Snook have partnered with NoTosh to create StramashLabs: a new platform to help broker conversations between the digital media industry and business from across Scotland’s other sectors. Stramash has been supported by Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Government.

Over the next six weeks we are looking for small and medium sized businesses in a wide range of business sectors who have a challenge that technology – and some bright thinking – could solve.

Small and medium sized businesses, technologists and creative thinkers need to form a team – big or small. They must include:
1. a problem that needs solved from an industry partner outside the realm of technology and tech startups
2. someone who can build technology solutions

We’re encouraging potential team members to meet and work through the challenges they find at one of four StramashLabs around Scotland: design thinking camps to get to the root of the problem and source potential solutions that can increase the bottom line of the companies involved.

Ideas can also be submitted online and, if they impress the judges, the best ones could win an amazing prize of worth over £20,000, ranging from business development, marketing and pitching advice, to help turn their idea to a reality.

Any Scottish business, technologist, potential maker or investor can  sign up for a StramashLab, float their idea , form a team with an industry partner and a geek and present their idea to the judges.

Here are some ideas around the kinds of problems and solutions that we might find, if we can get the right mix of business together:

a) You could build a digital app that helps the food and drink sector reach new customers

b) You could design a range of textiles that charge the products the wearer carries

c) You could create an app that helps you measure how much electricity you are using

d) You could make an app for the financial sector that helps you measure how much you spend

e) You could manufacture a product that enables you to survey your own home

We have a range of partners from different sectors who want to work with you. Here they are:
◦ aerospace
◦ chemical science
◦ construction
◦ energy
◦ financial services
◦ food and drink
◦ forest and timber
◦ manufacturing
◦ technology
◦ textiles
◦ tourism

The competition takes entries online until 5pm on the 19th March.

What are you waiting for? This is your chance to put Scotland on the map.

Stop dreaming. Start Doing.

www.stramashlabs.com

“Be Good Be Social as you know it returns on 17th May 2012 6-9pm at Big Lottery Scotland HQ in Glasgow. We’ve gotthree great speakers lined up and, for the first time, a panel Q&A session.

We’ve always taken on board feedback from Be Good Be Social attendees – we crowdsource all the speakers and we ask your opinions on how we should structure the evening.  We had tons of feedback asking for more practical hands-on social media training so I’ve put together a workshop programme in partnership with GCVS.

As well as the requests for training lots of people seem to like the idea of an all-day event, encompassing both inspiring talks and practical workshops. As luck would have it we were approached by GCVS recently to help them put together a digital media event and Social Media for Social Good was born.

Social Media for Social Good (still a working title) will take place all day on 26th April 2012 at The Albany Learning and Conference Centre, Glasgow. The event itself will be packed with amazing talks and a selection of practical workshops, encompassing topics such as video for the web, better blogging, facebook and twitter tips , social media strategy, online fundraising and more. We’re keen to keep the conference affordable so tickets will be under £100 – they’re going to be available via the GCVS website from 1st March onwards. We’ll let you know the full speaker and workshop line-up soon.

Don’t worry, Be Good Be Social as you know it will continue to run bi-annually but if our all-day event is a success we may continue to run these as well. Watch this space!

 

We have been big fans of Be Good Be Social since it began  and excited to see Snook’s friend Louise MacDonald as one of the speakers this time around! Big round of applause for founder Ross Mc Culloch for making this happen!  Make sure you are part of it!

Nowhereisland has already come to represent the possibilities for thinking about our values and beliefs as citizens. 52 Resident Thinkers from around the world are contributing to a year-long programme of Letters to Nowhereisland. Over 4000 people have already signed up to become citizens of Nowhereisland and will begin collectively writing the island’s constitution from January 2012.

This is a real place on the move. But it belongs to nowhere. It is an island nation that has come from a place that is deeply implicated by global decisions. It offers us the chance to reflect on where we belong and what nationhood means, and, in a time of global crisis, it opens up an opportunity to debate and consider important global questions that affect us all.

