Newsletter: COINs2010 Conference welcomes you!

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This is the first COINs 2010 Conference newsletter!

I-Open is a proud co-sponsor of the collaborative innovation networks COINs 2010 Conference, Oct 7-9 hosted by Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), Savannah, Georgia.

COINs 2010 is an example of research and industry leaders collaborating for a purpose greater than any single entity. In this case, it is to explore and share insights into the emerging science of collaboration.

Good collaboration skill are the key to building strategic networks to advance innovation in education, economic, and workforce development.

Are you associated with a university or business? How do you collaborate and for what purpose? Add your comments and stories here!

Let us know what you think of the Newsletter. We'd like to hear from you!

Invaluable Civic Conversation: Looking into the Health of Place

In 2004 the City of Glasgow and partners undertook a series of Civic Conversations to address health challenges for the city's population. This report is part of the very creative results - including yesterday's post of the film, "Miniature Glasgow" - to gather and create deeper meaning about a city, the place, and habits of people related to health care.

From partner International Futures Forum archive:

The first seminar series began in November 2004 with a lecture and seminar by the British philosopher Anthony Grayling on Imagining the Perfect Polis. In December Alistair Lawrence led a seminar entitled Animal Farm on what we might learn from studies of farmyard animal behaviour. Sholom Glouberman from Toronto spoke on order/disorder, the environment, identity and health; the transformation in the prospects of place were introduced by Denys Candy from Pittsburgh; happiness by Richard Layard of London; and the psychology of transformation by IFF Member Maureen O’Hara from San Francisco. The first series concluded in May 2005. It provided rich content for a first meeting of Glasgow’s Healthier Future forum in June 2005. Since then there have been two subsequent series and four further healthier future forums. The fourth series was completed in the spring of 2008. A fifth series commenced on Nov 25 2008 and will run to May 2009.

The Report is a rich assembly of reflections and replicable methodologies. Here is a list of milestones discovered through the conversations:

• Rather than asking what is wrong, ask what is missing? When facing current difficulties, plans, ideas and actions, our critique often starts by asking what is wrong. This can quickly turn into negativity and guardedness as people seek to defend their own ideas, plans and actions and attack those of others.  Asking what is missing from a situation which is giving rise to difficulty, or what is missing from a plan, idea or action is more generative 
Be willing and able to hold several perspectives simultaneously and create something new from them which does not currently exist. The holding of different perspectives for as long as possible helps to ensure solutions have incorporated concerns and hopes of multiple perspectives
Make room for dreams. This suggestion came from young people in the Civic Conversation. It has become a platitude to note that young people are the future and this is often given as a vague, if undeniable, justification for involving them. If we understand young people’s dreams and aspirations as third horizon aspirations then we begin to recognise dream and dreamer as potential sources of resilience in the City.  Consequently, engagement is less likely to appear superficial and tokenistic 
Ask ‘is what is proposed a sustaining or transformative innovation?’ In times of relative calm and stability, this is not really a concern. In such times, the world changes slowly, in predictable ways and our ways of taking coherent action work well. In times of rapid change and uncertain development, this is not so straightforward. Sustaining innovation may well be necessary to mitigate decline, but without the realisation of transformative potential it simply prolongs decline.
• Ask ‘what horizon am I operating in?’ ‘How does it relate to other horizons?’ ‘Are all horizons covered?’ ‘What can I do to improve relationships among these different horizons?’    

If the Glasgow Civic Conversations were replicated in your town or city, what could you learn about the health care landscape and solutions?

 You can learn more at IFF.

 

 

Inception, Extraction and the Socialization of Business

Inception and Extraction

While the movie is entitled inception, it begins with the idea of extraction – the ability to enter the dreams of others in order to “steal” secrets hidden away deep within our subconscious. But the film’s premise and its significance is rooted in something much more meaningful, the ability to seed ideas that come to life when we awake – inception versus extraction.

As discussed in Engage and also Charlene Li’s new book Open Leadership, it is this listening, really listening, that opens leadership to change and ultimately true collaboration and co-creation. It is through this unique understanding of the cultures, landscapes and the themes that fuel connections and communication. This incredible insight inspires relevant engagement and supporting constructs that galvanizes and empowers customers and peers to become stakeholders in all you do.

