Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The societal impact of the World wide web--key challenges for the 21st century Burn, Janice M;
Carmel O'sullivan, Geoff Mulgan and Diogo Vasconcelos Working paper The Young Foundation and the Web Digital Social Innovation The Young Foundation September 2010 Over 27 million
Britons have a Facebook profilei, 40 per cent of internet users upload self-created content to the web,
and the same amount post messages to chat sites, blogs and newsgroups. ii Nearly a quarter of UK mobile phones users now have a Smartphone,
with over 18 per cent using their devices to access social media sites or blogs. iii We know that digital technology is transforming our professional and social lives.
But could it also be ushering in a new age of civic and political engagement? Studies show that people who access social media are more likely s to look at campaigns
or engage with politics online. iv In the UK, during the Prime Ministerial debates in the run up to the 2010 UK election,
36,483 Twitter users were active during the first debate 28,790 were active during the second debate. v Almost a quarter of 18 to 24 year olds commented on politics via social networks during the election. vi Local,
national and international activists are building networks to do everything from getting millions of citizens to sign online petitions on climate change
Government data is increasingly being made public improving transparency and allowing software programmers to create extra value from underused data by, for example,
mapping out injuries and deaths to cyclists on London's roads. vii The Young Foundation researches
of living in a western society predominately through the web. For example, in Tower Hamlets, a London borough with a large Bangladeshi population, Maslaha has been working with the Primary Care Trust (PCT) to offer Islamic advice on how to live a healthy life with diabetes.
advice is provided on Maslaha's diabetes website through videos in community languages. x Digital technology makes it much easier to expand the realms of social innovation beyond traditional boundaries such as professions, disciplines
Social Innovation Camp's bring together software developers and service designers with social innovators to build effective,
web-based solutions to social problems, resulting in digital innovations such as Mypolice-a tool for people to feed back their positive and negative experiences of contact with the police. xi In 2008,
inequality and healthcare. xii Digital technologies are also helping drive public sector innovation. www. Fixmystreet. com is a website that allows users to easily report an issue with their public realm to the relevant authority
the Young Foundation has developed a framework to help local authorities use social media to improve the delivery of public services. xiii Building upon the open data movement,
www. Mydex. org-a new community interest company backed by the Young Foundation-aims to empower individuals by giving them back control of their own data.
The government holds data about citizens in hundreds of databases, with individuals having little control over it.
'freely available web tools are assisting communities to become digitally empowered. The Young Foundation's Local 2. 0 programme aims to learn more about how communities can be empowered using the web
and is piloting several projects with four English local authorities: the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council, Kirklees Council and Wiltshire Council.
Projects range from encouraging local people to write their own blogs and training for council officers on how to engage with communities via the web,
to the creation of community websites that help people connect with one another and discuss local issues. www. Fairstead. org is a new hyperlocal website developed as part of Local 2. 0 for a neighbourhood in King's Lynn, West Norfolk.
The website created at low cost through a partnership of local people and local agencies-aims to build local networks,
improve communication between residents and agencies, and increase levels of local action. Leadership and entrepreneurship Digital technologies can reach into the handbags
and homes of individuals who are alienated from the democratic process. Through The Youth of Today programme, we found that young people are plugged into digital technologies,
Digitally Empowered Communities The new digital divides relate to usage, rather than access. More capable individuals and communities will grab the opportunities for empowerment afforded to them-including those opened by digital technology.
Only 21 per cent of internet users join in debates online or give opinions on social or political issues;
whilst ensuring that the already empowered are not the only ones who become the digitally empowered. i http://www. clickymedia. co. uk/2010/06/uk-facebook-statistics-for-june-2010/ii http://www. statistics. gov
http://www. scribd. com/doc/32819785/Orange-s-Digital-Election-Analysis vi http://www. bbc. co. uk/blogs/thereporters/rorycellanjones
These changes have delivered substantial improvements to the lives of Europeans the widespread use of the internet has transformed the way we live
This call to focus innovation and R&d policy on the Grand Challenges has also been echoed by the recent Business Panel on Future EU Innovation Policy,
'the Panel argues that within innovation policy, the‘priority has been investing in knowledge rather than utilizing it rapidly and 10 powerfully for societal benefit and development'.
'The Panel proposed broadening the concept of innovation to include social innovation as well as business innovation.
the Business Panel on Future EU Innovation Policy allude to a new kind of research which is multi-disciplinary
‘Corporate social innovation'may be an important new business area for private companies and a core driver of innovation'.
Together, The New Nature of Innovation and the recommendations of the European Technology Platforms Expert Group, the Business Panel on Future EU Innovation Policy and the European Research Area Board make a strong
using open source methods or crowd sourcing solutions. The view of innovation in the EU 2020 strategy risks being seen as somewhat top down
It might be taken to include the Google search engine (which arguably has created more value for society than even the value that has accrued to shareholders and founders).
The Center for Independent Living, founded in 1972 by disability activists in Berkeley, California, developed technologies such as telecaptioners, text telephones, voice-recognition systems, voice synthesizers and screen readers.
The Internet came from within the US military and the early understanding of climate change from NASA,
Some ideas can be copied from other societies that have moved faster for example how to run web-based exchange systems,
social movements, business models, laws and regulations, data and infrastructures, and entirely new ways of thinking
These might include employers seeking new types of skills (e g. better ability to work in teams, or software programming.‘
Data from the Johns Hopkins study also found astounding growth 35 rates within the nonprofit sector in all European countries where the sector's share of total employment could be compared for 1990 and 1995.
this is because most countries do not collect information on the number of social enterprises instead they collect data on the number of organisations with particular legal forms that is, the number of social cooperatives, associations, social purpose
The spread of digital technologies and the internet have had also a profound effect on public services
and budgets Prevention ICT as an enabler of social innovation Reducing bureaucracy 37 In each case we have tried to focus on examples where there is some data on impact
and to focus on social networks as opposed to the individual. Their work is based on four main principles:
The site received 120,000 unique visits and a total of 873,476 hits. 40 These are remarkable participation rates,
when citizens and public servants become tangled in a web of dysfunctional rules, regulations and procedures.
laboratory data, patient records, waiting list information from hospitals and so on. Evaluations of the portal show that roughly one third of users seeking information and advice on their health through Sundhed are reassured
which allows people to transfer money using their mobile phones. The project was piloted in Kenya and developed by Vodafone and its Kenya subsidiary, Safaricom.
