- Applicant: Lisa Jeffery
- Funding agree: £500
Description of the event: Taking place 17 – 19 February 2017, Leeds Service Jam is a part of Global Service Jam, an annual collaboration event that connects thousands of people through the web/social media and a common purpose. The purpose of Leeds Service Jam is for attendees to learn about service design by doing service design. The format is an informal grouping, like a training ‘workshop’, and the intended audience unites the public, private and charity sectors – so we would promote the event to all of these groups. It also includes students (18+) who are interested in trying out the tools and techniques of service design. Attendees have 48 hours to problem-solve through service design (i.e. to make something useful and human-centred). Jam principles highlight learning by doing and making prototypes, not presentations. As a result, service jams are great for anyone wanting to explore subjects like design thinking, creativity and teamwork. Everyone has different backgrounds and skills and everyone helps each other out. People spend good money on books and classes to learn about service design, creativity and innovation, but jams give you real life experience of all these things and a whole lot more. Despite working to a tight deadline, jams are playful, a safe space to try out new things.
Jams are not-for-profit. Organisers are all volunteers and people freely give up their weekends to take part. This creates an infectious energy and a sense of connectedness, which is something to think about as networks and collaboration become ever more important to the way we all work and live.
More details can be found on our website: https://gsjleeds.wordpress.com/ On our Twitter account https://twitter.com/GSJLeeds And on the Global Service Jam HQ website: http://www.globalservicejam.org/ as well as on the hashtag #GSJam
What they would use the funding for: Funding would be used to pay for the venue (Open Data Institute in the city of Leeds) and cost of materials (card, tape, pens, Post-its, etc.) for the jammers to use to prototype their solutions
About the applicant: Lisa Jeffery has volunteered for Leeds Service Jam and Leeds GovJam for the last few years, supporting the team who first established the events in Leeds. She also works in communications for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. This year the founding Stick People team (Matt, Kathryn and Sharon) asked if Lisa could lead in organising the Leeds Service Jam event
Read more from Lisa about taking part in Leeds Service Jam/GovJam and why it is important here at https://medium.com/@lisajjeffery/learning-from-volunteering-at-leeds-govjam-397aac5f5dde#.ec38v2vjy