School for Social Design

The School for Social Design, from Joe Edelman https://human-systems.org/school

Alumni say it changed their design process
They now make better apps, rituals, org processes, etc. They can better critique existing designs, and anticipate problems with their own designs.

A rich intellectual background, made intuitive.
We use games, missions, and tons of personal attention from experts, guides, and colleagues. The course is woven into your everyday life and work.

Cost. Once you're accepted, the program costs $2000

Time commitment. Minimum is ~2h/wk for 3mos. In reality, students do more

This school is for designers of social systems: systems made of people, where there are codified and mutually understood roles and responsibilities. These designs can range from dinner table conversation games to social networks and global governance structures.

Our school is not about content—it's about arranging real world practice and meetings with experts, and about giving you a team.

To find your crew, you'll go on three quests.
Quest 1. Gather values from a small group that matters to you.
Quest 2. Critique existing social designs and imagine new ones.
Quest 3. Redesign a social system to be better for human values.

First Quest — Values Articulation

our methods focus on values, and we measure success by whether we can create environments where users are more able to live by their values.

Second Quest — Critique Existing Designs

You'll listen to someone's design idea and (1) values at risk, (2) hard steps of living by a value they haven't though of, and (3) perverse incentives caused by their design. You'll visit a functioning social system (such as a church, a school, a workplace, or a public service) and write out the suppressed values there, and what would need to change for participants to live by those values.

Third Quest — Values-Based Social Design