The service is available to all Safaricom subscribers, regardless of whether they have a bank account or not.
The M-PESA application is installed on SIM CARDS and works on all handsets. M-PESA has revolutionised money transfer in Kenya and significantly reduced levels of financial exclusion,
Safaricom has built on the vast network of existing mobile phone services and kiosks, transforming them into M-PESA agencies where money can be deposited
printing, carpet weaving, gardening, furniture manufacture, paper recycling and car washing. The first 9 social cooperatives to be set up employ more than 150 people with mental health problems
Kiva, the world's first peer-to-peer micro-lending site, enables individuals to lend small sums of money to entrepreneurs on low incomes.
which is posted on the website, becoming available for scrutiny by potential investors. Repayment is guaranteed as field partners are responsible for entrepreneurs
A continuous cycle of lending is created subsequently built on success. With a dedication to transparency, Kiva maximises the instantaneous potential of the internet,
to Google who provide support by means of internet advertising. As a result of its strong network of supporters and partners, producing clear 48 and productive connections,
In its mission to effect maximum transparency, all savings and investment accounts are available to view on Triodos'website.
and most donors prefer funding projects and programmes rather than core costs. The lack of reliable and sustainable grant funding has left the sector vulnerable to outside shocks
people and digital tools to create web-based social start-ups. lxxxiii Inspired by start-up and technology oriented events such as Barcamp,
'Hackdays, like Barcamps, focus on early stage web applications, but they are far more intense; software developers code continuously for 24 hours
and prizes are given for the best hacks. Seedcamps are week long events which connect entrepreneurs with venture capitalists. 54 with everyday tasks.
which aims to tackle the high number of incidents of traffic law violations in the Slovakia by enabling pedestrians to report incidents as they witness them, directly from their mobile phone.
or a problem which a web-based tool might be able to help solve-these are posted publicly online.
Those who have submitted the selected ideas are invited then-along with software developers, designers, marketing and business experts as well as those who have knowledge of specific areas of social need-to a two-and-a-half day weekend event.
and asked to develop a website prototype over the next 2 days. At the end of the weekend project teams pitch what they have created to the SI Camp judges.
Winners receive 10 days of development time with the web development company, Headshift and roughly 10 hours of development time with the development agency,
web and tech support, policy work, media and PR and internal/external evaluations. While the franchisees are responsible for fundraising,
One is new forms of mutual action between individuals such as open source software and web-based social networking around issues such as the management of chronic disease or childcare.
Another trend is the rise of prosumption that is where users are also producers of services they consume this is especially the case in areas such as health and care, education, recycling and energy management of the home. xc Some of this remains at the level of the individual household,
In addition to functioning within a wider network of parent communities, each community has its own local website.
Each local website is updated and managed by a local mum, thus allowing for the information
collecting evidence and information from emails, blogging sites, and online forums on the site. A series of publications are produced to provide further general guidance.
The website also facilitates a meet up scheme where mothers can meet each other in person. Often these meetings result in new friendship and support circles (especially among those who have moved to a new area,
or those who don't have friends with children), but many mums have developed also child care support circles as a result of these meetings.
students and small manufacturers, the UK based business Riversimple is creating the first, open source, highly energy efficient eco car.
Through this visual display, residents can see their greenhouse gas contributions in the areas of transportation, energy, and waste.
Citizens can then share their climate actions with others via social networking. xcvii 66 4. Policies to support social innovation Governments at every level European, national,
such as the Internet (DARPA) and the World wide web (CERN). However, there are numerous structural features of government that inhibit risk taking, experimentation and innovation.
It was established in March 2008 as a spin-off of The next Generation Internet Foundation, a think tank focused on the social impact of technology.
The other 78 residencies will be dedicated to employment, health, democracy, social networks, universities, transport and food systems. cii Another project run by the 27th Region is Atelier 27,
Innovation Exchange website-an online forum for sharing and developing ideas for social innovation. As it tests
and Economics and the Internet of the Future. Workshops will be run to enhance co-creation of ideas
However, within the complex web of existing NHS and local government frameworks, innovation is notoriously difficult to deliver.
Many of these methods have been helped greatly by the ability of the web to draw in a far wider range of people
Open source technology, such as wikis,‘can make government decision-making more expert and more democratic'.'cx Examples from the US and New zealand show how open
the team felt that web 2. 0 tools provided the best means of communicating widely at little cost.
Initially, and unsuccessfully, they tried to canvass public opinion through social networking sites such as Myspace and Youtube.
and it was more‘intellectual'than Facebook or Myspace. In addition, organisers felt that the open nature of the wiki matched the openness they were hoping to achieve in government.
The wiki elicited thousands of contributions (some more constructive than others) and at its peak, the site received 10,000 visits in one day. cxiv Suggestions included a governance board of eminent kiwis,
The public can submit art and commentary on claims of pending patent applications in computer architecture, software, and information security.
training programmes lack coherence, comprehensiveness or global outlook, and few developed channels exist for spreading skills, knowledge and experience.
