AI Dogma

Learning about Appreciative Inquiry has been facilitated by video for quite some time where the AI Commons contain a rather long list of videos, including one by David Cooperrider. A quite famous example is the film from US Navy. Leif Josefsson has also used both video and photos in a clever way at www.metafari.com. Also Marcus Buckingham has recognised the opportunities with using multimedia.



When working with the Windoor company in Sweden, my Danish colleagues from Resonans and I invented the AI Dogma Film. We tried to use as many of the famous dogma rules as we could to create a vibrant and interesting film. Hopefully you will be able to see it soon.

Meanwhile you can check out the video from the “AI and Research” conference in Gateshead last year. It definitely feels rather strange to watch myself on video. I’d better get a camera myself to hide behind. Any recommendations?

Sustainable ICT

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.
William Blake – “Auguries
of Innocence”

Recently the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA) published the report “Ambient Sweden” presenting a vision for how Sweden can maintain its position as a prominent IT country. One of the areas that were put forward as a future area was Green IT, focusing on how information technology can support organisations in becoming more environmentally-friendly. In recent years, “Green IT” has increased in popularity where Gartner was one of the earliest proponents. This week the EU Commission announced that it would promote ICT to improve energy efficiency throughout the economy, starting with buildings, lighting and the power grid as part of its effort to combat climate change.

From Green to Sustainable
This attention is truly great, but I would really like to see a somewhat wider perspective in several dimensions. First, the environmental aspect is just one of three if you take departure in the sustainable development definition, the other two being social and economical. So instead of Green IT, I would like to see more of a discussion concerning Sustainable IT. There are so many interesting examples such as the stunning graphics provided by Hans Rosling, making it possible to understand complex issues and increase incitements for changes in behaviour as displayed at Gapminder. Ericsson’s CEO Carl-Henrik Svanberg, who has taken part in the UN Global Compact, emphasises that their new base station technology makes it easier for developing countries to get access to the Internet. Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency recently held an international workshop called "Big Brother and Empowered Sisters - The role of new communication technologies in democratic processes" and there is a Swedish Program for Information and Communication Technology in Developing Regions. And so on.

From system and impact to process
The debate so far has also focused a lot on the technology (hard- and software) and its effects on the organisation, often in terms of energy and environmental impact. Which again is great and also a complex issue. For example, it is obvious that downloading a system from the Internet or using a service saves a lot in terms of packaging, production and transport although using the Internet also “costs” in terms of energy and equipment. This has inspired Google to invest in R&D into renewable energy.

However, we should also look at the process of developing and maintaining IT solutions. For example, how about a kind of Fair Trade marking for IT, ensuring that the system developers were not underpaid and overworked outsorced workers, that collaboration tools were used during the process keeping travels to a minimum, that efficient best practices kits were used to ensure that the wheel was not invented again and so on.

For example, it would be nice if models such as Inuse’s model for managing IT projects would be used for making decisions on a combination of the three sustainable aspects? Or if the Capability Maturity Model Integration also included recommendations regarding how IT developers step by step can become more sustainable?

Suggestions
As suggested in the Prism article “Sustainability within and beyond the ICT industry” sustainability provides the ICT industry with many opportunities, not only challenges. I would like to replace Green IT with Sustainable IT, putting more focus on the act of balancing environmental, economical and social aspects. Something that the companies behind the Global e-Sustainability Initiative already have recognised. It would also be nice if the debate is extended to encompass all the following dimensions:

1. Impact: how using ICT can have a positive impact on individuals, organisations and society in terms of sustainable development.
2. Technology: how systems in terms of both hard- and software can be designed in such a way that they support the development of a sustainable society.
3. Process: how the process of designing, developing and maintaining information technology can be crafted in a sustainable way.

I also have the following concrete suggestions:

• If Ambient Sweden becomes a program, widen the focus regarding Green IT to Sustainable IT.
• Make sustainability a basic design criterion in ICT education, that is, teach all students how to consider sustainability in terms of impact, technology and process.
• Start a discussion among the research funding agencies regarding how they can support Sustainable ICT R&D, for example by identifying how to better measure sustainability according the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines.

Today, 17 May, is the World Information Society Day, proclaimed by a United Nations General Assembly resolution to raise global awareness of society changes brought by the Internet and new technologies and to help reduce the Digital divide. Let’s make it a good day!

Wired Discovery

Right now I'm in a conversation with some friends all over the world focusing on how to support knowledge-driven communities of practice. I have tried to find a useful metaphor for what I would like us to create in order to support the learning and knowledge development associated with Appreciative Inquiry, and so far I have come up with the following:

"As I see it, what we need in the AI community is a website that is like a college campus. We need a library with lots of different kinds of information such as articles, videos, blogs, links etc (document management). Rooms for lessons (e-learning). A lab for creating new things (project/collaboration rooms). A cafeteria for informal exchange (chat). A store where we can by books, workshop material etc (web-store). A yearbook where we can see how everybody is connected (database). And so on. "

Perhaps not the most novel metaphor, but one firmly grounded in my experience from working at universities and from R&D related to knowledge management and collaboration software. Some of this and more recent experience were put into the article "Using the Web to Support Organic Development of the European AI Network" written by Leif Josefsson and me. It was recently published in the special issue of the AI Practitioner called "Wired Discovery: New Conversations and Deeper Connections" guest-edited by Loretta L. Donovan, Gabriel Shirley and Sue Anderson Derby.

