Google Hangout On Air: Cross-functional Collaboration and the Future of Professional Learning

collaboration

John Winsor: The Trials and Tribulations of Harnessing the Chaos of Abundance (Video)

Monday, April 9th, 2012

We live in a world of data. It can be overwhelming, and with the fast-paced nature of technology’s evolution, keeping up can be daunting. Tech is evolving so quickly that 80% of what people do online today didn’t even exist five years ago. So, how do we deal with it? Victor and Spoils CEO John Winsor addresses how to approach the chaos of the abundance of data with a nice mix of case studies. Watch the video below, and catch our highlights and analysis.

1. Me-ification is an important shift in data and networks.
Meification is the process of pulling data into one simple place and make it better and easier for people to use, in a personalized format. Make data relevant. We’re seeing this important shift with the increase in micro-social networks. These networks are crunching amazing amounts of data that are applicable to users. Using EpicMix as a case study, a social ski site that notifies users about local road conditions, what lifts friends are on, and other relevant data that most skiers would love to know, Winsor highlights the need for making data personal and usable. And all this means that there will be less power for bigger social networks, as users prefer smaller curated sites.

2. You can take advantage by making your brand a vessel for your fans and friends’ creativity.
Co-create with your community. Co-creation is key. Innovation comes from the customer, the team, the culture, and the company all intersecting together. For brands, the new competitive advantage is a collaborative advantage. We’re seeing this more with brands. Smartwool asked consumers to share their stories, and it shows in stores. Victor & Spoils even created a special tool for their clients: The Fan Machine.

Fan Machine allows brands to co-create with their fans, enabling a more collaborative approach to marketing and product design. It was first used by Harley Davidson and then by Converse. Brands can award prizes, look at consumer reactions, allow consumers to put forward new ideas that they’ve wanted. And it deals with copywrite and IP issues. At the end of the day, co-creation makes a brand stronger, and there is a larger need to create tools that allow brands to collaborate with fans better so that middle man not needed. Plus, you have a wider scope. When you use digital tools, every creative conversation is captured- nothing hits the floor and is left behind. These tools create the ability to work with people all over the world and push the participants in new ways. New tools provide new ways to build.

3. The new business is a social business.
Being open and transparent, working with your fans and customers is no longer an option. Companies that are engaging in this are forcing other companies to follow suite. Looking at Patagonia- they created a “Don’t Buy Our Coat” campaign. They encouraged their supporters to reuse and recycle. To further spur this, they even built a platform on ebay to allow customers to resell and ultimately compete with Patagonia. Being so open and transparent will allow for more growth for their brand, and lead to a stronger community. It’s how you become bigger than the brand and be about the community.

So, what does this mean? I think we’ll be seeing more curation and collaborative tools emerge. This is largely an untapped market with agencies filling the gap. But at the heart of co-creation is a sense of connection. Brands that are able to adopt this approach will be more successful, and agencies that incorporate these tools will be highly effective, while as Winsor said, work themselves out of a job. The rise of the brand ambassador and affiliation with brands that consumers are proud of is on the horizon. Authenticity, honesty and transparency are key characteristics of the next major brand (remind you of Valerie Buckingham’s keynote, yet?).

Watch all our keynotes from February 2012, and don’t forget to share your thoughts on John’s presentation below.

Tags: "john winsor", co-creation, collaboration, curation, data, Victor & Spoils
Posted in Analysis

The Guardian Interviews Don Tapscott (Video)

Monday, March 26th, 2012

Social and digital media is creating change in our world in ways we never expected. Disrupting businesses, societies and education. The Guardian interviews Don Tapscott as part of their daily series during SMW12. See the full interview, and catch our recap below.

1. Social media is leading us into a new age.
The Industrial Revolution is coming to a close, and society is creating a new technology push. There is a new generation of digital natives, with no fear of technology. They understand it because it’s native to them. Self-organization is growing because that’s what is at heart of social media. All this is creating big change for business. Change to the deep structure and architecture of the corporation and how we orchestrate the capability to innovate and create services.