You can go read more about this incredible project. And while you are there you might want to become a citizen!

If you could address the citizens of a new nation what would you say? What advice could you offer? What challenges might your predict they face? Would you offer words of comfort and encouragement or warn of troubles ahead? Professors, campaigners, writers and celebrities have been lining up as Nowhereisland Resident Thinkers, now you have a chance to join them.

We’ve kept five of the prestigious 52 Resident Thinker weeks open for this competition and we’re asking people of any age and interests to enter, either individually or as part of a group. It’s your opportunity to have your say, reach thousands of Nowherians around the world and read their replies.

We are really sad it’s not coming to Scotland!

We are glad to announce the second event will happen on Friday 13th of April and this time we are looking at where Service Design is happening in Scotland and who is making it happen.

Who’s story would you like to hear or do you have a story to share? If so then get in touch with lauren(at)wearesnook(dot)com and we can talk about how you can be involved.

Don’t miss out and sign up!

An early train journey, short stroll through a eerie and beautiful chilly Glasgow, another train journey and a brisk walk brought me to my destination at 8:30am prompt.  Hillington Park Innovation Centre was the host for the Entrepreneur Pitch Presentation workshop by Silicone Valley’s Bill Joos, in conjunction with Informatics Ventures.

I was attending with the intention of learning what I could, so it could be applied to the development of Studio Unbound and myself, as well as acting as Social Reporter to involve anyone who would like to know (or didn’t realise they wanted to know) more about the event.

On the short walk from the station I got talking to David Townend (setting up a sort of ebook library) and although I have to admit I was less nervous than I expected, he put me completely at ease and I joined him at the front of the room to get settled for the rest of the day.

After teas, coffees and pleasant introductions the event commenced.  Each of us armed with a 36 page work book Bill began. His enthusiasm and experience reflected in his aging, animated face proved to avoke a few chuckles from the audience as he briefly discussed his rise to success.

The day was split in to four heavily detailed sections that related to the copies of the slides printed in the hand outs.  We were encouraged to use these documents to make notes, filling in the deliberately missing words and doing the workshop sheets.  As well as this Bill explained that we should flag up our own “Ahah” moments throughout the day, guaranteeing we would have at least 6 of these per section.

There is far too much to tell you all of what I actually learned content wise (and frankly if you want to know you should get yourself along to an event) but I will summarize each section.

The first section focused on the “Top Ten Mistakes in Business Plans”.  A key thing being that in effect all VCs (Venture Capitalists) are attention deficit and as a result you have a very short time to get their attention.  Being able to use a short period of time to efficiently convey your message was a key idea throughout the whole day and it was at this point that the first mention of “Long is lazy, short is hard” came up.  Whether it is in relation to pitch, presentation or introductions the concept remains.  That it is easy to spout out lots on a topic you personally know alot about, but the skill is in addressing what others really need to know and reducing the content so you can sell or promote an idea in a short space of time (the time that people are really paying attention).  It is probably the most lasting message I will take from this event on a personal level as the “short is hard” bit is something we have had to address a lot recently; whether it is reducing descriptions of whole projects to a few words or summing up ones self in an introduction to someone.  Just think of  Twitter, I am pretty sure anyone using it can say they’ve struggled to sum something up in 140 characters.

Another key point from this section, which again was referenced throughout the day was to “make it simple”.  At this stage it was in relation specifically to business plans but we learnt that it is applicable to many areas of business and pitch presentation.  As well as this there was a lot of discussion about the allowance of questions; from those presenting and those being presented to.  Bill discussed that by asking the right questions, people will tell you what they want them to give you.  I would say this was a cringey ”Ahah” moment for me as I began to see the relationship between the projects I was exploring through service design thinking and this concept.  By engaging people, talking to them, questioning them (in any way suitable or necessary) we are able to establish what needs improving, changing or implementing.

Throughout the break that followed there was the immediate migration to the back of the room for teas and coffees before we got straight back into it all.  This time tackling “Short Building” Elevator Pitch Presentation.  The idea being that you should be able to bag yourself a meeting with an investor in the time it takes to travel the height of a building, many thinking that is as long as 60-90 seconds when even the Empire State building only takes you on a 48 second journey.

