Now and again we like spread the word about projects we hear about that are looking to do something different. This week, we thought we’d let you know about a Social Innovation Camp project, Jailbrake. Katee Hui explains more…
Today we’re really pleased to announce the launch of the next stage of the Safeguarding 2.0 initiative. Back in August last year we hosted a round table discussion in partnership with the Local Government Information Unit (LGiU) to talk about how we might use social web technologies to better safeguard children - and today we can announce that we have received initial funding from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) to carry out the research phase of the project.
Here at FutureGov we love nothing more than bringing together a wide range of people to think, share and collaborate on ideas and projects that will transform the way we do government, whether from inside government or in the social innovation space. Recently we have been in conversation with the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) discussing some of our ideas for social innovation but also how we can work with NESTA to help them achieve their wider goals of public service innovation, leveraging our exciting and diverse network of thinkers and doers in the government and social space.
As the keen followers of this blog will know, we like to organise (and attend) the odd event or two here at FutureGov. From FutureGov Network meet ups, to Gov2Gov events, to online film premieres, to lending a hand at bigger events like Gov20 Camp, Reboot Britain and Social Innovation Camp, we love getting out and about listening, learning and sharing. At all of these events and more besides, there has been a rapid growth in real time reporting on the goings on during the sessions due in no small part to the explosive adoption of tools like Twitter.
Today, FutureGov will be leading a session at the first (and hopefully last?! 
) Reboot Britain, an event pitched as an event aimed at exploring “how this new digital world can help revive the economy, rebuild democratic structures and improve public services”. The session falls within the Political Innovation Camp stream curated by the thoroughly democratic Paul Evans following on from some other fantastic looking sessions on the drivers of change and how we can push for the adoption of social media as a tool for (hyperlocal) engagement in local government.
A bit like back in March this year, it seems event time is upon again here in FutureGov Towers. So here’s just a quick post pulling it all together to let you know where you can find us in case you fancy coming along and joining in the fun yourselves.
A bit of a delayed post this one, but a couple of Wednesdays ago I was lucky enough to go along to a screening of Ivo Gormley’s new film Us Now. Pitched as “a film project about the power of mass collaboration, government and the internet”, Us Now focuses on the changing relationship between citizens and the state enabled by developments in technology and the expansion of the Internet.
As tipping points go, last week seemed like a pretty significant one in the world of UK government and social media. It was the week when Prime Minister Gordon Brown went on the attack looking to rebuff claims by opposition leader David Cameron once and for all that he was nothing more than an “analogue politician in a digital age”.