If we look at history, we see great correlations. The Industrial Revolution was enabled by a revolution in media: the invention of the printing press. Prior to this, knowledge was concentrated, with the general person having no concept of progress. The printing press, over time, allowed for different classes to acquire knowledge. The rise of parliamentary democracy, protestant reformation, and creation of science and university all followed. The industrial economy advanced. And now, we see that technological advances are creating global revolutions. While we were confused at first during .com period, we thought the Internet was about websites, eyeballs, stickiness. Content remained king. However, now, with the new web becoming clearer to us all, it’s not a content revolution but a transformation of collaboration. This is different than the printing press, which was about content. The Internet enables each of us to be a publisher and not just gain access to knowledge but to the intelligence of others. Now, we are seeing that our inability to solve global problems is systematic of the fact that we have an old set of institutions from a previous age and we need to rebuild it around different principles and a different medium.

We are in the early age of conflict. During the Industrial Revolution, new classes of people were asking why is some feudal monarch ruling me somewhere else? Now, classes are demanding another new kind of economy with a new set of institutions.

2. It is not just societal change happening; we are seeing a change in the way our brains are developing.
There is no more powerful force for change than our brains developing differently. There are essentially two critical periods of brain development: early childhood (0-2) and extended adolescence. For the latter, the number one variable for how you develop is how you spend your time (following after genetics). Media is playing in the background, but it functions more like ambient media. Youth are interacting with it in new ways. They’ve become actors, initiators and authenticators of media and are no long just passive observers with it.

3. Privacy is the next hot button.
The whole purpose of privacy infrastructure is to protect us against institutions that would use privacy against us. Most of us operate from the basic assumption most governments are benevolent- but they aren’t. We know all about the concept of “Big Brother.” Now, there is emerging “Little Brother.”

Little Brother is the notion that all corporations collect data and organize it in some database. This can be used positively and negatively, like to give us better services but we don’t know what else they’ll ultimately be using our data for. What isn’t being talked about is the newest player, “Baby Brother.” We are giving away this information willfully. We are Baby Brother. The biggest contributor to this concept is that young people are authority on digital information, and some things take experience to learn, like giving away all this information. We are seeing that young people in their early 20′s are the most sophisticated users because they have experienced the downside of this.

What’s more is that we shouldn’t confuse transparency and privacy. Transparency in corporations is a very powerful force. There is an obligation to disclose pertinent information- info that can help you if you get it and hurt you if you don’t. Companies are now behaving better not because of regulations but because they have to. However, we are seeing really naive people in companies putting forth the idea that transparency is not just an opportunity for corporations but for all people. If we all share our deep secrets, then the world will be a better place. This is the most dangerous idea. Informational privacy is the foundation of a free society. Today, the privacy world is in chaos, with the main culprit being us. We have come to believe privacy is a bad idea.

Bonus: SOPA/ PIPA would have set us back in myriad ways that are hard to understand.
First and foremost, it was dishonest in how the acts were represented. They were not about people in other countries stealing trademarks. Peer-to-peer file sharing regulation came out of Hollywood. The entertainment industry responded in the opposite way they should have. Twenty years ago, it wasn’t a profitable industry. Want an example? Let’s take music. We put music on records and CD’s. It was expensive. With all the costs, only one of twenty artists would make money. This created a limitation on what musicians the industry could bet on. This cycle didn’t help anyone- it was bad for listeners, bad for musicians, and bad for music companies.

The Internet dropped all these transaction costs, and created the best possible opportunity for the music industry. They could now change music from a product to a service, for example, like charging $4 a month to have access to any song ever created. No one would steal music in this set-up because you can have any song at any time. The issue of intellectual property essentially vanishes. But instead of creating a new business model or innovating, the music industry is now trying to make this a legal and legislative issue- and it’s angering it’s consumers. The music industry has not grasped the idea that music is the platform to make money. Content is no longer king. We must think differently about intellectual property. It is not centralized content providers pushing out content to passive consumers anymore, we are now active participants. This means we can’t control content in the same manner and must move to a whole new collaborative model.

This is the hardest for big institutions to embrace. A new paradigm results in a crisis of leadership. There are vested interests fighting against change because change brings about uncertainty. Leaders of old paradigms have greatest difficulty embracing the new- paradigms constrain our thinking. “Don’t take my music and do something with it!” while the world continues to change and music- and any industry that fights back- loses out.

Stay posted for Don’s full keynote and our analysis to come later. In the meantime, get to know Don a bit more, and if you haven’t, check out what his commentary on our theme for SMW12.

Tags: change, collaboration, Content, disruption, Don Tapscott, Guardian, privacy, SMW12
Posted in Analysis

Social Media Week and Nokia: Building Something Amazing

Monday, January 16th, 2012

When Social Media Week began in 2009, we set out with an aim of redesigning the traditional conference experience with a focus on making it more collaborative, open and inclusive. In three years we’ve hosted more than 2,000 free events for 70k attendees in 20 countries worldwide, with at least 75% of the content curated by industry leaders who most impacted by social media.