The “extraction” is the research, listening, and sifting for insight. It’s not enough to monitor conversations through keyword searches. It’s not enough to measure “automated” and mostly inaccurate sentiment. It’s not enough to track activity in terms of mentions, followers, likes, and comments. There’s a difference between listening and hearing and to extract the information and intelligence necessary to inspire your ideas requires you to hear what it is that moves individuals and communities.  Extraction is the guiding light to create more meaningful engagement strategies based on the recently introduced concept of relevance, resonance, and significance (RRS), social media’s critical path. And, it’s through extraction where we uncover opportunities for inception.

Important ideas are transformative, stimulating, and motivating. They change our outlook and perspectives and send us on new paths. It’s our responsibility to not only react with relevant engagement, participation, and programming based on extractions, but also lead communities through influence and the inception of impassioned, inspirational, and constructive ideas.

As Godin preaches, “Ideas that spread, win.”

Or as Cobb observes, “The seeds we plant…may change everything.”

Miniature Glasgow

Miniature Glasgow is a short film in which the city is imagined as a village of 100 people.

It is inspired by the Miniature Earth project www.miniature-earth.com

The aim is to present information about the city and its people in a simple and accessible way.

The data used in its production comes from a range of sources. This first version was made in 2009 but the data will change over time.

We hope you enjoy Miniature Glasgow and that it stimulates new thoughts, conversations and understanding about our city.

The Glasgow Centre for Population Health is planning to develop a miniature cities comparison tool with other European cities, applying the same concepts and focussing on health inequalities.

Miniature Glasgow was part of a larger 2009 initiative to address health care challenges for the city through a series of civic conversations.

What would this story look like for your town or city?

You can learn more about the initiative at partner sites Glasgow Centre for Population Health and the International Futures Forum. 

The GCPH is a partnership between NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Glasgow City Council, and the University of Glasgow, funded by the Scottish Government.

For more information, contact:
miniatureglasgow@drs.glasgow.gov.uk

Collaboration Tools: The Flashmeeting Project

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I-Open is a co-sponsor of the upcoming COINs 2010 Conference Oct 7-9 hosted at the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), in Savannah, Georgia. COINs 2010 seeks to advance the emerging science of collaboration, fundamental to improve the skill sets of civic, business, government, and academic leaders.

One of the benefits of working in collaboration with partners is shared learning and the opportunity to experience new tools.

Flashmeeting is a tool sometimes used for virtual meetings by the COINs organizing committee. The platform offers a good example of combining research investigation and tool design for the purpose of advancing online events and enabling higher levels of work efficiency.

You can explore this online destination and tool set for applicability to your work at The Flashmeeting Project.

Learn more about the COINs 2010 Conference, sign-in to build your virtual networks, and register for the face-to-face Savannah gathering here.

How to Share Your I-Open Interview Information

I-Open interviews gather information through the lens of the Innovation Framework, a heuristic map for thinking and doing in Open Source Economic Development.

This document offers starting points to share your interview information with your networks.

You can learn more about industry innovation by listening to I-Open interviews and conversations and reading transcriptions on Scribd.


 


Seeking the Medici Effect: Design Ethos 2010 and COINs 2010 Conferences

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Two conferences in the same town at the same time with opportunities to create meaningful intersections between them: COINS and ETHOS evolved as unique gatherings that bumped into each other, and now we've made it easy for attendants of each conference to bump into one another. What does this mean? We've coordinated the schedules so that individuals from one conference can attend the keynote speakers from the other conference without paying extra cost, and without having to miss anything from their own conference. What else does it mean? Some of our networking events will have overlaps so that attendees from one conference can mingle with attendees from the other.

 

Learn how creating instances of serendipity, exploring intersections, and innovation connect in the Medici Effect - described in this introduction, "Where groundbreaking ideas come from."

Be sure to check out the COINs 2010 Conference web site - an online destination gathering, connecting, and collaborating at the intersections of science, design, and technology.

 Things to do next:

I-Open is a co-sponsor of the collaborative innovation networks COINs 2010 Conference. Join us to learn about the emerging Science of Collaboration.


From Jack Ricchiuto: the Power of Conversations

Based in Northeast Ohio, Jack Ricchiuto is a national thought leader in the design of conversations.

Not long ago conversations were considered a dangerous waste of time.

Today, conversations offer new value to strengthen transparency, a modern imperative for industry transformation.