Bill enforced the importance of a relaxed, direct but conversational approach to these interactions and we all took part in a short activity where he proved that when you talk to each other about business in a social environment it flows effortlessly and for a sufficient amount of time (social norms mean usually we don’t want to bore our company).  Yet, make a pitch and the canned speech comes out as well as the need to impart every detail on your innocent bystander, leaving them bombarded and ultimately uninterested.  The proverb “Say but little and say it well” became a mantra for this section.

We were then introduced to something brilliant; ever heard of The Ig Nobel Prize?  These prizes “honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think” and to win these they must pitch a complete technical description in 27 seconds followed immediately by a 7 word pitch that everyone understands.  We were asked to try this out on our “companies” and I took to the challenge wholeheartedly summing up what Studio Unbound does with “Educate power of social media, boost employability”.  This 7 word challenge really forced me to focus and I believe it would be very interesting to apply this on an individual level; a summery of me.  The remainder of this task involved working through “Who do you help?”, what is their “Main Pain”, what is your “Pain Killer” and what are the “Benefits” your pain killer delivers before pulling it together into a neat 59 word, 20 second (or near enough) pitch.  Simple.

The american in Bill made an appearance swiftly after this as we were all summoned to stand and pledge never to do “Add Ons” unless asked to.  Add ons being; what makes it possible, business drivers & business model and funding.

After some suspicious MI5 type eye contact communication between Bill and Danny Helson it was established we would take a 45 minute lunch before getting back to it.  This was a great opportunity to check on the @imasnookster Twitter feed I was using to assist my role as Social Reporter; indulge in nachos (it was a good spread) and chat with some interesting people.

The afternoon consisted of two more sections (the latter of which was apparently a bonus).  The first tackled in great detail how to put together an effective slide show presentation to assist a 30 minute pitch within an hour long meeting.  It was made perfectly clear that this was just Bill’s interpretation of the best techniques but he made it known the success rate he had had with it.  So many tips and pointers were raised here that it requires a talk of its own.  He discussed the importance of engaging your audience and tailoring that to specific environments.  For example, whipping out your laptop for a Power Point presentation at an informal meeting over lunch isn’t really appropriate.  However, inviting your companion to be involved in your idea by drawing on a napkin to explain an idea so seemingly only they will understand is; drawing and doodling directly with another can be ”hypnoptically involving”.

Afternoon break came round rather quickly and the surge for the biscuits commenced.  The final section that followed was essentially educating us on the differences between advisory boards and directors boards; helping us identify who would be good to sit on each and the hold they would have over the company.  It was a tough area to end a long day on and there was an air of fatigue in the room, even Bill seemed to be flagging a bit, but it didn’t stop everyone getting involved with the final tasks before taking the opportunity to network at the end.  A number of people were interested not only in what I was promoting as a representative of Snook but also in what I am persuing as an individual.  I left laden with business cards and a meet up in Dundee planned at the end of the month.  Success.

The opportunity to attend this event as a representative of Snook was fantastic, not only did I learn a lot from the main man Bill Joos and believe I have collected a great deal to benefit the Snook team; I also developed my abilities and understanding of social media.  It was evident to me it’s potential before I attended this event but by concerning myself with the aims of Studio Unbound I was really able to appreciate and benefit from it.  However, there is still a great lack of understanding by so many and I witnessed that today.  I had this sense that some people may think I was rude or not engaged in the event because I was Tweeting, although that couldn’t be further from the truth.  By sharing my findings, not only was I gaining knowledge but so could anyone else (plus I took a lot more notes than many others around me!).  Unfortunately though I don’t think Bill (even with his Apple pop up store) saw it the same way as he rounded off the event by congratulating the attendees on not “tweeting and texting” (pretty sure he saw me).  Encouragingly it was in response to this that David nodded to me, “Don’t worry, that’s your job”.  I like that.  It was my job.  For that day it was my job to share what I was learning, and in that instance, Twitter was the platform to do it on.