None of this would have been possible without the investment and engagement of our brand partners– most notably our global sponsors. We are therefore pleased to announce that Nokia has committed to serve again as global headline sponsor of Social Media Week in 2012, reprising a role they held in 2011. By powering SMW in 2012, they will substantially enhance the intrinsic value of SMW, making it easier for attendees and participants to experience content, engage in conversations and connect with other attendees

In returning as global headline sponsor of Social Media Week in 2012, Nokia’s contributions will make some significant enhancements to the attendee experience, and together, we will work to make advancements in connecting the next billion to social and digital media. Chief among these is the launch of the first official SMW Mobile App, which will run on Windows Phone, Symbian, Android, and iOS (both iPhone and iPad), and be available to attendees worldwide in 6 languages.

Helping make SMW12 more convenient and connected, the SMW Official Mobile App will allow users to see the schedule, and track and add preferred events, speakers, and venues to their SMW Profile. Registration will also be easier, allowing users to quickly log-in to their SMW account to register for events and access their personalized schedule. Finally, the SMW Official Mobile App pulls in content that matters, including Twitter feeds and stats, related Facebook pages, and blogs for all the latest news and SMW-related conversations, including special content from additional content and media partners. Access to social media platforms from apps and the mobile web on smartphones is growing exponentially, and this move will help connect SMW supporters quicker and more smoothly than ever- all through the power of their preferred mobile device. Starting with Symbian, the SMW Official Mobile App will be available for download January 20th, rolling out to other platforms within the next week. You can learn more at socialmediaweek.org/mobileapps.

Complementing the global Social Media Week theme of empowering change through collaboration, our SMW/Nokia 2012 partnership will also focus on events and speakers embodying this concept. This includes, not the least of these, Nokia rolling out a range of initiatives focusing on making attendees and supporters’ days better in small, and some not-so-small ways. Each day will bring something unexpected. From Global Keynote Don Tapscott to interactive events in Singapore, San Francisco, London, NYC, Hong Kong and Sao Paulo, both Nokia and SMW will be helping attendees and supporters discover how to best utilize social media in their lives- whether it means networking with like-minded people, promoting their own business or participating in community initiatives for positive change.

Nokia’s contributions to Social Media Week–from apps, to ideas, to just helping participants have a brighter day– will go a long way toward making SMW12 a success. We loved what came out of this partnership for SMW11 and look forward to bigger and more exciting developments this February.

Stay connected by following SMW on Twitter and Facebook and show our support to Nokia by following them on Twitter and Facebook.

Tags: collaboration, mobile app, nokia, SMW12
Posted in Featured, Partner Profiles

20 big ideas for 2012

Thursday, December 22nd, 2011

Collaboration. It’s more than a buzz word or just our theme. We’ve been honored to have esteemed author Don Tapscott sharing his thoughts with us biweekly on this, as our global curator. But the theme of collaboration isn’t limited to Social Media Week 2012. We’re seeing it all around- in various industries and coming from other leading business thinkers, just like Don.

Don has recently released his first two posts (Part I and Part II) in a series of posts for Thomson Reuters on the major ideas taking shape for 2012- 20 major transformations. These are needed transformations; keeping us from making 2012 a disaster. These are based on his idea that the Industrial Age has passed and our structure for society and institutions must be built on new principles: collaboration, openness, sharing, interdependence and integrity.

1. Make the transformations required to avoid the 20-year slump.
Our global economy isn’t healthy, and many are concerned that the global economic crisis is only just beginning. As such, we must work together to avoid a prolonged economic slump. Businesses must fundamentally transform their models- including financial services, media, energy & transportation systems, and international corporations- to encompass cooperation and global problem solving. And this is possible because of the digital revolution. Individuals and society has a platform for coming together, acquiring knowledge and mobilizing. All to help transform our economy and society models.

2. Radical openness.
While it may have been forced, Wikileaks is changing the way governments are open with their citizens. Increasingly, more and more businesses and organizations are operating in what can be called a hyper-transparent world. This transformation of transparency will breed trust, innovation, collaboration and better performances.