The Business Panel on Future Innovation Policy notes that the current finance system is not fit for the new types of innovation required to address grand societal challenges.
or a global outlook. There are scattered elements of what is needed in civil service colleges, NGO training programmes, schools for social entrepreneurs and business schools.
For example, looking at the field of technological innovation, the success of Silicon valley can be attributed largely to the clustering of technology firms
I and II programmes (with Urbact created in 2003 to support networking between cities in Urban II) cxxxix Programme EQUAL, funded by the European Social Fundor the EU's Community Initiative cxlaccording to a Business Panel
and better comparable cross country data. In the UK, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills has commissioned NESTA to develop a new‘Innovation Index'to measure the UK's innovation performance
again within sectors and across sectors Aggregating assessments of productivity and impact However, data of this kind remains underdeveloped.
and stresses that measuring all of these dimensions of well-being requires both objective as well as subjective data.
and some for developers, running the gamut from methods using artificial neural networks and‘hedonic'price models to fuzzy logic methods and, for the eager,‘auto-regressive integrated moving averages methods'and‘triple bottom line property appraisal methods'.
such as an innovation incentives model (similar to Innocentive where organisations post their R&d problems online to be solved by a global network of‘solvers').
The development of new spaces for collaboration is one of the five major recommendations of the Business Panel on Future Innovation Policy. clxxi SIX,
Developing materials, curriculum, case studies, open source materials Coordinating universities, civil service colleges etc to work collaboratively through the development of a network of institutions to spread
, Special Business Panel (2009) Reinvent Europe through innovation: From a knowledge society to an innovation society.
Recommendations by a Business Panel on future EU innovation policy. Available at: http://www. eurosfaire. prd. fr/7pc/doc/1261563738 business panel report en. pdf. Accessed 3 december 2009. xii Ibid. xiii Fora et al (2009) The New Nature of Innovation, p. 12
For good Jobs & Energy Independence Available at http://www. apolloalliance. org/downloads/jobs apolloreport 022404 122748. pdf Accessed 11 december 2009. xxiv J. A. Phills Jr.
and Andrea Vinassa writing on www. workinfo. com xxxiii http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/History of feminism 120 xxxivwww. disabilityhistory. org;
http://www. rci. org. pl/download/080728/17. pdf lx George Leahy and Frank Villeneuve-Smith (2009) State of Social Enterprise Survey 2009, London:
http://technology. open. ac. uk/cru/Nfpgermanyuk04vssn. pdf lxxvi http://ec. europa. eu/employment social/equal/data/document/etg2-suc6-synergia
title=Koispe topsy lxxviii http://www. leros. gr/en/index. php? categoryid=36 lxxixkiva at http://www. kiva. org/lxxx http://www. techcrunch. com/2009/11/01/four-years-after-founding-kiva-hits-100
http://www. evpa. eu. com/downloads/EVPA DIRECTORY 2010 WEB ISSUE1. pdf lxxxix Andrew Milner,(eds. 2009)‘ European Venture Philanthropy Directory 2009/2010'.
http://www. evpa. eu. com/downloads/EVPA DIRECTORY 2010 WEB ISSUE1. pdf xc Alvin Toffler (1980) The Third Wave.
http://www. democracyjournal. org/article. php? ID=6570 cxi Ibid. cxii Mccardle, Hamish,‘The case of the sneaky wiki'2008, not published. cxiii Ibid. cxiv Mccardle, Hamish (2008) Police Act Review:
European commission, DG Enterprise & Industry, Special Business Panel (2009) Reinvent Europe through innovation: From a knowledge society to an innovation society.
Recommendations by a Business Panel on future EU innovation policy. Available online: http://www. eurosfaire. prd. fr/7pc/doc/1261563738 business panel report en. pdf (accessed 08 january 2010.
/equal/index en. cfm cxli European commission, DG Enterprise & Industry, Special Business Panel (2009) Reinvent Europe through innovation:
Recommendations by a Business Panel on future EU innovation policy, p. 25. Available online: http://www. eurosfaire. prd. fr/7pc/doc/1261563738 business panel report en. pdf cxlii Op cit. pg 9. cxliii Op cit. pg 25. cxliv NESTA (2007
and travel cost expenses that people incur to visit a site as a proxy for their valuation of that site.
Because travel and time costs increase with distance it's possible to construct a‘marginal willingness to pay'curve for a particular site. clviii Social Value Added Working group of the EQUAL National Thematic Network
Available at www. youngfoundation. org clxiii Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement, available at http://phi. uhce. ox. ac. uk/pubs. php clxiv Dolan
A framework for structuring remedial decisions at contaminated sites'.'In I. Linkov & A. Ramadan (Eds.
Information technologies and web 2. 0 tools are transforming how people interact, notwithstanding the necessity of physical space and meetings for the exchange of ideas and collaboration.
See European commission, DG Enterprise & Industry, Special Business Panel (2009) Reinvent Europe through innovation: From a knowledge society to an innovation society.
Recommendations by a Business Panel on future EU innovation policy. Available at: http://www. eurosfaire. prd. fr/7pc/doc/1261563738 business panel report en. pdf. Accessed 3 december 2009. clxxii"Unleashing the innovation potential of European SMES,
"INNO-Partnering Forum's view on the future European Innovation Plan, 8th december 2009. clxxiii European commission, DG Enterprise & Industry, Special Business Panel (2009) Reinvent Europe
Recommendations by a Business Panel on future EU innovation policy. Available at: http://www. eurosfaire. prd. fr/7pc/doc/1261563738 business panel report en. pdf. Accessed 3 december 2009
clustering the regional efforts on achieving excellence in science and technology. Network of Technological Centres:
Country AFM-Machine tool Manufacturers'Association of Spain ACICAE-Automotive Cluster from the Basque Country GAIA-Association of Industries for Electronic and Information technologies in the Basque Country UNIPORT-Port
ELECTRIC VEHICLE INITIATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHARGING STATION INFRASTRUCTURE THE CREATION OF CRITICAL MASS AND FOSTERING OF THE AUTOMOTIVE SECTOR OBJECTIVE Users SUPPLIERS Core Government DISTRIBUTION R&d Agents
This is an intervention carried out with a comprehensive outlook with regard to strategic projects for the region.
