Hilary Cottam is hoping to join us in New Delhi. She and Charles Leadbeater are writing a paper on “open welfare”. They observe: “The open model is not a traditional service delivery model. It relies on mass participation ion creation of the service. The boundary between users and producers is blurred. Broad and widespread participation is enabled by the design of a platform or shared space in which people can share ideas, and communicate. This requires simple systems of codification and rules for assessing the value of a contribution. These communities produce or publish the code or tools for self help which are widely diustributed ; they include mechanisms for constant feedback and review. The basic principles can be described as: “share the goal; share the work; share the results”.
Hilary Cottam and Charles Leadbeater. Open Welfare,: designs on the public good. London, Design Council, 2004. designcouncil.org.uk
