Shared Space: An Invitation to Innovation
http://linezine.com/3.1/features/msmcosp.htm
Marcia Conner interviews Michael Schrage (co-director of MIT Media Lab’s e-markets initiative and expert in the design and deployment of digital innovations). The question?
What do people need to create real innovation?
Part of the answer is they need “shared spaces” structured deliberately to invite true collaboration. Michael maintains that the real core of innovation is creative relationships, not just creative individuals, and shared spaces can facilitate and enhance the innovative power of collaborators.
Think “notes on a paper napkin”
Taking the simple scenario of two people holding a dynamic conversation at a restaurant table. Suddenly one person scribbles a phrase or a diagram on the paper napkin. Then, the other person adds to the phrase or diagram. The paper napkin symbolizes a reference point, a richer shared space, a capture device, and a reflector of the conversation. Without the capture device, the conversation risks remaining ephemeral.
He notes that the shared space changes the ecology of the interaction. I’m still pondering that phrase.
One of the skills most in demand in today’s fast moving world is the ability to improvise while creatively solving problems. Improvisation, the jazz musician being a fine exemplar, is not a skill that is formally taught. Michael notes:
“…the ability to regurgitate a skill on demand is not the same as the ability to improvise with a skill – those are fundamentally different learnings.”
The potential implications of that idea are numerous and can be catalysts for innovative thinking about what students are asked to “do” within a classroom environment, physical or virtual. Hmm, crafting a learning activity so that improvisation is an essential part of solving the puzzle or uncovering a viable solution. In terms of faculty development, how would one “teach” an instructor to do that? Hmm.
Schrage then presents two paradigms for problem solving.
Harvard University uses the case study approach. People have conversations around the case study and import techniques to provide insights.
MIT uses a model-building approach. A prototype or simulation is deliberately constructed and then mathematical, qualitative, and quantitative techniques are brought in to solve the problem.
So often, busy knowledge workers resist making that prototype or simulation, claiming that they don’t have time or the process will interfere with what they already know. And, of course, the essence of innovation is challenging and then moving deliberately beyond what we already know. Easier said than done!
The essence of shared space: a platform through which other people can add value or interpret the shared space and help it become more valuable. Correctly designed, shared spaces can and should be invitations to innovation. Designers need to make very clear the mission of the shared space.
As currently structured, the LOVCOP consists of one virtual course site in which all 140 participants are enrolled. Basic background documents and resources can be found here. A discussion forum in which participants have introduced themselves can be found here. Then, the participants have self-selected themselves into community groups based on their particular interest. The group I will be focusing on is the one examining learning objects and knowledge management.
The community group “space” looks the same as the course site. 25 participants are enrolled and can be reached via an email list built into the program. Discussion forums can be created; virtual chat spaces can be created. Participants will, for the blog research project, click out of the LOVCOP space and go to a collaborative blog space that Brian Lamb is establishing on a University of British Columbia server. Upon arrival, volunteers will “see” a description of the blog topic and will be invited to submit a blog entry every day or every other day for two weeks. They will need to focus on the one topic.
At the conclusion of the two-week time period, they will be invited by email to return to the community group to contribute to the discussion forum. This forum’s topic will be very important. In the discussion forum, participants will need to answer a series of questions about their experiences in the collaborative blog. The heart of the project is what they say, think, and share about the experience.
Is this collaborative blog a truly useful tool for research? For students? For personal or professional development? What is the caliber of the contributions? How could the topic/question be better framed to garner more intriguing insights? What insightful results will we be able to offer Vicki that she can use to keep our VCOP in the spotlight at Educause?
