Ideas for a Quiet Riots book

Quiet Riots needs an intellectual spine to it
People don’t understand how change happens
People have an appetite for learning how change happens, because there are many things they want to see changed, and they also observe change happening to them, but don’t understand really what’s happening
Quiet Riots can differentiate itself from much of what’s currently available by having an interesting intellectually-based approach and framework for how change happens
There is an opportunity to make it accessible and something created and improved upon by Quiet Rioters

Underpinning Quiet Riots is an evolutionary model of change: ‘vary, select, amplify’
Evolution is by its very nature about change
When you look at how change does happen in the world about us, we see that it can be distilled down to some alternative approaches (i.e. variations) and then a decision about which choice to make (i.e. selection).
When that choice is proven to have been a good one, resources are invested magnify this choice (i.e. amplification)
The Origin of Wealth by Eric Beinhocker gives a very good description of the selection process at work in business every day.
When a management meeting that discusses which choice to make, comes to a decision by the end of the meeting, that is selection happening

Because changes involve people in society, there is more to the process than just ‘vary, select, amplify’
Change involves complex social dynamics
Understanding the social dynamics of gathering people who share a point of view, enabling them to share ideas and organize themselves for action is something that takes time, effort and tools.
These social dynamics are also at play a group is seeking to influence decision makers; for example, applying peer pressure to a decision maker via subtle tactics may be more effective than a large, loud demonstration
The process of retaining the attention of busy people and sustaining involvement of sufficient people until the change that the group wants has happened is a big challenge.

To get a group going on a sustained basis takes time and effort
Time and effort can come from two places. Either people volunteering their time, or the group raising sufficient funds to pay for people to spend time doing tasks needed to move the issue and the group forward
The web has made it far easier for people to undertake small chunks of volunteer tasks during their working day and when they’re at home (e.g. sending invites, managing replies, collecting money)
‘Social Production’ is a concept used to describe people spending small chunks of their time in this way (e.g. writing Wikipedia entries)
Raising money is also made much easier by micro-payments services such as PayPal
Gathering small payments of £1-10 from a large group can quickly accumulate a substantial fighting fund

Chapters of a book
Chapter 1: It’s a changing world
Chapter 2: Variation
Chapter 3: Selection
Chapter 4: Amplification
Chapter 5: Gather
Chapter 6: Sustain
Chapter 7: Epilogue

Chapter 1: It’s a changing world
Egypt and CANVAS
Obama and $100m raised in a week
Pace of change (egiPad 1, iPad 2, iPad 3)
Things spread far quicker because of social networks
We are all voters now (eg X-Factor)
We have all got bugbears (eg drugs policy, rude staff, apostrophe abuse)
We can do something about it – here’s how
Noone wants change if they’re happy with the status quo: hence people who are disgruntled are always the drivers of change

Chapter 2: Variation
Charles Darwin and Egypt might not at first seem to have much in common
Darwin’s evolutionary process has been at work in Egypt
Darwin observed that breeding has an inherent mutation process built in that leads to new variants
Some are more suited to the environment than others and hence survive and reproduce
The same process is at work when things are changing in society. It starts with different ideas about what should be done to change something.
This is what’s happening in parliament when parties are arguing over different approaches
It’s also what’s happening when people inside businesses are wondering what to do about that particular problem, opportunity or deal.
It’s also what’s happening at home, when you are trying to decide with your family where to go on holiday; different family members have different things they are looking for, and a few options become the favoured ones

Chapter 3: Selection
In nature, change happens when either a plant of animal successfully reproduces or not
In society the equivalent of life or death is someone or a group of people making a decision in favour of one idea over others
Examples of this include person in a meeting making a decision to start a new project
Another example is a family making a decision to book a holiday a Spain rather than going to Disneyland.
Once the decision is made it then gets implemented and everyone sees whether it was a good decision or not

Chapter 4: Amplification
If a new mutation occurs in humans that causes the person to survive better than others (eg from being first person to have white skin that’s better for survival in cold climates) then it will reproduce and grow in the population until there are many more of it
In business an organisation that comes up with a great idea and has some initial success with it (eg the first IKEA store), or version 1 of Facebook, it quickly attracts more customers and resources to invest in growing further
In the example of the holiday, if family had fantastic time in Spain, they are more likely to repeat it again in the future
Amplification is key to a good idea spreading and gaining momentum

Chapter 5: Gather
Whilst change may be an evolutionary process it is done by human beings who are inherently complex whose social dynamics make the process far more complex and interesting
On any issue there needs to be a group of people who share the point of view and between themselves divide up tasks get change to happen
The Web had ushered in an era of connectedness that makes it far easier for people to share thoughts and join in at the click of a mouse and to stay in contact wherever they are via their mobile
Examples of gathering people include
Tiananmen Square
Tahrir Square
Flashmobs
Rock concerts
Festivals
Party conferences (Republican convention)
Street marches
A few key ingredients for successful gathering:
There’s an organizer
There’s a gathering point
Stories can be shared
People have fun
A community builds

Chapter 6: Sustain
Obama raised $100M in $10 donations which provided the fuel for sustaining the organization beyond just efforts of volunteers
This included the cost of TV ads, conventions, phone campaigns, website building
Celebrating small successes regularly is key to keeping keeping engagement and morale
There are flashpoint moments where many people can mobilise to harness an opportunity related to the news (or a piece of new legislation)
Fun and gossip are core human needs that any successful movements must satisfy
Look at the appetite for office gossip
Look at the reporting on plots and intrigue around political figures
Look at the gossiping happening amongst your friends

Chapter 7: Epilogue
This is a treatise for change
It’s an accumulation of examples
The story told in this book is also expressed online with videos and workshop materials
It’s also possible to attend workshops and meet others using this approach
Because community is so key to sustaining initiative, socialising and gossip happen too.
To find out more, visit www.quietriots.com
The end of the beginning

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Ideas for a Quiet Riots book

by captaindarling99 on Aug 25, 2011

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Ideas for a Quiet Riots book — Presentation Transcript