise, it’s in England) developed by @davebriggs and it provoked a couple of thoughts as I was reporting a delayed train to @fixmytransport that had succumbed to the “terror of the leaves”.

The conversation around localism can be exclusive and excluding with the language being used…without even beginning to understand its variants such as “guided localism“. But actually if we start looking at what social and digital innovators are developing to help councils and communities come together to develop new forms of local social action, they are creating:

  1. New forms of community insight by enabling citizens to submit ideas in easy & meaningful ways
  2. Digital tools for micro social action which although not started up on the Shoreditch Roundabout could aggregate to a “social silicon valley”

New forms of community insight by enabling citizens to submit ideas in easy & meaningful ways

With various councils launching calls for ideas or competitions, whether it’s involving staff and users to rethink ways of working (@futuresurrey), crowdsourcing ideas for ward budgets, developing a bank of social capital (@innovationbank) or connecting civil society students with digital entrepreneurs to stimulate digital innovation in communities

We’ve been looking at how we can make sense of their ideas not just to judge them as part of the competition, but in terms of community insight. We’ve been prototyping ways to make sense of the ideas put forward through mapping a “neighbourhood of ideas“, creating personas on how people want to help each other.

How could think tanks or government departments make use of these “banks of idea data” to understand how localism is being played out and what could support it

Wouldn’t it be great if researchers could use this data to develop new ways of making sense of this community insight in really meaningful and compelling ways? Could these ideas be used to create Community Lovers Guide in people’s neighbourhoods, so that they live beyond competitions?

Digital tools for micro social action could aggregate to a “social silicon valley”

Whether its Civicrowd or Fix My Transport, these tools have all been created through gaps in the technology or even the consumer market, but through unmet needs in public services and communities in how citizens can feed in their ideas or insights. NESTA’s “Make it Local” is the standout programme that is jumpstarting this new economy from a digital perspective while Hub Westminster is creating the spaces for people to build the social infrastructure to enable this. We’ve been much more modestly working with our local business school to help people develop business models for their ideas and with our service users to test the prototypes out as well as intergenerational & artistic activities to provoke creative tensions.

How else could this be stimulated by councils, civil society and social entrepreneurs themselves? Just as we have digital missions (@futuregov) to the US, could we have digital travelling tours across neighbourhoods similar to @johnpopham‘s #cantgetonline adventure or a digital transition handbook modelling on the Transition Town’s very own? This could help stimulate communities to use tools to help them work with councils to better design solutions together, but also support digital entrepreneurs in showcasing their tools to the people that could benefit from them?

Social reporters would be valuable not just to connect these ideas and tools between communities, but to get people with those ideas to discover and link up with people in other neighbourhoods with similar issues!

Innovating through BIG's People Powered Change

Posted by on November 1, 2011 4 comments


Last week I met up up with Linda Quinn, the director of communications and marketing at Big Lottery Fund, for the interview that I mentioned earlier about development of People Powered Change.
It turned out to be quite a long conversation, rather than a simple question and answer session, with Linda prepared to explore publicly how things could evolve. That’s very much in the spirit of the social reporting John Popham, Drew Mackie and I are engaged in.
Here’s the main part of our chat. I’ve pulled out below some of the ideas we developed, expanded a few based on other discussions, and checked with Linda that I’m in tune with her thinking.
I hope this note, with the video, gives us some strong story lines around social innovation at several levels.
The overall theme was how to use open sharing and collaboration in order to promote and support people-led change with this conversation setting an open style.
This might be achieved by BIG using its convening power as well as its funds; releasing more of the potential of its partnership with other agencies; helping groups learn from each other; supporting the use and development of social media, including mobile phone apps.
As Linda says in the interview, there are some formal processes to go through in BIG – so at the moment this is really thinking out loud.
I started by quoting the People Powered Change web site: “In 2011 and beyond BIG will use its size, reach, knowledge, networks and credibility as a platform to champion new approaches to People Powered Change. Working alongside communities, partners and government we have the potential to support community-led action”. Further background is on the ppchange site, and in earlier posts on this blog.
Here’s some of the new story lines and explorations as I see them:
How can BIG use its influence and convening power – as well as funding – for social innovation?

  • BIG can work with its partners in ppchange to develop new ways of working, drawn from their experience. Working together creatively can yield more than the separate, funded programmes. How can we catalyse that?
  • There are thousands of grant proposals being processed by BIG at any one time, with many innovative ideas. How could these be shared?
  • Many groups don’t know about Lottery funding, but marketing budgets are limited. We should use a mix of media and methods, and the power of networks, to reach them and offer the opportunity. What successful examples can we build on?
  • The people who invest their pounds in the Lottery could be a channel for telling groups that they know about funding opportunities. Is that feasible?

How can we help groups who already get funding – and those who might be funded – share their ideas and experience? Linda believes it is important that groups have the capability to tell their own stories.

  • The Media Trust will do some of that through its news hubs. How will that work in practice, and link with other approaches?
  • The network of hyperlocal bloggers and community media enthusiasts developing around the country could support local groups. We should explore that.

How can we release the creativity of the many people working in this field, both nationally and locally?

  • First of all by doing some mapping of who is doing what
  • Then open ourselves up for ideas and a process to co-design ways forward. That will start with ppchange partners, but might expand early next year with an online space as well as events.

We also talked about the way that social media – including mobile phone apps – could be used by groups to involve more people in their neighbourhood, for example by reporting problems and finding routes to action.
In practice, the next steps for John, Drew and I will be to do some mapping of who’s who in the field, guided by the framework I’ve outlined above, and then get together with staff from BIG and partner agencies to extend our reporting work.
Overall the interview – and other conversations with BIG staff – left me feeling that what we need is a group of social innovation reporters. That is, we are not just reporting events, local action, and programme announcements – but trying to move things forward by following up some of the story lines above.
Not so much: “what’s happening?” but “why can’t we give that a try?” That will involve spotting good ideas, making introductions by closing some triangles, and convening some workshops as all as writing openly about our explorations. We should also talk to others who are specialists in open innovation processes. Fortunately that’s a speciality of NESTA, one of the ppchange partners, so I’m hoping for some help there.