Comments for Catapult Design http://catapultdesign.org Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:26:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Comment on Design for Social Impact 2.0 by Sami Nerenberg http://catapultdesign.org/recent-blogs/sids/comment-page-1#comment-2678 Sami Nerenberg Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:26:21 +0000 http://catapultdesign.org/?p=3393#comment-2678 Thanks for the shout out Heather! You bring up some really interesting points and loved reading your summary. Yes, can't help but to feel they are asking the same questions we were asking back in '09 when you and I first met. Would love for more students to be involved in this discussion! I have a feeling they would have a lot to add. Especially regarding question #3 (plus DFA students come from over 60 different majors!) Just let us know if there's ever a need- we have students throughout the country and counting including NYC :) Thanks for always the reflective eye. Ttys. -Sami Thanks for the shout out Heather! You bring up some really interesting points and loved reading your summary. Yes, can’t help but to feel they are asking the same questions we were asking back in ’09 when you and I first met.

Would love for more students to be involved in this discussion! I have a feeling they would have a lot to add. Especially regarding question #3 (plus DFA students come from over 60 different majors!) Just let us know if there’s ever a need- we have students throughout the country and counting including NYC :)

Thanks for always the reflective eye. Ttys.
-Sami

]]> Comment on Design for Social Impact 2.0 by Design for Social Impact 2.0 « http://catapultdesign.org/recent-blogs/sids/comment-page-1#comment-2662 Design for Social Impact 2.0 « Thu, 29 Mar 2012 01:34:19 +0000 http://catapultdesign.org/?p=3393#comment-2662 [...] via http://catapultdesign.org/recent-blogs/sids [...] [...] via http://catapultdesign.org/recent-blogs/sids [...]

]]> Comment on Catapult develops new training for Peace Corps by Mica Russo http://catapultdesign.org/current-projects/p/comment-page-1#comment-2657 Mica Russo Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:40:30 +0000 http://catapultdesign.org/?p=3596#comment-2657 I'm a junior in Product Design at the University of Oregon with a focus in design for social impact. I've been hugely interested in Catapult's endeavors since I started school. This summer I'm going to Mexico for a study abroad program, but I'll have a month to travel or volunteer on my own. Could I help with this project? How can I get involved? It's a combination of two very important organizations and I would be honored to somehow be part of it. I’m a junior in Product Design at the University of Oregon with a focus in design for social impact. I’ve been hugely interested in Catapult’s endeavors since I started school. This summer I’m going to Mexico for a study abroad program, but I’ll have a month to travel or volunteer on my own. Could I help with this project? How can I get involved? It’s a combination of two very important organizations and I would be honored to somehow be part of it.

]]> Comment on A Manhattan Project for green innovation? Try open innovation instead! by Tyler Valiquette http://catapultdesign.org/current-projects/a-manhattan-project-for-green-innovation-try-open-innovation-instead/comment-page-1#comment-2625 Tyler Valiquette Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:57:37 +0000 http://catapultdesign.org/?p=3563#comment-2625 Mel, Thanks for sharing your concerns. We agree that "open innovation" does run the risk of turning into a black hole into which ideas disappear, never to be seen again. That said, it's also a great opportunity to ask the world at large for creative ideas or pragmatic insight. With that in mind, it is incumbent on those requesting input from the crowd to continue the conversation. In this scenario, we (the program partners) are the black hole: ideas get sucked into our brains as inspiration, are digested, and then the results are offered back to the community for feedback. And there are some opportunities for continued involvement as the process moves forward. Let me explain: This program, conceived of by the World Bank Group, addresses the "black hole problem" by building in a second round of communication with the crowd. The first round is a "Call for Challenges" in which we ask people for their input regarding the energy challenges of low-income Indonesians. We then take those challenges and workshop them with the local community, the development community, our professional team, and a panel of specialists. The results of those workshops are used to select a handful of preeminent challenges widely agreed-on. The selected challenges are then offered back to the crowd along with a "Call for Solutions". A part of that call for solutions includes a request for the submitter to indicate if, and in what way, they would be interested/able to continue to work with us (the program) as a Market Partner in Indonesia to bring their suggested solution to market. I believe the one aspect of crowd-sourcing that isn't currently part of the program is the continued engagement with the crowd in which they are able to build atop each other's ideas. As of right now we are using the crowd as a source of inspiration and insight, but the practical design work still falls to the program partners and the Market Partners that sign-up to work with us. Given the context for the program (to build capacity for green innovation in Indonesia) this seems like a good balance between totally crowd-sourcing solutions and relying on home-grown solutions (with our involvement) in Indonesia. Your input/feedback is greatly appreciated and we're very happy to continue the conversation. Tyler Mel,

