Social Innovation: A User Manual… Podcast Version

Rooted in the real world

It was in partnership with the Montreal production studio Magnéto that Simon Tremblay-Pépin, director of the School of Social Innovation, and Jonathan Durand Folco, assistant professor at the same university, decided to create a series of really practical podcasts on social innovation. Why? “Because you can listen to it anywhere, and because there are still very few platforms of this kind in French,” explains Professor Tremblay-Pépin. “We wanted each episode to have a catchy title and deal with a very concrete question.”

From the experts

And there are lots of concrete questions. The first episode, entitled "Comment travailler sans patron" [How to work without a boss], went online on Monday, November 12. For about 30 minutes, several members of cooperatives, businesses and self-directed think tanks explain how their organization works. Listeners can therefore understand how self-management is lived on the ground. “We wanted to give the floor to people who practise social innovation every day,” says Tremblay-Pépin.

A good start

At the moment, the two professors plan to launch three more weekly episodes, including one starting today. “Production takes a huge amount of time,” Tremblay-Pépin admits. “We are waiting to see if they are well received.” He and his colleague Durand Folco are considering producing a book based on their interviews for educational purposes. Clearly, books are still worthwhile, even in the undisputed era of the podcast.

Simon’s Recommendations

Social innovation
In English

• The series Do Good Better, which features seven fascinating episodes on the not-for-profit sector and its challenges: https://trinaisakson.com/podcast.
• The series from the Center for Social Innovation at Stanford University, which offers a more traditional, but still relevant, approach: https://ssir.org/podcasts.

In French

• The series Solidarum, which provides a range of experiences to discover: www.solidarum.org/medias/son.

My favourites
In English

• Ways of Hearing, a series of six masterfully produced episodes on the transition from analogue to digital and on how this affects our perception of time, space and love: www.radiotopia.fm/showcase/ways-of-hearing.
• More Perfect, a series about the US Supreme Court that has taught me a lot of things: www.wnycstudios.org/shows/radiolabmoreperfect.

In French

• Fil rouge, a series of four episodes that gives a voice to Indigenous people in Quebec: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/fil-rouge/id1373863034?mt=2.
• Les Chemins de la philosophie, a series from the channel France Culture that presents interesting talks on philosophy: www.franceculture.fr/emissions/les-chemins-de-la-philosophie.