/>Nicola is the co-creator (with artist Sarah Lightman) ofLaydeez do Comics, a graphic novel forum with a focus on the new wave of comic work (‘more domestic than superheroes’) based on the drama of everyday life. I think this is fascinating and I’d love to know more!

The reviews are magnificent yet the concept so simple. I think this really taps into my thoughts on looking at death curiously and a designer’s mindset being of value in this space.

“This is a unique and moving memoir of what can’t be compared to anything else: the loss of one’s child. Going beyond the usual cliches about grief, it is not only harrowing and disturbing but acutely funny: the reader will laugh and cry, as Streeten teaches us more about loss than any of the standard textbooks on this subject. A brilliant and original book that deserves a wide audience.”

1. I often approach my work with a disclaimer that I am not an expert in the field I am working in ( could be social work one day and community planning the next ) this lack of knowledge is infact why I am the best person for the job.
2. The untapped knowledge of the public and communities is staggering. We need to take action on this.
3. The more disciplines that are crossed, boundaries that are smashed and networks that are created – the more knowledge will find its way to the right people at the right time.

The audience asked us about about making sure the voice of social innovation in Scotland is heard?  I don’t think there should be a ‘social innovation’ voice as such, because that puts people in boxes. Voices come first and then a space will come if it’s needed – more often than not the voices transform into stories and connections and that’s enough. What we need is better communication not a forum or a mailing list!

My final thought to the audience was this ( and I’d invite everyone reading this to take this onboard to )…

It is your responsiblity to share your knowledge. When did you last stop and think about who you are really sharing your knowledge with? Students, graduates and curious people from all over the world are hungry for information, inspiration and answers about this stuff. We have to step up to the mark. Join twitter, keep a blog and share your experiences, failings and learnings.

Oh, and practice what you preach! If I attend a social innovation event I expect it to be innovative – and if I am a social innovator then I should be applying this thinking to my life and my work.

It’s not very often these kind of events happen in Scotland so I was excited to be part of it! Glasgow Caledonian University’s –  Social innovation: New Pathways and Alternative Solutions:

“There is a growing recognition that Social Innovation has a crucial role to play in economic development. This shift in focus will have a significant impact on many areas including research and knowledge transfer and will inevitably lead to a sea-change in the way we deliver and measure our activities over the coming years.

We have brought together an international selection of researchers, practitioners and policy makers to present their expereience and discuss the major issues surrounding social innovation:

How can universities support social innovation?

How might social innovation shape the research agenda?

How can social innovation be measured. scaled-up, transferred or sustained?

How does the EU conceive of and promote social innovation?

How can social innovation support policy making in tackling key-problemss like youth unemployment?

What role can Scotland play in developing it’s own social innovation agenda?

How scan social innovation support Scottish authorities and governments?

I was impressed by the questions they were posing (although the title was a little dry) The morning kicked off with Geoff Mulgan, CEO of NESTA talking about what is next for social innovation. He admitted the area of social innovation is in the very early stages of development and is hard to define,  although he shared his own definition with the audience:

“Innovations that are social in their ends and their means”

He shared some interesting examples that we have known and loved for a long time – like  Social Innovation Camp and Enabled By Design but it would be good to see new examples or updates of their work.

I was keen to learn more about the Birmingham Civic Dashboard - a platform that receives a report of the requests that come in from members of the public for services from Birmingham City Council each day. It then produces a number of visualisations of that data, such as showing them on a map. Geoff also talked about the Alliance for Useful Evidence which is a response to the fact that many projects look great but don’t actually work when they run the test of reality.

He used Turner’s famous painting of the Fighting Temeraire as a metaphor for where social innovation is at.

“Every day visitors flock to see the great warship glowing in sepulchral light as she is towed to the breaker’s yard by a steam tug.”

We have to make space for the new – and this means to make way for the new we need to get rid of the old.

