A community around using social tech for social impact
Updates on development of Social App Store
I'll use this discussion thread to add updates on the work that I'm doing on the Store, and hope that others will too. The aim is to make this a collaborative process, so I'm hoping ideas and activities will bubble up in different places as people start to lay out their wares, and set out their stalls.
Recap. You'll find a first description of the store idea on the bsnopen wiki, developed after the Big Society Network Open Night.
A group at the launch of Big Society in the North took the idea forward, and you can see a report of discussion from Clare Mackenzie here. I know there have been further discussions to follow up, in Sheffield.
We also talked about the store at and after an event organised by the network with Unltd, where there was some support for the idea of making it a social enterprise.
I've had some great discussions with Anne McCrossan, following her earlier post, linking retail experience, social media, open business planning and much more. I'm hoping Anne will develop those ideas here.
Steve Moore and I briefed a contact in Cabinet Office, and at NESTA. I've talked to the Directgov Innovate team, and dotgovlabs who run Hack Days and innovation spaces.
Social by Social
Amy Sample Ward and Andy Gibson, co-authors with me and Cass Business School of the NESTA-funded Social by Social book, are also excited by the opportunities to take forward some of that content. You can see the book online here, and download free. There's stacks of how-tos as well as guidance on project development. A lot of this could be re-purposed as social apps, particularly for use by those organising in local communities.
Where next?
Among the different development strands we need to follow are:
Social App Store is a working title.
Recap. You'll find a first description of the store idea on the bsnopen wiki, developed after the Big Society Network Open Night.
- If Big Society is substantially do-it-yourself, we need a DIY store. This could feature new and old methods to support social action, and be a market place with some free and some paid-for content.
- The metaphor of a mobile phone app store encourages us to think about lots of good stuff, developed by different people, within a framework that sets standards, ensures things join up and are easy to use. The good stuff doesn't have to be tech it just has to be online, and maybe enhanced in other ways by social tech.
- The store can be a place where tech and nontech people engaged in social action, and support for social enterprise, can find some common cause, and common language.
- Development of the store will draw on old and new principles of open, collaborative development, where people are prepared to share, and build on the work of others.
A group at the launch of Big Society in the North took the idea forward, and you can see a report of discussion from Clare Mackenzie here. I know there have been further discussions to follow up, in Sheffield.
We also talked about the store at and after an event organised by the network with Unltd, where there was some support for the idea of making it a social enterprise.
I've had some great discussions with Anne McCrossan, following her earlier post, linking retail experience, social media, open business planning and much more. I'm hoping Anne will develop those ideas here.
Steve Moore and I briefed a contact in Cabinet Office, and at NESTA. I've talked to the Directgov Innovate team, and dotgovlabs who run Hack Days and innovation spaces.
Social by Social
Amy Sample Ward and Andy Gibson, co-authors with me and Cass Business School of the NESTA-funded Social by Social book, are also excited by the opportunities to take forward some of that content. You can see the book online here, and download free. There's stacks of how-tos as well as guidance on project development. A lot of this could be re-purposed as social apps, particularly for use by those organising in local communities.
Where next?
Among the different development strands we need to follow are:
- Looking at other examples of repositories of resources for social action and social enterprise.
- Showcasing examples of what we mean by Social Apps, so people know what we are talking about.
- Understanding the needs of our different potential customers - and working out how to pilot in local communities.
- Building a core group of potential collaborators (that's starting here), and considering how to motivate and reward those who contribute to the store
- Working out a process to develop a business plan collaboratively, and the values and principles that will underpin this.
- Understanding and planning tech development of the store online
Social App Store is a working title.
Tags: socialappstore, updates
Views: 14
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Anne McCrossan on -
David, thanks very much for starting up this group and this discussion. I'm happy to make a start on 5 and some ideas that connect to 4 and 6 and will post up initial thoughts shortly.
It would be good to have an open discussion on 3 in here. It seems to me the people who've joined this group represent a stellar spectrum of expertise on the subject and speaking personally I'm excited to think how their ideas could really help shape things. -
-
Permalink Reply by David Wilcox on
-
Thanks Anne - really helpful. Just to further clarify the nature and status of the process now we are getting started:-
As I said above, I'm currently working part time with Big Society Network as a social reporter, and to facilitate discussion/development of the Store idea.
In parellel - as I also mentioned above - I'm discussing with my co-authors of the Social by Social book Andy and Amy how we can re-purpose content from the book as Apps for community organisers. Maybe SocialbySocial Apps will be an early stall in the store.
The network is interested in whether the store could be a social enterprise in its own right, while serving the network.
For that to work, we need a social entrepreneur, or group of entrepreneurs, passionate about the idea and determined to make it work. There could be a cooperative model.
I'm personally not expecting to manage the store, though I may be able to contribute in various ways.
