Introduction to Open Source Economic Development, Ed Morrison, Co-Founder I-Open and Policy Analyst, Purdue University

Ed Morrison prepared this presentation for the April 2008 I-Open Leadership Retreat hosted at the beautiful Punderson State Park in Newberry, Ohio.

The presentation offers a succinct outline of the concepts and knowledge areas important to civic leaders building networks and collaborations in communities and regions.

The material draws deeply from Ed's life work as a brilliant economic development strategist. 

From our time working together at Case Western Reserve University's Center for Regional Economic Development (REI) from 2003 to 2005, we added process extensions and additional refinements.

These contiguous developments included the Tuesdays@REI Civic Forum process for civic entrepreneurs (designed by Betsey Merkel) and the Strategic Doing process (Ed Morrison). Both were refined out of the REI work building civic networks and strengthening entrepreneurial initiatives in Northeast Ohio.

Regional practitioner thought leaders - and there were many - offered strong influences in the areas of network mapping, Open Space Technologies, Appreciative Inquiry, social technologies, design, knowledge management, and visualization during our tenure.

These are typical of the practices and tools entrepreneurs and leaders of organizations, business, academia, and government need to be proficient in today to build competitive networks and collaborations for global economies.

It is this re-tooling of capacities that will strengthen entrepreneurial innovation in such important industries as alternate energies, manufacturing, health care, land use, creative digital media, technology, and water efficiency in Open Source Economic Development.

I-Open on Strategy-Nets: industry collaboration with an enterprise footprint

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 I-Open first announced its partnership with Near-Time.com May 14, 2007. Over the following three years, I-Open focused on applying the Near-Time tool set to early applications of face-to-face and online network and community development in Open Source Economic Development initiatives in many states.

Ed Morrison, Co-Founder and past Director of I-Open, led initiatives across the country while Northeast Ohio Co- Founders and Directors Betsey Merkel, Dennis Coughlin, and Susan Altshuler - along with the expertise of regional leaders - co-led initiatives in Northeast Ohio.

Article: "I-Open Selects Near-Time to Help Drive Community through Web Integration" 

I-Open's value as an industry partner with technology companies works in a couple of ways:

First, I-Open collaborates with technology and creative companies to build the place based open, neutral spaces for new conversations to take place, engaging business leaders focused on shared interests. Over time, conversations increase opportunities for innovative, collaborative local partnerships.

That's where a second stage of partnership comes in: in this case, the application of a Web 2.0 platform to sustain conversations and amplify community building, complete with a tool set to advance project work.

Online destinations offer a landing place for people to continue their conversations once they've gone back to the office. If a project is started, Web 2.0 tools enable work to continue from any place, independent of traditional meetings.

Midtown Brews and the Women's Enterprise Network are two Northeast Ohio based I-Open business collaborations that advance regional-to-global industry networks. Both are tested, successful models of integrating technology at the intersections of face-to-face and online network building. I-Open Civic Forums turbo charge activity and with the help of social media, local transparency is improved and global issues generally not addressed openly, are.

Collaborations between technology companies and network organizations like I-Open are invaluable because they advance cycles of industry improvement in social process and tool building. I-Open applications are unique because they focus on building enterprise under the mantra of open source ideology across social, economic, and environmental sectors.

Today, the Near-Time tool set has assumed a new application and brand: Strategy-Nets, an enterprise company founded by Ed Morrison that combines what was learned in those early applications to advancing strategic network building for economic development across regions.

By continuing to launch industry collaborations between technology companies and I-Open process, innovations capable of sparking technology and social process advances emerge. The added bonus is a footprint of trusted networks, evolving mindsets, collaborative behaviors, and plenty of competitive enterprise opportunities for any technology innovator prepared to grasp them.

Copyright 2011 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 2563 Kingston Road Cleveland OH 44118 Phone: 216-220-0172 Web: http://i-open.posterous.com/

 

About I-OPEN

I-Open is the architect of a new type of civic infrastructure.

