Social by Social for Edinburgh

Last week in Edinburgh Drew Mackie and I had a chance to play the Social by Social game “for real” – inviting those attending Scotweb2 to take “Edinburgh in recession” as a case study for what benefits social technology might bring to an area.

The format was rather like the one that we used for the Net Tuesday event: first describe the situation (Edinburgh), then break into groups and develop projects. In this case around transport, environment, community engagement, education and employment in the recession.

We then offered groups cards with ideas for engagement and social technology – much like those in the Net Tuesday event  – and asked for plans. The final stage was using some money cards to balance the costs.

As you can see from the video report backs, we got some really creative ideas … all in the space of an hour and a half. Alex recaps the scenario, and each group reports on their theme and project. We hope that the ideas will find their way into the official policy-making process.

We’re going to Reboot Britain, are you?

An economy deep in recession, ever increasing demands on our public services and trust in our political system at an all time low. We face an unprecedented set of challenges: how can we punch through the gloom?

Instead of more pessimism, at this one-day event on 6 July, we ask you to work together with fresh ideas to Reboot Britain.

How can we take advantage of the radically networked digital world we now live in to help revive our economy, rebuild our democratic structures and improve public services?

Confirmed speakers include Martha Lane-Fox, Gillian Tett (author of Fools Gold), Howard Rheingold,Charles Leadbeater, Craig Newmark (craigslist), Sir Michael Bichard (Design Council and Institute for Government), Jon Gisby/Daniel Heaf (Channel 4), Paul Miller (School of Everything), Alan Moore (SMLXL), Lee Bryant (Headshift), Julie Meyer (Ariadne Capital), Andy Hobsbawn (Do the Green Thing), Jon Watts (MTM London), Jeff Saperstein (Creating Regional Wealth), Jim Schuyler (CTO to the Dalai Lama), MT Rainey (Horsesmouth)

New speakers are being added daily. Check out http://www.rebootbritain.com for more.

Over 350 people have registered for Reboot Britain so far.  If you haven’t already registered you can do so here http://rebootbritain.eventbrite.com/ (Tickets are been priced according to your ability to pay.)

As well as the formal sessions we have a Reboot Camp taking place simultaneously across the venue which include the following:

• Demos present their Progressive Conservatism thinking for public services.
• How are we going to manage doing more for less?
• Learning Without Frontiers: How technology is changing cognitive development, and redesigning our schools for the new age
• WeBank host a peer-to-peer session on new models for lending and borrowing, using Zopa as a case study showing how quickly you can lend or borrow without the middleman

Other sessions include:

• Innovation Live – Stan Stalnaker, Hub Culture
• Social Innovation Camp Express
• Tim Davies – 50 small hurdles that prevent public bodies from unlocking their knowledge
• Elevator Pitches – online democracy, transparency and participation tools
• Conversing with local government at grassroots level- Hyperlocality and active citizenship
• The Stalemate – where next for the media and politics?
• The future of public service media
• Social x Social
• Busting the Silos – opening organizations for growth
• Practical examples of new financial instruments

Can’t wait for this event! We will be there, blogging and Tweeting; and will also be facilitating the Social by Social game session!  If you are in London on July 6th, definitely check this out.  If you aren’t, well, be sure to follow the blog for updates!

Playing the Social by Social Game: London Net Tuesday

Full size image here

The Social by Social Game really took off at Net Tuesday this week when some 20 participants invented a south London borough, created a set of project ideas for better health, happiness and the environment, and then went on to plan how social technology could yield these social benefits. All within 90 minutes.

We did have the benefit of a set of props – more on that later – and lessons from the session that we ran at the SHINE09 conference a couple of weeks ago.

The core team was the same: David Wilcox, Andy Gibson and Amy Sample Ward – all co-authors, with Cass Business School of the forthcoming Social by Social handbook. More on that here.