DESIS09

DESIS international network

2_In depth format for case collection

Part 1: in depth analysis

The position of this case in terms of social innovation

Name
Please add an English translation of the case name if necessary

Claim
(subtitle) synthetic description of the case, using a few key-words (150 characters)

Place
city, country (neighbourhood or district)

Problematic background and context

(500 characters)
General background of the solution and situation where it takes place: the geographical
area and the social/economic fabric where the demand for this service has emerged and
where it has been formed.

Main actors (promoters, supporters, users, connections)

(500 characters)
• Promoters: person or group of people responsible to carry out the initiative
• Providers: people or organisations proving inputs for the initiative
• Other people and organisations involved: NGOs, associations, voluntaries,
philanthropic, private company, international organisation, academic institution,
government, etc, that support the initiative in any way. (Please include name and kind
of the organisations as well as the kind of support received).
• Final users: who is actually using the service offered?
• Connections: is the initiative connected or affiliated to a network or an entity?

Development
(1000 characters)
• What was the initial idea? How was it generated? How was it innovative? How did
it differ from existing initiatives? (or does it reproduce a service-idea that exists
somewhere else?)

• How was the idea developed? How did it evolve/change as a result? Indicate a
timeframe for implementation. What is the current level of maturation of the solution?
What are the perspectives for the solution development in future?

• What were the roles and importance of: a single visionary social entrepreneur; a
network or constellation of people; availability of money; creation of an institution that

1
 could stand independent of a single visionary leader

Economic sustainability
(500 characters)
Few sentences on how the solution economically works:
• Who pays for what and how? Which are the costs for the user and for the different
actors of the value constellation?
• Who is paid for what and how?
• How was each development stage funded? What returns, if any, did funders get?

Organisation
(max 500 characters)
• Organisational structure, form, etc
• Number of people involved, functions?
• Was there adequate organisational capacity to spread the idea? How diffused is it? On
which scale (very local, national, international)? How people come to know about it?
• What are the solution elements/components: products, artefacts, physical spaces,
tools and equipments; services such as meetings, training seminars and other events;
technologies such as ICT (ex. a website), mechanical or electronic technologies

Sustainable lifestyle
(500 characters)
• Why this case can be considered as an example or an anticipation of a sustainable
lifestyle?
• How doest it help to reduce environmental impact? How does-it regenerate social
fabric? What are the benefits for the participants? For their surroundings? For the all
society?
• Why is it a promising steps toward socially and environmentally sustainable ways of
living?

Success and failure

(500 characters)
• Why did it fail/succeed?
• What were the key success factors?
• Why did it fail? Fundamental flaws in idea? Effective demand? Timing? Capacities of
organisations/entrepreneurs involved?
• What is working well, what is missing?
• What could be done to improve this case, for it to become more accessible and
reproducible? Could the solution be improved from a designer point of view? Is there a
demand for new products and/or services?

2
Part 2: communication and visualization
A visual description of the case

During the visit of the case, a complete photo-reportage should be made in order to
constitute a creative and suggestive visual description of the overall mood of the case. It
consists of a few images describing the solution by depicting the places, the persons, the
artefacts of the solution, the interaction among people, the environment and the overall
atmosphere, or “mood”.

Shooting of the photo reportage:

• during the visit to the case, take as many pictures as you can. Shoot more
rather than less (an average of 80-100 images should be made). Help you with
the suggestions of the 'picture check-list': make sure that you have taken
different pictures for each of the key points listed...
• ask the people which are clearly recognizable on your picture to sign a
'Consent agreement' for publication of their image (see model)
• images should be taken with a digital camera. Minimum size of pictures is
2048 x 1536 pixels but higher is better... Burn a CD with all images or upload
them on your local blog
•
Presentation of the images:
• Select a series of your best images to make a visual description of your case
following the list below.

o Title of the solution;

o Context in which the solution raises;
o Question that triggers the development of the solution;
o Key concept of the solution;
o First main characteristics of the solution;
o Second main characteristics of the solution;
o Third main characteristics of the solution;
o Benefits in environmental and social terms;
o Solution components (between 3 and 5 key components)

• Downsize the selected images at 800x600 pixels, RVB and save them in .jpg
format quality 8. Place the images obtained on the Powerpoint template
(called “visualization template” see model) one image per slide, full slide;
• fill in the text box a short caption describing each slide and running from one
slide to the other (maximum 120 character per caption)
• send your Powerpoint to desis.brazil@gmail.com.

____________________________________________________________________________

This material is part of DESIS TOOLKIT 01 by Ezio Manzini, François Jegou licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. Follow this link to access the legal code:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. Please contact DESIS-Brazil network coordination (licensor) at
desis@pep.ufrj.br (Carla Cipolla) to obtain endorsement for use.