Coevolving Innovations

… in Business Organizations and Information Technologies

Currently Viewing Posts in by David Ing

Practices generating innovation, a language action perspective

I’m a big fan of Disclosing New Worlds by Charles Spinosa, Fernando Flores and Hubert Dreyfus. Its practice perspective, rooted in Dreyfus’ reading of Heidegger, is complementary to the social theory of Pierre Bourdieu, who provides a foundation for the research into communities of practice by Etienne Wenger and John Seely Brown.

Thus, I was thrilled to read an article by Peter J. Denning and Robert Dunham on “Innovation as Language Action” in Communications of the ACM. (To make the social network link, Dunham was at BDA with Flores). This article appeared in a special issue on “Two Decades of the Language-Action Perspective“.

Working from the conclusion to the article, Denning & Dunham make the main claims that:

  • Innovation occurs when a group or community adopts a new practice.
  • Invention and innovation are two different skill sets.
  • The language-action perspective helped identify seven practices that constitute the innovation skill set.
  • Anyone can learn the innovation skill by mastering the seven personal practices. [p. 52]

I like the first three claims, but have some reservations on the fourth!

Denning & Dunham are helpful to clarifying innovation research by making the distinction between theoretical, empirical and generative frameworks:

I’m a big fan of Disclosing New Worlds by Charles Spinosa, Fernando Flores and Hubert Dreyfus. Its practice perspective, rooted in Dreyfus’ reading of Heidegger, is complementary to the social theory of Pierre Bourdieu, who provides a foundation for the research into communities of practice by Etienne Wenger and John Seely Brown.

Thus, I was thrilled to read an article by Peter J. Denning and Robert Dunham on “Innovation as Language Action” in Communications of the ACM. (To make the social network link, Dunham was at BDA with Flores). This article appeared in a special issue on “Two Decades of the Language-Action Perspective“.

Working from the conclusion to the article, Denning & Dunham make the main claims that:

  • Innovation occurs when a group or community adopts a new practice.
  • Invention and innovation are two different skill sets.
  • The language-action perspective helped identify seven practices that constitute the innovation skill set.
  • Anyone can learn the innovation skill by mastering the seven personal practices. [p. 52]

I like the first three claims, but have some reservations on the fourth!

Denning & Dunham are helpful to clarifying innovation research by making the distinction between theoretical, empirical and generative frameworks:

Deterring spam by suppressing return receipts in Lotus Notes client

The spam filters into IBM seem pretty good, so I don’t get nearly as much spam as on my private e-mail IDs. Today, I opened a message in my inbox that I thought might be spam. It generated a return receipt, and since I unfortunately wasn’t in “island” mode, a message got returned to the spammer that I had opened the note.

I’m relatively savvy on spam deterrence. I maintain multiple e-mail addresses as personas. (I learned this from my sons. These are ways of maintaining gradients of intimacy). Some e-mail addresses are redirection IDs, so at least I know where I’m getting spam generated from. Thus, I annoyed myself on contributing to increasing my own spam.

I found a solution on Rocky Oliver’s “Lotus Geek” blog. In the mid-1990s, I was working around Lotus Notes a lot, and got training to the level of a Notes 4 developer. (This was certainly a benefit of having some amount of corporate training!) I haven’t kept up my Notes coding skills, but the instructions to modify an Inbox template using Domino Designer took me less than 5 minutes to implement.

I think that return receipt notification — at least on external e-mail messages — something that is instituted as a standard on corporate e-mail!

The spam filters into IBM seem pretty good, so I don’t get nearly as much spam as on my private e-mail IDs. Today, I opened a message in my inbox that I thought might be spam. It generated a return receipt, and since I unfortunately wasn’t in “island” mode, a message got returned to the spammer that I had opened the note.

I’m relatively savvy on spam deterrence. I maintain multiple e-mail addresses as personas. (I learned this from my sons. These are ways of maintaining gradients of intimacy). Some e-mail addresses are redirection IDs, so at least I know where I’m getting spam generated from. Thus, I annoyed myself on contributing to increasing my own spam.

I found a solution on Rocky Oliver’s “Lotus Geek” blog. In the mid-1990s, I was working around Lotus Notes a lot, and got training to the level of a Notes 4 developer. (This was certainly a benefit of having some amount of corporate training!) I haven’t kept up my Notes coding skills, but the instructions to modify an Inbox template using Domino Designer took me less than 5 minutes to implement.

