LIFE is an initiative from the folks at Participle that aims to empower families facing difficult issues to build lives they want to lead. 

The project was developed by families for families and targets families going through tough times themselves and professionals who want to work with families in a new way.

For more information about the project and its tools head to their site.

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IIGCallForIdeas.pdf Download this file

UK based NESTA together with the Office of Civil Society has announced an open call for ideas to the £10m Innovation in Giving Fund.

The purpose of this initiative is to harness proposals with the potential to deliver a significant increase in the giving and exchange of time, assets, skills, resources and money. 

The fund is open to proposals from all sources and sectors and all types of organisations – communities, charities large and small, social entrepreneurs, businesses, academia, public services or other organisations (both for-profit and non-for-profit).

For more information and applying visit their site.

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Inspiring and insightful talk by Hilary Austen about the nature of the relationship between the innovation agents and communities and how they interact.

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This is Service Design Thinking.« illustrates the young multi-disciplinary approach of designing services. Both layout and content are far beyond a mere textbook on a viral buzzword. The book itself is based on a Design Thinking process, including the knowledge and passion of the Service Design community and related fields.

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For more information visit the Service Design Network site and their registration page.

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Danish based INDEX is a non-profit organisation established in 2001 that works worlwide applying design principles to improve people's lives around the globe. They focus on large-scale public events, education, labs and communication. Some of their existent projects cover areas such as HIV/AIDS, scarcity of potable water and carbon emissions.

For more information visit their site.

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Co-written by Robin Murray, Julie Caulier-Grice and Geoff Mulgan this publication is part of the Social Innovator Series : Ways to Design, Develop and Grow Social Innovation.

A major collaboration between NESTA and The Young Foundation, it discusses the process of social innovation and the ways of supporting it in the social sector and different economies.

For more information visit the Social Innovator site.

Open_Book_of_Social_Innovation.pdf Download this file

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See the full gallery on Posterous

The Social Good Summit will take place in New York between the 19th & 22nd of September, 2011.

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Inhabitat, a weblog devoted to the future of design, recently published a succint yet complete article about green architecture and education. The six green campuses ranged from low-tech bamboo constructions to modular high-tech speedy installation kits.

For a full read and more images of these six amazing green buildings head over Inhabitat site.  

And for a happy green bonus read about the game-changing Undulating Bamboo Panyaden School in Thailand. 

This magnificent school campus in Bali is made entirely from sustainably harvested bamboo. Architecture firm PT Bambu developed the rich environment, which consists of four classrooms, housing, offices, cafes, a gym, and the Heart of the School, a spiraling, multi-story building. The school also runs on clean energy systems like solar power, a biomass boiler, and a micro-hydro generator. Of course, sustainability is a core element of the children's education.

Modular thinking has gone high-tech with Project FROG's Zero Energy Classroom, which is a meticulously designed kit that allows a school to get up and running in as short a time as possible. The design’s success is not just due to its speedy installation however -- the carefully concieved space is flooded with indirect daylight and is precisely engineered to provide plenty of clean air. The buildings are also designed to exceed energy code by 25%, keeping the school’s budget intact. With the installation of optional solar arrays, the buildings can be zero energy.

We could argue that the greenest new building is the one made from materials sourced from right where it is built. This art school in Oaxaca, Mexico took it even one step further by using the tailings of other rammed earth projects for its new rammed earth campus studios. Taller de Arquitectura worked with artist Francisco Toledo to create a truly organic campus that includes an earth-bermed stone walled building, ample courtyards, and native low-water plantings. Large north-facing windows provide plenty of natural light, cross-ventilation helps keep the indoor from becoming stuffy, and the massive walls minimize ambient noise.

LOT-EK came up with this funky art school made from shipping containers in Korea. The building's yellow kinetic shape is a dynamic presence made from 8 angled converted shipping containers lifted 3 meters off the ground. Two studios, a large meeting room, and a gallery make up the inside program, and the covered open area below serves as an amphitheater and performance space.

This impressive German High School is actually an old WW II Armory transformed into a solar-powered, daylit marvel. While the structural elements remain, the new roof is covered in translucent solar panels and glass, bringing the outdoors in while producing 225 kW of clean energy. Prefab classrooms tucked inside the naturally ventilated building provide an energy-efficient space to learn in.

One of the most elegant buildings we have ever come across is Singapore’s green-roofed art school at Nanyang Technological University by CPG Consultants. Like a stroke of calligraphy writ large, two sweeping green roofs create a mesmerizing effect that turns the building into pure landscape. The roof is as smart as it is beautiful - the carpet of grass controls storm water by soaking up monsoon, significantly reduces cooling loads, and adds biodiversity to the campus.

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Framework_for_Design.pdf Download this file

This compendium is the result of a collaboration between UK based DATA together with Loughborough University's Design Education Research Group. It showcases unique and key papers from critical thinkers from the 70's and 80's such as British mechanical engineer and later Professor of Design Research at the Royal College of Art Bruce Archer CBE and former RCA and Loughborough University Professor Phil Roberts.

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thinking_and_doing_ethnograp.pdf Download this file

Great little finding about ethnography, service design and storytelling from Swedes Fabian Segelström and Stefan Holmlid, and STBY founder Bas Raijmakers.

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UK Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, and leading figures from the health sector today launch the UK's first online health tracker that allows patients track their recovery live and provides essential data to help shape clinical decisions in the NHS.

HealthUnlocked transforms patient experiences into clear understanding. 

More info here.

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(via @zissou) 

Did you know your smile can be a predictor of how long you'll live? Or that a simple smile has a measurable effect on your overall well-being?

In this TED Talk HealthTap founder and CEO, Ron Gutman reviews a raft of studies about smiling, and reveals some surprising results. 

Prepare to flex a few facial muscles as you learn more about this evolutionary contagious behaviour.

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DTtoolkit_v1.pdf Download this file

"This toolkit contains the process and methods of design, adapted specifically for the context of K-12 education. It offers new ways to be intentional and collaborative when designing, and empowers educators to create impactful solutions."

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Santiago de Chile based non profit organisation Forja Chile seeks to encourage young people from low income communities to develop an entrepreneur spirit. Making sense out of their own realities and integrating their skills and interests, Forja Chile co-designs workshops and projects with young people that seek to impact positively their environment and community.

More info here.

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In this NESTA interview Arthur Potts Dawson, Co-Founder and Head Chef of The People's Supermarket sets out his vision for a sustainable food industry.

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