The role of online networks in social innovation

Gwendolyn CarpenterDanish Technological Institute

10/04/2023 TEPSIE is a research project under EU’s 7th framework programme

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On the agenda today:

1. ICT as an enabler of SI – examples

2. Research framework for analysing the impact of ICT

3. The 4 relevant perspectives

4. Ongoing work - emerging findings

10/04/2023 TEPSIE is a research project under EU’s 7th framework programme

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ICT as an enabler of SI – letting examples speak

10/04/2023 TEPSIE is a research project under EU’s 7th framework programme

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MicroGiving: Be my eyes

Empowernment – anti-corruption

10/04/2023 TEPSIE is a research project under EU’s 7th framework programme

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Research framework for analysing the impact of ICT in Social Innovation

10/04/2023 TEPSIE is a research project under EU’s 7th framework programme

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Research Context :Technology and societal needs

Applied Research Framework (D8.1)

7) Outputs, outcomes,

impacts

2) ICT & non-ICT tool mix

1) Online (ICT)

networking, media &

collaboration tools

8) Social innovation (SI) meeting social

need, developing

social relation-ships, and achieving

effective social impact

9a) ICT enabling SI

9b) SI enabling new ICT

3) Actors: types & roles

5) Use

4) Actor relationships

6) How used: methods, techniques, practices

10/04/2023 TEPSIE is a research project under EU’s 7th framework programme

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Approaching ICTs from 4 perspectives

10/04/2023 TEPSIE is a research project under EU’s 7th framework programme

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1) Technology perspective – taxonomy of online networks enabling social innovation

10/04/2023 TEPSIE is a research project under EU’s 7th framework programme

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6 platform typesContent creation

Issue identification

Matching assets to needs

Matching finance to needs

Solving problems

Action on problems

Platform continuum

10/04/2023 TEPSIE is a research project under EU’s 7th framework programme

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Problems & needsDemocracy and

governance Sustainability Economic improvement

Health, wellbeing and care

Behaviour, lifestyles, community and culture

Basic utilities and

infrastructuresPrivacy, safety and

security Building localities

Information and content

Peer to Patent; Global voices; WikipediaPoderopedia; MamzdanieDebategraph

Debategraph Peer to Patent; Demotix

Ygeianet Global voices; Wikipedia; Demotix

DataUshahidi; Crowdmap;Wikileaks

Safecast; Crowdmap; amee; Mobosens

Safecast; Crowdmap; Mobosen

Safecast; Crowdmap; Mobosens

Safecast; Ushahidi; Crowdmap; Wikileaks; Mobosens

Safecast; Crowdmap; FixMyStreet; Mobosens

Resources, excess

capacity

Tutorpool AirBNB; TaskRabbit;NeighborgodsLandshareGetaroundSpinlister

AirBNB; TaskRabbit; getaround; time exchange; Spinlister

AirBNB; Neighborgoods; Landshare; Tutorpool; Time exchange; Spinlister

AirBNB; Landshare; Tutorpool;Boroume; Xariseto

Finance

Citizinvestor; Razoo;Crowdrise

Kiva; MyC4 Kickstarter; KivaMyC4; Citizinvestor; Razoo; Crowdrise; Communitae

Groopio Citizinvestor; Groopio

Kiva; MyC4; Citizinvestor

Skills, competen-cies, ideas

Challenge OpenIDEO Challenge; Innocentive; Kaggle; OpenIDEO; Fold It; Idea; Connection; Idea Bounty

Fold It Kaggle OpenIDEO

Time, enterprise, initiative

Avaaz; Change.org; Brickstarter

Avaaz; Brickstarter

Brickstarter

Action for Happiness; Patients like me; Cure Together; Cancer commons

Avaaz; Change.org; Action for Happiness; Brickstarter; Patients like me; Cure Together; Cancer commons

Brickstarter AvaazChange.org

BrickstarterAsse

ts &

tool

s

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2) Community perspective – communities, knowledge and innovation: some lessons from corporates

Communities of Practice (1) Innovation depends critically on the

application of knowledge – sometimes new knowledge, but often also old knowledge applied to new challenges or opportunities

Corporate experience is that this almost always requires well-functioning communities of practice (CoP), defined as the social organization of a group of people jointly pursuing a shared practice, often in the workplace but in principle in any context.

