By Aubrie McGibbon, Data and Evaluation Lead, NS GovLab
As Jocelyn has mentioned in our first blog post, NS GovLab is a different approach to problem solving. In March, we posted a call for fellows looking to work in a different way to tackle the complex issue of an aging population. Our first group of fellows includes public servants, participants from the non-profit sector as well as the private sector and individual citizens. These fellows come from across the province and includes an age from early twenties to mid-eighties. All are committed to re-designing a system the reflects our changing population.
From day one, we were committed to sharing as much of the NS GovLab experience as possible. To achieve this goal, we blog about the foundations of NS GovLab (see posts on What is a Lab and Why A Lab, Meet The CoCreation Team). Our Working Out Loud posts provide an overview of the gatherings with all the fellows (see posts on our Orientation as well as our recent session focusing on synthesis). What we were missing was the actual experience of working in teams to better understand an issue and the experience of working in a different way to try to solve a problem. In other words, the work of our fellows. We have since identified fellows who wanted to share their experience in the Lab. Susan’s post on finding the beat to innovate and Christine’s post about her surprises with NS GovLab are the first of many blog posts to come.
NS GovLab’s approach is built upon cocreation. This applies to the CoCreation Team as we design what the fellowship looks like in its first year and it also applies to the fellows as they provide feedback and insights about their experience and learnings. Cocreation applies to what and how we communicate about the work of NS GovLab. This blog is a space to chronicle the work we will be doing for the next few years. A critical piece of the work currently underway is the work of the fellows with developing prototypes. This work needs to be shared and it should be told from the perspective of those who undertook the work.
When selecting fellows, a key factor was diversity. Diversity of thoughts and beliefs, of life experience and history. It’s as important to share these perspectives as it is to have them in the lab. Having the fellows write about their experience provides a perspective that only they can provide. As NS GovLab progresses, each blog post from a fellow produces a more accurate representation of what NS GovLab is really like. This provides you, the reader, with a realistic view into the experience of what it is like to be an NS GovLab fellow.
Learning is another key aspect of NS GovLab. Writing about your experiences provides fellows with an opportunity to reflect upon what they learned, what they were challenged by and what they will be looking to next. It also provides the CoCreation team with an opportunity to learn from the reflections of individual fellows and teams as they work on their prototypes.
We want you to be able to follow along with NS GovLab in the most authentic way possible. We hope that including the first person perspectives of those who interact with the lab will provide that authenticity. We are also interested in your perspectives. Feel free to engage with us by leaving a comment, following us on Twitter (@NSGovLab) or on our website.
Looking forward to cocreating the next chapter!