3. Pulling the plug: making communication a right in the Digital Age.
2011 saw much political unrest. And when it dominated an area, many governments- local and national- considered shutting down online access. This only served to further mobilize the masses and activate those who may have been bystanders to now join the local movements. But governments will need to seriously consider when, how and what they consider shutting down and as a collective society deem what violates basic rights.

4. Take action to prevent a worldwide youth explosion
One demographic that is especially hard hit are the world’s youth. Disillusionment, frustration, and anger are common sentiments expressed at the prevalent unemployment, high cost of education and lack of progress- personally and within a society. But youth have more tools and ways in which to interact- making them a very powerful force that can lead a major transformation and find solutions to these sentiments.

5. Shift to new models of global problem-solving
There is growing sentiment that the more formal international systems are fundamentally failing in achieving our global goals in areas of the economy, climate, poverty and international relations. The changes that are being made in these areas are more often than not coming from new systems of networked and connected individuals, working together for that end goal.

6. The Arab seasons: Getting beyond wiki revolutions to democratic, secular governments
2011 saw a change in the revolution- how individuals mobilized, organized and gathered information. 2012 needs to move beyond the revolution to building democracies and changing the way we view governmental structures and reform.

7. As the Old Media collapse, improve how We inform ourselves as societies
Traditional media has had to change the way it functions, moving online and providing new outlets. And with this change, as a society, we need to transform the way we self-educate and gather information. Gone are the days of seeking out a single source, but with that challenge comes vast rewards as we have the ability to hear many more perspectives and gain even deeper and richer information and knowledge in a variety of areas.

8. Ending the government debt crisis: New models for cheaper, better government
With more and more mounting debts in countries around the globe, there has never been a time of greater need for reinventing government. In addition to transforming governments into democracies, there must be a reinvention in the way in which governments run and interact.

9. New models of regulation: The citizen regulator
With many financial sectors melting down, the idea of a traditional regulating force no longer seems effective. The topic of Don’s discussion for the Social Media Week community last week, citizens must be empowered and collaborate together to become the regulating force.

10. Kick-start job creation through entrepreneurship
Unemployment remains high. Attempts to create jobs are lackluster and ineffective. What is needed in this economic and political climate is a change in the way we do business. Entrepreneurship must return, and governments need to support this approach with supportive environments that increase access to the resources that start-ups and entrepreneurs need.

Don’s article highlights each of these points in more detail, and it’s a very thought-provoking read on how we as a global community can challenge ourselves to collaborate for change in each of these areas. What’s more, he provides guidance on how that can take place. Read Don’s first post and subsequent follow-up on Reuters and share your thoughts about the top transformations needed as we move into the new year.

Tags: "Government", collaboration, Don Tapscott, entrepreneurship, financial regulation, media
Posted in Featured, People & Society

TED’s City? The Year of the Collaborative Idea

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

Many weren’t too surprised to see TIME select the anonymous protester as the Person of the Year. It’s been a year of revolution- and protests have shaken many a nation. But when TED awarded their annual- and prestigious- award to the City 2.0, it created buzz.

Why? Well, it was the first time in the eight year history of TED Prizes that the award went not to a person, but to an idea. A bit of background for those that aren’t too familiar with TED. The TED Prize is awarded annually to an exceptional individual. The prize is partially money- $100,000- but is largely the platform of TED. The recipient receives “One Wish to Change the World.” With that wish, TED activates its global community of talent and resources, facilitating collaboration geared to accomplishing this wish. In the past, this has included Bono’s wish for aid to Africa in various ways but particularly by connecting every hospital, health clinic, and school in one country, Ethiopia, to the Internet. And Bill Clinton asking to create a better future for Rwanda by working with the Clinton Global Initiative and the Rwandan Government to build a sustainable, high quality rural health system for the entire country. And Jamie Oliver’s wish of a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook, and empower people globally to fight obesity.

So, why has TED now decided to go with the idea of the city? Because as they state, the planet just may depend on it.

Very powerful words. And the thinking behind is even more inspiring.

Because basically- ideas inspire. People collaborate around ideas and ideas activate us to action.

And the City 2.0 tackles a big issue- urbanization. The global population hit 7 billion this year. And in the next 90 years, we’ll have built more urban living space than all other years- combined. This means that the City 2.0 must be sustainable. And promote stronger innovation and collaboration. Cities can reduce our rapidly growing population, help us protect rural areas, and become strong centers of economic, cultural and educational opportunity.

With the issue so large- and having a global idea- everyone can combine their efforts to make something larger much more possible. And in the words of TED, “Everyone in the TED Community can embrace radical collaboration on one of the most pressing issues we face.”