A CoP is characterised by high personal interactivity between different skill sets and specialisations in which doing and showing their knowledge is just as important as preparing manuals or databases

For example in an architectural firm consisting of designers, draftsmen, materials specialists, environmental and energy experts, legal and planning advisors, etc., who interact to complete tasks. The power of the CoP is that different experts cooperate on a day-to-day basis thus building up shared knowledge.

Communities of Practice (2) CoPs are traditionally small scale and

characterised by a great deal of tacit knowledge, so the challenge is to exploit their power over distance and by using ICT which will inevitably make their knowledge at least partially codified.

What has been achieved in the quest by elite companies to achieve superior performance in innovation during recent years – from which we believe that social innovation has much to learn – is the ability to optimize the performance of the overall organization in terms of knowledge transformations, including understanding the overall flow from very local and very tacit to global and codified, and of course not least optimizing the use of ICT.

For example ICT and online media: optimize and leverage all routine

community functions become medium for embedding new

knowledge and practices make the online integration of parallel

communities in different places possible, enabling distributed, virtual communities

provide shared tool-boxes

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3) Network perspective –networks and the network effect

Three main types of network

Random networks Unstructured, highly open to chance events, e.g. getting flu virus No or very few hubs Once innovation established, often by chance, can spread virally and

very fast, like fashion, through ‘undirected copying’ Often short lived.

Scale-free networks Most people have small number of links to other people Significant number of hubs with large number of links and high

influence If one or more hubs takes up an innovation, it’s likely links will do so

as well through ‘directed’ copying Relatively stable in medium term

Small-world networks All people have small numbers of links to other people No or few hubs; most people connected to each other: inward-

looking group with few external links Resistant to outside change But if reach critical number of adopters, change is rapid, widespread

and stable over longer-term through ‘directed’ copying

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Non-networked world

normal (Gaussian) distribution non-skewed, no network effect non-social behaviour outcomes are independent of each

other, i.e. not influenced by other outcomes

outcomes do not interact

Networked world

power law (non-Gaussian) distribution skewed, network effect with ‘long-tail’ of

outcomes results from human and social behaviour most outcomes are influenced by other

outcomes (through information, copying, etc.) outcomes interact with each other

outcomes

freq

uenc

y

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Networked world with ICT: copying and innovation

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4) Critical perspectives on ICT relevant for social innovation

10/04/2023 TEPSIE is a research project under EU’s 7th framework programme

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Critical perspectives Access and the ‘digital divide’

Who makes the technology and for whom?

Identity, fragmentation and control

Privacy and big data

Challenges of online activism unaccountability and ‘street politics’ self selecting elites and the ‘digital mob’ trivialisation, short termism and nimbyism coarsening the debate apathy and lack of understanding of the

participatory and political process can there be too much (online)

participation?

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Collecting Evidence from the ground Thematic casestudy report (to be published Sept 2014)

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Shifting towards impact analysis – introducing the thematic approach to casestudies

OECD Better Life Index European Public Sector Innovation Scoreboard

Income Economic Affairs Jobs Work-life balance

(also covered by economic affairs)

Health Health Education Education Community Housing Civic engagement Life satisfaction Safety

Housing and community amenities

Recreation, culture and religion

Social protection Public order and safety General public services

Environment Environmental protection

Defence

TEPSIE is a research project under EU’s 7th framework programme

Domain themes Cross-cutting themes Health Education Employment/Job

Creation

Place-making Sharing Economy Resource

Efficiency from an environmental perspective (CO2)

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What we are currently doingTheme Focus AreaHealth Preventive & Self Help

Personalized & smart patient environment Supporting smart infrastructure for

integrated health & social care

Education Widening access to education Personalized education & New Learning

environments & knowledge commons A multi-partner approach to education

Employment / Job creation

Preparing for work Matchmaking Creating and doing work

Place-making

Smart places Local community development Civic engagement

Sharing Economy

Innovating the exchange of time and talent Activating the value of dormant assets Making Unachievable Assets viable

Resource Efficiency from an environmental perspective (CO2)

Climate Change and the reduction of carbon emissions

Resource depletion and waste Sharing cities

Ongoing work:

• Yin’s ‘multiple case study design’ approach

• 2 empirical casestudies per focus area = 36 case studies

10/04/2023 TEPSIE is a research project under EU’s 7th framework programme

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A model of systemic innovation (used by the OECD in relation to education)

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Emerging findings

10/04/2023 TEPSIE is a research project under EU’s 7th framework programme

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For more information please contact:Gwendolyn CarpenterSenior Research ManagerMobil +45 72 20 18 69

gwc@teknologisk.dk