Geoff admited the pracitce is very much in the lead over theory in this space. There is such a wide range of people doing work in this space:

• web entrepreneurs
• innovators
• community projects
• mutuals and coops
• politicians and parties
• design advocates
• user groups
• NGO’s
• professions
• service design companies
• social scientists
• social entrepreneurs
• policy makers
• IT / e-government
• consultancies
• public sector managers

Geoff shared links and diagrams from the Open Book of Social Innovation from the Young Foundation that got everyone scribbling in their books!

Louise Pulford, Director of Social Innovation Exchange, was up next to talk about the new kind of community social innovation is creating

“Nearly every problem has been solved by someone, somewhere. The challenge of the 21st Century is to find out what works and scale it up”  President Clinton

Louise’s approach was refreshing and interesting and I was humbled that me and Sarah played such a big part in her talk!

“Social Innovation rejects the notion that innovation only occurs in one sector. It assumes that public, private and non-profit officials can be the problem but it takes more than one of them to be the solution…This is for leaders no matter who they are, from start-up entrepreneurs to seasoned professionals” Stephen Goldsmith, The Power of Social Innovation

I respected the way Louise addressed the audience as coverts and challenged us with some key questions:

• How can we build up new finance flows for social innovation?
• How can we effectively scale or replicate great ideas?
• What are the skills most necessary for social innovators and how do we build their capacity?
• What are the nest and worst models for incubators and hubs?
• What does an effective policy for social innovation look like?
• How can platforms for social innovation be improved and what tools will be using in 2015?

We were lucky to catch Louise the night before to treat her to some haggis! She rocks! Thank you to Cassie for making the introduction!

Throughout the day I heard a lot of people say “I didn’t know I was a social innovator until I came here” and I often hear people say “Oh, I didn’t realise I was a service designer until I met you” – I think it’s great for people to find something they feel part of and can connect to but I also think creating boxes and disciplines is not a good thing. What we need to focus on is…

What I did learn is that the people doing social innovation I’m interested in are from lots of different worlds and that can be a little bamboozling for them and for the people around them; design, business, tech, start-up, private, public, third sector… they all have different languages, values and voices.

Linda McKie talked about Communities, Charities and Networks from the Glasgow School for Business and Society. They are launching a social innovation training scheme and I was fascinated by there insights into why social innovation is a double edged sword.

We heard from funding bodies that support social innovation and they were open about the fact they need to get better at spreading the good work they do to policy level. Funders need help finding better ways to engage and tell their story to the world!

The theme of story telling kept cropping up and I think this community needs to ask itself who is listening and who can we learn from in terms of different ways to communicate? Knowledge is great but Snook want to see all the knowledge out there being made into ideas – knowledge should result in change and action! Make things happen!

Geoff Mulgan joined us at the end of the day to conclude  and there was a focus on evaluation:

“We measure what we can measure rather than measure what matters”

We need methods to find out what practitioners need to know in terms of evidence. How often do you think about the impact your work is having and who do you talk to about it? How often do you talk to your peers? There are bodies like Evaluation Support Scotland who help charities to evaluate and learn. I also learned about places like the Cochrane Foundation who work together to provide the best evidence for health care and the Campbell Collaboration  who make systematic reviews of research evidence available to policy makers, practitioners, researchers and the public.

As a community, we are much to nervous about plagiarism  and I loved how Louise coined it:

“It’s a joy to be copied”

There was consensus the one common characteristic of social innovators is persistency. Our solutions have to be transferrable and scalable because what works in one place won’t necessarily work in another. This stuff has been around for thousands of years yet why do we all feel the need to start afresh?

“This festival celebrates something we all have in common. Death is a subject we are fascinated by and fearful of; it is a favourite topic of all arts and all societies find rituals to deal with it. But most of us ordinary mortals find discussing it quite tricky – even though the more information we have about it, the easier it is to face. This weekend is not about morbidity, sentimentality or sensationalism. In fact it’s a weekend full of delight and humour. It’s about hearing the powerful stories and surprising facts from people who have had to sort out practically and emotionally how to face up to the greatest and most challenging of all certainties.”

