Filed under: design thinking, service design | Tags: america, citizen, community, national, service nation
Service Nation is a campaign to inspire a new era of voluntary citizen service in America.
“Imagine an America where the most commonly asked question of citizen is “Where are you doing your service?”
This campaign aims to champion a bold new plan to expand opportunities for Americans to serve their nation at every life stage, making service a core value of American citizenship and a problem solving force in American society.
The goal is that by 2020, 100 million citizens will volunteer time in schools, workplaces, and faith-based and community institutions each and every year (up from 61 million today), and that one million Americans will annually volunteer for a year of national service.
Filed under: design thinking, made me think, people I like, reading and writing | Tags: epiphanies, rambling, spacecollective, the future of everything
Epiphanies…A series of rambles by SpaceCollective members sharing sudden insights and moments of clarity.
“Rambling is a time-proven way of thinking out loud, letting the non-linear mind run free while spontaneously hitting upon new ideas, often finding out that we have more to say than we imagined. One of the world’s most prolific ramblers was architect/thinker Buckminster Fuller who towards the end of his life talked for 42 hours in front of an audience in a lecture series he called Everything I Know. One of today’s best known ramblers is Slovenian thinker Slavoj Žižek.”
Most definitely worth a watch if you would like to be catapulted into a very philosophical mood:
“We need a collective intelligence of a kind that may not have characterized the human species in the past; but we see no reason to believe that…a whole population cannot reach a stage of mature self-consciousness much as an individual does.”
Filed under: people I like, service design | Tags: alice tyler, change, kate andrews, keep it, kept, luke nicholson, make things better, rubbish, stories, waste
I would like to introduce you all to the wonderful www.kept.it : Things don’t have to be rubbish
“The world has got a bit rubbish recently. Our relationship with stuff has become temporary, throw away, on a losing tip. Now is our moment to start making and using things better. The first step is easy: tell the world about the stuff you treasure, why you care, and why you Kept it”
Kept was created in 2009, by a group of designers, writers, policymakers and business folks; thought-leaders and change-heeders who want a world where products can bring joy without filling the world with rubbish. “We believe in getting the most out of things: that there is delight, nobility even in keeping treasured things and not simply buying new.”
Kept’s mission is to:
- Help people to reduce waste
- Make it easier for companies to ‘Make Things Better’
- Keep things out of landfill and in fashion
So how can you help and get more involved? Well, the first bit is easy: they are asking us to tell them our stories about all the beautiful things that we are keeping, and why!
You can do this in two ways – either enter your story straight onto http://www.kept.it, or if you use twitter just add #kept to your story. It’s that simple!
Filed under: people I like, service design | Tags: charity, family, prisoners, relationships, service design
Storybook Dads is an award winning service that aims to keep imprisoned parents and their children together.
The video is a little long, but it highlights the importance of the prisoners developing literacy and computer software skills. Storybook Dads also offers storytelling workshops, giving the prisoners the chance to write their child a story.
“Imprisoned fathers have a tendency to withdraw from the outside world, many losing contact with their children completely. A high percentage of prisoners come from a socially excluded background with over 25% having been in care as a child. Our research shows that a high percentage were never read to as a child and have never read to their own children. Literacy levels tend to be well below average with over half of prisoners having no qualifications and many having been excluded from school.”
One of the main aims of the service is to stop the cycle of offence from repeating itself and being passed on from parent to child. The charity also works with parents in the armed forces, who work away from their children.
Filed under: made me think, people I like, service design | Tags: america, doctor, health service, hellohealth, neighbourhood, patient, relationship
America’s Hello Health is a revolutionary new experience with your neighborhood doctor. They mix office and online visits to give you personal attention when and how you want it.
“Once upon a time, going to your doctor was simple. You knew his first name, or perhaps just called him “Doc.” He lived just down the street and made house calls. And if you were sick, you would see him that day, because, well, you were sick.
Then things started to change. Although medicine has made some amazing advances in keeping us healthy, we now have to contend with dietitians, insurance premiums, running shoes, deductibles, HMOs, OTC drugs, specialists, fat-free salad dressing, and therapists. Daunting, isn’t it?
But don’t worry, we’ve made going to the doctor easy again. Hello Health serves as your old-fashioned neighborhood doctor, remodeled for today’s lifestyle— an experience found nowhere else in health care. And, on top of being accessible and affordable, we focus on you, as a real live, busy person.
We can do all that because we love technology, the Internet, and especially our iPhones. You can talk to us like you’re talking to a friend: through emails, texts, phone calls, instant messages, or face-to-face conversations. Also, everything’s online, from making appointments to accessing your records.
