The Ruralnetonline game

As Paul has said, at the focus group day we played a version of the social media game originally developed with my colleague Drew Mackie, and enhanced by Beth Kanter and others.
The way it worked, to summarise, was:

1. We split into two groups, and each invented a scenario. As Paul reported, these were a small village fighting for sustainability, and a large network of parish and town councils. The instruction was, "make it challenging because the other group will be solving the problems and looking at how social media can help". (Of course the catch is that you inherit the other group's challenges!).

2. The groups exchanged scenarios, and each took a pack of cards with ideas for social media tools and other activities that could meet the challenges in the scenario. Each card had an image so they didn't all look the same, a brief tool or activity description, and 1,2, or 3 resource/cost points.

3. Groups then worked with the cards to create a project plan, and presented their ideas back to the "client" group.

4. At this stage we moved from action planning to narrative. The groups - each with their original scenario and project plan - invented some characters who would be involved in the project: either benefiting or helping to run it. The task, using some simple sheets, was to tell the story of what happened, and then reflect on how far the project would make a real difference.

The cards and story sheets are attached, and you can find further similar games here.
Do try the game for yourself, or get in touch if you would like more information.
If you were at the focus group, any observations on the game as a way of promoting discussion would be welcome. I hope it created a "level playing field" where tech enthusiasts and those less enthused could find ways of talking about social media just using bits of paper!