Thanks for sharing your concerns. We agree that “open innovation” does run the risk of turning into a black hole into which ideas disappear, never to be seen again. That said, it’s also a great opportunity to ask the world at large for creative ideas or pragmatic insight. With that in mind, it is incumbent on those requesting input from the crowd to continue the conversation. In this scenario, we (the program partners) are the black hole: ideas get sucked into our brains as inspiration, are digested, and then the results are offered back to the community for feedback. And there are some opportunities for continued involvement as the process moves forward. Let me explain:

This program, conceived of by the World Bank Group, addresses the “black hole problem” by building in a second round of communication with the crowd. The first round is a “Call for Challenges” in which we ask people for their input regarding the energy challenges of low-income Indonesians. We then take those challenges and workshop them with the local community, the development community, our professional team, and a panel of specialists. The results of those workshops are used to select a handful of preeminent challenges widely agreed-on. The selected challenges are then offered back to the crowd along with a “Call for Solutions”. A part of that call for solutions includes a request for the submitter to indicate if, and in what way, they would be interested/able to continue to work with us (the program) as a Market Partner in Indonesia to bring their suggested solution to market.

I believe the one aspect of crowd-sourcing that isn’t currently part of the program is the continued engagement with the crowd in which they are able to build atop each other’s ideas. As of right now we are using the crowd as a source of inspiration and insight, but the practical design work still falls to the program partners and the Market Partners that sign-up to work with us. Given the context for the program (to build capacity for green innovation in Indonesia) this seems like a good balance between totally crowd-sourcing solutions and relying on home-grown solutions (with our involvement) in Indonesia.

Your input/feedback is greatly appreciated and we’re very happy to continue the conversation.

Tyler

]]> Comment on A Manhattan Project for green innovation? Try open innovation instead! by Mel Chua http://catapultdesign.org/current-projects/a-manhattan-project-for-green-innovation-try-open-innovation-instead/comment-page-1#comment-2621 Mel Chua Wed, 21 Mar 2012 02:42:37 +0000 http://catapultdesign.org/?p=3563#comment-2621 (clarification on the prior comment -- I'm an open source hacker / researcher that was pointed this way by my friend Liz Kneen, and she said I should send my comments directly to the blog, so I did.) (clarification on the prior comment — I’m an open source hacker / researcher that was pointed this way by my friend Liz Kneen, and she said I should send my comments directly to the blog, so I did.)