It also helps we’re close by, living and working in your neighborhood. We like talking with you and spending the right amount of time with everyone. We believe that good communication in a close relationship— whether you’re feeling fit or not feeling well— is what keeps you at your best.”
A service site that is clear, simple and honest. I hope the health industry is ready to catch up.
Filed under: people I like, service design | Tags: bbc, design thinking, nicky smith, the guardian, user experience design
The Guardian talks to user experience design expert Nicky Smith.
“As senior research manager my role is to identify new trends or opportunities that could influence BBC strategy for digital products and services. I approach this using design thinking to take a user-centric approach to problem solving.
This can range from prototyping proof-of-concepts to exploring collaborations and partnership opportunities, either within the BBC or externally across industry and academia”
Great to read more about Nicky’s job after meeting her in twitter world…
Filed under: design thinking | Tags: business, design thinking, ideo, peter day, roger martin, service design, tim brown
Listen to a fantastic Design Thinking podcast via strategic design and innovation agents Plot
Peter Day talks to Tim Brown of Ideo and Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto on a new role for designers – redesigning what companies do.
Filed under: Red Jotter Work, design thinking, made me think, people I like, service design | Tags: learn, arne van oosterom, creativity, kate andrews, Lauren Currie, stories, intentions, grow
Intentions, is a collaborative project between Arne van Oosterom and Kate Andrews.
The aim of this project is to create a book of compelling stories from around the world, capturing how creative people struggle to make a difference, in an indifferent world.
The book ‘Intentions’ will tell stories about the importance of making mistakes. Because from failure we learn and grow. This is what being creative is all about. It is about learning by trying, sketching and experimenting. It is failure which makes us grow the most, not ’success’.
Intentions puts the importance of failure center stage for a change. As project researcher I would like to request your help! So, do you have a story to tell us about?
Please send your story (400 words max) before Tuesday 14th April 2009, to kcandr (at) gmail (dot)com, arne (at) designthinkers (dot) nl or myredjotter (at) gmail (dot) com
Filed under: made me think, reading and writing | Tags: mr torghele, new york times, pizza, pizza vending machine
In Italy, the vending machine even makes pizza! Over the last decade, Mr. Torghele, 56, an entrepreneur in this northern Italian city who first made money selling pasta in California, has developed a vending machine that cooks pizza. The machine does not just slip a frozen pizza into a microwave. It actually whips up flour, water, tomato sauce and fresh ingredients to produce a piping hot pizza in about three minutes.
Tomato paste is squirted onto the dough and cheese is added before it is lifted into a small infrared oven. The baked pizza then slips onto a cardboard tray and out into the customer’s waiting hands. Mr. Torghele says the pizza will cost as little $4.50, depending on the variety.
Sounds wonderful in some ways, yet in designing this service they have removed people, conversation and patience…
Filed under: made me think, people I like | Tags: IDEA, innovation, meeting, scotland, social change, social innovation camp, technology
The Social Innovation Camp is coming to Scotland! The Social Innovation Camp is an experiment in using social technology for social change.
“From Friday 19th to Sunday 21st June 2009 at the Saltire Centre in Glasgow, we’ll be attempting our usual trick and bringing together some of the best of the UK’s software developers and designers, together with those at the sharp end of social change. They’ll have just 48 hours to build some web-based solutions to a set of social problems – from back-of-the-envelope idea to working prototype, complete with software.
But first off, we start with a call for ideas: we want to find the most exciting ideas for how the web could change stuff that really matters. You can enter your idea when our call opens on the 30th March. And remember you don’t need to be based in Scotland to get involved.
We’ve got a new part of our website dedicated to Social Innovation Camp Scotland where you can read all about how it’s going to work over here.”
I am going to be in Berlin working with T-labs over those dates! Disappointed! Still very exciting this will be going on so close to home :)
Filed under: made me think, people I like, service design | Tags: innovation, nesta, public, service design, the lab
THE LAB innovates public services.
“The pressure on our public services has never been greater. Traditional thinking isn’t giving us solutions to deal with the scale and nature of the challenges we’re facing in the 21st century – challenges such as climate change, rising levels of immigration, and an aging population. We need to act, and soon, if Britain is to remain a thriving place to live, work and socialise.”
“Without bold new approaches, our public services will be over-stretched by the short-term demands of the recession and overwhelmed by the long-term challenges of the future. What alternative to radical innovation do we have?”
Filed under: made me think, people I like, reading and writing, service design | Tags: accident and emergency, alan johnson, apology, government, healthcare, NHS, poor service, stafford hospital
Health Secretary Alan Johnson has apologised to the families and patients who suffered appalling care at Stafford Hospital.