With new tools, skills and good habits, communities can generate quality solutions to respond to unexpected social, economic, and environmental issues, as well as recognize abundant enterprise opportunities.

Our thanks to Jack and many other practice leaders as we fine tune our capacity to engage in conversation and collaborate. 

Learn more about Jack and his work at DesigningLife.


 

 

Isivivane Game - conversations that build trust and meaning for positive change

In Open Source Economic Development, civic leaders need to learn new practices and tools to extend and enhance their ability to engage with each other and with information to create new knowledge. New knowledge is what is generated from experience and applied to the industry of solving problems.

The Isivivane Game - Place Your Stone Upon the Pile - is one such practice. It creates immediate opportunities for leaders in government, business, and academia to build richer realities to engage in transformative action.

The game architects self constructed pathways that build new capacities for people to work together to be more creative, strengthen communications, and accelerate collaboration.

Practices introduce skills and tools people can rely on as they begin to interact in multidimensional ways. Growing comfortable in environments representing more than one reality is an aid to problem solving in the complex social, economic, and environmental situations affecting industry today. This is modern skills training.

By creating regular opportunities for experimental experiences in complexity - outside of daily work - organizations cultivate higher levels of performance and personal satisfaction, and stronger capabilties in individual decision making for wiser organizations.

From co-creator Steve Banhegyi:

"These are the cards with which the game is played - the questions on the cards are used to create knowledge by the participants - all centering around the central theme or 'organising principle' or 'strange attractor' the answer to the question : "what do we want?"

You can find Steve at I-Open on Strategy-Nets, Facebook, and @SteveBanhegyi on Twitter. Or, contact him directly at:

Steve Banhegyi & Associates
Art and Science of Change
steve@storytelling.co.za
Cell (South Africa) +27 (0)83 232-6047 / Fax +27 (0)86 635-4457
www.storytelling.co.za | www.trans4mation.co.za | isivivane.com

Investing in Swarm Creativity

The COINs 2010 conference, Oct 7-9, 2010 hosted at the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) in Savannah, GA, shares the insights and innovations of research and industry leaders in the Science of Collaboration.

Join us! Here are your next steps:

  • Register for the conference - we'd love to connect with you!
  • Submit a Research or Industry Thought Paper by Aug 12 less than 300 words- this is a neat opportunity to hone your idea and improve!
  • Sign up for the Coolhunting Academy free for conference registrants and includes a complimentary 3-month trial of Cool Trends 2.0 - (!)
  • Check it all out at: http://www.coins2010.com

More about Swarm Creativity and the Science of Collaboration:

Swarm Creativity powers the COINs 2010 community and with it the Science of Collaboration. Conference participants present reports focused on creativity, communication, and collaboration from many different disciplines and industries.

The swarm creativity map, above, is an ecosystem for entrepreneurs, businesses, organizations, and governments to cultivate a culture that is creative, cool, and fun!

Today, civic leaders need to work on many different projects simultaneously and at many different levels to optimize initiatives in open, connected global markets. The swarm creativity map offers a heuristic model for thinking across categories of investment in balanced systems. And, it's transferable and extensible.

Maps act as filters, provide a sense of logistics, and encourage more than one area of attention to be held at once. With that we can begin to think in terms of the value of network connectivity and systemic relationships.

The map identifies how swarm creativity as a discipline can be strengthened by investments in new practices and tools.

One tool, Cool Trends 2.0, is trend finding software developed by http://www.GalaxyAdvisors.com. It is designed to provide investment metrics for web 3.0, the semantic web. By integrating network mapping tools in enterprise initiatives, we can begin to get a clearer picture of innovation in networks, strengthen social behaviors that cultivate collaboration, and drive competitive network productivity.

Attention to new practices, such as meritocracy - an element of swarm creativity - establish good habits of sharing that nurture trusted relationships and cultivate collaborative environments.

Frameworks like this one work well in complexity. They offer a starting point for entrepreneurs to make important cognitive shifts required to think in terms of networks and areas of investment. With this, work becomes efficient and effective.

You can learn more in the book, "Swarm Creativity" by Professor Peter Gloor, Research Scientist, MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. Be sure to follow the http://swarmcreativity.blogspot.com/ ">Swarm Creativity blog too.

The Swarm Creativity map was created by Betsey Merkel, I-Open.