So, TED will be bringing together some of the world’s leading scientists, architects, mayors, urban planners and visionaries to collectively draft the wish of the City 2.0. And the prize money will be seeded toward initial actions toward that wish. By gathering behind an idea, TED can mobilize us all to think bigger about how we can use our urban spaces for the greater good and in new ways. It’s a risky move because it has no face or set leader driving the force, but it could be bigger than anything in the past. And that’s something that lines up with the core of Social Media Week 2012- Empowering Change through Collaboration.

Tags: collaboration, TED, urban planning
Posted in global

City Spotlight- Social Media Week Singapore

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

We’re spanning the globe- from Hamburg to Tokyo to San Francisco. And now, we’re taking you behind the scenes with our team in Singapore. One of the largest ports and a leading financial center, Singapore is churning up some of our most creative events. AKA Asia, an independent PR firm, is behind Social Media Week Singapore, and we talked with Natasha Nair on their team.

1. Can you tell us a bit more about AKA Asia and your role?
AKA Asia is an independent PR firm with a growing reputation as one of Singapore’s leading creative PR firms. Our client portfolio includes both corporate and consumer remits for international and local brands. Since Hong Kong was the first Asian city to take part in SMW in 2011, and was hosted by impactasia Hong Kong– previously, our parent agency before we rebranded AKA Asia to reflect our new found independence. They hooked us up with the guys at Crowdcentric, and here we are! I am one part of an absolutely kick ass team at AKA that is working tirelessly to shape, create, coordinate, facilitate, and manage SMW in Singapore!

2. What are the three most exciting things happening in social and mobile media in Singapore?
We asked Singapore’s leading social media expert and member of our Advisory Board, Pat Law of GoodStuph, to share her thoughts on this topic:

“From a marketing perspective, I see more clients embracing social media as an important engagement platform in their marketing plans, rather than “loose change you use to buy an extra lollipop you really don’t need”. That’s a good thing that we’ve evolving.

From a social perspective, it’s interesting to watch communities of like-minded passions form online. Content creators are now getting together to create collective impact that celebrates their own passion. The regular Joe’s embracing his own digital presence too. How many of us have mums who’ve discovered the job of connectivity through Facebook?

From a solutions perspective, watch out for the likes of Gushcloud and Qropit. I’m proud of these local players and I look forward in seeing them kick some ass!”

3. What makes Singapore a great city for Social Media Week?
Singapore is one of the most well connected countries in the world. We have a population of 5 million, of which 1,895,000 are active users on Facebook, have the second highest number of Twitter users in the world (based on usage per capita) and the highest iPhone penetration rate in the world.

As a key regional hub in Asia, Singapore has always been at the forefront of technology and innovation. Social media is the fabric that connects society here and has become a key platform for locals to voice their thoughts, opinions and collaborate with each other. The combination of empowered young global citizens and a thriving international community makes Singapore a very exciting place to be now – and a great city for Social Media Week.

4. What is the most exciting and unique aspect that you see coming to SMW Singapore? Can you give us a sneak peak?
One event that we’re really excited about is a social experiment we’re planning to run – Can man live on the goodwill of social media alone? This is a social experiment to investigate the power ofsocial media and how it can be used to affect change/ bring out the best inpeople. A volunteer will be stripped off his worldly possessions and given nothing but a smartphone and the clothes on their backs for a week. Using social media, they will need to rely on the public’s goodwill to provide them with food, lodging, clothes and transport.

We’re currently in talks with a fellow city partner about expanding this beyond our borders, so we may end up packing our volunteer off onto a plane to a far off destination – in what will potentially be SMW’s first ever city-exchange social experiment!

5. How is SMW Singapore embracing the global theme of Empowering Change through Collaboration and how are you seeing that play out in your city and country?
Empowering Change through Collaboration is a theme that resonates strongly in Singapore, as evidenced by the recent general elections. Singaporeans are becoming increasingly vocal online and are using social media to make their opinions heard. Through SMW SG, we hope to demonstrate the potential of social media to affect change in our community – by bringing people offline to collaborate and engage with each other through our SMW SG events.

A big thanks to Natasha and the Social Media Week Singapore team for pulling back the curtain a little for our sneak peek. Don’t forget to stay connected with all that’s going on with Social Media Week Singapore on their blog and on Twitter and Facebook.

