Leaving the bubble: Safe spaces for difficult conversations
| Reference number | |
| Coordinator | SÖDRA MEDBORGARPRESS I STHLM AB - DirektPress Södra Sidan |
| Funding from Vinnova | SEK 300 000 |
| Project duration | May 2019 - January 2020 |
| Status | Completed |
| Venture | Social innovation - development and testing |
| Call | Test and develop a social innovation – step 1 2019 |
Important results from the project
Within the framework of the local newspaper chain DirektPress, we have launched the communication project #EttSthlm, which aims to inspire readers/users across the city to engage in conversations across social and ethnic boundaries. We have carried out a wide range of activities, matching experiments and publications in article-, podcast- and video formats, including the use of portable subway seats where we brought together strangers in spontaneous conversations. We have succeeded well in our activity goals, but have not reached as far as we hoped when it comes to user engagement.
Expected long term effects
Through our experiments we have been able to confirm, and have also demonstrated to a wider audience, the basic assumptions of our project: that there is a widespread demand for new ways of talking "across boundaries" and also a lot of skill among Stockholmers to do so, given the opportunity. We have gained an audience of many hundreds of thousands of Stockholmers in a discussion about how we can break through us-and-them boundaries within the city. However, we have found it more difficult than we thought to gain reach on social media and did not attain the dissemination goals that we had set up.
Approach and implementation
We tested a large variety of innovative tools to reach our project´s goals. For instance we developed a model with portable subway seats where we invited strangers to discuss controversial topics and posted YouTube videos that in different ways discussed identity, prejudice and the need for over-bridging dialogue. During the second half of the project period, we focused more clearly on young people in high school age and found that our content became both sharper and more appreciated as we narrowed our target group and stuck to a theme for a longer period through regular print articles.