Welcome to the °Latitude Wiki.

Where Social Comes First

“It’s hard to find meaning in what we do if at some level it doesn’t help someone else or make someone happier”.

Matthew Lieberman, author of Social: Why our brains are wired to connect.

“Hope is more the consequence of action than its cause. As the experience of the spectator favours fatalism, so the experience of the agent produces hope”.

Roberto Mangabeira Unger, Philosopher and Politician

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn”.

Benjamin Franklin

Here at °Latitude we love all things Social, recognising that being human is fundamentally a team sport.

Now that we all live in an interconnected and interdependent global community, how do we find ways to win together?

Somewhere along the line we got distracted by the relentless pursuit of income, career advancement, and consumption, and forgot that being Social was a fun and creative endeavour.

We consider ourselves a Social Impact Design Agency.

We want to use our shared problems as a catalyst for Social Change and in doing so we encourage Social Entrepreneurship, cooperation, problem-solving, and the long-term protection of us, and our ecosystem.

Social - humans innate drive to build connections with others is the primary driver behind our behaviour. Social and emotional trauma hurts impacts our physiology in similar ways to physical pain. Empathy allows us to understand the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of others which is the foundation for building trust and success in life. An emphasis on kindness, cooperation, and solidarity, not money, competition and individualism, will lead us to happiness, health, and progress.

Society - is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same social territory.  These can be summarised as patterns of relationships between individuals, culture, and institutions.  

Societal Norms - patterns of behaviour (individualism, competition) by deeming certain actions or ideas acceptable or unacceptable.  These are in constant states of flux as societies undergo gradual change or transformation.

Prosocial - relates to behaviour which is positive, helpful, and intended to promote social acceptance and friendship

Social Capital/Resources - is the effective functioning of social groups through interpersonal relationships, a shared sense of identity, a common understanding, values, trust, and cooperation.  

Social Problems - issues that impact the lives of many citizens within a society.  These could relate to justice, education, health, economic, environmental, or loss of community.

Social Dilemmas - otherwise known as a collective action problem.  It describes a situation in which all individuals would be better off cooperating but fail to do so because of conflicting interests between individuals that discourage joint action.  Everyone on earth is now interconnected and interdependent on one another which makes our collective action problems global in nature.

Social Challenges -  is a community-wide problem which demands a coordinated response.  The Latitude Project uses a variety of social problems and dilemmas as opportunities to bring diverse stakeholders (young people, communities, organisations, public services) together under a common mission.  It’s our vehicle for exploring learning, cooperation, and innovation.  

Social Prosperity - a wealthy society is not simply about money, instead it’s the accumulation of solutions to human problems, and the ease of which these are accessed.  

Social Transformation - is the process of significant change in society affecting system incentives, institutional relationships, norms, cultural values, and power structures.  The catalyst for change is often a response to technological, scientific, economic, or environmental shifts, but this journey is a profoundly human experience which alters our behaviours, attitudes, lifestyle, and identity.  

Social Entrepreneurship - is a way of working which is adopted by individuals, groups, or organisations, in which they develop, fund, or implement solutions to social, cultural, and environmental issues.  

Social Innovation - is the process by which entrepreneurs, individuals, and organisations seek to solve social problems.  These are new social practices, skills, and ideas that seek to meet social needs in a better way than existing solutions do.  

Social Impact - describes the positive change that innovation, entrepreneurship, and collective action can bring to communities and society at large.  This is the end state, the result of a series of deliberate activities which seek to address a Social Problem or Challenge.  

Social Commons - is where the change happens.  It describes community resources, and processes between people and institutions. They’re a series of services and benefits that, together with activities, knowledge, and infrastructure, should give all citizens an equal opportunity to thrive.  

Social Networks - are decentralised and distributed digital platforms for connecting people and sharing ideas.  Freeshare will be our version for social innovators to come together in response to emerging Social Challenges.  Not just a place for solving problems, but also the home for workshops, resources, and an accelerator program (coming soon)

Social Products - is a Latitude concept which is a scalable version of a social innovation which has the potential to deliver social impact in multiple ways and places. (coming soon) 

Social App Store - is a new marketplace for entrepreneurs to publish social products and generate revenue (coming soon)

Social Learning - we evolved to learn through watching others, which is referred to as imitation.  This theory is sometimes referred to as social cognitive theory.  We observe people’s behaviour, and mimic their responses.  This is lost when working at home in isolation

Social Intelligence - is the capacity to know oneself and to know others.  It develops from experience with people and learning from success and adversity in social environments.  Sometimes referred to as common sense.  

Social Skills - are a foundation of all human endeavours.  Unhelpfully referred to as ‘soft’ skills, these are essential capacities for developing trust and rapport through interacting and communicating with others.  Empathy, cooperation, listening, speech, and non verbal expressions are helpful where social rules and relations are created and communicated.

Social Distancing - do we really mean physical distancing?