The future has already arrived
"The future has already arrived. It's just not evenly distributed yet."
William Gibson, science fiction author
In the last chapter we gave you our thoughts on how new technologies might be used to deliver your social objectives. But don’t take our word for it: there are a growing number of real life projects out there using these technologies successfully (and unsuccessfully) to engage communities and effect genuine change in the world. We’ve collected a few of the best stories we’ve heard to illustrate what we’re talking about, show you the potential of these new tools and help you make the case for doing it yourself.
The examples we’ve chosen range from crusading individuals to large public sector organisations and even new businesses formed using digital technologies, working across campaigning, collaboration, community-building and digital engagement.
- Campaigners should check out Colalife, in which Simon Berry and his collaborators used new media to successfully lobby the Coca Cola Corporation to support African aid. At the national level, The Nag have build a website that campaigns for environmental and ethical lifestyle by nagging users to make simple changes to their lives. Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum Genesis’s Friend or Foe and BRITDOC’s BAFTA-award-winning film Chosen have used combinations of filmmaking and digital media to engage new communities and spread messages and increase awareness of social issues.
- If you’re interested in building online communities, TuDiabetes and IDeA’s Communities of Practice have both used online technologies for knowledge sharing and mutual support in two very different contexts, for work in local authorities and for diabetes care. On the social networking side we’ve also profiled Savvy Chavvy, who won a UK Catalyst Award for their smart use of social networking tools to engage the gypsy and traveller communities in supporting each other.
- The final examples might be termed ‘citizen empowerment initiatives’ – engaging digital communities in taking action in their own interests. Talk2Croydon used online activist tools to engage the citizens of the borough in government and make people more active in the running of their community. Freqout! used technology as a hook for engagement, supporting people to use new media tools to find their voices and engage in their community, whilst at the national level, social start-up Patient Opinion has given NHS users a powerful new channel to give feedback to their service providers, and improved patient experiences in the process.
The examples have been selected to represent a broad range of technologies and contexts, to show the breadth of possibilities available within this work. IDeA and Croydon Council have shown that it is possible to take risks and innovate in an organisational context. Genesis, Freqout! and SavvyChavvy have bridged the ‘digital divide’ to demonstrate the huge inclusive power of these technologies, so long as the right technologies are used. The Nag and Patient Opinion have built successful social businesses using online tools, and are building workable business models around their projects. And Colalife has shown that real change can be effected by a loose group of individuals without an ‘organisation’ behind them at all.
These aren’t repeatable recipes though: just because something worked in one context doesn’t mean it is mechanical or predictable. Although there is often a connection between using appropriate technology and successful social projects, that connection is usually moderated by two key dimensions. Firstly the roles and skills of all the people involved in designing, implementing and using new systems, including IT people, managers, front-line staff and the service users themselves. Weaknesses here are often the major contribution to projects failing to achieve their objectives. Secondly, the organisational context, the culture, structures and business processes of those involved in the systems. Too often technology is applied in service of traditional structures and mindsets which are unsuited to this new way of engagement, and business processes are left untouched as technology simply serves to ‘automate’ the old way of doing things. Although the old way may still be fit for purpose, the possibilities for greater efficiencies and better ways of engaging can be lost, and the power of these tools is only half harnessed.
So these stories can only take us so far. This collection offers some inspiring tales to help illustrate the possibilities available to us all, and also a starting point for a community of best practice around using new technologies for social impact. The number of examples and lessons learnt continues to grow. We hope that you’ll all be generous in sharing what you’ve learnt with others, and use this handbook and the website behind it to share your own stories, so that we can begin to learn from each other and follow in each other’s footsteps.
