The i4SM prospectus outlines the basis upon which the Institute has been formed. It asks more questions than it answers, but is designed in this way to provoke thought, comment and feedback.
We have just completed the updates to our prospectus for 2009. You can either view the entire prospectus online by clicking here or, if you prefer, you can download it in PDF format here.
Early in 2009 we will be developing a wiki based version of the prospectus so our interested partners can contribute.
The preface to the prospectus is provided as an except below:
So much to learn
The “Institute for Social Media” is an initiative of the ONE-Manchester partnership (which is led by the Manchester Digital Development Agency – MDDA); Manchester Business School and other partners. It is linked to the proposed Matrix Digital Co-operative and to the UK’s Digital Challenge initiative. It aims to provide a new collaborative platform for social innovation which will explore how new technology and media support the development of new social infrastructure.
These might emerge in the form of new businesses, new governance arrangements and new community interaction. The institute aims to be an integral part of cementing Manchester’s standing as a digital city-region and knowledge hub. As part of this, it seeks to learn from experiences across the globe.
Social Media is a topic area that we just beginning to explore; it is one in which we all have so much to learn.
So much to gain
Manchester has so much to offer and yet it has so much to gain by being the centre of this quest for new thinking, new experience and new practice. As the ‘original, modern’ city it has been a centre of media innovation and social change for more than 200 years.
Now, today, we see changes to media affecting many different areas of activity in the city; from the download and remix culture of today’s youth through to changes in political accountability and debate on the city’s streets. Education is changing. Business is changing. Even the physical infrastructure of the city itself is changing. We see this most obviously in the development of Manchester’s Sharp Factory and Media City:UK at Salford Quays.
Today and in the future, more than ever, Manchester is aiming to stimulate imaginative new ideas about urban life, social regeneration and sustainability.
Prospectus
This prospectus is, for the most part, a series of questions. It is a series of admissions about things we do not yet know. It is a prospectus for finding out, a prospectus for research. The questions raised are broad and cover many areas. It is anticipated that they will be honed and refined as the proposals take shape.
The Institute for Social Media will seek to push forward a major research agenda and give the Manchester conurbation global prominence as a centre for activity and study in the area of Social Media.
The prospectus is organised as follows:
Introduction: ‘A Disruption to the Way Things Are’.
Governance: ‘Questions of How We Govern, How we Organise?’
Economic Growth and Restructuring: The New Media Society
Manchester: the City; the Region and New Media.This is just the start, we want to engage and network with everyone who is interested in joining us, please join in and comment at the i4SM blog.
Professor Peter Kawalek, Manchester Business School.