I think that return receipt notification — at least on external e-mail messages — something that is instituted as a standard on corporate e-mail!

International Service Business Management curriculum, and blogging in the learning process

In the first week of September, I was in Finland to launch the Master’s Degree in International Service Business Management at Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia. Here’s what the instructor’s view looks like.

20060908_Stadia_class.jpg

The classes for this one-year program run on Thursday and Fridays, with all of the lectures front-loaded into the fall. Since I don’t live in Finland, I installed Drupal as a content management system, and have been communicating with the students at a distance.

In the first week of September, I was in Finland to launch the Master’s Degree in International Service Business Management at Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia. Here’s what the instructor’s view looks like.

20060908_Stadia_class.jpg

The classes for this one-year program run on Thursday and Fridays, with all of the lectures front-loaded into the fall. Since I don’t live in Finland, I installed Drupal as a content management system, and have been communicating with the students at a distance.

Resurrecting a persona for business

Should a blog reflect more than one persona?

Last week, I had practically written an obituary for this website, and was planning on integrating my personas on the blog at daviding.com. Reversing myself (as I’ve done before), I’ve decided that it makes more sense to maintain a professional persona (of interest to business thinkers) in addition to my non-work persona. There’s two motivations for this.

Should a blog reflect more than one persona?

Last week, I had practically written an obituary for this website, and was planning on integrating my personas on the blog at daviding.com. Reversing myself (as I’ve done before), I’ve decided that it makes more sense to maintain a professional persona (of interest to business thinkers) in addition to my non-work persona. There’s two motivations for this.

Redirecting energies

If you’re checking out the dates on this blog, you’ll note a long … gap between entries. After consultation with my blogging partners, Doug and Martin, we’ve decided to formally wind down the blog … at least for now. I’ll retain the domain name and probably leave the entries to date accessible for posterity, but will be more active elsewhere on the Internet.

If you’d like to leave comments on the entries on this blog, I’ll still accept them. You can check out my personal blog at daviding.com if you’re okay with stream-of-consciousness writing, but for more in-depth content, sign up for an ID at rendez.org to follow the two-year Finnish research project on innovation. If you’re really far out on the adoption curve, you might have a better chance of catching Doug on Second Life, maybe on Almaden Island!

Coevolving.com was an experiment initiated by myself, with Doug and Martin game to try it out.

If you’re checking out the dates on this blog, you’ll note a long … gap between entries. After consultation with my blogging partners, Doug and Martin, we’ve decided to formally wind down the blog … at least for now. I’ll retain the domain name and probably leave the entries to date accessible for posterity, but will be more active elsewhere on the Internet.

If you’d like to leave comments on the entries on this blog, I’ll still accept them. You can check out my personal blog at daviding.com if you’re okay with stream-of-consciousness writing, but for more in-depth content, sign up for an ID at rendez.org to follow the two-year Finnish research project on innovation. If you’re really far out on the adoption curve, you might have a better chance of catching Doug on Second Life, maybe on Almaden Island!

Coevolving.com was an experiment initiated by myself, with Doug and Martin game to try it out.

Why service practitioners should care about SSME

Since I had already planned to be in Finland for educational purposes, I had offered Juha Hulkkonen (country manager for IBM Global Business Services) some of my time for purposes that might help the company. He asked me to coordinate with Jyrgi Koskinen, who has a more formal role in university relations for IBM in Finland. In addition to lecturing in the afternoon on research that I’m likely to publish over the next year or so, I was asked to give a morning lecture on SSME (Services Science, Management and Engineering) at a Friday morning coffee gathering at the IBM office.

I had seen Jim Spohrer give a version of this talk at the ISSS conference in Cancun last July, and then stepped up as a last-minute speaker on SSME at the IT Strategy Consulting conference in Toronto a few weeks ago. After more than a year of seeing similar presentations based on Jim’s slides, I wasn’t comfortable in presenting that content at IBM Finland. Firstly, Jim’s presentation is deep, and I only had 30 minutes with a casual audience. Secondly, Jim’s presentation is targeted more at universities and researchers, and my audience would likely be management consultants, technical services professionals, and some sales personnel. I decided to customize my own version of the presentation.

