This work explores the social processes involved in technological innovation, particularly in relation to the Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs).

ÔThe challenges of poverty and social exclusion cannot be fully resolved through conventional public sector policies and market-led innovation. The case studies in this Handbook capture some of the key success factors of socially innovative action in different socio-economic contexts. This Handbook will inspire readers as it highlights the creativity and commitment of diverse enterprises and movements working for social innovation.Õ Ð Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, Minister for Lands, Housing and Human Settlements, United Republic of Tanzania, and retired UN Under Secretary General, immediate former Executive Director of UN-HABITAT ÔSocial innovation may not be a new idea but it is clearly an idea whose time has come, not least because the traditional models of innovation Ð narrowly framed technical models Ð have run their course and no longer resonate in a world of societal challenges. This Handbook has two great merits Ð it brings conceptual rigour to the debate and it provides compelling narratives of social innovation in practice.Õ Ð Kevin Morgan, Cardiff University, UK ÔIn an era where social innovation is re-emerging as an important policy framework for bringing social transformation, this volume is a significant contribution to the theory and practice of social innovation. The incremental discussion from concepts to theory to practice and then to social innovation research is supported by cases literally from all over the globe. It moves the discourse from isolated models of neighbourhood engagements and social enterprises, to a comprehensive, multidimensional approach combining needs, social relations and empowerment. A must read for academicians, learners, practitioners and policy makers alike.Õ Ð S. Parasuraman, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India ÔSocial innovation is an important instrument for understanding how contemporary societies deal with social change and how social practices and policies intended to combat poverty and social exclusion are developed and implemented effectively. The Handbook offers a valuable contribution to the development of a clear, transdisciplinary and critical understanding of social innovation practices. The reader will find an in-depth discussion of the most important theoretical approaches to the concept and a thorough exposition of the epistemological and methodological framework for research in social innovation. The volume includes a number of interesting case studies in different areas of social change and issues of policy and governance.Õ Ð Enzo Mingione, University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy This enriching Handbook covers many aspects of the scientific and socio-political debates on social innovation today. The contributors provide an overview of theoretical perspectives, methodologies and instructive experiences from all continents, as well as implications for collective action and policy. They argue strongly for social innovation as a key to human development. The Handbook defines social innovation as innovation in social relations within both micro and macro spheres, with the purpose of satisfying unmet or new human needs across different layers of society. It connects social innovation to empowerment dynamics, thus giving a political character to social movements and bottom-up governance initiatives. Together these should lay the foundations for a fairer, more democratic society for all. This interdisciplinary work, written by scholars collaborating to develop a joint methodological perspective toward social innovation agency and processes, will be invaluable for students and researchers in social science and humanities. It will also appeal to policy makers, policy analysts, lobbyists and activists seeking to give inspiration and leadership from a social innovation perspective.

This open access book offers unique and novel views on the social innovation landscape, tools, practices, pedagogies, and research in the context of higher education. International, multi-disciplinary academics and industry leaders present new developments, research evidence, and practice expertise on social innovation in higher education institutions (HEIs), across academic and professional disciplines. The book includes a selected set of peer-reviewed chapters presenting different perspectives against which relevant actors can identify and analyse social innovation in HEIs. The volume demonstrates how HEIs can respond to societal challenges, support positive social change, and contribute to the development of international public policy discourse. It answers the question ‘how does the present higher education system, in different countries, promote social innovation and create social change and impact’. In answering this question, the book identifies factors driving success as well as obstacles. Furthermore, it examines how higher education innovation assists societal challenges and investigates the benefits of effective social innovation engagement by HEIs. The interdisciplinary approach of the volume makes it a must-read for scholars, students, policy-makers, and practitioners of economics, education, business and management, political science, and sociology interested in a better understanding of social innovation.