Jude Kelly, OBE, Southbank Centre Artistic Director

Where to begin? I was utterly fascinated by every single person in the audience. I sat in audiences made up of every age, race and character. But why a death festival? Lemn Sissay, Associate Artist at the South Bank Centre, started to answer that question for me by reciting some of his poems. Invisible Kisses  raised enormous applause and was the one that really touched me.  He asked all of us why we don’t celebrate crying and where do we go to cry? Jude Kelly set the tone of the weekend by sharing the loss of her son to cot death, her openess was admirable and I really believed her when she talked about why she wanted to curate a festival of death in the first place.

What’s the one thing you’ll do before you die? People shared their new year’s resolutions, pledges and life-long dreams on a giant chalkboard as part of an on-going international project by artist Candy Chang.  This was so simple yet so effective. I loved coming in on the Sunday to see it blank again and watch it filling up over the day. I was amazed by the range of statements on it – everything from ‘become a farmer’ to ‘loose weight’. This is a classic example of a what Snook call “generative design techniques” that are used to connect, innovate, make, tell and share. Generative tools must be useful and usable for all types of people and it doesn’t get much simpler than a blackboard. Tools like this provide a design language for everyone, designers as well as non-designers, to provoke imagination, stimulate ideas and stir emotions and Candy Chang is superb at creating them on a large scale.

Sam Winston created a pop-up registry office, commemorating the quarter of a million people who are born and die in the space of 12 hours around the world. I drew circles to represent my loved ones and register their names in writing. The reason this worked so well was the fact that unlike the blackboard it didn’t really have any emotions attached to it. I read a whole wall of names, but they were just names with no messages or personal anecdotes and that made it work. I liked that they focused on birth as well as death. Although projects similar to this sometimes feel a little self indulgent this one felt it was in the right place at the right time.

I went along to a death cafe, described as a “good old heart to heart and a nice slice of cake”. By a chance twitter meeting I discovered one of the girls who was sitting across wrote a detailed post about the experience ( we were advised the session was confidential but the post does give you a feel for what it was like ) I was intrigued by the funeral director who spends his time taking photographs of funeral shop fronts as they are so out-dated and in-humane. I think the concept of death cafe is brilliant and the idea of a pop up death cafe lends itself well to Start Up Street Stirling.

“Overall, the discussion was disjointed yet eye-opening. Even with my limited experience of death and loss I found it fascinating. Understandably, I don’t think it’s a subject most people want to dwell on all the time and I can imagine people thinking that it’s a strange way to spend an afternoon. However, in a forum such as this and made cheerier with tea and cake, there is no reason why we shouldn’t be more open and progressive about discussing  a universal subject which remains something of a taboo in our society. Death Cafe has plans to branch out from their Hackney home and encourages people to hold their own meetings. So if you ever get the opportunity to attend one of these dark tea parties, I urge you to give it a try. You’ll be almost guaranteed to meet a weird and wonderful selection of people and it’ll certainly give you food for thought.”

‘Gone but not erased: Digital Death’ was led by PhD student Stacey Pitsillides, she talked to us about what happens to our data after we die. She is also involved in Digital Death Days - which I’m interested in too. I must admit I was disappointed in this session as a lot of questions were posed but no answers or alternative solutions were shown. I follow Stacey online and didn’t discover anything I didn’t know already but I think the questions she is asking are highly relevant. For example, do I need a will for my digital self ?  Will all funeral homes follow the example of Conley Funeral Homes in Ireland who live stream funerals for relatives who can’t be there in person?  Of course my data is part of my digital personality so I wonder how my family and ( offline )  friends would know who I love and respect in my online world? In the past when someone died their relatives sort out their home and all their belongings, now the same thing has to happen to our laptops and our i-phones? It’s a fascinating area and it looks like the place to be connected to around all this stuff is Digital Beyond . I wonder if Facebook and Twitter are thinking about formulating death policies?

