Creating Small Actions for Profound Change

Color_stump_pattern
Color Stump Pattern 

Image © Alice Merkel on Flickr

Curt Lindberg, Learning and Science Officer, Plexus Institute, teaches leaders to make large change by encouraging small actions.

In this interview contributed to I-Open, Curt shares research insights about complexity science, new areas for research exploration, and new knowledge learned by nurses and doctors across the globe combating Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a bacterial infection that is highly resistant to some antibiotics.  

Curt talks about the Plexus strategy for research and reflects on the ability of social networks and stories to create a different and unique picture of each and every culture. 

Learn more about the Plexus Institute's work in health care around the world. 

Small actions for profound change from I-Open on Vimeo.

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

Copyright 2011 Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License Betsey Merkel and The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open), 2563 Kingston Road Cleveland OH 44118 Phone: 216-220-0172 Web: http://i-open.posterous.com/

 

Generate Better Futures: Focus On The Present

Roof_garden
Roof Garden 

Image © Alice Merkel on Flickr 

Curt Lindberg, Chief Learning and Science Officer, Plexus Institute, shares insights into the role of complexity science and positive deviance in the 21st Century.  

Curt talks about the power of stories and one in particular, the story of "The Palmer Method" - a small creative action that has lead to large positive change in global health care.

By learning what is working now, communities and organizations can align knowledge and resources to become resilient and sustainable.

Learn about the Plexus Institute's work around the world.

Generate better futures: focus on the present from I-Open on Vimeo.

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

 Copyright 2011 Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License Betsey Merkel and The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open), 2563 Kingston Road Cleveland OH 44118 Phone: 216-220-0172 Web: http://i-open.posterous.com/

I-Open Social Network Maps

Neohio

Social network maps strengthen transparency by indicating where and with whom an entrepreneur or organizational leader can access information and resources. 

The 2003 Northeast Ohio Economic Development Social Network map shown above maps organizations and institutions in Northeast Ohio who invest in economic development. The arrows indicate directional flow of information. Colors designate TYPE of organization ... light green are all of the Universities, Grey are Government, Dk Green Commercial Biz, etc. This map was generated by Valdis Krebs, Founder and Chief Scientist, Orgnet.com and creator of Network Visualization - InFlow 3.01, and George Nemeth from public data.

Maps are tools to enable communities to visualize connectivity and, acting as intermediaries, strengthen connection or complete a connection between human talent, resources and capabilities. I-Open maps published in the Flickr set below were generated by Dennis Coughlin, I-Open using InFlow 3.01. See the Network Map Inventory below the set for corresponding title information.

 

Open Economic Networks Map Inventory


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/

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

The Role of Colleges and Universities in Regional Transformation: A Model

The Center for Regional Economic Issues (REI) Summary provides an overview of the important role of universities and colleges to strengthen innovation and enterprise for regional economic transformation.

The Center, originally created from a recommendation by the Rand Corporation to advise then Fortune 500 corporate leaders in Northeast Ohio, was first housed at the Cleveland Federal Reserve, Cleveland State University, and then at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.

Ed Morrison, Executive Director, working with Betsey Merkel, Susan Altshuler, Matt Kozink, and Dennis Coughlin as an open team, led the Center from 2003-2005. The report details what was accomplished, the alignment of Center activities with University strategy, and results of working with regional leaders to build networks, social capital, and accelerate transformative initiatives in education, economic, and workforce development.

The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) is the spin off of the Center and continues to develop and deploy new practices in Open Source Economic Development in Northeast Ohio and the world.

Peter Margolis MD, PhD Co-Director, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Cntr 08-05-09 Interview

In this 08-05-09 interview transcription, Dr. Peter Margolis MD, PhD Co-Director, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center shares updates about his research in quality health care delivery for children.

Dr. Margolis discusses the value collaboration and social networks bring to improving knowledge across health care systems. He also reviews Center projects focused on accelerating knowledge sharing and successful pratices for physicians and the patients and families they serve.

Currently, the Center is studying ways to advance knowledge sharing and adoption across multiple networks at scale to improve the health of populations, affecting demographics across states and regions.

You can listen to the interview with Dr. Margolis at I-Open (requires sign in).

This and other transcriptions are available at I-Open on Scribd.

Copyright 2009 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

Collaborative Healthcare: advancing sustainable knowledge systems for service delivery

My daughter and I visited Dr. Peter Margolis, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Director of the The Center for Health Care Quality at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center last July. Our visit was prompted at the recommendation of Peter Gloor, Research Scientist, MIT, to learn more about the advancing practice of collaborative medicine in health care service delivery for children.

(Peter Gloor's research focuses on COINs - collaborative innovation networks.The study of COINs, or swarm creativity, offers us a deeper understanding of how to share information in large systems to advance knowledge aquisition by all participants and address distribution of that knowledge at scale. Be sure to visit and participate in the COINs global community here.)

With Alice's photos, we posted the slide show above. As you're watching, listen to Dr. Margolis's interview describing the value networks, collaboration and community bring to advance medical innovation and health care service, posted to I-Open and here to this blog.

We'd like to thank Dr. Margolis for generously participating in the New York, New England, New Jersey, Cincinnati July 2009 interview trip, co-sponsored by The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open). We'll be posting additional interviews from our trip to this blog and to I-Open in the upcoming weeks.

The photo set for the July trip is posted to Flickr. We invite you to visit more photos by Alice Merkel here.

Copyright 2009 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