Amplified Leicester

The Model

Excerpted from the NESTA report Amplified Leicester: Impact on social capital and cohesion

Amplified Leicester was an experiment which has proved much more powerful than originally anticipated. Local agencies and companies are approaching us to find out how they can amplify their own communities and workplaces, and we are planning further academic research to interrogate the impact of the project and identify further lines of enquiry. The model is currently rather fluid and it is important that it remains so for a while in order that it can be developed with imagination and appropriateness. This is essential if it is to be tried in communities which may be very different from the City of Leicester. In that spirit of openness and flexibility, we offer the following open source model for development.

The Model

Our model is in two stages. The first stage is analysed in the NESTA report and archived here. The second is underway at the new community website, via the innovative Vision2020 partnership, dedicated to imagining the future of our city, and in the new Amplified Resilient Community, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and starting in March 2011. You can also follow our progress on Twitter via #ampleic.

Stage 1: Cocoon – The Consciously Amplified Group

Create a trusted collaborative space where deep diversity flourishes, ideas flow, and social media connects.

Features of the Cocoon stage include a closed group covering a highly diverse range of education, IT skills, employment, culture, and ethnicity; a commitment to working within a shared space for an agreed period of time; fearless openness to encounters with big ideas; a focus on social media tools and concepts; personalised tech support where necessary; and a conscious awareness of transliteracy and amplification.

Stage 2: Emergence – From the Amplified Group to the Amplified City

Provide a PUBLIC trusted collaborative space where deep diversity flourishes, ideas flow, and social media connect.

Our experience has indicated that there is a case for the appointment of trained ‘social media community organisers’ who are skilled in transliteracy and amplification techniques. Ideally, these workers will have been drawn from participants who have been through the Cocoon stage and can use online and offline platforms to establish areas of common ground across and between existing diverse networks.

Amplified Leicester continues to influence the way people in Leicester view the potential of social media to amplify individuals and organisations. Its wide-ranging perspective is seen as an essential element for a city looking ahead and the ethos of Amplified Leicester can be found in a number of projects in development at the time of writing.

We are keen to encourage others to develop this work and look forward to hearing from communities and organisations interested in trying out the model and adapting it to their needs. Please contact us at the addresses below:

Professor Sue Thomas, Faculty of Humanities, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester LE1 9BU T: +44 (0)116 2078266 E:[email protected]

Thilo Boeck, Centre for Social Action, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester LE1 9BU T: +44 (0)116 257 7879 E:[email protected]

Vacancy: Impact Research Fellow, De Montfort University

Impact Research Fellow, De Montfort University
Part time 0.5 FTE, Fixed term for 6 months

This post is a unique opportunity to analyse the impact of a group of key social media projects in relation to business innovation and the growing field of transliteracy research. It is ideally suited to a scholar wishing to examine the importance of impact in relation to a substantial example of social media practice. The material to be researched includes archives of the NLab business and social network, including CreativeCoffee Club, and of Amplified Leicester, a city-wide experiment in social media. The Transliteracy Research Group originated in the Institute of Creative Technologies at DMU and is led by Professor Sue Thomas and Kate Pullinger. The post is managed by Professor Thomas and situated within the Faculty of Humanities. You will also work closely with the Institute of Creative Technologies.

You should already hold a PhD in a related topic and have previous experience of working on research projects including gathering data via interviews and surveys. You should be able to communicate complex information, orally, in writing and electronically, and be able to communicate material of a specialist or highly technical nature. It is essential that you are a regular and experienced user of social media and have practical skills in social media applications in either business or academic contexts

Closing date 11 October 2010. The post begins on 10 January 2011. More Information

Amplified Leicester: Impact on social capital and cohesion (NESTA report)

NESTA have published a report by Thilo Boeck and Sue Thomas on the impact of Amplified Leicester on social capital and cohesion. Amplified_Leicester.pdf

In the report they concluded that whilst social media is an important tool, it is the process of amplification which will really contribute to social cohesion. As such, amplification is not about making a noise about the city but enhancing the capabilities of individuals and groups to cope with the complexities of modern life. (p6)

Part of the purpose of the project was to develop a transferable model. The idea  (see p7) is as follows:

Stage 1: Cocoon – The Consciously Amplified Group
Create a trusted collaborative space where deep diversity flourishes, ideas flow, and social media connects.
Features of the Cocoon stage include a closed group covering a highly diverse range of education, IT skills, employment, culture, and ethnicity; a commitment to working within a shared space for an agreed period of time; fearless openness to encounters with big ideas; a focus on social media tools and concepts; personalised tech support where necessary; and a conscious awareness of transliteracy and amplification.

Stage 2: Emergence – From the Amplified Group to the Amplified City
Provide a PUBLIC trusted collaborative space where deep diversity flourishes, ideas flow, and social media connect.
Our experience has indicated that there is a case for the appointment of trained ‘social media community organisers’ who are skilled in transliteracy and amplification techniques. Ideally, these workers will have been drawn from participants who have been through the Cocoon stage and can use online and offline platforms to establish areas of common ground across and between existing diverse networks.

We'd be grateful for feedback and discussion of the report at the new public Amplified Leicester community.