Thursday 10 April 2014

Social innovation and digital technologies - taking a critical perspective

Digital technologies tend to be talked about as enablers of social innovation, possessing a potential for creating disruptive and transformative change. For me this perspective is exemplified by simplistic arguments that social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, have transformed communication and so can now be used to help solve the major challenges faced by society (e.g. climate change and sustainability, demographic change, social exclusion …). By viewing digital technologies solely as enablers of social innovation we are only considering part of the picture.  Rather as a digital technology develops and is used by people a subtle and ever changing balance of positive and negative impacts also develops. So whilst digital technologies can help social entrepreneurs and innovators to address pressing social needs, we also need to recognise that these same technologies also create social needs. For example, the infrastructure of digital devices (smartphones, tablets etc.) can indeed enable social innovation, but only thanks to the unsustainable and often exploitive use of rare earth metals in the manufacture of these devices (which in turn of course contributes to other social needs).

The contradictory impacts of digital technologies are also important considerations in the design and development of specific social innovations. Here we can explore and talk about the balance of positive and negative impacts on individuals and their day-to-day experiences. As an illustrative example we can consider a social innovation that requires the more widespread use of digital technologies within school classrooms and seeks to improve educational outcomes. In such a case can space be created for students, teachers and parents to influence the balance of impacts, by exploring questions such as: how does the use of the technology help students to mindfully engage with the learning process? How does the technology act to increase the potential for digital distraction and information overload? How does the technology change the posture of children within the classroom? And is this likely to contribute to adverse health impacts? Ultimately I am suggesting that, in some very small way, a social innovation enabled by digital technology should prompt individuals, groups and institutions to consider a very large and challenging question. How can we live well in a world pervaded by digital technologies? By doing so we challenge the prevailing narrative that technologies are a social good and that any negative impacts are just the inevitable and necessary consequences of the onward march of technological progress.

When we talk about social innovation it is critical to recognise that it is an inherently political process. Where innovation is orientated to addressing a social need we challenge established interests, create conflicts, and call for redistribution of social and economic resources. Where digital technologies are involved in social innovations and are considered as solely as enabling tools, we mask and overlook some of the politics involved. We look for the positive in the technology and overlook the potential downsides, and so run the risk of pursuing an ill-fated technological fix to a political issue.