STORIES
Contents
- 1 Federation through Stories
- 1.1 How does one lift up an insight of a giant out of undeserved anonymity?
- 1.2 No time for stories?
- 1.3 The Internet has.. But we also need to think in a new way.
- 1.4 Many years ago I dreamed that...
- 1.5 We give power to stories by combining them together.
- 1.6 We give more power to our stories by combining them together.
- 1.7 Our next task is to learn to innovate the systems in which we live and work.
- 1.8 What should systems be like?
- 1.9 – The university should...
- 1.10 See
Federation through Stories
How does one lift up an insight of a giant out of undeserved anonymity?
We tell vignettes – engaging, lively, catchy, sticky... real-life people and situation stories, to distill core ideas of daring thinkers and make them accessible. They let the reader 'step into the shoes' of a leading thinker, 'look through his eyeglasses'... They make ideas simple, palpable, understandable by anyone. They give those ideas passion, the ability to move and incite action.
No time for stories?
Recalling what our theme is will help you find the necessary time and patience for these stories, to digest them and take them in properly. So before we begin, bring to mind the image of Galilei in house prison... Who might be the still unknown heros of an emerging approach to knowledge? What are their yet untold histories?
We are here taking up the theme of the second book of Knowledge Federation Trilogy (with title "Systemic Innovation", and subtitle "Democracy for the Third Millennium". What might democracy and innovation have to do with one another? In what way might they synergize and empower one another?
We'll here approach the theme of the genesis of a new approach to knowledge and creative work in general from an entirely different angle – from the point of view of social re-organization of the institutional and other structures; and by looking at the technology that may enable a radical change. So think about the invention of the printing press; it made knowledge work so much more efficient, that it is often considered to be the major contributing factor to the deep societal changes that follow – and which we now want to see happening again in our time. Think about the steam engine, which ignited the Industrial Revolution and the creation of machines that changed our world beyond recognition. Think, further about our task of turning the socio-technical candles into light bulbs. What might correspond to the electricity? What principle of operation might lead to such a pivotal change?
The Internet has.. But we also need to think in a new way.
"The answer is obvious – it's the Web!" we imagine you say. The idea that the Web is the new printing press is of course already widely present. And if that's all there is to the story, then it's all already there. But there's a catch – and that's what we're about to point to. It is exactly by focusing on the difference of the Web that is, and of "the Web that wasn't" (as Alex Wright put it), that the future of not only the Web but also of innovation will be understood.
To see our point, notice that the information technology has tended to be used – by implementing the physical environment we've grown accustomed to over the centuries (the desktop, the filing cabinet, the mailbox and the mail...) in the new digital medium. Talk about implementing the candle in the new technology! But what's the alternative? Well, that's what this story is about.
To point to this difference we focus on Douglas Engelbart. This is not only because he created the core ideas. Not only because he is the 'patron saint' of knowledge federation. Not only because we are inspired by his vision, and because many of us considered him a dear friend. But this is also because his story reflects so well the idiosyncrasies of our present way of thinking and innovating. Doug was Silicon Valley's genius in residence - why was he not understood, or even heard, even after having been recognized as that?
So here's his story in a nutshell: Having decided (in 1950, as a young and idealistic engineer, freshly out of college) to dedicate his career to the betterment of mankind, Doug thought intensely for three months about the best way to do that. Then he had an epiphany... What was it that he saw?
Many years ago I dreamed that...
Doug was celebrated as a brilliant creator of TECHNOLOGY – who created the technology we have in front of us (yes, it took some years for the people in Silicon Valley to understand that it was not Bill Gates and Steve Jobs... or even the XEROX PARC from which they got the interactive interface that made personal computing such a success – but that it was Doug Engelbart and his lab, who demonstrated this technology, and indeed more, already in 1968, when the humans communicated with computers through punched cards and line printer output.
But really we'll introduce Engelbart not as a technology inventor, but as a brilliant creator of IDEAS ; PRINCIPLES – of the kind that inform our creative action, specifically in technological innovation, but also BEYOND. How important are those ideas? We'll explain them and let you judge for yourself. Then perhaps you'll agree with us, that it is most remarkable that those principles SO MUCH DID NOT HAVE A PLACE IN OUR ACADEMIC AND PRACTICAL SCHEME OF THINGS THAT THEY REMAINED ENTIRELY IGNORED!!!!
Of Engelbart's many contributions of this kind, we'll talk here about only two.
The first one is what Doug called CoDIAK. The point is – this technology is a QUANTUM LEAP!!! The printing press wasn't – it's just an effectivization of what the scribes were doing in monasteries, while copying manuscripts!
But what Doug foresaw (already in 1951 - and then immediately dedicated his career to fulfilling that vision) was that when digital computer technology is interconnected into a network – COMPLETELY NEW PATTERNS OF INTERACTION and SYSTEMIC SOLUTIONS become possible! We can in effect THINK TOGETHER – like cells collected together into a collective mind.
Now the second idea. It's more general. It's how to innovate – how to use our creative capabilities in general.
Doug talked about AUGMENTING our capabilities. Capability infrastructure. Capabilities live in a relative hierarchy (see picture). The capability to communicate in writing, for example, depends on the technological capability to have some medium (clay tablets, paper and pen...); and on the social capabilities comprising script and education. Innovation, according to Doug, would dexterously be guided by the capability hierarchy combined with obvious questions. Looking at our needs: What capabilities we now most urgently need? What could make a largest positive difference? Looking at a new or potential technology: What capabilities could this augment? Looking at both: What more do we need, so that this new technology may empower the kind of capabilities that we most urgently need?
The answer to this latter question is most interesting. It's what we've been calling systemic innovation. This capability most directly has to do with the DIRECTION in which we innovate. And with the DIRECTION of the metaphorical bus. But let's go slowly and develop our understanding of systemic innovation by talking about another giant, ERich Jantsch – whose name we associate most closely with systemic innovation (just ad Doug Engelbart is most closely associated with knowledge federation. </div>
We give power to stories by combining them together.
We give more power to our stories by combining them together.
Our next task is to learn to innovate the systems in which we live and work.
What should systems be like?
– The university should...
See