People Drive Digital #PDDigital at NHS Expo 2015

People Drive Digital #PDDigital at NHS Expo 2015

by | Sep 1, 2015 | #PDDAwards15, #PdDigital15, NHS stuff | 2 comments

People driven digital emerged out of conversations towards the end of 2014 about wanting to put people firmly at the centre of digital innovation in health and care. These conversations took us to our #PDDigital event in May, followed by the publication of the People Driven Digital White Paper which we launched at King’s Fund Digital Health and Care Congress session in June, and then the inaugural People Driven Digital unAwards in July. We took a breather, did a bit of reflecting, and are now taking our learning to share with others at this year’s Health and Care Innovation Expo on 2 and 3 September 2015, where Mark Brown, Anne Cooper and myself will be running a session at the pop-up university. Our White Paper gives some clues and some challenges as to how a collaborative approach to digital innovation, as promoted in Personalised Care 2020 can be realised. We argue that the potential for people driving digital innovation from the ground up should be recognised, understood and supported at a strategic level. Health and care need to enable this to happen but it should be led by people not by institutions. We believe that it is only by people driving digital innovation that a step change can be achieved and outcomes in health and care transformed. So what next for people driving digital innovation in health and care? If you’d like to contribute to the conversation, please come along to our session, tweet using the hashtag #PDDigital or comment on this blog – the more we have people accessing and working in health and care services involved in...
How to get the *un* into *awards* #PDDAwards15

How to get the *un* into *awards* #PDDAwards15

by | Jul 5, 2015 | #PDDAwards15 | 1 comment

An unconference is a participant-led event that rejects the trappings of conventional conferences (such as sponsored presentations and top-down organisation) and whose content is generated by the people who participate. A typical format is an agenda set collaboratively at the beginning of the event and without a hierarchy of speakers at the podium. I’ve been using this format for a number of years now and find its generative and equitable nature both appealing and productive. I’ve written previously about value of the unconference format here. Putting the *un* into awards So as a lover of the unconference, I was most intrigued when comms2point0 ran their inaugural unawards in 2014 in the spirit of having an event that was accessible, fun and a little bit out of the ordinary. Inspired by the idea of unAawards and keen to support a growing community of ground up digital innovators a, who don’t often get the limelight, the People Driven Digital unAwards #PDDAwards15 were born. The lovely Anne Cooper and I joined forces and got to work convincing organisations to help us out with some modest sponsorship to cover our costs and help make it happen. There were a few things that we important to us – an event that was simple to enter, judged by peers, free to attend (recognising that people would have to get there under their own steam which was tricky for a few) was informal and was fun. The awards created a focal point, but we were equally keen to get people along to collaborate, share and learn, as well as be inspired. We wanted the entrepreneurial spark...
#PDDAwards15 – tipping our hats to ground up digital innovation

#PDDAwards15 – tipping our hats to ground up digital innovation

by | May 4, 2015 | #PDDAwards15 | 1 comment

I can never quite put my finger on how ideas emerge and take shape – for me they are usually through things I read on Twitter, an interesting blog, a serendipitous conversation, or mulling things over when ferrying my kids to and from various activities and friend’s houses (most of my ideas seem to crystallise when I’m driving). The People Driven Digital unAwards are the culmination of all sorts of different conversations with many different people. They are the result of various ideas which the mHealthHabitat team has translated in to reality mostly on account of my inveterate desire to plan and organise. My co-conspirators will no doubt have different ideas and starting points for the unAwards, but here are a five of mine that I’d like to share: The power of recognition – when myself and another team set up the Love Arts Festival awards in 2011, I hadn’t anticipated their impact on people doing amazing stuff in the field of arts, wellbeing and mental health, who often  just don’t get recognised. I was very moved by what the awards meant to people and it brought home to me the value of public recognition, appreciation and validation Creating a community around digital – when we set up the mHealthHabitat programme we chose the metaphor of  a habitat because we didn’t just want to build digital tools and services, we were also motivated by creating a community around digital, health and wellbeing. We’ve learnt that running  events and activities which bring diverse groups of people are one of ways to create a thriving habitat – for me the unAwards...