“He announced a review of current A&E services and a second inquiry to look at how long problems had been going on for at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.
He said: “On behalf of the Government and the NHS I would like to apologise to the patients and families of patients who have suffered because of the poor standards of care at Stafford Hospital. There was a complete failure of management to address serious problems and monitor performance. This led to a totally unacceptable failure to treat emergency patients safely and with dignity.”
Between 400 and 1,200 more people died than would have been expected at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust over three years, a report said.
Although it is not clear how many of these deaths could have been avoided, the Healthcare Commission said patients undoubtedly suffered as a result of lapses in the standard of care.
Its investigation, based on more than 300 interviews and an examination of over 1,000 documents, found inadequately trained staff who were too few in number, junior doctors left alone in charge at night and patients left without food, drink or medication as their operations were repeatedly canceled.
Some patients were left in pain or needing the toilet, sat in soiled bedding for several hours at a time and were not given their regular medication, the Commission heard.
Receptionists with no medical training were expected to assess patients coming in to A&E, some of whom needed urgent care.”
A service disaster.
Filed under: made me think, people I like | Tags: job centre, the school of life, employment
The School of Life is reinventing itself as an alternative job centre throughout April.
“We’re inviting turning the usual way jobs are advertised on its head. Rather than invite employers to advertise jobs for us to squeeze our ourselves into, we’re inviting you to write an ad for the job of your dreams, and let employers decide if they are able to offer it to you”
The instructions are simple:
Write your personal job ad, which advertises to the world the kind of person you are and what you care about.
Make sure that your ad includes:
• Your name or pseudonym (and maybe a personal motto)
• Personal qualities
• Talents
• Values and ambitions
• Anything else you wish (e.g. I want a job that where I laugh a lot, would like to use my Spanish, work abroad, expected salary)
• How you can be contacted
Send in your ads via the blog, or e-mail them to info@theschooloflife.com.
This is an exciting and very apt idea. Looking forward to reading the entries and submitting my own!
Filed under: Red Jotter Work, people I like, service design | Tags: askgeny, business, culture, e3 unlimited, future, generation y, life, work, world
I am part of Generation Y. We Control, Co-create, Connect and Collaborate. We are fueling a new world of work.
e3 Unlimited are re-thinking and re-inventing the way work works.
“Ask Gen Y launched in October last year, a research-based initiative to help educate organisations on this new generation entering the workforce . Ask Gen Y believes organisations need to embrace the new world of work and do some very different thinking.”
“We have been talked and written about, but so far it’s been all noise and no action.
Born between 1978 – 1998 Generation Y have been brought up to expect everything, and settle for nothing.
Growing up in the most dynamic economy in history, we’ve been told we can change the world. We are optimistic, upbeat and filled with a sense of empowerment. But we are a complex phenomenon and full of contradictions: technology savvy but creative, environmentally conscious yet mobile. We expect instant rewards but also expect long term development. We think like entrepreneurs but value relationships over money.
We’re a confusing bunch but we are the future.
Work these days naturally overlaps with life. Work used to be somewhere you’d go. Now it is something you do. Rather than focusing on balance alone, the new world of work is all about integration. It’s about having the tools, structures, processes, policies and culture to work anywhere,anytime.”
Filed under: made me think, service design | Tags: 2020, Ben Lucas, health, public service design, rsa, wellbeing
“The 2020 Public Services Trust at the RSA is a new, independent, think tank, which brings together policy makers, public service managers, civil servants, business and third sector leaders and consumer voices to debate and research how to improve public services.”
- What will be the characteristics required of public services to respond to the new challenges of 2020 Britain and what will the basis of the social contract between the individual and the state?
- How can social cohesion be maintained in the context of greater diversity and the development of personalised public services?
- How can behavioural challenges, both at a community and individual level, best be responded to?
- What organisational framework would be needed to deliver 2020 public services, how would they be paid for?
- How can citizens be properly empowered over public services, what role should the central state play, what should be devolved to local level?
- And how can we move towards a system based on commissioning for better outcomes?
Join Ben Lucas, director of the 2020 Public Services Trust, Alan Johnson MP, Matthew Taylor, chief executive, RSA to discuss public health. On Thursday 19 March at 10am Public Health: how to influence behaviour – nudge or nanny?
The perils of infectious disease, which shaped the NHS in the 20th century, have largely receded. The majority of illness in this country is caused by poor diet, smoking and lack of exercise. Poor health is disproportionately seen in disadvantaged communities, where poor local services and limited opportunities to exercise conspire with poor education and low aspiration.
The great challenge for policy makers is how to influence people’s behaviour – if health and wellbeing is to a large part decided by the day-to-day choices that people make, then when and how should the government intervene?
