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Technology is boring

Technology gets socially interesting, Clay Shirky argues, when it has become technically boring. Now the web and related technologies are ubiquitous enough to have reached this point, we’ve got to work out happens next.

With the Social Innovation Camp we decided to dive right in, get our hands dirty and build some prototypes for web-enabled social innovations - tools that use social technologies to help people create change for themselves, from the grassroots up. At the moment, however, we see a disconnect between what the technology supplies and what society needs.

Technology, but not just for geeks

Those who could benefit from the use of social technology don’t necessarily see there’s a technological solution to the challenges they face. Whilst Amazon and eBay have changed the way we buy stuff, the expectation a similar tool might be an aspect of healthcare choices or a child’s education isn’t yet a reality. You can build the flashiest software in the world, but if your users can’t see the point, it’s not going to make a blind bit of difference.

On the supply-side, the vibrancy of the UK web start-up scene demonstrates that there is a wealth of technical talent out there, but software developers and designers are not necessarily social change experts. Energy currently being driven into creating the ‘next Facebook’ – yet another tool for already technologically-savvy users – needs to be given an alternative, social outlet.

The geeks with the know-how need to be matched with the people with the need. So the Social Innovation Camp started out back in 2007 scratching our heads, trying to work out how to link up tools and need to find new ways to make technology useful, but not just for geeks.

A new model for social innovation

No matter how effective online interaction can be, there’s nothing quite like getting people together in a room, to talk to one another, face to face – the old-fashioned way. This was the premise behind our first Social Innovation Camp weekend in April where participants including software designers and developers together with social needs experts came to accelerate six ideas for web tools that could change the world, from concept to early-stage social enterprise in under forty-eight hours. Based on a thorough understanding of a specific social need, participants had to hack together a prototype tool, as well as come up with a way of creating and sustaining a user base - all in just two days. At the end of the weekend, everyone had to ‘show and tell’ what they’d built and we awarded some prizes.

This year’s winners, Enabled by Design, developed a resource for anyone looking to make adjustments to their lives - be it as a result of disability, injury or impairment - to share their design problems and solutions. The runners-up, Visiting Prisons, came up with a tool to support prisoners’ families who are coping with being separated from a loved one and feed their experiences into making the criminal justice system better.

Play, experimentation and risk

Despite the severity of the social problems we were tackling, Social Innovation Camp was really designed to be a game. The weekend was fun and fast, and it incorporated elements of play and experimentation. We were researching, building and testing all at once, making imperfect products in an iterative development process where the end user and the social need were central to design. We set participants a common goal and provided a loose structure, but the rest was for them to self-organise. Most importantly, the event embraced risk; we encouraged participants to do their own thing, so we didn’t really know what would happen or what would emerge at the end. The weekend buzzed with energy, creativity and exciting new ideas.

The digital world is only just at the beginning of becoming socially relevant to ordinary people. Social Innovation Camp is a practical learning experiment in prototyping the tools that will become increasingly important to society. The web and related technologies could be a platform for hugely disruptive innovations - changing beyond recognition what was there before. We don’t know what we’re going to find. Combine this environment with the ease with which digital tools themselves can be designed and built, adapted, re-worked and re-made – often by users themselves - and it becomes clear that innovation in the digital world is well suited to high risk, playful experimentation of the kind that Social Innovation Camp is pioneering.

Come along to our 2gether session to find out how we ran our Camp, what we learnt and what we’re up to next.

More information about Social Innovation Camp is on our website; find out about our projects or even watch the film.

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