Thanks again Anne for picking up some of the key strands. -
-
Permalink Reply by Anne McCrossan on
-
My pleasure, and the note you've just added is helpful too, cheers
-
-
Permalink Reply by Phil Green on
-
On Sustainable Community Action wiki have set up an Apps for sustainability article and category - a few examples to start with, more to follow. Will have to create separate UK category as wiki is global in scope
-
-
-
Wouldn't it be useful to have some twitter tags a bit more specific than #bigscociety? Just used #bsappstore
-
-
Permalink Reply by Toby Blume on -
i've been meaning to post something on the social apps store concept since i heard about it (sorry for being so slow to contribute David after repeatedly promising to chip in!)....
i think the main thing that's been holding me back (having had 2 weeks away from work & a chance for my brain to switch off) is probably the name. i realise it's a working title and the analogy works well in some respects - but it also comes with some baggage that have been causing me difficulty.
it creates associations (at least for me) of being techy and is obviously strongly linked to Apple (the associations are inherently proprietory - a turn off for me). combine this with the obvious fact that tech excludes many marginalised groups and i cant help feeling the language actually reinforces this digital exclusion. now i know, David, that you've been at pains to point out that the idea is not just online stuff and i know you can do sticky dots and post its with the best of them....but if the debate/co-design is taking place online and the name is tech-specific (it would mean absolutely nothing to my mum....who happens to have an iphone and be a prolific tweeter btw)...there is a real risk that the concept's design further alienates the very people we need to be involved if it is to be truly online and offline in practice.
it worries me because the 'set up' will to a great extent determine the way ahead....we cannot allow a good idea to fall at the first hurdle. And i want to stress i do think it is a good idea...but perhaps we could find a new way of describing it.
right, i've got that out the way... i'll try and post some more constructive comments later in the week, but at least/last i've got around to posting something! -
-
Permalink Reply by Paul Webster on
-
Toby, I think you have put into words very well what many are thinking.
Big Society is not a project or a programme, but a new way of thinking, a new way to harness the creativity and ideas that already exisit in communities and to say - "go on then have a go". For some this will be just doing more of the same, the things their community has always done, but for others it will be stepping out into the unknown and saying "go on then, we will have a go". Letting the ideas from small communitiy 'societies' grow together to make wider society bigger and reflective of what people want.
I agree, an "app store" in the literal sense will put people off, but a way of accessing ideas and templates and importantly learning from each others successes and failures won't. This will spur people on to get it right.
How many communities would like to do this? http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/sheffield/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8..., to re-open a post office for their community? This doesn't need apps, but it does need ideas, business plans, shadowing days, peer mentoring, job descriptions, risk assessments and lots of hard work ....
We shouldn't get hooked up on terminology when we just need to see how others have been successful.
Is the App Store a good idea .... Or should we be planning the Application of Stored Good Ideas? -
-
Permalink Reply by Toby Blume on
-
Paul Webster said:
How many communities would like to do this? http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/sheffield/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8..., to re-open a post office for their community? This doesn't need apps, but it does need ideas, business plans, shadowing days, peer mentoring, job descriptions, risk assessments and lots of hard work ....
We shouldn't get hooked up on terminology when we just need to see how others have been successful.
Is the App Store a good idea .... Or should we be planning the Application of Stored Good Ideas?
Hi Paul
i think you're right....we do need to support the development of ideas, business planning etc etc.... and inspiration from what works. but i still think the terminology is important insofar as it can empower or disempower people.
i think that's been my issue. i've told David that i think it;s a good idea, but have found myself struggling to engage fully, for reasons, up to now, i'd not really been able to put my finger on. but i do think it's down to terminology.
i like the idea of the Application of Stored Good - which fits very well with ideas of a networked big society and knowledge transfer....
important we dont start from scratch though. David, have you spoken to Tony Gibson about this stuff? he'd be a good person to rope in - i'm thinking of the millennium box of stuff he did (cant remember what it was called, but it was a box full of cards with ideas on them). there's also 365 ways to change the world that my dad wrote - which i think would be worth looking at in this context too. see http://www.365act.com/
i'd also like to hark back to the original Directories of Social change that were produced in the early 70s and also the Whole Earth Catalog from around the same time (think i've got a c.1970 copy somewhere at home). These could be brought up to date but their value and approach - v. much diy in publishing and design style - are exactly what's needed. i also produced a Self Help Directory some years ago, when i was at Groundswell that focused more on process than content, but could still be a useful example of how to support people to do stuff.
there are some ideas to be going on with....happy to dig out hard copies of anything if useful -
-
-
Paul, Toby - thanks for such thoughtful additions to the thread ... and I agree about good stuff from the past. I've contributed to the Shell Better Britain Campaign pack, the Groundwork Operating Systrm ... and others will have much more as you suggest.
The app store is whatever you make it: despite the name, the idea was broadly good stuff configured to meet the needs of the user.
For me the issue is how, now, to add value. Is it pulling together earlier content and presenting in a way that fits today's context? Is it starting from scratch with an understanding of what it takes to be a community organiser, broadly defined, and looking at the best range of methods (tech or not)? Who has the energy and resources to do this? Who would collaborate?
I think BSN will want to have an added-tech focus, because that's one of the new angles they are bringing. We should hear more soon from the BS in the North group too. -
© 2013 Created by David Wilcox.
Powered by