This infrastructure connects entrepreneurs and their ideas to resources and capabilities in established organizations and institutions.

Learn more across these I-Open platforms:
I-Open http://i-open-2.strategy-nets.net
Facebook I-Open http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=35942064712&ref=ts
Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/iopen/sets/
Friendfeed http://friendfeed.com/iopen
Livestream http://www.livestream.com/iopen/
Posterous http://i-open.posterous.com/
Scribd http://www.scribd.com/I-Open
Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/IOpen2
Twitter http://twitter.com/iopen2
Vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/user1999383
You Tube http://www.youtube.com/user/IOpen2

Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel http://www.betseymerkel.extendr.com/ and I-Open http://i-open.org/. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave 3rd Fl Cleveland, Ohio 44103 USA

Maps - a set on Flickr

This set documents I-Open network and community building activity from 2003 to 2009 aided by the generous contributions of hundreds of civic entrepreneurs, many of whom reside in Northeast Ohio.

Data driven social network maps strengthen transparency by indicating where and with whom an entrepreneur can connect to access information or resources.

Many of the maps shown here are "experience maps" - non-data driven visualizations that document known flows of information or cycles of community maturation.

Maps such as these may mirror unrealized areas of research, data collection, and discovery in sociality, collaboration and enterprise development.

You can learn more about practices and tools in Open Source Economic Development at I-Open here and here.

Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel www.betseymerkel.extendr.com/ and I-Open. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave 3rd Fl Cleveland, Ohio 44103 USA

I-Open Civic Forums Strengthen Entrepreneurship & Accelerate Business Dev in Network Economies

I-Open is a shared knowledge network for civic, business, government, and academic leaders in Open Source Economic Development.

This backgrounder begins with an overview of the value Civic Forums offer to entrepreneurs and local business development, followed by, generally, how I-Open is organized, where it originated from, and who has contributed to it making it what it is today – an educational resource for communities and their regions.

We hope you’ll add your comments here.

Elsevier: Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences - 2009 COINs Proceedings

 The COINs2009 Proceedings are available online at:

Volume 2, Issue 4, Pages 6387-6626 (2010)


The 1st Collaborative Innovation Networks Conference - COINs2009
Edited by Kenneth Riopelle, Peter Gloor, Christine Miller and Julia Gluesing

 The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-OPEN) publication is # 15 entitled:

COINS: An economic development tool for education, economic and workforce development in Open Source Economic Development

Building Collaborative Communities

This presentation provides an introduction to building face-to-face and online collaborative communities that generate social capital and transformative initiatives in Open Source Economic Development.

Collaborative communities form from I-Open Civic Forums, a simple but disciplined process to accelerate place based, globally connected innovation and entrepreneurship.

Learn from the wisdom of civic leaders across these I-Open communities:

    •    Facebook I-Open http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Open/170817416694?ref=ts
    •    Flickr     http://www.flickr.com/people/iopen/
    •    Friendfeed http://friendfeed.com/iopen
    •    Livestream http://www.livestream.com/iopen/
    •    Posterous http://i-open.posterous.com/
    •    Scribd http://www.scribd.com/I-Open
    •    Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/IOpen2
    •    Twitter http://twitter.com/iopen2
    •    Vimeo http://tiny.cc/106p0
    •    You Tube http://tiny.cc/j5rse
 
Copyright 2011 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 2563 Kingston Road Cleveland OH 44118 Phone: 216-220-0172 Web: http://i-open.posterous.com/

John Zitzner, President, Friends of E Prep Schools Interview 01-07-10

Building Brainpower: Our Most Competitive Regional Asset

John Zitzner, President, Friends of E Prep Schools in Cleveland, Ohio, shares a story of transforming education regardless of circumstance - the first step in revitalizing regional economic sustainability.

