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I gave a presentation to the ideas ministry in Reykjavik, Iceland bringing forward the findings of my group thesis written in June 2009. This slideshow was just a taster of some of the findings including info on problems collaborations encounter and some advice.
Citation preview
Collaboration for Sustainability in a Networked World
Based on findings of thesis research for an MSc in Strategic Leadership Towards Sustainability
Blekinge Institute of Technology 2009 by Fei Rong, Alice-Marie Archer and Rebecca Petzel
Background: Collaboration and the web
Short Film introduction
Background: Collaboration and the web
How can we apply this power to leverage our work towards a
sustainable future?
Sustainability Challenge: The GAP
We are faced with the following challenge - to get to a state whereby we:
“meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”
(United Nations General Assembly, 1987)
"sustainable development simply calls for more collaboration since the changes
needed exceed the capacity of individual actors."
(DeBruijn and Tukker 2002, 11)
Background: Mass Collaboration
We think, collective intelligence, group genius, swarm creativity... Things these all have in common:
1. Diversity of opinion with a mix of knowledge and experience 2. Independence 3. Decentralization 4. Aggregation: mechanism for drawing out the collective decision (Surowiecki 2005)
How can we harness these for sustainability?
Collaborative Innovation Networks - COINs
“COIN: a cyber-team of self-motivated people with a
collective vision, enabled by the web to collaborate in achieving a common goal by sharing ideas,
information, and work.”
Using Wikipedia to further Explain COINs
Main Editors: Collaborative Innovation Network (COIN)
Casual Editors: Collaborative Learning Network (CLN)
Wikipedia Consumers: Collaborative Interest Network (CIN)
A Wikipedia page is a COIN with a CLN and CIN, and Wikipedia itself is a
great example of many COINs working together as an Ecosystem:
one body, many organs.
Examples of COINs
Methodology: Research Design
Methodology at a glance
●Surveys (18 People)●Interviews (38 People) ●Participant Observation ●Feedback
Results
Results: Vision – COINs in a Sustainable Society
The World is Flat ● Self-organized, diverse, interconnected, empowered.
Businesses and governments operate as COINs:platforms connecting people around shared-visions.
The New Networked Knowledge Economy ● Exchange of knowledge, the only limitless,
abundant resourcePhysical Implications of Technology ● Low-impact technology, humanized with presenceRe-tribalized Man ● Exchanging stories of meaning, finding our global tribe
Results: Sustainability implications of COINs today
Benefits of COINS for sustainability● Distributed working● Reduced resource consumption● Self-organization, Diversity, Interdependence● Bridging the ingenuity gap● Socially sustainable organizational structure
Concerns of COIN working● Lack of systems perspective can lead to increase in
unsustainable practices● Amplification of success of COINs with a
fundamentally unsustainable vision
Electronic Waste on Docks waiting to be shipped, Photo by Dave Henniker
Results: Emerging Factors
Open Source, Open EverythingThe value-added of social computing. Following success in software development industry, questions are arising regarding the transfer of this model to other sectors.Intellectual Property (IP)How will IP survive the Internet Revolution? Rise of Creative Commons copyright system as a response to IP challengesThe Networked Knowledge EconomyNew communication technologies and networks allow for commons based peer production: new economic order.Web-Enabled TribalismPeople are using the web to find like minded individuals, forming online tribes whichsometimes seep out into the real world as these individuals seek each other out.Emerging TechnologyHumanizing technology, cloud computing, SaaS
Barriers to successful web-collaboration
● The Digital Divide
● Intellectual Property Concerns
● Technological Barriers
● External Cultural Barriers
● Internal Barriers
DEMOTIVATING CONTRIBUTION
76.5% of people do not have internet access. Do your desired contributors?
76.5% of people do not have internet access
We arn't all part of the Net-Generation
Are your contributors digital immigrants or natives?
Sometimes technology is frustrating
What is the technical sophistication of your
contributors?
Advice: its all about K.I.S.S
KEEP
IT
SIMPLE
STUPID
Advice: Lower the bar to entry
●It only needs to be good enough
●Most collaborations can take
Place over email skype and
via a simple web platform
What will you do with my intellectual property?
An adequate legalframework is yet to emerge as capableof dealing with IP over the web.
Not everyone thinks of Intellectual property the same way. There are
big differences across cultures.
Advice: Be Clear
● Ensure from the beginning that contributors know what will
become of their contributions – clarify the return on their
investment.
● Shared risk = Shared reward
● Be aware of IP cultural differences in your COIN
● Consider emergent flexible copyright options such as Creative
Commons
There is a Status Quo
bias that new
technology has more
bugs.
