Putting Innovation in the Hands of a Crowd - New York Times

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:52:24 -0800

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The New York Times reports on a new business that hopes to crowdsource innovation:

IF executives are going to rely on the wisdom of the masses for business help, it's probably time the masses get a little compensation for it.

That's the theory behind Kluster, the newest in a lineup of companies using the Web to channel the collective wisdom of strangers into meaningful business strategies. With a cash reward system for contributors and a big beginning at the TED conference last week in Monterey, Calif., Kluster hopes to attract just enough visitors with just enough business smarts to gain early momentum.

The company's founder, serial entrepreneur Ben Kaufman, "held a product design contest at the [2007] Macworld conference, with attendees submitting ideas and using a company Web site to refine designs and vote on the winner.... [He] then set out to build a business out of the process he used at Macworld.

Kluster includes a number of refinements to that process. Those who join are given 1,000 units of Kluster scrip, called “watts,” and they may earn more by telling the site more about themselves, like their area of expertise, age and income. Meanwhile, businesses are invited to post specific tasks to be addressed, like creating a new product, logo or corporate event.

Participants browsing the ideas offered by Kluster members can bet some or all of their watts on the ideas they most believe in, or post ideas of their own. Those who had winning ideas earn at least 20 percent of the bounty offered by the company that sought the idea, as well as more watts, while those who bet on the winning idea earn watts. Those who bet wrong lose what they wagered.

Source

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/technology/03ecom.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Informal standardization in African DIY

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:53:09 -0800

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AfriGadget reports on informal standardization practices among African machinists and fabricators:

One of the things that I find most interesting in my travels around Africa is the similar uses of technology to meet the varied demands of different types of mechanics and workers. The particular case I’ve been thinking over is the use of a simple frame and different engines to meet a specific need.

Many of the same components are used from one machine to the next. The fabricators know that each machine has a different use, but that the parts used to make them unique are not that many....

The machinery setup is a good example of low-cost fabrication using a modular setup. All of the local fabricators tend to use the same frame setup so that they can mix and match with each others work.

This is significant because we're starting to see stories of African inventors doing interesting things, and observations like this remind us that most inventive activity involves independent but not completely solitary inventors: successful inventors tend to be members of communities of practice, who share ideas and technical skills, and have to work together. They compete, but they also have to cooperate.

Source

http://www.afrigadget.com/2007/11/08/africas-modular-machines/

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Putting Innovation in the Hands of a Crowd - New York Times

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Informal standardization in African DIY

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