Change we can believe in

Networked Society 'On the Brink'

The film below discusss the past, present and future of connectivity with a mix of people including David Rowan, chief editor of Wired UK; Caterina Fake, founder of Flickr; and Eric Wahlforss, the co-founder of Soundcloud.

Each of the interviewees discusses the emerging opportunities being enabled by technology as we enter the Networked Society. Concepts such as borderless opportunities and creativity, new open business models, and today's 'dumb society' are brought up and discussed.

For more, check Ericsson's Networked Society

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The Importance of Social Networks to Empower Communities

Connected Communities, represents an interesting new piece of research from the RSA on how social networks power and sustain the Big Society. It believes Social Capital is the currency of the Big Society, and social networks hold the reserves of that currency. The report explains:

Traditional approaches to community regeneration which define communities in solely geographic terms have severe limitations. They often failed to deliver on key social capital improvements such as improving trust between residents or fostering a greater sense of belonging.

The RSA's Thomas Neumark sums up the main idea of the report as:

Social network analysis offers a powerful approach to community regeneration.

The report argues for a new approach to community regeneration, based on an understanding of the importance of social networks. This approach has the potential to bring about significant improvements in efforts to combat isolation and to empower communities.

Connected Communities - How social networks power and sustain the Big Society

Some Key Points in the report include:

Traditional approaches to community regeneration (defining communities in solely geographic terms) have failed to deliver on key social capital improvements such as improving trust between residents or fostering a greater sense of belonging.
Efforts to build the ‘Big Society’ , such as training for community organisers or initiatives aimed at increasing the membership of community groups, should draw heavily on social network analysis. If they fail to do so they risk replicating existing inequalities within communities.
While we believe social networks offer a powerful tool that may well enable communities to solve problems and shape circumstances more effectively, no social network can provide a substitute for capital investment, or form the rationale for significantly withdrawing support and funding from areas where entrenched disadvantage is acute.

The RSA also has a few good reasons for why you should read their report.

For more on the report, check the Guardian's piece 'Big society' faciliatators are found within communities

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A Place for Citizens - Introduction to the Democratic Society

An introduction to the work of the Democratic Society, a UK-based NGO working on participation, citizenship and democracy.

The question they pose is:

Can we take take the accessibility, information and passion of the Net and combine them with the common spaces, shared rules and need for compromise of the political world?

Democratic Society Introduction

View more presentations from The Democratic Society.

The aim of the society is to build:

A network of local organisations, dedicated to citizenship, not partisan posturing, involving members in national debates.

It is run on democratic lines locally and centrally.

It concentrates on easy participation and allows the best arguments to rise so people can pick them up quickly.

There is a regular schedule for votes so media and politicians can pick them up, then the issue is closed for a while.

Membership is open to all, but isn't a free-for-all.

Data is open and easy to access on different devices.

It gives members chances to lead and to gain political skills.

Members too shy or busy to debate can explore issues and participate in votes remotely.

We will have to start small, but will have scalability built in and a goal of being the most popular, most authoritative, most trusted place for citizens.

Follow the Democratic society on twitter @demsoc

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