Educational systems worldwide are facing an enormous shift as a result of sociocultural, political, economic, and technological changes. The technologies and practices that have developed over the last decade have been heralded as opportunities to transform both online and traditional education systems. While proponents of these new ideas often postulate that they have the potential to address the educational problems facing both students and institutions and that they could provide an opportunity to rethink the ways that education is organized and enacted, there is little evidence of emerging technologies and practices in use in online education. Because researchers and practitioners interested in these possibilities often reside in various disciplines and academic departments the sharing and dissemination of their work across often rigid boundaries is a formidable task. Contributors to Emergence and Innovation in Digital Learning include individuals who are shaping the future of online learning with their innovative applications and investigations on the impact of issues such as openness, analytics, MOOCs, and social media. Building on work first published in Emerging Technologies in Distance Education, the contributors to this collection harness the dispersed knowledge in online education to provide a one-stop locale for work on emergent approaches in the field. Their conclusions will influence the adoption and success of these approaches to education and will enable researchers and practitioners to conceptualize, critique, and enhance their understanding of the foundations and applications of new technologies.

Many animals, including humans, acquire valuable skills and knowledge by copying others. Scientists refer to this as social learning. It is one of the most exciting and rapidly developing areas of behavioral research and sits at the interface of many academic disciplines, including biology, experimental psychology, economics, and cognitive neuroscience. Social Learning provides a comprehensive, practical guide to the research methods of this important emerging field. William Hoppitt and Kevin N. Lala define the mechanisms thought to underlie social learning and demonstrate how to distinguish them experimentally in the laboratory. They present techniques for detecting and quantifying social learning in nature, including statistical modeling of the spatial distribution of behavior traits. They also describe the latest theory and empirical findings on social learning strategies, and introduce readers to mathematical methods and models used in the study of cultural evolution. This book is an indispensable tool for researchers and an essential primer for students. Provides a comprehensive, practical guide to social learning research Combines theoretical and empirical approaches Describes techniques for the laboratory and the field Covers social learning mechanisms and strategies, statistical modeling techniques for field data, mathematical modeling of cultural evolution, and more

This book offers a much-needed appraisal of two key social change movements within higher education: civic engagement and social innovation. The authors critically explore the historical and contemporary contexts as well as democratic foundations (or absence thereof) of both approaches, concluding with a discussion of possible future directions that may make the approaches more effective in fulfilling the broader democratic mission of U.S. higher education. This is an essential resource for those in higher education who wish to promote and advance social change, as it provides an opportunity to critically examine where we are with our civic engagement and social innovation approaches and what we might do to best realize their promise through changes in our educational processes, pedagogical strategies, evaluation metrics, and outcomes.

This is the first book to examine social learning and innovation in hunter–gatherers from around the world. More is known about social learning in chimpanzees and nonhuman primates than is known about social learning in hunter–gatherers, a way of life that characterized most of human history. The book describes diverse patterns of learning and teaching behaviors in contemporary hunter–gatherers from the perspectives of cultural anthropology, ecological anthropology, biological anthropology, and developmental psychology. The book addresses several theoretical issues including the learning hypothesis which suggests that the fate of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals in the last glacial period might have been due to the differences in learning ability. It has been unequivocally claimed that social learning is intrinsically important for human beings; however, the characteristics of human learning remain under a dense fog despite innumerable studies with children from urban–industrial cultures. Controversy continues on problems such as: do hunter–gatherers teach? If so, what types of teaching occur, who does it, how often, under what contexts, and so on. The book explores the most basic and intrinsic aspects of social learning as well as the foundation of innovative activities in everyday activities of contemporary hunter–gatherer people across the earth. The book examines how hunter-gatherer core values, such as gender and age egalitarianism and extensive sharing of food and childcare are transmitted and acquired by children. Chapters are grouped into five sections: 1) theoretical perspectives of learning in hunter–gatherers, 2) modes and processes of social learning in hunter–gatherers, 3) innovation and cumulative culture, 4) play and other cultural contexts of social learning and innovation, 5) biological contexts of learning and innovation. Ideas and concepts based on the data gathered through an intensive fieldwork by the authors will give much insight into the mechanisms and meanings of learning and education in modern humans.