The term is social innovation. It refers to a new emphasis on human capital, thinking more deeply about how we live, what we consume, what we value. The White House has embraced the notion, forming an Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation. Among the leading proponents of this school of thought is British scholar Geoff Mulgan, a former adviser to Tony Blair, who urges a reorienting of investment away from old, struggling industries in favor of promising new ones.
One of our assignments at KDMC multimedia web 2.0 camp at UC Berkeley included watching a “TED Topic” video, absorbing the point of the talk, then interviewing people on the streets about some aspect of it. My colleague Zeninjor and I, with the capable grad student Luisa, set documentary filmmaking back 100 years, and have the video to prove it. But we did manage to get some interviews, edit them up, and produce the accompanying video. This might also set the social innovation movement back a few decades. Here it is:
A handy doomsday clock:
Stanford University has a Center for Social Innovation that produces a smart review of the topic.
Canadian non-journalist offers his links and thoughts about Social Innovation.
America Forward is a coalition of entrepreneurial nonprofits.
Not many news organizations cover social innovation. The Chronicle of Philanthropy is one.
Some readers might want to know where to go to take action. This site is for the Corporation for National and Community Service, and arm of the federal government.
