short report from sxsw, part III: happy collaboration
Collaboration is not a piece of pie, by any means. It is an ideal that we all wish to attain in one form or another, but getting there is hard to put into words. I asked Jim Coudal (participation pat on the back for the butterfly heart) about fostering a collaborative environment and his response (after asking about the size of the team, the size of the company) was something like: we don’t really use tools or methods to encourage participation, people are either collaborators or they are not. Given the collaborative mission of this blog, for example, I am not inclined to wholly agree with this, as I think many extenuating circumstances can help or hinder ability to collaborate, participate, and volunteer within a group or organization. However, I admit that I do often feel there is an organizational or corporate mission that is entirely out of synch with collaboration and ideation. And, I confess to finding myself often frustrated at the inability (sometimes self-imposed, admittedly) to have meaningful collaborations on projects, events, or simply ideas.
This is part of the burnout that drove me to sxsw initially. And now, I am happy to report that I have returned home with the frisson of participatory culture, meaningful social networks, and overall the hope of collaborative creativity, thanks (in particular) to the following:
1. First, reading Convergence Culture and hearing Henry Jenkins talk about the idea of collective intelligence honed in on the idea of collaboration in terms of the participatory communities of the online medium (whether through active gaming communities, fan based dialog groups, or the wikipedia ideal). Of particular note (and I share it here as it was on my research list) is Jenkins use of the term “collective intelligence,” derived from Pierre Levy, of the “deliberative processes that occur in online communities as participants share information, correct and evaluate each other’s findings, and arrive at eventual consensus.”
2. Second, Shiv Singh’s talk on social influence marketing drove home the importance (and need) for a heightened state of collaboration. For me, this has repercussions within and without an organization. Organizations must evolve (and prioritize) collaboration techniques, thereby providing meaningful messages and content that percolate specific ideas, leaving the numbing chatter of 12 million active blogs and endless vanity urls and social (campaign based) communities in the virtual dust. His recommendations (as quoted below) for embracing social influence marketing resonate with many personal successes (and mishaps) in this arena.
3. Third, Jane McGonigal’s ideas on the future of happiness derived in large part from the participation and collaboration in communities (both virtual and real). I am still effusive with enthusiasm over her positive psychology postulates, but promise not to promote them beyond my previous post.
4. Fourth, on the flight home, I read a fascinating interview with Khoi Vinh (Design Director, NYTimes.com) who talks about a requisite shift in thinking for the online designer. “There is a real difference between a majority consensus and earnestly engaging in an ongoing conversation with real people about the solutions designers can provide them.” Thus, web (information) design becomes something that actively engages and responds to a community. Thinking holistically, this means that designers solve “problem based” challenges through a mix of aesthetics, interfaces, and some technical magic. Much like Singh’s recommendations on going social, this shift in thinking is vital for designers to experiment, fail, and succeed, and must become a priority built into even the mundane details of scope, schedules, and staff. Vinh points out that this way of thinking “should be integrated into how brands evolve, how companies relate to their customers, and whether design can help mediate that relationship more fruitfully for both parties.”
Hence, instead of “Social Networks” representing a futile and chameleon-like term, it happily situates me on a new path of thinking (and being excited) about (interactive) design.