Introducing the Solent University public relations ebook in a day project

Eight months ago I wrote a blog post about a project at Boston University. A team of 24 students conceived, wrote and designed a book in three hours. The result was a fantastic piece of work: 14-short essays accompanied by sharp explore the attitudes of the students to their future profession.

The project was as much about the topic as it was about using agile and co-creation techniques to produce a significant piece of work in short order.

I challenged my network to see if we could develop the project.

Tomorrow I’m heading to Southampton Solent University to work with public relations students who responded to the challenge.

The group, led by PR thinker and doer Catherine Sweet, has broadened the scope of the project. It has planned the project over a month for delivery during a day.

The purpose of the project is to explore and report on new forms of public relations communication. The goal is for students to be confident about using a range of new media to connect and empower the dialogue between organisations and their stakeholders.

At the end of the day, or shortly afterwards, Solent Press will publish an ebook.

Students will work in teams across one of eight areas, including networking, crowdsourcing, co-creation, gamification, curation, visual mashup, face-to-face and measurement. In each instance a series of exercises will lead to an output that the students will report on.

I will almost certainly be calling for help and support via my social networks during the day.

It’s an audacious exercise in learning and development. My colleagues at Ketchum have already been inspired by the design of the project and the enthusiasm of the Solent University team.

Whatever the output and the outcome of the project it promises to be a fantastic day.

You can follow the progress of the project and join in via the Solent University #ebookinaday community Facebook page.