The web can be distracting!
Advice: Take control of your web
● Separate work and non-work email
● Take time away from your computer
● Be present – when collaborating over the web in real time, don't
browse the web. When face to face, close your computers and
TALK to each other
● Be aware of your assumptions, take a neutral, open attitude
Don't be a hero-
its not covered by our health plan.
The movement from hierarchy to chaordism /
wirearchy often faces resistance
from the 'top'.
Advice: Get support from the top...
● And show support from the top...
COINs internal to an organisation that do not
feel supported, often 'break away' taking their
concept with them
People say things online they wouldn't say face to face.
Without the presence of face to face
communication, collaborations can fail due
to dysfunctional argumentation
People say things online they wouldn't say face to
face.
Web Web Collaborations Collaborations can suffer from can suffer from Poor Signal to Poor Signal to Noise Ratio Noise Ratio
Over controlling
leadership can stifle a
collaboration
Collaborations often fail due to lack of:Shared vision Trust and Transparent Communication: the pillars of good collaboration
Advice: Be an active participant
● Allow space for self organisation – take the role of facilitator and
active participant rather than leader.
● Operate in trust with transparent communication
● Ensure all communication can be accessed if so desire
● Choose systems that have a good signal to noise ratio – to
ensure a low barrier to entry for their use.
● BE NICE – don't underestimate the power of altruism
“The biggest challenge to harnessing the collective intelligence of the world to help solve
some of the very serious problems we have around sustainability….has to do with people knowing not only how to use the software, but
ideas around critical thinking and collaboration.” – Howard Rheingold
When to collaborate. Know when to collaborate, or not (logic of going down this route).
Perfect Invitation. How to engage the right crowd to participate in a collaboration (vision, rewards / motivations, value-exchange)
Collaborator experience design. Design a compelling experience for the participants of the collaboration (web tools, culture, governance, legals)
Lead by example. Be a great collaborator yourself (spontaneity, listening, story-telling, letting go).
Strategic considerations for COINs. How to ensure our COINs are moving us towards sustainability.
How 2 Guide
Discussion
COINs support disruptive innovation towards sustainability
COINs support strategic guidelines towards social sustainability
Discussion: How are COINs strategic Towards Sustainability?
Discussion: COINs need a strategic guiding vision
For COINs to be strategic towards sustainability they need to be underpinned by a systems view of sustainability
●Ensuring basic understanding of sustainability ●Supporting the design of shared-vision ●Enabling the design of a strategy for progressing towards the shared vision of success●Ensuring outcomes of a COIN do not violate our sustainability●Ensuring COIN outputs offer a flexible platform
We believe the FSSD to be an appropriate framework for supporting the sustainable use of COINs
Application: A brief lesson on how to build a COIN
●Compelling proposition
●Strong Vision
●Guidelines for clear, transparent communication
●Pick the minimum technology necessary
●Keep it simple
●Establish upfront what everyone has to loose and gain
●Shared risk, shared reward
Recommendations: Further research
●A study of the resource implications of distributed working in COINs
●Developing taxonomies for interdisciplinary COINs
●Investigate legal constructs for web enabled collaborative innovation networks
●Establishing Gatekeepers: communicating for multi-cultural COINs
●Developing a training scheme for teams desiring to form a COIN
●Developing an education programme for web enabled collaborative innovation and critical thinking for school children
“the danger is not that we ask too much of the Internet, but too little…it could be a new
platform for how we could organize ourselves, to find knowledge together, to
work out what is true and to decide together what we should do about it”
–Tim Berners-Lee
“the danger is not that we ask too much of the Internet, but too little…it could be a new
platform for how we could organize ourselves, to find knowledge together, to
work out what is true and to decide together what we should do about it”
–Tim Berners-Lee
Ninja Thanks:
● Our fab advisors: Merlina and Tamara● Menka●Our Interviewees and survey respondents, too numerous to list here● The Collaboration Ninjas: Henno, PG, Joe, DeepMonk, Joel, Denele, Tim, Dean, Jaco, Tim● Paulie-nka (deviantart) for the puzzle-piece slide backgrounds●www.wordle.net for our funky tag cloudREFS
●http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2053/2229752965_ae28533a0a_o.jpg●http://www.lrdc.pitt.edu/schunn/sword/plagiarism.jpg●http://nirel.deviantart.com/art/Scream-17026336●http://www.jarche.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/wirearchy.jpg●http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/images/human.gif●http://digitalminds.deviantart.com/art/Pain-in-the-ass-101307904●http://altair4444.deviantart.com/art/Puppet-Not-15196569●http://marthema.deviantart.com/art/Together-35327305