]]> Comment on A Manhattan Project for green innovation? Try open innovation instead! by Mel Chua http://catapultdesign.org/current-projects/a-manhattan-project-for-green-innovation-try-open-innovation-instead/comment-page-1#comment-2620 Mel Chua Wed, 21 Mar 2012 02:41:50 +0000 http://catapultdesign.org/?p=3563#comment-2620 One thing of note that cries out (to me) that the "open" innovation model isn't particularly "open" is that submissions to the crowdsourcing approach currently get sucked into a black hole. Where do they go? Who to? Under what terms? It's not clear. How do users build atop each other's ideas? Not clear. How do ideas get turned into action? Not clear. (That's the tricky bit -- turning it into action. Firing up a marketing machine o' enthusiasm is easy; making that actual change is hard, and always takes way longer than we want -- as you've also discovered yourself many times over.) "Open" isn't magic pixie dust. It's a simple approach, but a difficult paradigm shift to implement, especially for design of physical things (which is, honestly, something I haven't got as good a handle transitioning to yet as I'd like -- I'm pretty fluent getting software and content projects to build momentum by now, but haven't had a chance to do it with physical materials much). I'd be happy to talk with Noel if they're interested in kicking around the "what does the open source way mean" topic more. --Mel One thing of note that cries out (to me) that the “open” innovation model isn’t particularly “open” is that submissions to the crowdsourcing approach currently get sucked into a black hole. Where do they go? Who to? Under what terms? It’s not clear. How do users build atop each other’s ideas? Not clear. How do ideas get turned into action? Not clear. (That’s the tricky bit — turning it into action. Firing up a marketing machine o’ enthusiasm is easy; making that actual change is hard, and always takes way longer than we want — as you’ve also discovered yourself many times over.)

“Open” isn’t magic pixie dust. It’s a simple approach, but a difficult paradigm shift to implement, especially for design of physical things (which is, honestly, something I haven’t got as good a handle transitioning to yet as I’d like — I’m pretty fluent getting software and content projects to build momentum by now, but haven’t had a chance to do it with physical materials much). I’d be happy to talk with Noel if they’re interested in kicking around the “what does the open source way mean” topic more.

–Mel

]]> Comment on The Ethnography of Design: A Series by Catapult Design Blog | Mapping Knowledge http://catapultdesign.org/recent-blogs/the-ethnography-of-design-a-series/comment-page-1#comment-2612 Catapult Design Blog | Mapping Knowledge Mon, 19 Mar 2012 06:18:38 +0000 http://catapultdesign.org/?p=1381#comment-2612 [...] a great article discussing why ethnography is to critical to [...] [...] a great article discussing why ethnography is to critical to [...]

]]> Comment on Catapult’s 2012 Learning Labs by John Valiquette http://catapultdesign.org/latest-news/catapults-2012-learning-labs/comment-page-1#comment-2600 John Valiquette Fri, 16 Mar 2012 15:47:48 +0000 http://catapultdesign.org/?p=3416#comment-2600 is there a place on your web site or blog that tracks the status of ongoing projects? a report of progress made on a periodic basis would let donors see the amount of headway Catapult is making so they can assess what they are getting in the way of bang for their buck. is there a place on your web site or blog that tracks the status of ongoing projects? a report of progress made on a periodic basis would let donors see the amount of headway Catapult is making so they can assess what they are getting in the way of bang for their buck.

]]> Comment on Learning Labs by Catapult’s 2012 Learning Labs | Catapult Design http://catapultdesign.org/services/learning/comment-page-1#comment-2594 Catapult’s 2012 Learning Labs | Catapult Design Tue, 13 Mar 2012 17:05:08 +0000 http://dev.catapultdesign.org/?page_id=273#comment-2594 [...] Learning Labs [...] [...] Learning Labs [...]

]]> Comment on Design for Social Impact 2.0 by Design for Social Impact 2.0 – Catapult Design | BoP Designer http://catapultdesign.org/recent-blogs/sids/comment-page-1#comment-2591 Design for Social Impact 2.0 – Catapult Design | BoP Designer Sun, 11 Mar 2012 09:43:40 +0000 http://catapultdesign.org/?p=3393#comment-2591 [...] Following up on a recent post, Heather Fleming of Catapult Design attended the Social Impact Design Summit on February 27.  These are her thoughts, reposted with permission from Catapult’s blog. [...] [...] Following up on a recent post, Heather Fleming of Catapult Design attended the Social Impact Design Summit on February 27.  These are her thoughts, reposted with permission from Catapult’s blog. [...]

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