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GJ transdiscipline
The innovation ecosystem  The ‘initial solution’ is, however, not the end result of BCN2011; as signaled by this event’s title, the end result is an ‘innovation ecosystem for good journalism.’ Our rationale here is that public informing is too important as systemic component to be left to historical accidents, habits and commercial forces. Rather, improving this component is considered as the core function of (academic) knowledge work. To perform this function, an innovation ecosystem for good journalism (implemented as a ‘transdiscipline’) is created. In a transdiscipline, researchers from various fields join forces with other stakeholders to create a solution to a problem or an answer to a question of contemporary interest: - In the innovation ecosystem for good journalism, latest insights from relevant fields of interest, including technological developments, find their place in a key application – public informing; the structure of the public informing is kept up to date with those developments.
- By creating this concrete instance, this project develops the structure and the dynamics of a transdiscipline. This provides a mechanism (a socio-technical system) that enables peope from various areas of expertise to come together and co-create anything, and in particular a systemic solution for a key component of knowledge work (here concretely journalism). The researchers develop a domain map to organize relevant insights and resources – How does this work? What technologies are used? In this context, the BCN2011 workshop itself was an experiment in workshop organization, article writing (we are developing the meta-article) etc. that enable a heterogeneous team of experts to co-create (a systemic solution) together.
- For a systemic solution to have real-world impact, systemic components must be designed and marketed. Conversely, a systemic re-design of public informing and academic research opens up uncommonly large markets to entrepreneurship. Here (the systemic solution for) entrepreneurship too is being re-designed. Entrepreneurship receives first-hand impulses from research; it gets directed in a direction that is both economically lucrative, and socially necessary and transformative.
- Same as a conventional discipline, a transdiscipline too must spread through education. We are developing a related student research project and an international educational project in collaboration with the Inter University Centre Dubrovnik.
The innovation ecosystem for good journalism too functions according to the pattern pointed at by the Vertical Eight ideogram. This is the second ‘vertical infinity.’
In the lower, phenomenological loop, the participants in this ecosystem identify desirable characteristics of good journalism: How should journalism (or better said ‘public informing’) be different? How will it be accountable to democracy? How will it be economically sustainable? Answers to these questions are answered on the phenomenological level; they are organized together, along with supporting arguments and relevant research and other material, by using a domain map, improvised by using DebateGraph. Key differences (such as the ability to provide key systemic insights) become the ‘butterfly.’
In the upper, systemic loop, the participants identify systemic changes that are needed to secure the identified phenomenological or behavioral changes. The end result of this loop is an identification of systemic leverage points, and actions that can lead to suitable systemic change (the ‘butterfly’). Similar technological solutions as above are used.
Main components, tools and processes (nuts and bolts of the transdiscipline) A heterogeneous team of knowledge workers comes together around a shared task – to keep co-creating good journalism; to assume custodianship of good journalism.
The academic participants come from different disciplines (journalism, IT, ...); they will remain in their disciplines. The transdiscipline is a federation – each will contribute insights and knowledge from their discipline; each will bring questions and new insights back to their discipline, hence enrich the discipline.
So how does this work?
Four building blocks are in development:
- GJ Domain Map: Everyone contributes to co-creation of shared knowledge pool, based on which the good journalism will be co-created and maintained.
- GJ Induct Platform: Henry Chessbrough's Open Innovation is used to streamline the main innovation processes. At the same time, since Induct is a Corporate Stakeholder in Knowledge Federation, we are developing the approach to IT innovation that is orchestrated by systemic innovation ('new paradigm').
- BCN2011 workshop: How can a heterogeneous group co-create together? The BCN2011 workshop provided a template.
- BCN2011 meta-article: How do the participants federate their ideas (put them together, make them known to relevant communities)? The BCN2011 meta-article orchestrates this job.
Education and entrepreneurship This third ‘vertical infinity’ is an answer to the obvious key question: “How does the above way of working scale?” This module turns the above solution into a systemic ‘butterfly,’ by combining education and entrepreneurship.
The educational part of the project spreads the above way of working to young researchers, at the point in their careers where they are able to take this new direction.
The entrepreneurship part of the project employs the energy and of entrepreneurship in the direction of systemic change; it also produces and markets the systemic components that are needed for systemic change.
In the lower part of this loop students and entrepreneurs are participating in the ‘innovation ecosystem.’ In the upper part of this loop we are using systemic innovation to re-create education and entrepreneurship, orienting them too into the direction of systemic change.
Currently we are focused on implementing a small version of this student innovation ecosystem in collaboration with eSTUDENT organization in Zagreb, Croatia; then internationalizing the educational part through the (Knowledge Federation course at) Inter University Centre Dubrovnik; and implementing and internationalizing the entrepreneurship through collaboration with Startup Weekend.
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