Getting Candid Answers on the Environment

I just got back from an intense week of work in Edmonton, Alberta, assisting the design and faciliation of a deliberative process on the environment. I’ll be writing in more detail on here next week about this unique experience which included a diverse range of people interested in using deliberative methods as a way of addressing future issues on climate change in Alberta.

For now – I don’t want you all to feel like you’ve been forgotten about… (I wouldn’t forget you!) so here’s something related for your browsing pleasure: Candid Answers 2008.

Candid Answers is a US- based ‘voter guide for the environment’ which aims to showcase candidates’ answers to five key environmental questions side by side in a clear format. I think the concept is great but for two things:

1) It is not run by a neutral body – but by the NRDC - an environmental campaigning organisation

2) There is nowhere near enough impartial information available through the site to help people understand the issues more deeply.

Other than that I love the concept and the simplicity… it would be greatly strengthened by addressing the two issues above.

Check it out for yourself!

Social Innovation Summer School : Vocab Test

I went to the SIX Summer School organised by the Young Foundation in partnership with Mondragon (mik) last week. It was a gathering of people with a fantastically varied set of experiences and skills who descended on sunny San Sebastian from all over the place – but all of whom had one thing in common - an involvement in social innovation. (Whether they really knew it or not!)

What exactly social innovation IS seemed to be less clear to me as the days went by… and in a way seemed less important than the fact that ‘something’ is happening in the way society arranges itself. (Plus there was a rigorous social programme which meant that many things seemed less clear as the days went by…)

However, Charlie Leadbeter had a good go at summing things up at school’s close - saying that it’s all about doing things ‘with’ people, rather than ‘to’ or ‘for’ them.

Whether that’s a good summary of ‘social innovation’, I am truly unqualified to say! ;)

However I do think that its a good vocabulary for talking about much of the change we’re now seeing in terms of government, power structures and commerce – and of course, quite clearly, on the web.

We often stop ourselves from seeing through to the core of a system by building up vocabularies and terminologies which are quite restrictive and precise to define that system or driver. Of course there’s a valid purpose for this drive to tightly define our meaning – but sometimes we say ‘participative process’, when we just mean ‘with people’.

Anyway – it was three days very well spent – lots of room for thinking, new ideas, and most importantly meeting people from all over the world who are active in this field of social innovation - doing an astonishing variety of different things.

Here are just a few examples for you. There were many other very interesting projects too which I will be linking to in later posts :

Aussie-based young people’s org: Act Now

Brazil-based Sitawi : providing capital for social enterprises

MindLab – innovation in public administration- based in Denmark

Kennisland/Knowledgeland – Dutch thinktank that runs digital pioneers programme

The Hope Institute in S.Korea – making citizens’ small ideas for change make bigger impact

Democratic Engagement Innovation Fund

The Ministry of Justice’s Innovation Fund is once again open for bids. The purpose and ethos of the fund is as follows, in the MoJ’s own words: 

 We want more people to participate in our democracy, and we want you to come up with ways to make this happen.

 The UK Government is working hard to connect with people – as you can see in the Governance of Britain programme and the Communities in Control White Paper.

 

Now we want to support projects that you will run to help people to address public issues and influence government.

 

If you can think of a way to get people talking, we’d like to hear it. We have £150,000 available to develop about ten proposals.

 

 

The way the fund is being administered this year encourages a more innovative and collaborative approach in itself as the call for ideas has taken place in an open format, and is now open online for submission and discussion. The process will work in three stages:

1) Upload your ideas to the website and discuss them online – there is an opportunity to colloaborate on ideas, strengthen initial bids and build partnerships at this stage.

2) Continuation of online discussion through September, with a possible event scheduled in during this month. Formal applications are invited to be submitted before 4pm on 26th September

3) The selection panel makes its decision in the second week of October

Check out: www.buildingdemocracy.co.uk to upload your ideas and for further info.

Only Connect

So, I’ve been getting some stick as to what this blog is about exactly -  and would refer you on to the about section…. if you’re too lazy to click, have copied it in below!

—-About—-

Only connect

The more we fill our lives with tasks and objects, the less time we have to connect with one another and with ourselves. 

This blog is all about repairing and renewing our connections – whether that is to yourself and your inner motivations or to friends, family, neighbours, strangers and structures of governance and power. I look at these ideas through the rather blurred spyglass of engagement, personal empowerment, public participation and involvement and aim to focus in on ideas around communities, people and connections in a way that brings it all back to practical outcomes and end results.

In a world where ‘anger and telegrams’ define our urban environments more often than ever – the call for connection has become ever more urgent.

Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, And human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer. Only connect…

Without it we are meaningless fragments, half monks, half beasts, unconnected arches that have never joined into a man. With it love is born, and alights on the highest curve, glowing against the gray, sober against the fire.

–E.M. Forster, Howards End —

Bla bla blah….etc.

Community power pack : Involve

Check out my colleague Edward Andersson’s blogpost over at Involve on the community power pack we produced for Communities and Local Government.

That was all! Enjoy the ’first’ weekend of summer :)

Catalyst Awards : And the winner is…

Catalyst Awards

 

Am just back from the rather brilliant Catalyst Awards  – designed to encourage innovation around social technology for community benefit. There were some really fantastic projects nominated as finalists including:

 

 Rafi.ki  a global citizenship project which partners schools across the world, facilitating connections through the wonder of social tech.

LocalEyes, which provides a platform for citizen voice from a grass roots level up, and aims to connect people at a very local level. (And which was commended for future potential.)

BigArtMob which simply uses interactive mapping to build up a map of public art across the UK

 Yoosk! - an innovative question answering facility which connects public figures with citizens

EnabledbyDesign - an online community whose ultimate aim is to make independent living more accessible through the use of clever modern design

I just wanted to highlight these few catalyst finalists who didn’t scoop one of the main prizes as I thought they were also brilliant ideas. Check out the award winners here.

The only bad point about the morning was having to climb five floors in high heels cause the lift was being held for ‘a senior cabinet minister’ AKA the PM…. Poor plebian Casey.

However, he made up (a bit) for this great inconvenience by chipping in with a decent speech about the future of social innovation and also mentioned future work focusing on the Criminal Justice System.

It all sounds very positive etc. and am looking forward to the follow up at Chain Reaction later this year.

Power of Social Media : Zimbabwe

This site (Sokwanele) is one of the most powerful campaign sites I’ve come across.

Superb use of flickr, twitter, mapping, e-cards and blog to get the Zimbabwe pro democracy message out.

Zimbabwe 2008

 

“Sokwanele – Zvakwana is a peoples’ movement, embracing supporters of all pro-democratic political parties, civic organizations and institutions in Zimbabwe. Sokwanele and Zvakwana both mean ‘enough is enough’ in the vernacular.”

Thanks to GalloManor for original heads up.

Google Maps

So – I’m always going on about the importance of online-to offline transition. Well, its not just me.

Here’s how Google really do maps…

Google Maps

Thanks to DarkRoastedBlend for this…

:)