In this transcription of John's I-Open interview, he describes how he brings his entrepreneurial zeal and experience in building successful for profit enterprises to connect entrepreneurship and education, transforming workforce development for regional prosperity.

Learn about this successful, replicable investment model of innovation in charter school education celebrated this week, June 14, 2011 - "100% of E Prep's 8th graders and 100% of The Intergenerational School's 8th graders passed the Ohio Achievement READING Assessment. #1 in the county." - John Zitzner.

More about John's work and the work of others building successful charter schools at Breakthrough Charter Schools.

Learn from civic intelligence at these I-Open communities:


    •    Facebook I-Open http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Open/170817416694
    •    Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/iopen/sets/72157623351094216/
    •    Friendfeed http://friendfeed.com/iopen
    •    Livestream http://www.livestream.com/iopen/
    •    Posterous http://i-open.posterous.com/
    •    Scribd http://www.scribd.com/I-Open
    •    Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/IOpen2
    •    Twitter http://twitter.com/iopen2
    •    Vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/user1999383
    •    You Tube http://www.youtube.com/user/IOpen2

Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave 3rd Fl Cleveland, Ohio 44103 USA

 

 

Closing the Brainpower Gap: Transforming Regions One Student at a Time

John Zitzner, President, Friends of E Prep Schools in Cleveland, Ohio, shares a story of transforming education regardless of circumstance - the first step in revitalizing regional economic sustainability.

You can visit E City to learn more about how this model of innovation in education works.

Breakthrough Charter Schools, a replicable model of innovation in charter school education, celebrated  "100% of E Prep's 8th graders and 100% of The Intergenerational School's 8th graders passed the Ohio Achievement READING Assessment. #1 in the county" - John Zitzner, June 2011.

Learn from civic intelligence at these I-Open communities:


    •    Facebook I-Open http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-Open/170817416694
    •    Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/iopen/sets/72157623351094216/
    •    Friendfeed http://friendfeed.com/iopen
    •    Livestream http://www.livestream.com/iopen/
    •    Posterous http://i-open.posterous.com/
    •    Scribd http://www.scribd.com/I-Open
    •    Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/IOpen2
    •    Twitter http://twitter.com/iopen2
    •    Vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/user1999383
    •    You Tube http://www.youtube.com/user/IOpen2

Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave 3rd Fl Cleveland, Ohio 44103 USA

 

I-Open Analytics Offer a Framework for Building Civic Networks

This conversation and e-mail Matrix, designed by Betsey Merkel, Co-Founder and Director, The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open), is an example of how I-Open Civic Forum conversations were organized in Northeast Ohio from 2006 through 2009.

Conversations are informed by interviews contributed to I-Open by leaders in civic, academic, government and business. Interviews reveal new insights and innovation opportunities in both social and economic industry that can not only be shared, but improved upon in guided I-Open Civic Forum discussions.

Matrices are helpful to guide the intent and focus of new conversations in Open Source Economic Development exploring investment categories of the Innovation Framework, and topics representing citizen priorities affecting education, economic, and workforce development.

In the past, we most often associated "analytics" to mean measuring what we got out of any effort, in terms of profit. Today we still need to measure output, but we also need to organize how and where we are adding to change the results of our activities.

Conversations in the "Civic Space" - the space outside the four walls of any organization - build trust, and trust builds networks. These are the important starting points to build transformative initiatives and ultimately, new businesses.

This matrix points to the need for communities and regions to participate at higher levels of organization, process, and tools to identify, connect, and align creativity and resources for transformative, sustainable innovation.

The result of the efforts outlined in this matrix are described in the I-Open Press Release 01-18-10 posted to this blog at http://i-open.posterous.com/civic-networks-prepare-people-and-communities

You can learn more about I-Open at http://i-open-2.strategy-nets.net

Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel http://www.betseymerkel.extendr.com/ and I-Open http://i-open.org/. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave 3rd Fl Cleveland, Ohio 44103 USA