I’m pulling together a list of interesting, thought-provoking reading on how design, technology and change (the three things that, for me, define ‘digital’) can help organisations that work in the community, voluntary, charity, non-profit, social enterprise type space.
Is there a less clumsy way of describing these organisations? I think under the last Labour government, ‘the third sector’ was adopted, but that seems to be used less these days. Have heard ‘civic sector’ and ‘civil society’ bandied around, but don’t know how well established those terms are. Any help on that one?
Anyway, I’ve found a few I will point to here:
- The New Reality (Julie Dodd)
- Tech for Common Good, NPC
- Change for Good, NAVCA
Any others? Leave a note in the comments or on Twitter and I will add them.
Hi Dave
I’d add to the list
– Beth Kanter’s books (The Networked Nonprofit, and Measuring the Networked Nonprofit) and her blog: http://www.bethkanter.org
– Tech for Good: http://www.techforgood.global (I love their podcasts http://www.techforgood.global/radio/)
– Liam’s book Anarchists in the Boardroom: http://morelikepeople.org/the-book/
– Some of the great blog posts from the last few years by Nick, Gavin and Steph at Podnosh: http://podnosh.com
– Nesta’s work on hyperlocal media: http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/here-and-now-uk-hyperlocal-media-today and the Creative Citizens project work on hyperlocal publishing http://creativecitizens.co.uk/hyperlocal-publishing/
– Plus a resource I’ve added to Feedly but not explored yet: Nonprofit Tech for Good: http://www.nptechforgood.com
I can honestly say though, as someone working in the sector you are referring to that a lot of what inspires me and that I learn from isn’t aimed at my sector specifically. I learn from people like you who I find through twitter networks, Local Gov Camp and Local Gov Digital. I am in awe of people like Joel Gascoigne from Buffer with a bonkersly open business model (this was just awesome to go along to: http://siliconcanal.co.uk/fireside-joel-gascoigne/). It’s things I read on sites like Shareable http://www.shareable.net which often mention tech and tech based companies that open my eyes to what’s happening. And it’s working with people in the world of design, such as Tessy Britton (@tessybritton), and Chris Sadler and Daniel Bylden of Spaghetti (@SpaghettiLabs) which help me think about the role tech could play in my work. So if someone in my sector really wanted to harness to potential of digital, I’d say follow/hang out with some folk from the strategic/service/social design world and read the stuff they are reading. And dive into some good writing on Medium.
Thanks Lorna – great list!