The third catalyst for social change is new visual media. Personal relations and experiential learning are powerful tools made more powerful by the real-time, far-reaching effects of new visual media. Of course, while we use the tools of this new tradition, we have to be careful to make sure new media doesn’t decrease face-to-face interactions (weakening relationships) or replace experiential learning with passive, time-wasting content. Most of that stabilization will happen on an individual, family, and neighborhood basis.
With proper balance and stabilization, visual media has the unique ability to spread messages in innovative ways almost instantaneously. This form can take local solutions and ideas and apply them globally, allowing for sweeping social change at a much faster rate.
The John and Abigail center will partner with the Archive Studio to harness the power of the new visual media for social change,
Archive Studio
The main goal of the archive studio is to leverage societal solutions by formatting and publishing the messages and services of social entrepreneurs in innovative ways. Social entrepreneurs recognize a problem in society and create solutions and organizations to address these problems. Instead of focusing on profit and the bottom line, social entrepreneurs focus on the amount of positive social change their ventures accomplish.
The trouble is, social entrepreneurs often don’t have time to build and run a business with all the marketing, hours, and equipment necessary to spread their ideas. There is often a disconnect between social entrepreneurs working to create change and people who are looking for ways to have a more meaningful life but don’t know where to start.
That is where the Archive Studio comes in. It is first a production studio, where societal solutions are developed and produced. Social entrepreneurs will bring their ideas and content to the Studio for help with production and distribution. They will be able to film, create podcasts, build simulations, and produce written content with the help of Archive experts. The Archive website offers an online portal for exposure and access to the materials the social entrepreneurs create.
Of course, social entrepreneurs will be compensated for their work. Unlike other studios that take a large margin of the profits and retain the rights to intellectual property, Archive Studio only retains 15% of the proceeds of any given product to fund operations. The social entrepreneur maintains the rights to their own intellectual property.
Social entrepreneurs are unique in that they not only need to inform and inspire, but to help people follow through, improving their quality of life. This kind of social transformation requires consistent initiative over a period of time and is seldom easy to stimulate and facilitate with success. The Archive website, studio and method overcome some of the greatest challenges social entrepreneurs face and provide tailored solutions to fulfill their needs.
It is basically a given at this point that if you want to know something you can look it up online. But what if you want to become something? What if you want your community to become better? The Archive will provide solutions from social entrepreneurs to engage community members and affect a transformation. Instead of using the internet for industrial age classroom-style learning of facts, people will take self-education to a whole new level of application and understanding. The Archive website will include step-by-step introductions and the preliminary steps needed for effective and exciting group interaction. The dynamic interface also provides role instruction for those who are facilitating the process. Participants can prepare themselves at home and meet together to move the initiative forward.
The Archive Studio will work closely with 3D Learning and the Simulations Center to record and distribute material. The Studio will connect students, families, and communities with experts who can help them as they work to improve, learn, and move forward together. Instead of creating one-size-fits-all solutions, the Archive will help tailor materials and simulations to individual circumstances. The Archive will also help social entrepreneurs by providing them with the new tools and methods that 3D Learning and simulations create.
Because the Archive will compile information on a vast array of topics, it will offer interdisciplinary cooperation in an unprecedented way. Groups can bring together music and architecture, or astronomy, quantum physics, and cooking in such a way that participants can make principle-based connections between subjects.
For the Archive to be successful, we’ll need social entrepreneurs. Think of your purpose in life and your objectives. How do you want to serve people? How can you change the world with what you have to offer? With the Archive to help, you can learn, share, and change the world.
Next up—Chapter 6: Social Change-U
Comments, questions, suggestions? Let us know in the comments.
If you’re interested in joining the mastermind group or launch team for the John and Abigail Center or any of the partner organizations, contact us.