Tags: collaboration, February, Singapore
Posted in City Focus

A New Energy Revolution

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

Guest Post By Don Tapscott, Curator Social Media Week. As Global Curator, Don Tapscott is leading a series of discussion on our global theme of Empowering Change Through Collaboration. Read previous discussions here.

Humanity’s ability to transform raw materials into energy powered the rise of modern civilization and shaped the fortunes of nations throughout history. James Watt’s steam engine triggered the industrial revolution in Britain and ushered in a period of enormous technological, social and economic transformation. Roughly a century later, the invention of electricity and the eventual electrification of factories brought large-scale business enterprises and double-digit increases in productivity that transformed the United States into the modern economic powerhouse.

Today, the world stands at the brink of a new energy revolution– one that will fundamentally transform the ubiquitous but largely invisible infrastructure that powers every home appliance, every medical device, every light source, and virtually every industrial process, from agriculture to construction. The fossil-fuel-based economy is coming to an end, and a new green-energy economy is emerging in its place. Like past energy revolutions, there will be great payoffs for the countries and companies that master the new technologies early. The opportunity for new product and service innovation is huge, as is the potential for smart firms to create hundreds of thousands of new high-skill jobs in fields ranging from solar engineering to software.

But are we positioned to take advantage? To really tip the scale in favor of green energy, we need an infusion of Wikinomics principles. The need for cross-sector collaboration in developing and scaling new technologies is paramount. But we can- and should- go further. Truly opening up our energy infrastructure could catalyze new sources of supply, provide a platform for new energy services, and help foster a culture of energy “prosumption” whereby household and business users become active producers and managers of energy, not just passive consumers and ratepayers.

It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds. There is already increasingly broad agreement that our electrical systems should do more than carry electricity. They should carry information. And once the grid carries information, it stands to benefit from the same kinds of innovation, collaboration, and wealth creation that the Internet has enabled in other sectors of the economy.

In many ways, the argument for a smart grid based on open standards parallels the argument for an open Internet. The old power grid is analogous to broadcast media with its bias towards centralized, one-way, one-to-many, one-size-fits-all communication. A smart grid, if it can be built, will leverage the Internet to weave millions, and eventually billions, of household appliances, substations and power generators around the planet into an intelligent and programmable network. And, just as open standards and “edge intelligence” brought forth creativity on the Internet, openness in the new energy grid will ensure it goes beyond being just a computerized pipeline for delivering cleaner electricity, and becomes a platform for a vast array of new energy services.

Building a smart grid on open standards would, for example, allow software developers to build applications just as developers build apps for the iPhone. The most straightforward application might analyze a household’s electricity usage data, identify inefficient appliances or practices in the home, offer tips on how to reduce energy, and provide special discounts on efficient appliances or electronics. Armed with more information about tariffs, for example, the dishwasher would wait for the price to fall below a certain level before switching on, and the air-conditioner would turn itself down when the price goes up.

Innovations like these are especially exciting for the behavior changes they will bring about. Studies have found that when people are made aware of how much power they are using, they reduce their use by about 7%. With added incentives, people curtail their electricity use during peaks in demand by 15% or more. The Climate Group estimates that the application of digital technologies to enable smart grids and smart buildings has the potential to avert 3.71 gigatons of CO2 equivalent global emissions by 2020, delivering some $464 billion in global energy cost savings to businesses, taxpayers and consumers.

These savings pale, moreover, in comparison to the impact we could have on future generations by transforming the way we produce and consume energy. In the face of climate change and diminishing stocks of fossil fuels, we can take one of two routes. One path leads to escalating prices, energy shortages, and economic backwardness in a world facing environmental catastrophe and increasing geopolitical conflict. The other path leads to growth, global cooperation, and an abundant supply of clean power delivered through a smart energy grid that enables consumers to become active and informed managers of their energy consumption.

The choice is ours to make, but how can we accelerate the process? How can the Social Media Week community cultivate new ideas to help this process? Can we innovate ideas that encourage a reduction in energy consumption or generate energy alternatives?

For three decades Don Tapscott has been the world’s leading thinker about the impact of the digital revolution on business and society. He is the author of 14 books, most recently Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World and with Anthony D Williams: Macrowikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World. You can follow Don on Twitter at @DTapscott.