Your comments, thoughts and stories are welcome at the project website: www. socialinnovator. info Dr Michael Harris, NESTA Published March 2010 CONTENTS 1 CONTENTS Introduction 2 Section 1 The process of social innovation
and that its structures of accountability, governance and ownership resonate with its social mission. 1 We have launched also an accompanying website, www. socialinnovator. info,
and social networking tools. The other comes from culture and values: the growing emphasis on the human dimension;
Much of this economy is formed around distributed systems, rather than centralised structures. It handles complexity not by standardisation
For example, bringing together diagnostic computer programmes, call centres and nurses to provide new kinds of healthcare; bringing together the very old idea of‘circles of support'brought within the criminal justice system;
social movements, business models, laws and regulations, data and infrastructures, and entirely new ways of thinking
research, mapping and data collection are used to uncover problems, as a first step to identifying solutions.
INSPIRATIONS AND DIAGNOSES 15 competitions for the crowdsourcing of innovations say that it is the stage of framing a good question
Examples include computers in classrooms, the use of assistive devices for the elderly, or implants to cut teenage pregnancy.
Through experiment it is discovered then how these work best (such as the discovery that giving computers to two children to share is more effective for education than giving them one each.
Artificial intelligence, for example, 1 16 THE OPEN BOOK OF SOCIAL INNOVATION has been used in family law in Australia
including software, gaming and music. Other landmark projects that gave people a licence to be creative in other fields include:
Research and mapping Many innovations are triggered by new data and research. In recent years, there has been a rise in the use of mapping techniques to reveal hidden needs and unused assets.
today policy and provision is interested much more in disaggregating data. There are also a range of tools for combining
and mining data to reveal new needs and patterns. 1 18 THE OPEN BOOK OF SOCIAL INNOVATION These sites show how to run competitions for‘mash up'ideas from citizens using government data, such as Sunlight Labs and Show Us a Better Way
. 9) Mapping physical assets. Within the social economy, especially amongst artists, entrepreneurs and community groups, there is a long tradition of taking advantage of empty, abandoned or derelict buildings and spaces.
In the UK, the website Report Empty Homes, sponsored by the Empty Homes Agency, allows citizens to report empty properties around the UK. 10) Mapping systems such as participative mapping and sectoral analysis,
Service users are responsible for all stages of the research process from design, recruitment, ethics and data collection to data analysis, writing up, and dissemination.
action research is geared normatively toward prescriptions emerging out of the data which can be employed for the improvement of future action. 16) Literature surveys
and analyse large quantities of data has been the basis for remarkable changes for example: in flexible manufacturing,
In Japanese factories data is collected by front 1 PROMPTS, INSPIRATIONS AND DIAGNOSES 21 line workers, and then discussed in quality circles that include technicians.
User feedback on service quality, including web-based models such as Patient Opinion and I Want Great care that hold service providers to account,
And, in the US, a new free application called iburgh allows residents to snap iphone photos of local problems, like potholes, graffiti and abandoned cars
embedded with GPS data pinpointing the exact location of the problem. These complaints will then get forwarded to the relevant city department. 18) Integrated user-centred data such as Electronic Patient Records in the UK,
which, when linked through grid and cloud computing models provide the capacity to spot emerging patterns.
A contrasting integrated system for monitoring renal patients has led to dramatic improvements in survival rates and cost reductions in the United states. 9 19) Citizen-controlled data,
such as the health records operated by Group Health in Seattle, and the ideas being developed by Mydex that adapt vendor relationship-management software tools to put citizens in control of the personal data held by big firms and public agencies.
This allows them to monitor their conditions and chart their own behaviour and actions. 20) Holistic services include phone based services such as New york's 311 service which provide a database that can be analysed for patterns of recurring problems and requests. 21) Tools
for handling knowledge across a system. One example is Intellipedia, the US intelligence community's wiki for sharing 1 22 THE OPEN BOOK OF SOCIAL INNOVATION information.
from surveys and websites to user representation on management boards and committees. 33) Campaigns which channel dissatisfaction and discontent into a search for innovations.
The gathering and presentation of data requires a process of interpretation. This should ideally include those involved in the implementation of ideas and those affected by the proposals.
In analysing an issue or a set of data, it is useful to have the perspectives of a variety of professional disciplines,
. 40) Web-based tools for co-design, such as the Australian site for people with disabilities and their carers, web2care.
PROPOSALS AND IDEAS 31 2 32 THE OPEN BOOK OF SOCIAL INNOVATION 41) Creative thinking methods such as Edward De Bono's‘Six Thinking Hats
and application thanks to the internet, which has enabled large numbers of people to interact and participate at a relatively low cost. 6 Over the last few decades,
'Many of these methods have been helped greatly by the ability of the internet to draw in a far wider range of people
and experiences that has a database of 4, 000 ideas online, receives a quarter of a million visitors a year,
The Global Ideas Bank has helped spawn a number of similar websites, including the Norwegian Ideas Bank
'edited by the site's creator David Owen). Another initiative is My Health Innovation, a website
These websites include a vast range of ideas everything from the brilliant to the downright absurd.
Youtube can be used as a virtual video booth. 58) Suggestion boxes within organizations are the most basic method for soliciting innovations.
Image courtesy of the Hope Institute. 2 website, based on the principles as laid out in President Obama's Memorandum on collaborative, participatory and transparent government.
