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Technology to re-shape society?

Can technology and social media really be used to do good in the world? With advancements in the technology sector coming quick and strong, it is the place to be if you have a good idea and want to make money. But does that leave space for a socially beneficial product? Speaking to Paul Slater, director of Newcastle-based technology firm Ground Six, Bdaily found out how with a creative team and an entrepreneurial environment, technology has the ability to make a difference.

Paul told us about the work Ground Six is currently doing on good deeds-sharing application Kindest, which has been developed alongside entrepreneur and lecturer at Teesside University, Daniel Kolodziej.

“The thing with Kindest is that people could never argue that we’re not doing something that will help people. It is a social product but I think it’s a product that does good, whereas most social products are about getting the customer in for the company to get rich.”

The concept behind Kindest is based on people carrying out good deeds for each other to achieve a higher Kindest score. Brands will then be able to reward users the more favours they carry out, which is how Ground Six plans to monetise the application.

So what makes the Kindest application different? Paul explained further about how a social technology product could potentially have a wider reach in society.

“All we’re doing is connecting people who are doing good things for each other, and we believe that people are inherently good, I really do believe that, and we just want it to happen a bit more.

“What I’m really interested with Kindest is the idea of people helping each other that don’t actually know each other. A true, genuine act of kindness that a brand could reward. As far as I can see there’s no damage to society; there’s only benefit. It’s actions speak louder than words with Kindest.”

We talked to Paul about what makes a technology idea successful, and what his priorities are as a director of Ground Six.

“Success in technology is part luck, part perspiration. What I personally think is a good tech product is one that puts users’ needs ahead of everything else. Well ahead of revenue, so you make something that people truly, truly want to use, and make the experience of using it an absolute joy.

“When it comes to building a good tech product I think it’s all about your team. If you put some very smart, entrepreneurial people in a room together and give them a chance to have the autonomy to pursue certain creative ideas, I think you can get incredible results. So that’s what we’ve done.”

After setting up in business with design agency Urban River more than ten years ago, Paul set up Ground Six as a way of doing, what he says, is what he always wanted to do.

“Moving to Ground Six was about getting the chance to build technology products, which was really exciting. There’s a real sort of energy in the technology startup world, it’s the new rock ‘n’ roll as far as I’m concerned.

“If you look at what’s happening in Silicon Valley, there’s just so many interesting products and services. It’s probably to do with the rise in access to information because we can pretty much have anything anywhere we go now.”

Bdaily talked to Paul about what he thinks the “next big thing” will be in the technology sector.

“The next big thing? Wearable computers. It sounds mental but I believe by the end of this year or the start of 2014, we’ll have things like Google Glass, which is a pair of glasses with augmented reality in them. It’s basically like wearing your smartphone.

“I’m buzzing to see what happens in that space, and I want Ground Six to be building stuff for it, well in advance of it becoming the norm. It’s no different from when they launched the first phone, you know people said, “Well that’s mental!” But it will happen, it will.”

Check out some of the technology week articles, including: Bdaily talks IT technology; the UK tech sector: a health check; the web-developers perspective; Bdaily talks to Care.com;the growth of the UK tech sector;flying ahead in the technology sector; Technology in the security industry and Does the UK technology sector measure up?

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .