Dennis McDonald on the role of social media in innovation and creativity:
Innovation can be thought of as a process. It is the impact of social media on this process that I am exploring. A practical example is how to manage the introduction of certain types of blogging into an organization as a tool for internal communications...you need to strike the right balance between concepts of structure and process on the one hand, and freedom and spontaneity on the other."
He describes two types of creativity: "the spontaneous generation of new ideas of which some people are capable" and "the ability to discern connections and relationships between existing facts or phenomena. Some people are creative on their own; others thrive on interaction with others."
That last part is what's interesting to me - I think that's where social media comes in. It can create the right environment for interaction and the kind of creativity that's spawned by interaction, but it can also give people a place to work privately and share something creative when they're ready for social input on it.
One good platform for this is a wiki with page level permissions. In one scenario, a person can keep a page private while they develop an idea, then open access when they're ready for others to see and edit it. In another scenario, people can use a shared space to gather initial ideas, then collaboratively whittle the list down to what makes the most sense, and focus on developing the idea(s) they choose to pursue.
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