The website enables citizens to take part in a discussion about the best way to effect the President's Memorandum in three stages‘brainstorm,
One example in the UK is the Prime minister's e-Petitions website which has had nearly 10 million petitioners.
and Industry (now DBIS) and the Food Standards Agency. 68) Citizen's panels are similar to citizen juries
which was held in Second life. Participants attend as a‘virtual'version of themselves (an avatar), and 2 engage as these selves in cyberspace. 73) Webinars are a fairly simple device for organising seminars over the web.
Examples include the webinars organised by the Cities of Migration network which have linked NGOS, foundations and academics involved in social action related to diversity around the world. 74) Dialogue Café uses state of the art video conferencing (Telepresence) to link up citizens from all around the world.
A person can go to a Dialogue Café in London, for example, and have a cup of tea with one friend sitting in a Dialogue Café in Lisbon and another in New york at the same time.
and Global Warming, speaks to the crowd at Oneworld. net's‘Virtual Bali'initiative on Second life.
The best think tanks can act as catalysts, combining research, policy ideas, and prompts for practical innovation in advance of policy change.
but is used increasingly to refer to services as well. 82) Fast prototyping emerged first in the software field,
which brings people together from all around the world in conversation through the use of Telepresence screens.
Examples include tracking the performance of different plug-in hybrid cars through Google, and C40 city governments.
An example of open-testing, Google's initiative hopes to educate consumers body about the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of technology that is also environmentally friendly.
This is one of Google's test cars. This fleet of hybrid plug-in vehicles is monitoring greenhouse gas emissions.
Image courtesy of Google, Inc 3 54 THE OPEN BOOK OF SOCIAL INNOVATION Finance for emerging ideas A wide range of financial tools can be used at these early stages:
One example is the Internet, which was developed by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and took many years to commercialise (see Commissioning and Procurement, methods 170-183).
A business model that runs parallel to the core idea of the venture and which sets out how it can become sustainable.
through models that create value for customers to models similar to those around the web that share knowledge and intellectual property. 106) Business strategies.
or the control of a key input such as a critical site or personnel (as in sport.
Particularly instructive for social ventures are the lessons from the business models adopted by web companies which
Its organisational structures are the site of contending pressures of goals and interests. The organisation may have a social goal of benefitting others,
which core stakeholders can be incorporated in the structure of an organisation and its processes. These include the constitution
We anticipate considerable web-based innovation in this field, with websites providing guidance on organisational forms, and governance.
an ultra simple web-based tool for creating new organisations, changing constitutions, and engaging members and stakeholders. 124) Consumer shareholding can be used to involve consumers more directly in the work of a venture,
or download systems (such as web designs and technologies) that are becoming freely available. One model is developed the consortia by the small Italian firms in the‘Third Italy'.
it requires a system of user relationships and feedback as part of its operational spine. 137) Web presence.
All social ventures now have to have a website. But their full potential has begun only to be explored.
It has therefore become crucial for ventures to have access to the tools wikis, chat rooms, forums, comment boxes, and blogs.
ways of connecting each web site to others (through links and RSS feeds) as well as establishing a presence on other social networking sites like Youtube and Facebook
which can act as feeders to the venture's website. Above all, a venture needs to devote resources to the constant updating
and active hosting of their sites. A good example is the site of the cooperative football team Ebbsfleet United (My Football Club
which has a team of six working on their website to involve the members, a model that could be adopted by many consumer co-ops among others. 138) Marketing and branding.
Social ventures, particularly those that are funded tax or grant-aided, have been suspicious of branding. Governments find themselves criticised for spending money on branding.
Image courtesy of Rolf Disch, Solararchitecture. 4 SUSTAINING 77 venture that initiated the zero carbon development at Bedzed) recently placed its most valuable technical information on the web for open access
but the goal should always be to find ways for the core finance to come from those who share the venture's mission.
Instead of raising funds through banks and other intermediary institutions, the web opens up the possibility of making new types of connections and raising finance from potential consumers.
and research data to demonstrate effectiveness and value for money (see list of metrics below) as well as adapting models to reduce costs
They range from mobile phone credits and childcare vouchers to health club admissions and sports tickets. 163) Social targets.
It is an approach that was crucial in the emergence of the internet GSM 5 88 THE OPEN BOOK OF SOCIAL INNOVATION and catalytic converters. 166) Creating intermediate demand via the professions for innovative goods and services.
This could include purchasing and reusing goods made from recycled or green materials for example, re-skinned office equipment,
Another example is the NHS commissioning the health information specialists Dr Foster Intelligence to develop its information systems. 171) Outcomes based commissioning is where a commissioning body agrees to fund a provider on the basis that they will achieve particular
and trains suppliers in the use of the software of the bidding process. The auction takes from two hours to a few days
as pioneered by the US Information technology Management Reform Act of 1996. The Act included provisions for two pilot programmes (including one on share in savings) to test alternative contracting approaches.
Share in savings is based on an agreement where the contractor pays the initial cost of implementing a new information technology system
and is held together by a common core of meaning. Transmitters We look at platforms as the nodes of the new economy,
for example via a website such as netsquared. org. People can take part as collaborators, co-producers, consumers, activists,
Image courtesy of The Climate Project. 5 SCALING AND DIFFUSION 97 Prize in conjunction with the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for‘their efforts to build up
It works with councils in developing good practice through a network of online communities, web related resources and peer review.
thus ensuring knowledge transfer and diffusion (see also method 292). 197) Diffusion through the web. Viral marketing techniques can be used to tap into existing social networks and spread social ideas.
Swarmtribes, an ongoing NESTA project, applies the principles of viral marketing to create a new kind of community engagement platform.
