Andy and I talked about tomorrow's charrette and what design initiatives we still need to accomplish. We agreed that making WandaLand/PaperStreet a Innovation and Shared Learning Nexus and building community are our ultimate goals. So how do we achieve that? How do we design the market to create an innovation nexus? Building community is the easier part, or at least can be accomplished through the design of creating an innovation nexus, since community building can be as simple as providing networking opportunity (social capital!).In preparation for tomorrow I have added green post-its (as seen above) to our design map. I added another, "Innovation & Shared Learning Nexus", as a goal of WandaLand. The three pictured above are what I see as need to obtain our goal: provide tools & equipment to leverage leverage ideas, bring people together to facilitate discussion, and capture and collect information.
Previous blog posts suggest that idea generation is developed with networking. Steven Johnson gives an easy formula for developing ideas: write ideas down, talk about them, take a walk, keep info flowing and open.
So first, we need to get people to the market. - Food and Fun
Secondly, we have to create a friendly environment with tools and programs to encourage thinking, in which people will want to share openly. A "space of creativity" - still working: includes weekly tech challenges, garage labs, perhaps coffee lounge area?, alternative activities?
Also, since "chance favors a connected mind" and nothing good comes from a lost or forgotten idea, we will need to provide a means to capture ideas, network with others of specific interests for input, and build capacity to continue discussion to facilitate the "slow hunch". This could also include seed funding for creation - digital connection, email list, how do we connect and collect?
In conclusion: tomorrow's agenda should be centered over the question of how do we create an innovation nexus? For tomorrow's meeting I think it is more important to first answer how we are going to create "a space of creativity" and what that includes. It will also be important to figure out how we are going to connect and collect information effectively or else our attempts to achieve our goals will be in vain. We talked about most of this stuff last week but I think it is not clear to us yet and needs to be discussed further before we can hammer out other details of the market.
Please post your thoughts/ideas/alternatives/questions.... that is what it is all about!
I think the question of "how to build an innovation nexus" is crucial. What does that look, and more importantly, feel like? When you have walked into places in the past where that kind of work was taking place, what were the contributing factors, how was it designed and how did the people within the space relate to one another and share ideas? Did the design facilitate that? What are the gaps between these places and where Paper Street and Timebank are today?
ReplyDeleteI think that "getting people to the market" is secondary to articulating and creating what it is, making sure that when they show up, they experience that sense of wonder that Michelle framed as a potential tagline for WandaLand.
And again, there is a great deal of work ahead to accomplish this feat - as usually 6 months of planning for even a basic operation of this nature would be minimal, and we are talking about the design of Paper Street, the Timebank & the Fair - yikes!
Yet I believe the ultimate goal is worth the challenge though and with the right collaborative model we can achieve at least the beginning of something great, while creating (along the lines of the Forecast for the Future post) the globally local examples that fit into larger conversations. And we're committed to the success of this endeavor! Collaboration, I believe with I3 most importantly and the immediately surrounding businesses, is going to be extremely critical.
So my contributing thoughts for the agenda for Saturday are that we should have a focused conversation on the design, function and potential learning and apprenticeship model programs that could be facilitated through the timebank and paper street while setting in motion the work that needs to be done to prepare these critical elements (because if these aren't there then there is nothing holding the fair up as anything different).
Then working to get to a place where we can invite collaborators in the effort, being sure we are able to articulate what the vision is for the area and for Ferndale, that they are being asked to contribute to.
Monica:
ReplyDeleteOUTSTANDING! (Begin with the End in Mind)
I agree with your comments Monica. I think we need to focus on the physical design and how it will cultivate the innovation nexus.
ReplyDelete