Author Archives: Nathan Heintz

This document outlines the protocol for dispersement of the innovation fund to the prototyping teams of Grove3547. This document was distributed to all Grove participants during the Kick-off Workshop.

Lab Team Composition: Horizontal and Vertical Diversity

The composition of the lab team can determine the success or failure of a Social Lab.

One of the characteristics of Social Labs is that they are social. Social labs startby bringing together diverse participants to work in a team that acts collectively. This participant pool must be horizontally diverse, meaning it is drawn from different sectors of society, such as government, civil society, and the business community. In addition to horizontal diversity, social lab teams are also characterized by vertical diversity, meaning they include people from all levels of power and institutional position from within the social system, from the leaders of large institutions to residents and those being directly impacted by the challenges being addressed. The participation of diverse stakeholders beyond consultation, as opposed to teams of experts or technocrats, is imperative for the lab and its initiatives to succeed. The diverse actors in a Social Lab are full participants, co-creators at every level of the process.

Our Participant Selection Process

In order to ensure that our lab team maintained these qualities of horizontal and vertical diversity throughout the process, we did extensive system mapping and conducted dialogue interviews with stakeholders across the system to better understand the challenge, the context and the field of social actors. In selecting our participants we employed a number of different tactics for convening our team.

1. Direct invitations: We contacted people and organizations directly, and invited them to apply.
2. Outreach: We reached out to leaders and organizations in the community and asked them who should be there to support the project and in what roles and capacities.
3. Flyers and direct engagement: We hit the streets and handed out fliers, encouraging people to apply directly.
4. Digital outreach: We built an online application form, and reached out through social media networks asking people to apply, to suggest possible participants, and to spread the word.
5. Networking: We talked to everyone we knew and met about the work we were doing, and asked them who then knew that might be interested. We visited people in their homes and neighborhoods and had small conversations with them, asking them to reach out to others they knew in the community.
6. Inclusive Lab Design: We designed our Social Lab to be inclusive to various levels of participation. If someone was unavailable for the full commitment of becoming a lab team member, or had other priorities that prevented them from being able to participate, there were a number of ways for people to support the prototyping teams as champions, guests, and allies.

This document is a collection of stakeholder maps created with Kumu.