Variations will include toolkits, oral histories, databases, and manuals. One new initiative by Open Business is the creation of a database of open business models. 199) Barefoot consultants.
There is an important role for consultants and those with specialist knowledge who can act as knowledge brokers and advisers in the new systems.
Complex, multidimensional needs are a key site for potential collaboration. Communities of Practice are one important type of collaboration (see method 304). 202) Small units in large systems.
web and technical support, policy work, media and PR, and internal/external evaluations. While the franchisees are responsible for fundraising,
to 5 102 THE OPEN BOOK OF SOCIAL INNOVATION provide funders or investors with data on impact;
and travel cost expenses that people incur to visit a site as a proxy for their valuation of that site.
Because travel and time costs increase with distance it's possible to construct a‘marginal willingness to pay'curve for a particular site. 5 SCALING
methods using artificial neural networks and‘hedonic'price models (which attempt to define the various characteristics of a product or service), spatial analysis methods, fuzzy logic methods;‘
‘auto-regressive integrated moving averages methods';'and‘triple bottom line property appraisal methods'.'10 5 SCALING AND DIFFUSION 105 223) Operational metrics,
For example, a study of the operational data of public housing repairs found that the time taken to do repairs varied from a few minutes to 85 days,
and user-generated metrics such as the‘sousveys'surveys undertaken by citizens on services provided by the state used to gather chronic disease data in Sheffield
The mobile phone combines microprocessors, transmitters, networks of masts, payment models, and so on. The welfare state combines legal rights, service delivery systems, assessment tools,
The web has brought also systemic innovation to retailing and news, and has the potential (albeit not yet realised) to achieve fundamental change in healthcare and education.
which provides support for every aspect of school management. 237) Personalized support services such as personal health and fitness coaches, increasingly backed up by shared data services and networks.
& How-Tos Get the Data Economic Empowerment-A year-round conversation (Forums, media spokespeople, & branding) Global Health-A year-round conversation (Forums, media spokespeople,
and girls expertise Pilot Tool kit Development Finalize summit definition Validate Indicators Test Acceptance Our Work Portfolio M&e The Work of Others Global Health Agenda Girls Database
This involves a wide range of issues from the use of the web to the nature of technology and the design of distributed systems which provide spaces for people to contribute to projects directly,
as a form of productive democracy. It also requires innovatory forms of engagement like participatory budgeting, changes in the forms of ownership,
These include the now familiar reputational devices being used on networks like ebay, and more formal legal devices (like public databases).
With the increasing mixing of voluntary and professional roles (for example around care for the elderly, or education), tools of this kind are becoming ever more important.
mobile phone infrastructures may be the precondition for organising new models of low-cost banking. 243) Creating new infrastructure,
2 244) Data infrastructures. A different, and controversial, infrastructure is the creation of a single database of children deemed‘at risk'in the UK.
This was seen as crucial to creating a holistic set of services to deal with children's needs,
such as feedback sites on public services or M-PESA's platform for phone-based banking. 246) Rewiring economies, connecting sectors like the utilities and automotive industries for the development of plug-in hybrid cars,
that combines rich data feedback with support structures which help patients understand and treat their own conditions more effectively. 6 SYSTEMIC CHANGE 117 Strategic moves that accelerate systems change Every story of systemic innovation involves key moments
and Bed Zed in the UK. 254) Designing and trialling platforms to trigger systemic innovation including peer-to-peer models such as the School of Everything and digital learning environments such as colleges in second life. 255) Comprehensive pilots,
So while familiar data on income, employment, diseases or educational achievement continues to be gathered, there is growing interest in other types of measurement that may give more insights into
and on trust in institutions as well as their formal processes. 267) Information systems that reinforce systemic change.
Requiring public agencies to publish data on their balance sheets, or to show disaggregated spending patterns,
as can the consolidation of spending data for particular areas or groups of people. Too often, public accounting has been structured around the issues of targets, control,
The move towards customer-driven management information systems that has transformed industrial and service processes in the market sector,
In 2009 it launched Wikiprogress, bringing together data and analysis on progress. The same year President Sarkozy commissioned Joseph Stiglitz to chair an inquiry into new measures of GDP.
such as the feminist and green movements but also including, for example, Transition Towns, the global network of several hundred towns seeking to move to low carbon living.
http://www. kcl. ac. uk/depsta/law/research/icps/downloads/justice-reinvestment-2007. pdf 4. Ibid.
What begins as a group of people looking for a place to work becomes a community through conscious and careful curating and programming.
It was created in 2000 on the site of the old Toronto General Hospital. Image courtesy of Mars Discovery District. 134 THE OPEN BOOK OF SOCIAL INNOVATION Other examples include the Fuping Development Institute (FDI) in China and Kaiser permanente's Garfield Innovation
which brings together web designers and developers with those involved in meeting social needs to design web-based solutions to particular social challenges.
Over one weekend, groups have to design and build a functioning website. 136 THE OPEN BOOK OF SOCIAL INNOVATION Innovation networks Networks can serve as alternatives to formal organisational structures within the social economy‘they can leverage the assets that already exist in a system by connecting them to others'.
'5 The very nature of networks bring a range of benefits that are particularly important within the social economy:
The team developed a website called Mypolice a tool for members of the public to give feedback
Think, for example, of micro-blogging service Twitter, personal publishing platform Wordpress, citizen reporting papers such as Ohmynews, social networking sites such as Facebook, Orkut,
or collaborative projects such as Wikipedia. It is easy to see the generative potential of platforms:
This includes websites which provide usergenerated information such as ehow and Netmums. Netmums provides information on a variety of local resources including child-friendly cafés, reliable childminders,
It has over half a million members who use the site on a regular basis uploading and contributing information. 308) Platforms for connecting.