Tags: climate, collaboration, Don Tapscott, energy, Theme
Posted in Featured, People & Society

Collaborating for Change in Healthcare

Thursday, November 10th, 2011

Guest Post By Don Tapscott, Curator Social Media Week

I’m enthusiastic about taking on the role of “Curator” for Social Media Week. In the run-up to my kickoff speech on Feb 13 to cities around the world, I’m writing a series of articles to stimulate thinking and discussion in our global community. The topic of this post is healthcare.

Despite the advancements of modern medicine, our basic approach to healthcare has remained unchanged for centuries. It assumes that physicians are smart and patients aren’t. Doctors wait in their office or hospital for sick people to come to them in order to be told what to do. Traditionally, patients have been passive and ill-informed, playing little or no role in deciding their own treatment. As one physician puts it: “Today’s healthcare institutions are like the old media: centralized, one-way, immutable and controlled by the people who created and delivered it. Patients are passive recipients.” In other words, the health system is broken.

Now, courtesy of the Internet, there are tools that allow us to take more responsibility for our own health, and for patients to collaborate with their doctors and, equally important, other patients.

All of us, including newborns, should have our own online Personal Health Page. Just as Facebook keeps you updated on your friends’ activities, your Health Page would keep you up to date on issues affecting your health. You could have links to organizations such as Weight Watchers or a local diabetes support group. You could create a community or join medical “causes.” And low-cost or free applications could help you measure your own health, prediagnose a sick child or test for possible drug interactions.

By moving the heart of our healthcare system online, and making each of us more informed and involved in our health, we would get a lot more bang for our healthcare buck. Knowing what’s happening in your body motivates you to change your behavior. If you weigh yourself daily, for instance, you’ll be more successful at shedding pounds and keeping them off than if you weigh in weekly.

When we are better informed about our health, we make fewer trips to the emergency department, we don’t make unnecessary doctors’ appointments and we require fewer costly home-nurse visits.

Some early examples of this kind of thinking can already be seen online. Users of MedHelp.com, a popular online health community, are able to track more than 1,500 symptoms and treatments on a daily basis using iPhone apps that cover both general health conditions, such as weight loss and allergies, and very specific disorders, such as infertility and diabetes. If they want, patients can share this information on a continuing basis with their doctors or caregivers.

Doctors should do much more to encourage patients to take advantage of the resources available in online health care communities. A good example is PatientsLikeMe.com, a vibrant health care community whose members suffer from debilitating chronic conditions such as ALS, Parkinson’s and bipolar disorder. Members use the site to track the evolution and management of their diseases. But rather than keep all their data private, many members share it with the patient community and the medical research community.

This openness ultimately benefits everyone. Patients can learn what’s working and, in consultation with their doctors, adjust their own treatment plans. Drug companies can use anonymous patient data to evaluate new treatments and thus bring them to market more quickly. “People think we are a social networking site,” says PatientsLikeMe co-founder Ben Heywood. “But we’re an open medical framework. This is a large-scale research project.”

Earlier this week (Nov. 5, 2011), PatientsLikeMe and R.A.R.E Project, a non-profit advocacy and support group for patients with all rare diseases, announced a new partnership to find and connect 1 million rare disease patients to share and learn everything possible about their conditions. The organizations are launching an international rare disease awareness campaign in 2012.

“There are 35 million patients in the U.S. with 7,000+ rare diseases and we want to find them, connect them and support them in sharing and learning by their specific disease and across all rare diseases,” says Dean Suhr, Chief Innovation and Community Development Officer at R.A.R.E. “We’re excited to work with PatientsLikeMe because their open patient registry allows patients to contribute to research, while getting immediate benefits, like improved quality of life, from sharing this information with others.”

Of course, we need the buy-in of the biggest players – namely government and insurers – to help maximize these opportunities and help people from becoming needlessly sick.

I encourage readers to join the discussion on how healthcare can be more collaborative and effective.

Tags: collaboration, Don Tapscott, February, healthcare, Theme
Posted in Featured, People & Society

Stop Broadcasting and Start Co-creating: Collaborative Experience Design for the Conference Industry

Monday, July 25th, 2011

In the past two years, the global Social Media Week community has hosted more than 1500 individually organized events in fifteen countries around the world. During this time we have worked hard to innovate around the event experience to create more engaging and collaborative ways for people to exchange ideas and connect around shared passions and projects.

The most common type of event, has, unsurprisingly, been panel discussions. The panel format has been around for many years and while it still has an important role in the exchange of ideas and the convening of thought leaders, I would like to put forward an argument that there are new approaches to event design that provide better and more engaging experiences for conference attendees.

