Sharing brand, ceding control, gaining influence

Steve wrote:

> [K]eeping the community together and allowing it to grow and diversify is something we need to think hard about. My instincts are to do this is a way that is participative in keeping with the 2gether vibe. George Por and David Wilcox have already submitted ideas about how this could be achieved and have suggested I look at some of the emerging open franchise models that being experimented with.

Thank you David for calling our attention to the Open Franchise model! I looked into it; it inspired some ideas, to which I will come back in another post. (read more...) another post.

The social entrepreneur landscape

The social entrepreneur landscape from David Wilcox on Vimeo.

At one of yesterday’s sessions Cliff Prior, chief executive of Unltd, and Nick Temple, from the School for Social Entrepreneurs, invited people to help develop a map of the social entrepreneur landscape, and then consider what impact and opportunities the arrival of digital services may bring. Here they offer a guided tour of the map, and summary of the session..

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. (read more...).

UnLtd opportunities at 2gether08

Everyone at UnLtd is really excited about how 2gether08 is shaping up to be a fantastic festival.
2gether08 will connect an array of fantastic ideas and amazing people. At UnLtd we’re all about supporting great ideas and people, so to coincide with 2gether08 we’ve put together two opportunities that we hope you’ll find valuable. (read more...).

The Catalyst Awards - unexpected community innovation

What happens when social need collides head on with the social web? How are widespread and easy-to-use technologies being used to benefit communities?

The UK Catalyst Awards are a bold experiment to answer these questions. Announced at the same time as the Prime Minister’s Council on Social Action, the bet is that (read more...)!

The data is the medium

During the London Mayoral race I did a search for Ken (Livingston) and Boris (Johnson) on Summize, a search engine which measures the pulse of conversations on Twitter. 99% of comments were pro-Ken, yet Boris won. Beyond a probable (possible) digital divide, the point is about perception. My view of reality is shaped (and (read more...).

Fair trade 2.0

It’s good to be back home in green Somerset following two hectic days in London packed full of meetings (planned and unplanned). Plenty of talking; even more listening. I promised myself - and the 2gether team - that I would find a few minutes today to come up for air, and post some reflections on (read more...).