innovation - Page number 11

Years back I worked as an editor for the now-defunct Red Hat Magazine. While our circulation numbers were respectable, the department head wanted to see a sizable increase. In most companies, I would have been asked to do some research and present a publishing plan or a report on how to improve the numbers. Perhaps a consultant would have assisted. The resultant ideas would have been discussed, vetted, approved, shot down, and at some point (in some form) (probably) implemented.

But at an open source company, things roll a bit differently. My team was given a simple task: Increase the number of readers. We were expected to come up with strategies to make that happen while remaining true to the editorial vision of the magazine, but the department head wasn't particularly interested in hearing about our plans. He just wanted to see the numbers. Every month.

Talk about pressure. We quickly realized that ideas and plans and reports are simple to generate; results are not. » Read more

Imagine a 20-year-old musician publishing his work today. Let's pretend he's living the fast and reckless life of a rock star and will die young at 45. Because the copyright term has been ratcheted up to life of the author plus 70 years (or 95 years from publication for corporate works), you won't be able to sample his work without permission (for your heartfelt tribute song, of course), until 2105. But since you're not living his rock star lifestyle, maybe you can hang on another 95 years to grab your chance. » Read more

Our society and its lawmakers are notoriously bad at predicting the effects of new technologies. I think of the ongoing battles over new distribution formats, like the assumption that "the VCR [would be] to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone." Jennifer Jenkins, one of the authors of Theft! A History of Music, has an even more basic and older example: musical notation. » Read more

Why did Plato argue that remixing should be banned by the state? What threats did jazz and rock 'n roll pose? And what does all of that mean for the conflicts between artists and copyright today? » Read more

My conversation with our newest MIX Maverick Andrew McAfee yielded all kinds of bracing insight when it comes to how we set strategy, structure work, unleash talent, and measure success. But I haven’t been able to shake one idea in particular he threw out at the end of our conversation as a provocation.

First, we spent a lot of time on how the job of a leader changes in a world that is increasingly open, powered by social technologies, and morphing at warp speed. Andrew calls this world Enterprise 2.0. In this world, says Andrew, “If you want good things to happen, get out of the way. Let people interact and collaborate and communicate in the ways that are most natural to them. Then your job as the leader of the organization is to simply put in place the environment that lets them do that, encourage them to do that, and then harvest the good stuff that comes from all of their interactions.” » Read more

Gary Hamel, the webcast's moderator, is also the driver behind the session's co-sponsor, the MIX, which he described as "the world's first open innovation project aimed at reinventing management." He encouraged everyone to use the site to learn, contribute, and most of all to get involved in a pioneering initiative.

Hamel then introduced Henry Chesbrough, who has been a force in bringing the idea of open innovation to the forefront since his first book was published in 1995. » Read more

The opensource.com team and the Management Information eXchange (MIX) are hosting a webcast on Open Services Innovation with Henry Chesbrough and Gary Hamel today, November 11, at 1:30 p.m. EST.

Topics of discussion include: » Read more

Last week I attended the EPIC conference in New York City. One of the more interesting topics came by way of Saudi Arabia. If you haven’t heard of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, or KAUST, you’re missing out on one of the grander experiments at the intersection of government, culture, economic development, and academia.   » Read more

Yesterday, U.S. President Barack Obama addressed members of the Indian parliament and announced a U.S.-India Open  Government Dialogue. Addressing a rare joint session of the Indian Parliament that brought together the two different houses -- the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha -- Obama said that as the world's largest democracy and the world's oldest one, India and the U.S. will work together on the initiative.
» Read more

In the few weeks I have owned a smartphone (a Kyocera Zio with Android), I've been fascinated to see how many non-technical users are experiencing the power of open source for the first time.

Between the proliferation of free and inexpensive apps in the Android Market and the numerous mobile companies offering their own Android phones, it's hard to believe it all started with a single G1 phone.

(Yes, I remember the Trolltech Greenphone and other predecessors, but nevertheless, a tip of the hat to Google for getting Android onto 19%—perhaps 20% before I finish typing this parenthetical disclaimer—of all smartphones.) » Read more