We have had an overwhelming response to the invitation from an unusually diverse group of people and there is a good level of excitement about the conversation.
About the Participants
While we have not had the chance to do a comprehensive analysis of the survey a cursory look gives a nice snapshot of who will be Jamming.
Overall we are a group of very experienced practitioners, who are passionate about making the world a better place and have found our voice in the digital medium. We have an appetite for learning and derive pleasure from engaging in collaborative work. We want to hear the stories of others and share our own. We are looking for new ideas and we want to understand what works and what does not and why. We want to understand each other’s thinking and words. We want quality and equal access to technology for all. We want to meet people, broaden our networks, and enjoy each other’s company. We want to know what makes each of us tick and why we took the time to sign on for the JAM.
Demographics:
Over 250 people signed up for the JAM
Almost 40 countries are represented
50% work in the NGO/Nonprofit; 22% in consulting; 12% school/college; 8% private company; 5% in government, and 4% in Foundations/Charity
91% are familiar or very familiar with online communities
Organizational Priorities:
1. Innovate and create breakthrough ideas, knowledge, and practices
2. Create inter/intra organization knowledge networks
3. Develop and Disseminate knowledge
Most Critical Platform Features to Online Communities for Social Innovation:
1. Discussion
2. Search and Tagging
3. Content Sharing
Interested in using online communities for:
Learning (by a huge margin)
Innovating
Leading
Working
About the Platform
The JAM platform is Moodle.
Australia, Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Ecuador, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Philippines, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, UK, USA, Venezuela, Zimbabwe
Habitat JAM has several funders and is ongoing.
" It is a gbobal conversation about the future of our cities. It's about having your say on important issues that affect you. It's about building new global networks of people who wouldn't have connected before. It's about working together across the globe to find solutions to critical urban problems."
TOPICS
We have come up with 4 main discussion topics: Working, Learning, Innovating, and Leading. We arrived at these through a couple of activities including surveys and various discussions. We had several iterations but we were going for categories that would make sense to most people.
We looked at frameworks others have used to see if any fit our own work. Ultimately we hit upon John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid’s book chapter: Organizational Learning and Communities of Practice: Toward a Unified View of Working, Learning, and Innovation in the book Knowledge and Communities. In it they suggest that “As the community fosters learning, working, and innovating, the organization has the potential to become an overarching "community -of -communities".
After considering the survey responses and taking in to account all other feedback these “big buckets” seemed to work well for our Global JAM purposes. Except Leadership which we thought deserved it own “bucket” and so added it to the discussion topics.
These discussion topics, in this JAM, are focused on the technology requirements that help us work, learn, innovate, and lead.
1. Working – How we accomplish our mission
2. Learning – How we create, see, share and use knowledge generated by our online communities and networks
3. Innovating – How we improve performance and outcomes
4. Leading - How we create a shared vision, direction, motivation, and commitment
GOALS
1. Define the Purpose: Why and how is this topic important to Online
Communities for Social Innovation. What are we as individuals and our organizations trying to do with regard to this topic?
2. Inventory Technology and Share Experiences: Discuss platforms and modules we have used or know about to address the topic area; how we use them; their strengths and weaknesses.
3. Share Our Collective Wisdom: Build or buy? Open source or commercial? What are the best of Web 2.0 and most critical applications and how are they being used?
4. Explore Partnership Opportunities: How might we connect /work together around shared platforms?
5. Identify Not Yet Invented: Does not exist today or is inadequate and could revolutionize Online Communities for Social Innovation
6. Parking Lot: Items of interest or importance, not exactly relevant to the topic, worth picking up in a future discussion
When Knowledge in the Public interest formed in 2003 we thought hard and long about how to continuously define and deepen our work and improve our approach. Our journey has taken us across a landscape that includes technology, artificial intelligence, knowledge management, organizational learning, and social innovation (to name a few). In the process we met many, many generous and gracious people, from around the world, who have taught us much (some of whom will be joining this Global Jam).
One of those people was, Jane Harper from IBM who gave us a very useful working session. At the time we did not yet have a good word to describe what we were doing and how we work with our clients. After listening carefully, Jane said – “oh, that's a Jam” and proceeded to tell us about IBM’s Jam initiative. We were, as they say, off to the races with a word and concept that captured the essence of our own work. We have developed our own tools and methods, but continue to watch IBM. We adapt and adopt as appropriate. IBM does a great job describing the power of a Jam and why they do it.
IBM Jams
Since 2001, IBM has used jams to involve its more than 300,000 employees around the world in far-reaching exploration and problem-solving. ValuesJam in 2003 gave IBM's workforce the opportunity to redefine the core IBM values for the first time in nearly 100 years. During IBM's 2006 InnovationJam - the largest IBM online brainstorming session ever held - IBM brought together more than 150,000 people from 104 countries and 67 companies. As a result, 10 new IBM businesses were launched with seed investment totaling $100 million.
Jams are not restricted to business. Their methods, tools and technology can also be applied to social issues. In 2005, over three days, the Government of Canada, UN-HABITAT and IBM hosted Habitat Jam. Tens of thousands of participants - from urban specialists, to government leaders, to residents from cities around the world - discussed issues of urban sustainability. Their ideas shaped the agenda for the UN World Urban Forum, held in June 2006. People from 158 countries registered for the jam and shared their ideas for action to improve the environment, health, safety and quality of life in the world's burgeoning cities.
Communities: Hotbed of Innovation at IBM Jam slide show
About the Word
A jam session is a musical act where musicians gather and play (or "jam") without extensive preparation or predefined arrangements. The term jam can be traced back to the 1920s, originally appeared ca. 1929, referring to a "short, free improvised passage performed by the whole band". The derivation of this usage is obscure. It is possible that it ultimately derives from the West African Wolof language. The word 'jam' typically refers to any particularly inspired or improvisational part of a musical performance. Jam sessions, are generally for the benefit of the performers and not part of a public performance and are often used to develop new material, find suitable arrangements, or simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jams range from gatherings of amateurs to sophisticated improvised recording sessions intended to be edited and released to the public. (Wikipedia)
