THE OPPORTUNITY PROJECT/NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE OPEN DATA SPRINT
At Orange Sparkle Ball, we’re big fans of The Opportunity Project (TOP) from the U.S Census Open Innovation Labs (COIL). The Opportunity Project (TOP) offers a framework for federal agencies and partners to facilitate collaboration between civic technologists and community advocates to rapidly design digital solutions for the public good. The TOP framework is a sprint based open innovation process that mirrors our approach. So, we use TOP sprints to accelerate digital projects we are working on internally. In fall 2023, we participated in a social infrastructure sprint sponsored by the National League of Cities.
“This sprint has presented such an exciting opportunity to work directly with ecosystem builders, and learn more about what it takes to cultivate innovation and opportunity within local communities.”
THE CHALLENGE – Create tools that help local communities strengthen and leverage social infrastructure to recover from pandemic-induced social isolation and build resilience in the face of future crises.
ECOSYSTEM DASHBOARD - We used the sprint develop a beta version of an ecosystem dashboard, containing ecosystem insights based on social network analysis (SNA) and SNA metrics correlated to local outcome data. Based on data-driven findings, the dashboard provides actionable insights that can be used by local leaders to strengthen their ecosystems.
Because ecosystems are complex interconnected systems of organizations, it’s hard to understand how the multiple actors are interrelated. Social network analysis provides insights about key organizations in the ecosystem, as well as intervention points that might provide opportunities to strengthen the network.
We have been delighted to work with our friends at Macon Black Tech and The Hatchery, Emory Center for Innovation on the project.
“Both Macon Black Tech and The Hatchery have built robust innovation ecosystems and we’re excited to collect network data to more fully understand their differentiators.”
Written by Meaghan Kennedy, Founder, and the OSB Team