Meghan O’Rourke talked to an audience about her memoir ‘The Long Goodbye’ which is a profound exploration of the nature of grieving. She wrote the book after her mother died from cancer at 55. I am in awe of her story and her openness. She talked about grief in a way I have never read about or heard before – so real and raw. The reality is that we don’t know how to behave when someone dies – no-one shows us or tells us – it is the one experience that unifies us and such an opportunity for connection – is a sympathy card the best we can do? Meghan talked about the work of Kevin Young and shared beautiful snippets of poetry that helped her face her grief. Isn’t it curious that our society is somewhat comfortable with mass grieving for people we don’t personally know but we find it so difficult to be open with bereaved people we do know.  Meghan introduced me to the concept of anticipatory grief – something that happens when you are told a loved one only as a certain time to live. This also happens when loved ones are diagnosed with long term conditions as their families grieve the person they were before the disease.

Over one million people die by suicide every year, and there are an estimated 15 to 20 million attempted suicides every year worldwide. I went along to “Suicide – not waving or drowning” to listen to a panel of experts talk about the causes of suicide, the effects of suicide spots on local communities and how different cultures and religions view suicide.  Film maker Jez Lewis showed us his film ‘Shed your tears and walk away’ and I was shocked to learn that the police and the NHS boycotted the showing of the film in the local area. I have read about the idea of suicide becoming infectious in The Tipping Point but watching this video reinforced the fact that the more people you know who have committed suicide the more it becomes an option – it becomes the norm. Statistics really matter when it comes to suicide mainly because they don’t reflect the truth – five people on Jez’s street had committed suicide yet the statictis didn’t show anything abnormal. Also, statistics don’t break down suicide by race or ethnicity which is important when 75% of those who commit suicide are men.  The language around suicide is also topical because people find the word ‘committed’ offensive.

Rosetta Life  presented a series of short films made with people with life-threatening illnesses about the things that matter most ; stories of cancer, self discovery and truth that go to the heart of pallIative care.  They showed a wonderful film of a lady dancing with the hands of a man with a neurological disease. He told the camera “Movement keeps me in relationship” – there was something so powerful about these films around the intimacy of touch. It seems at the end of your life touch becomes a clinical thing but touch is so important. Touch and intimacy in health is an area I want to know more about as I think it could add so much value yet we shy away from it – even when we are healthy! I am looking forward to the book Cassie Robinson is curating,due to be published in Spring of this year, with 14 authors, discussing the practice and experience of intimacy and vulnerability in different aspects of our lives, and how empathy scales in public services. Death is surely one of the most intimate experiences and yet often happens in a clinical situation.  We were shown an incredible film commissioned by Labour peer and political strategist Lord Philip Gould, who died in November 2011. There was a part of me that watched this thinking of the people who could never afford to have a film made or a story written about them before they die – yet so many probably could if they were shown how easy it was using flip cams, wordpress and the like.

This event was most definitely one of a kind. I met some fantastic people such as Dr John Troyer from the Centre of Death and Society at The University of Bath , chaps from the service Tell Us Once, ladies from The Samaritans and the folks from Dying Matters. It was great to meet people who were enthusiastic and keen to listen to my ideas and share their stories and experiences.

I can’t wait to see what The SouthBank Centre are going to do next in the space and I really hope they step up to the mark in terms of doing something really worthwhile and meaningful. Jude Kelly shared a little of the feedback she had got so far – next time people want to talk about survivors guilt and accidental murder ( of course the latter evoked a reaction ) maybe by then someone will have developed a ‘Kill My Facebook’ app or death will have become a disease that is curable.

To give you an insight into the scale of the conversation, here are some figures from #deathfest.

“500 tweets generated 829,478 impressions, reaching an audience of 143,340 followers within the past 24 hours”

I can say with absolute confidence the Death Festival has made me think differently and taught me things about the world and myself. Now I feel it is my responsibility to share my experience with all of you and I want you all to ask yourself two questions:

1: What do you want done with your body when you die?

