Filed under: Advocacy, Avaaz, collaboration, Environment, Ethical Consumerism, Politics, Social Media | Tags: Activism, Advocacy, collaboration, digital, gaming, Politics, Social Media
Games designer Jane McGonigal gave a recent TED talk called gaming can make a better world. It’s slightly crazy, but very watchable. Apparently the average young American will spend 10,000 hours playing online games by age 21 – the same amount of time they spend in class.
She throws about some great concepts, such as “urgent optimism” (the dominant gaming state of mind) and “epic meaning” (the desire to be attached to something bigger) – all of which, she says, can be harnessed as a force for change.
It made me think it was about time to revisit the first post of this blog, about how social media and “digital” are making the world a better place.
1. Mass collaboration
It’s the coder’s maxim: “to enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow” – in other words, anything can be fixed by a crowd. Dell’s IdeaStorm led the way on “open innovation”, and the same approach can be applied to social issues. For example, Slate magazine recently launched The Hive to tap the “collective intelligence” of its readers. Open Green Map and Project NOAH are other examples of crowdsourced projects.
2. Mass advocacy
People sometimes say that social media is self-absorbed, narcissistic – but social media can also be part of a powerful collective force. Recent examples include Fuck Cancer and the NoH8 anti-homophobia campaign – and thanks to the Twibbon, these things can spread fast. Avaaz.org is the biggest advocacy movement, with over 4.5 million users across the world.
3. Crowd funding
Ever since the Age Of Stupid film raised £450,000 from crowd-funding, it’s been the holy grail of social enterprise. Sites like Kickstarter and Pledge Bank connect ventures to micro-funding, and Go Fund Me works on a slightly bigger scale. We Pay helps organizations manage their funding, and White Label Crowd Funding – well, does what it says.
4. Asset Sharing
The web makes it possible to easily organize resource sharing – the result is initiatives such as LandShare and FreeCycle, and businesses such as ZipCar in the US and Street Car in the UK.
5. Consumer Power
Sites like Group On allow people to buy in bulk – collective buying power. Consumer power can be harnessed by activists – either negatively, such as Greenpeace’s Nestle campaign, or positively – what John Grant refers to as Joycotting, such as Greenpeace’s Green My Apple campaign.
6. Informed choices
Using the web to find the best deals is now part of mainstream life. There are also plenty of ethical comparison sites, such as EcoSwitch and Your Ethical Money in the UK, and Think 2010 in the US. Brand Karma tries to harness user feedback on brands, but none of these sites yet has a full social dimension. Maybe people want to think about planet and price together, not separately.
7. Taking the piss
There was much chat about how the recent election would be all about social media. It wasn’t, really – but social media did make a critical contribution: taking the piss. Satire by the people (maybe with a little help from the parties) – such as the brilliant My David Cameron, or the Cameron Anecdote Generator:
“Last week, I met a lesbian miner, who told me that left-wing extremists in the Labour Party was no substitute for a proper married relationship.”
“Last week, I met a young baker, who told me that anti-capitalists needed to get a proper job.”
“Last week, I met a disenfranchised gentleman, who told me that teenagers high on meow meow were stopping first-time buyers getting onto the property ladder.”
Well, he who laughs last, and all that…. So although social media wasn’t as decisive as people expected in the election, it’s probably changed the landscape for good. Last word to Alistair Campbell, talking to The Times:
“…public resistance to heavy messaging has grown, and for politics in particular there is no guarantee that the rewards of a well-funded, well-crafted and well-executed ad concept will outweigh the risks. The internet and, in particular, social networking have changed the terms of the relationship between the parties, the media and the public, taking at least some of the power to influence away from parties and media, to the benefit of the public.”
Filed under: Activism, Amnesty International, Avaaz, collaboration, Human Rights, Mother | Tags: Activism, amnesty, Avaaz, collaboration, film, Mother
Filmmakers are taking a new approach to making films that have a positive social impact. Instead of waiting for a big commission and a distribution deal, they’re building coalitions of campaigners, NGOs, foundations, media and sometimes brands. They get their films made and their messages out.
I recently went to along to The Good Pitch, an event run by the Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation, the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, and Working Films UK. The event brings together filmmakers with funders and NGOs. The list of attendees shows how much interest there is in this area right now, everyone from Amnesty and Avaaz to War On Want and UNICEF.
Interestingly, there were no brands represented, and the only agencies present were Mother and Fallon. Are we overlooking opportunities to get brands hooked up with positive social messages? The last couple of months has seen some great “good films” – here are some examples:
Age Of Stupid was released in the UK in March and had its global premier in 40+ countries last week. The film was “crowd-funded” by 220 people who donated between £500 and £35,000 and will receive a pro-rata share in any profits. There’s an extensive online campaign called Not Stupid, and the campaign’s partners include MoveOn, Greenpeace and the Copenhagen campaign TckTckTck.
End Of The Line is part of a global campaign on the impact of overfishing, and was funded by a number of environmental groups and foundations. In the UK it was promoted by Greenpeace and Waitrose, an resulted in a flurry of reversals from retailers including Pret a Manger and M&S.
New Muslim Cool follows a Puerto Rican American Muslim rapper – his clash of identities and his scrapes with the FBI. The film was funded by a range of social foundations and public bodies, and is being promoted by a large network of “community engagement partners”.
Burma VJ is about a group of young video journalists who risk their lives to expose the brutality of the regime. Funded by a coalition including Burma Campaign, the film was promoted in the UK by the Cooperative and FilmAid.
So what about getting more brands involved in projects like this? Obviously there are credibility risks involved, but the right brand could really extend the reach of a film. Here are some that spring to mind.
Vopafone provide emergency communications for Oxfam and Red Cross disaster relief – surely some compelling stories here, highlighting the work of these agencies.
Gap (like many manufacturers) struggles with guaranteeing human rights compliance of suppliers. Why not work with UNICEF to make a challenging film facing up to the realities of, e.g. child labour?
Dell could tell a good story about the human impact of its work on digital inclusion in the favellas of Brazil.
Google could work with the Electronic Frontier Foundation on a documentary about internet privacy. OK, I’ll stop here …