Do you know any good metaphors for knowledge-driven communities of practice? Please let me know!

PS. Spring is here!

Bear Necessities

When the UK AI Network met in Islington March 28, one of the topics we discussed was “What is important?” with respect to the network itself. Before rushing into creating lots of activities and fancy web features, we really want everyone to think about what they want from the network. I think this is a good strategy, not only for communities of practice, but in general.

For me, one vital aspect of life is the opportunity to go for long nature walks. This is something I do rather often and one of my latest adventures took me to the Chipinque Park in Monterrey. This park has everything for everyone and is really well-kept. I thought myself rather fit and started to walk up the steep mountain, but I hadn’t thought about the altitude and soon found myself quite out of breath. Fortunately I had brought some water and was also able to replenish my stock at the top restaurant, to make my hike into the somewhat more unknown possible.

The views were stunning, and I also saw an industrious squirrel, reminding me of my recent walk through the Regents Park in London. The black spot in the photo is actually an eagle, giving an elegant illustration of they joy of soaring. A happy day indeed, although I didn’t see any of the bears claimed to live in the area. I wonder what would happen if we used a park as a metaphor for a community? Anyhow, enjoy the pictures.

Do you have any favourite nature trails? Please, share stories about them!

Design Conversations

When Richard Boland held his closing speech at the Positive Design Conference he really put pressure on us, making us reflecting on to what extent us coming to Monterrey for this event really could make up for the money it had cost, the time we had to spend away from our families and for the tons of carbon dioxide we had generated by flying there. I definitely think that we achieved a good result, even from a sustainability perspective, with lots of new ideas for research and education. However, the most important result from my perspective was the interdisciplinary conversations and the academic bonding they resulted in. As you can see from the pictures, we certainly had a lot of fun!

So how do you design a conference that will lead to such conversations? I think it was a very good idea to have a mix of inspiring presentations and group work. The social events were also great, with lots of opportunities to talk and dance and explore the local culture. Another design element was the mix of people from design, management and technology from different countries but with a clear collaborative attitude. I also very much liked us creating a collective poem at the end, reading out loud the sentence we had written expressing a summary of our experience of the conference. My contribution was: “From name to face to soul mate”.

I really think the conference was a great example of positive design, with respect to both process and outcome. I’m looking forward to the next conference in Korea 2010, especially after Professor Dong-Sung Cho’s presentation of the BEST Sustainability Report. Thank you so much, both organisers and participants for a wonderful conference! I miss you all already. You have inspired me to continue to make a difference!

Urban Exploration

According to Wikipedia, “urban exploration is the examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of human civilization”. One of the most acknowledged urban explorers in Sweden is Jan Jörnmark, who in addition to being a researcher and university teacher also likes to explore with his camera. In fiction, I think that Margaret Atwood did a great job with describing how nature regains control in Oryx and Crake.

"He doesn't know which is worse, a past he can't regain or a present that will destroy him if he looks at it too clearly. Then there's the future. Sheer vertigo." Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake

I recently did some exploration in an urban environment, but it was quite the opposite of the “traditional” sense since I went to a newly developed area in Monterrey among the mountains in Mexico. The Paseo Santa Lucia is part of a greater park that was developed in time for the Monterrey Forum in 2007. Since this forum focused on cultural diversity, knowledge, peace and sustainability I thought it was a good way to get in the right mood for the Positive Design Conference and as you can see from the pictures, I had a really good time.

The Hidden Factory

When I described The Flying Starship workshop to my friend Ali Tabrizi at Katapult, he said that to him it seemed like an excellent way of exposing “the hidden factory” within an organisation. After running the workshop yesterday with members of the Appreciative Inquiry network in Göteborg, I see what he meant.

We used a combination of the The Flying Starship simulation and an Appreciative Inquiry workshop developed by Innovation Partners International (thank you Bernard Mohr for all your help and inspiration!). By acting as a factory, we all got an experience of what chaos an over-zealous Tayloristic organisational design can result in. Although everybody were very focused on their specific task, most of the efforts went to feed the hidden factory and not to the (very few) products reaching the eagerly awaiting customer.

The second part of the workshop made us experience the power of a strength-based approach to development, with appreciating interviews and creative group work resulting in surprisingly many novel ideas for improvement in very short time, based on the aspects many of the workers considered worth preserving.

If you plan on doing a major change project in your organisation or are planning a leadership course, I strongly recommend including a Flying Starship workshop! You can see for your self how fun it was by looking at these pictures.

Have you been to such a workshop? Or used similar simulations? Please tell us about your experience in a comment!