Co-creation & Collaboration as a New Experience Design Model

“Tell me and I will forget” Show me and I will remember” “Involve me and I will understand” – Confucius

Of the three statements above, which most represents a traditional panel format in your view? The first one right? The second might apply to product demonstrations or specific talks where the presenter guides you through a case study; however, it’s the third item–involve me–that we should be focusing on if we’re really committed to engaging experiences for our community.

Social Media Week is built upon a set of principles that focuses on openness, inclusivity, collaboration and co-creation. We have worked hard since launching to put the attendee at the center of the experience and curation in the hands of individuals and organizations who bring a greater depth of knowledge on a broader and more diverse range of topics – the community.

At the very core of what we do is the notion that if you invite industry and individuals in particular to co-create an event with you, the experience for those that participate will be much richer as a result. However, with more than 50% of our events still representing “Tell Me and I will Forget” approaches to knowledge and information sharing, we have a huge amount of work to do to address this.

Co-creation & Collaborative Experience Design

The reason why panel debates are so popular is because they are the lowest common denominator. They’re fairly easy to organize and plan for and require much less preparation compared to a person giving a 20 minute talk, or a group planning an interactive workshop. Don’t get be wrong, they have a place, and with preparation, inspiring speakers, and great audience participation they can be great. It’s just that in today’s hyper-connected world, where people demand deeper levels of engagement, they shouldn’t represent the standard for the conference industry.

So what’s the plan?

Over the next 12 months the Social Media Week global community will host in excess of 2,000 events in 30 cities worldwide. Our goal during this next phase of development is to ensure that every single event is designed with co-creation principles at their core. To achieve this we need to establish and communicate a new set of principles in event experience design.

As a way of framing these principles, let me first provide some definitions for what we mean by “Collaboration, Co-creation and Experience Design”:

Collaboration: “A form of collective action that occurs when large numbers of people work independently on a single project, often modular in its nature.“

Co-creation: “Ability to organize communities of participants to develop, market, and support the development of event experiences.”

Experience Design: “Practice of designing event experiences and environments with a focus placed on the quality of the user experience and culturally relevant solutions.”

Next, I’ve put together a set of guiding principles which embody everything we believe in at Crowdcentric and Social Media Week. Think of them as a guide, rather than a set of rules. Most importantly, think about ways to apply them when designing your next Social Media Week event:

Inspire participation: Invite the best and brightest minds in your space to join you in the co-creation of your event: open up and show them what’s in it for them by building in ways to fully recognize their support publicly.
Connect creative thinkers: It’s important to enable bright and engaged people to build on each others ideas, both on- and off-line. Provide them with a clear brief and give them the tools to connect and collaborate.
Promote openness and sharing: Share your ideas, release them into the public domain, thereby making them available for others to use and comment on.
Build flexible networks for participation: Create flexible networks that extend across internal and often even external borders, thereby enabling you to tap into a broader pool of talent, ideas and resources.
Be agile & iterative in your approach: Based on iterative and incremental development, be agile in your approach and allow requirements and solutions to evolve through collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional teams.
Continue the conversation: Co-creation is a longer-term engagement. Don’t give up on your event once it’s finished. Think about ways to continue the conversation, build on people’s ideas and inspire continued dialogue.
Remember Confucius: ”Involve me and I will understand”. Make it interactive, participatory and engaging. People don’t want to be broadcast to.

The benefits of Co-creation and Collaborative Experience Design

While the effort required to apply co-creation and collaborative experience design principles is considerably greater than “pulling a panel together”, the benefits far outweigh the additional time required.

Specifically, your event will rise above the noise, your participants and co-creators will come away with a much more rewarding experience and the extent to which people will want to continue the conversation and remain connected and engaged in the future will be considerably greater.

Ultimately, you have a choice when thinking about how to design your next event, but remember the most important principle. If you broadcast to your attendees they are unlikely to recall any information and you will have created no real lasting impact. If you involve them, they will not only understand, but they will become your greatest advocates.

Good luck in your efforts and thank you for reading!

Toby Daniels is the CEO of New York based Crowdcentric, which was founded as a means of bringing people together around the world via collaborative platforms that fuse real-world and online and mobile experiences, connecting people, content and conversation. Crowdcentric owns and operates Social Media Week. Follow Toby’s updates on Twitter.

Tags: "experience design", co-creation, collaboration, confucius, design
Posted in Featured, global, Opinion