This includes social networking websites Facebook Orkut, and Bebo, as well as websites which aim to connect people together in real life for particular causes.
One example of this is Landshare which connects people who want to grow fruit and vegetables with those who have the land on
an event which takes place every month in London to connect start-ups, designers, programmers, and funders. 309) Platforms for aggregating action such as Pledgebank, an online platform
Lego have created a web platform Designbyme 3. 0 which enables users (mainly children) to design their own Lego sets.
This includes file sharing services such as Napster, and open-source software such as the Linux operating system, the Mozilla Firefox browser,
and the Apache web server. These rely on a large and highly distributed community of programmers to develop,
maintain, and improve the software. Peer-to-peer platforms can be characterised by decentralisation, self-selected participation,
self-allocated tasks, community based moderation, and diversity of participants. However, none of these are of themselves defining features. 140 THE OPEN BOOK OF SOCIAL INNOVATION End notes 1. Sustainability (2008)‘ The Social Intrapreneur:
A Field Guide for Corporate Changemakers.''London: Sustainability. 2. Ibid. 3. Benjamin, A. 2009) Small is Powerful.‘
The extent to which social networks and a gift economy operate in the sphere of consumption has long been remarked on by anthropologists for example (from Christmas presents to the purchase of rounds of beer.
More recently some of the most important technological innovations were associated with public organisations from the Internet (DARPA) to the world wide web (CERN.
The result is not necessarily a lack of innovation in government. 1 Government at every level has been the site of almost constant change particularly in the last 30 years.
An interesting example is the Australian website, Budget Allocator, which offers citizens the chance to shape municipal budgets. 330) Sequencing in funding.
using transparent access to public financial and other data. 342) Audit and inspection regimes which overtly assess
which then benefits from the increased rental value of sites after the public investment has been undertaken.
and has now been implemented in every ward in 35 KP hospitals. 393) Tithes of working time to generate collaborative public innovation an extension of the Google model where engineers are encouraged to spend 20 per cent of their time developing their own projects.
'No. 7, Winter 2008.1 SUPPORT IN THE GRANT ECONOMY 167 2 SUPPORT IN THE GRANT ECONOMY Civil society and the grant economy are the most common sites of social innovation in campaigns
and are reluctant to provide core funding. Grantaided organisations are often the first to suffer in state budget cuts and economic recessions.
and the coverage of core costs. 4 403) Direct funding for individuals, including the grants given by Unltd, The Skoll Foundation,
In this field, the web offers new ways to cut costs and widen connections. Websites like Kiva,
which connect donors with social entrepreneurs, have already been 2 172 THE OPEN BOOK OF SOCIAL INNOVATION making these links.
human resources and IT consulting services. 417) Philanthropic‘ebays'.'Philanthropic platforms such as Volunteermatch which help people find volunteering opportunities in their local area. 418) Donor platforms, such as Globalgiving, Altruistiq Exchange, Network For good, Firstgiving and Guidestar.
Internet donor sites dramatically reduce the cost of fundraising (estimated at between 15 per cent and 33 per cent of funds raised in the US.
We can expect similar websites to develop features like donor forums, star ratings, Good Giving Guides and Amazon type links (those who have given to x have given also to y
which allow recipients to rate philanthropic foundations. 427) Providing extensive information on NGO performance, such as Guidestar's services and databases in many countries worldwide,
Networks Civil society has become increasingly effective in creating its own networks to share ideas and support innovation. 438) Global networks such as Civicus
Another example is Worldchanging, a series of books and a website which includes tens of thousands of stories about new tools,
volunteering and, in some cases, social uses of marginal business assets, such as Salesforce's provision of software to nonprofit organisations,
or TNT's distribution of food to disaster areas. 450) Hybrid business models that combine business capacities with 3 184 THE OPEN BOOK OF SOCIAL INNOVATION social goals such as Vodafone
'S m-PESA mobile banking service in Kenya, using capacity on mobile phones to provide cheap and safe transactions for the unbanked.
M-PESA allows people to transfer money using a mobile phone. The term M-PESA comes from a combination of‘M'for mobile and‘Pesa'meaning money in Swahili.
It is a joint partnership between Safaricom and Vodafone. Kenya was the first country in the world to use this service.
Image courtesy of Vodafone. 3 SUPPORT IN THE MARKET ECONOMY 185 454) Business engagement in service evaluation, for example the Azim Premji Foundation (and offshoot of WIPRO) financing large-scale trials
of alternative models for running schools in India. 455) Social uses of commercial technology such as IBM's use of translation software on its Meedan website of Arabic blogs,
or Dialogue Café and the Social Innovation Exchange (SIX) using Telepresence technology developed by Cisco.
'The website Your Ethical Money provides advice on how to direct personal investment into green,
One example is Kiva, the world's first microlending website which enables individuals to lend small sums of money to entrepreneurs on low incomes. 462) Charitable loans such as those provided by Charity Bank, the only bank in the UK
which provides shared office space for more than 115 charities and social enterprises in sites in central London (see also method 487). 467) R&d mentored funding prior to start-up lending, such as MONDRAGON
seeking a blend of social and financial returns (see also method 361). 3 476)‘ ebays'for social investment, for example, Clearlyso,
and the internet. They remain critical to the social economy, both in assessing products and services on the basis of social criteria,
a web-based market for people to exchange time and loans of products. The model is implemented now in east London. 489) Markets for‘bads',such as emissions or waste-disposal trading schemes,
One is new forms of mutual action between individuals whether in the form of open-source software,
or web-based social networking around specific issues (there are reportedly 18 million cancer related websites, the great majority generated by those affected by the disease.