2: Have you told your next of kin?

Asking these questions can open us up to really human and loving conversation.

Snook are working with Cassie Robinson to determine how we go about  making a difference in this space. This weekend’s conversations confirmed our thoughts around the massive need for people-centered thinking around end of life services. There are several areas in particular such as the transition between paediatric to adult care, the learning about death in education and the absolute basic need for practical information. There are also issues and problems around the role of intimacy in health and and how services are joined up, after all there is no shared languages or rituals. And of course it isn’t all about services or design, but the fundamental human nature of it and how we share that as a culture, letting go and making room for new.

The one theme that cropped up time and time again for me over this weekend was storytelling. The anecdotes tell the truth in suicide – statistics and numbers don’t tell the truth because we learn through stories. Every single thing death throws at you there is a story somewhere proving you can do it. There are stories about making or doing – where a 93 year old train driver tells you his life lesson is to fight for what you believe in.

We need to find a relaxed way to talk about the things that unite us. What about the relationship the media has with death? The way the Hebden Bridge suicides were reported was simple not acceptable! Designers might not think of themselves as a storytellers, but in many ways, they are. The success of a designers work is dependent upon how well we tell the story and narrative of our process to the world and this is just one example of where I think the skills of designers link up with this space. Are death services seen as public services? it would appear the answer is no – they are seen has either charitable or money-making with little in between.

Do you know people doing good work in this space? Do you have a story you would like to share? Do you want to join us in looking at death with curiosity? Send me an email at lauren (at) wearesnook (dot) com

]]> http://wearesnook.com/snook/2012/02/02/death-a-festival-for-the-living/feed/ 0 http://wearesnook.com/snook/2012/02/01/snook-are-hiring-2/ http://wearesnook.com/snook/2012/02/01/snook-are-hiring-2/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:48:57 +0000 Lauren http://wearesnook.com/snook/?p=2311 Are you an exceptional designer? Do you want to make Scotland a better place to live?  We are on the hunt for a new Snookster who is passionate about using design to transform services and experiences.

Your sterling service design skills, graphic design ability and fantastic understanding of everything web-related will be put to the test working on projects spanning across our private, public and third sector client base and our in-house ventures.

Read more about this opportunity here 

Sound like you? Apply by sending a CV, 250 words explaining why you want to be Snookster and 2xA4 sheets of your best work that shows us why you are the right person for this job to jobs@wearesnook.com

You must be available for a face to face interview on the 17th Feb in Glasgow.

Deadline for applicants is the 10th Feb at 12pm, we will not accept applications after this time.

We will let successful interview applicants know they have been selected for a face to face interview on the 13th Feb.

We can’t wait to hear from you!

I’ve just returned from Sweden where I had the pleasure of delivering a lecture to the Service Design students at Linköping University.  I was told to ‘be an inspiration’ and show the connection between the methods they are learning and what you can do with this.

I think this is something every designer should have the opportunity to do, to see some of the possibilities of where people can go after their studies.  I’m a big fan of pushing people towards less traditional domains, and taking the challenge to apply design to new context/problems/systems/places.  At our Service Design thinks event last week, a quote by Mark Beever stuck out for me,

“Don’t grudge that you didn’t end up doing design if that is what you studied”

This is so true, in fact, as my old tutor would say, at Glasgow School of Art, they were teaching me how to think (albeit by doing, I’m a maker at heart), and we should accept and celebrate that we won’t all end up working for design consultancies.

A few students came up at the end and I was pleased to hear them say it had been inspirational, that they had alot to think about and if there were ways in which psychology and cognitive studies could align with design.  Of course I said yes and thank you for the kind words.

The trip was also great to spend time talking with the Linkoping (incredibly well published) team and PHDers.  Most interest for me was a discussion on how we can bridge the gap between academia and practitioners.  We outlined accessibility as a main barrier to shared conversation, and looked at ways in which the team could consider themselves in a knowledge exchange role.

Thank you to Linkoping for being so welcoming and bringing me to Sweden, and for my first Fika.