New York, New England, New Jersey, Cincinnati July 2009 - a set on Flickr

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I worked with one of my daughters this summer to learn more about how people are engineering solutions to accommodate rapid economic change. We traveled in New York, New England, New Jersey, Cincinnati this past July, 2009.

Our trip lead us to connect and learn from people across several States about their insights and innovations in education, economic, and workforce development. Typically, I do the interviewing and Alice does the photography.

This photograph set helps to frame a context, provide hints about where and what influences people, and begins to broaden our experiences with you from the perspective of civic, business, academic and government leaders.

(I recommend the Slideshow view and click "show info" to easily see our photo comments so you can understand more.)

The interviews share important insights from people from working in organizations and living as individuals. They begin to tell the story of people building networks, reflecting on the value of collaboration, and offering their ideas about what success looks like in communities and regions. You can learn more about I-Open's video interview research here.

If you care about economic development, employment, philanthropy, government, citizen journalism, education or just want to learn neat things about technology, art, energy, for example, take a look.

We're working on posting interviews and their transcriptions, and designing a way for you to easily access this amazing knowledge (all suggestions welcome!). We should have that soon so please check back -- or you can sign in to the I-Open site and recieve weekly site updates.

In the meantime, listen to a few here on Vimeo or choose from more selections on I-Open's Livestream channel. If you enjoy reading, we're posting download-able transcriptions to Scribd here.

Created and posted by Betsey Merkel.

Collection: I-Open Insight and Innovation Networks

 

Welcome to the networked 12D world of Open Source Economic Development!

Insight and Innovation Networks is a snapshot collection of leaders in government, civic, academic, and business sharing their insights and experiences in education, economic and workforce development. Their stories make up Open Source Economic Development, a networked approach to enterprise collaboration.

This collection is an introduction to deeper interviews posted to I-Open Conversations where people share their passions and insights about what matters most to them in their work and how they live.

Leaders everywhere are envisioning new systems, building the networks they need, addressing challenges to strengthen transparency, and grappling with the realities of why collaboration is so important to generating sustainable enterprise. You'll learn directly from a community of leaders focused on innovating from within these new contexts and their stories of pursuing meaning to deepen connectivity.

We hope you'll consider contributing an interview about your work and connect with this dynamic community. We welcome your insights about what Open Source Economic Development is today.

Thriving on the New Economic Development Frontier - Ed Morrison, Purdue Center for Regional Development and I-Open

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Photos by Alice Merkel, Ohio High School student and Dennis Coughlin.

Here's a link to a Flickr collection that brings together pictures of I-Open's work in Open Source Economic Development over the last several years.

The pictures begin to tell the story of I-Open's activity building open networks of collaboration, and strengthening communities to stimulate enterprise collaboration.

You can easily find additional resources from this page that will connect you to the people, their individual interviews, open conversations, and transcriptions.

Our biggest thanks goes to the people who continue to build the powerful open conversations and contribute stories of insight and innovation. By learning together, we can accelerate meaning and connectivity for each of us in this unprecedented networked world.

Created and posted by Betsey Merkel.