Paris. 4 SUPPORT IN THE INFORMAL OR HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY 197 providing others, selling information on users and so on. 1 In the field of opensource software,
Online platforms for collective action The spread of the internet has made possible a range of new tools to mobilise people and energies quickly and effectively.
and other aggregated purchasing tools where consumers can club together via the internet to achieve savings on their purchases. 496) Platforms for the gifting of goods such as Freecycle,
whose aim is to keep discarded items out of landfill sites by gifting them. It now has over five million members in 85 countries. 497) Co-production platforms, such as Ohmynews in South korea
which gives kite marks to organisations that produce information and moderate websites and forums. Propertising not privatising In the social economy, rather than restricting access to knowledge and information, there is value in diffusing and sharing ideas and information as widely as possible.
Offline, communal or collective forms of innovation can spur innovative and creative uses of assets.
Ohmynews is a ground-breaking mediabased social innovation that uses web technology to give voice to citizen journalists.
meals, internet time, and even social housing rent. 508) Informal currencies such as Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS).
People can send minutes of prepaid airtime to each other by mobile phone using the tool M-Pesa or Me2u
meals and engage citizens in management. 516) Neighbourhood websites and other media can become hubs for exchanges
Examples include hyper-local website Boscalicious Year 1 pupils from Collaton St mary Primary school dig up organic potatoes
Everyblock in Chicago provides a useful platform for aggregating ultra local data. Prosumption There has been marked a development of users becoming more engaged in the production of services.
One hour's internet surfing costs 30 minutes pedalling. In 2008, campers converged on Kingsnorth power station for a week of learning, sustainable living and climate action.
Constructed households as sites of innovation The longstanding practice of institutionalising those with special needs
Image courtesy of San Patrignano. 4 SUPPORT IN THE INFORMAL OR HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY 207 This could include educational coaching services, relief and backup for home carers, health coaches, birthing
further facilitated by the advent of the internet. 526) Grass roots campaigns for social change. The internet has accelerated the spread of grass roots-led social campaigns especially those focused on lifestyle innovation and transformation.
Examples include the green movement (for example, Transition Towns) but also Slow Food, a network of over 100,000 people in 132 countries who campaign against‘fast food and fast life'in favour of ethically sourced and locally produced quality food. 527) Our Space.
Web based platforms for organising grass roots campaigns. In the last year alone, Facebook has been used to mobilise protesters against knife crime, the military Junta in Burma, and FARC.
Oscar Morales, founder of the Facebook group One million Voices against FARC (which now has over 400,000 members) used the social networking site to organise a massive protest against the rebel forces in February 2008.
Over a million people marched through the streets of Bogotá 4 208 THE OPEN BOOK OF SOCIAL INNOVATION carrying banners with the slogan‘no more kidnappings, no more deaths, no more FARC'.
'Simultaneous protests were held in 200 other cities including London, Los angeles, Cairo, Sydney, Tokyo, Miami, Paris, Tel-aviv, and Rome.
146 Data 17-18; 21-2; 101-105; 112; 114; 116; 119-120; 204; De Bono, Edward 32 Demand 13;
82-106 Distributed systems 5; 38; 71; 87; 98; 110; 114; 139; 195 Accountability 152-155 Organisation 69;
207 d. o. b. Foundation 80 Dolan, Paul 104 Dr Foster 89 ebay 114 Echoing Green 176 ehow 138 Elderpower
117 Expert Patients Programme 116 Extremes 36 Fabian society 48 Facebook 75; 138; 207 Fair Trade 119;
163 Good Deed Foundation 80 Good Food Guide 190 Google 53; 165 Gore, Al 26;
99 Group Health 21 Hackney's Online Citizen Panel 43 Hammarby Sjöstad 112 Harvard university Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation 162 Hattie
97 Incubators 133 Information systems 20-22; 89; 119-120 Infrastructure 114-115 Innocentive 134 Innovation Innovation Challenge Prize 54 Innovation Exchange 38;
200 Liftshare 198 Limited liability Partnerships (LLPS) 65 Linux 139 Live Work 31 London Climate Change Agency 158 Mapping 17-19
104 Moveon 41 Mozilla Firefox 139 M-Pesa 115; 183; 184; 202 Mutualism 65 New Mutualism 65 Informal Mutualism 206-207 My Football Club 75;
200 Open Organisation 74-77 Open Publication Licenses 200 Open source 154; 139 Open Space 45-46 Open Testing 53 Organisation 6-7;
Philanthropic ebays 172 Plane Stupid 27; 28 Planning for Real 43 Platforms 40; 95; 117;
Towns 109,120, 191,207, 219 Transmitters 95,107 Tribunis Plebis 43,152 Triggers and Inspirations 15 Triodos Bank 186,188 Turning point 182 Twitter 138 Ukeles
, 108,117, Venture Philanthropy 80,167-168,172, 175 Visiting 36,205 Vodafone 183-4, 219, Voting 41,65, 153-154, Volunteers 54,59, 64,74, 77,166
, 201, Vouchers 56,87, 157, Walking 25 Waterfire, Rhode island 17 Web, The 21,38, 45,79, 97,108, 171 Web2care 31 Wellink 205 Welsh Water
154 White house Office of Social Innovation 132 Wikipedia 138 Wikiprogress 120 Wiser Earth 178 Wordpress 138-139 Workplace as Museum 75 Work
, 133,137, 147,160, 176-177,220, 221 Young, Michael 39,190 Your Ethical Money 186 Youtube 39,75 Yumshare 198 Yunus, Muhammad 34,210 Zero Carbon
Camp, The Design Council, The Hope Institute, Plane Stupid, Americaspeaks, Dialogue Café, Helsinki Design Lab, Google Inc, Un Techo para Chile, Riversimple
27e Region, The Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard university's John F. Kennedy School of Government, The Prosperity Initiative, Vodafone, The Brixton Pound, SPICE, The Food
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