Although I definitely have academic research interests, I am a management consultant, and understand the perspective of “why should I care”? I had spoken with Jim before leaving on this trip, and he said that SSME isn’t something that will happen overnight, but it would be rewarding to see the educational system change over a 3-to-10 year horizon.… Read more (in a new tab)

Since I had already planned to be in Finland for educational purposes, I had offered Juha Hulkkonen (country manager for IBM Global Business Services) some of my time for purposes that might help the company. He asked me to coordinate with Jyrgi Koskinen, who has a more formal role in university relations for IBM in Finland. In addition to lecturing in the afternoon on research that I’m likely to publish over the next year or so, I was asked to give a morning lecture on SSME (Services Science, Management and Engineering) at a Friday morning coffee gathering at the IBM office.

I had seen Jim Spohrer give a version of this talk at the ISSS conference in Cancun last July, and then stepped up as a last-minute speaker on SSME at the IT Strategy Consulting conference in Toronto a few weeks ago. After more than a year of seeing similar presentations based on Jim’s slides, I wasn’t comfortable in presenting that content at IBM Finland. Firstly, Jim’s presentation is deep, and I only had 30 minutes with a casual audience. Secondly, Jim’s presentation is targeted more at universities and researchers, and my audience would likely be management consultants, technical services professionals, and some sales personnel. I decided to customize my own version of the presentation.

Although I definitely have academic research interests, I am a management consultant, and understand the perspective of “why should I care”? I had spoken with Jim before leaving on this trip, and he said that SSME isn’t something that will happen overnight, but it would be rewarding to see the educational system change over a 3-to-10 year horizon.… Read more (in a new tab)

  • RSS qoto.org/@daviding (Mastodon)

    • daviding: “Reporting on research-in-progress on Sciencing and Philosoph…” August 18, 2023
      Reporting on research-in-progress on Sciencing and Philosophizing on Threads in #SystemsThinking tracing history of #pragmatism of #EricTrist + #FredEEmery & #WestChurchman + #RussellAckoff. Web video with #GarySMetcalf after #InternationalSocietyForTheSystemsSciences meetinghttps://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/sciencing-philosophizing-st-on-2023-07-10/
    • daviding: “Philosophical criticism of RfPs by #CWestChurchman (one of t…” August 6, 2023
      Philosophical criticism of RfPs by #CWestChurchman (one of the luminaries of #SystemsThinking). > All planning begins with a problem; however, it should not be confined to the problem statement. Also, the beginning should not be a clear problem formulation, but rather should be an utterance of moral outrage. John Dewey once said that problems arise […]
    • daviding: “How does #SystemsThinking relate to #Pragmatism? Within #Ph…” July 9, 2023
      How does #SystemsThinking relate to #Pragmatism? Within #PhilosophyOfScience, #CWestChurchman and #RussellLAckoff continued the #experimentalism of #EdgarASinger to put nonrelativistic pragmatism at the core of systems thinking in an entanglement of facts and values. https://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/nonrelativistic-pragmatism-and-systems-thinking/
    • daviding: “For those who think that open standards can be easily added …” July 7, 2023
      For those who think that open standards can be easily added on after code had already shipped, there's an extensive case study on Microsoft Office and OOXML. Here's a fun question: how long did it take Microsoft to meet the specification that they themselves wrote?http://openinnovationlearning.com/online/
    • daviding: “Threads doesn't initially support ActivityPub open standard,…” July 7, 2023
      Threads doesn't initially support ActivityPub open standard, and is not open source. Adding ActivityPub support doesn't preclude withdrawal later.> Will Meta embrace-extend-extinguish the ActivityPub protocol?> There are comparisons to be made between Meta adopting ActivityPub for its new social media platform and Meta adopting XMPP for its Messenger service a decade ago. There was a […]
  • RSS on IngBrief

    • Introduction, “Systems Thinking: Selected Readings, volume 2”, edited by F. E. Emery (1981)
      The selection of readings in the “Introduction” to Systems Thinking: Selected Readings, volume 2, Penguin (1981), edited by Fred E. Emery, reflects a turn from 1969 when a general systems theory was more fully entertained, towards an urgency towards changes in the world that were present in 1981. Systems thinking was again emphasized in contrast […]
    • Introduction, “Systems Thinking: Selected Readings”, edited by F. E. Emery (1969)
      In reviewing the original introduction for Systems Thinking: Selected Readings in the 1969 Penguin paperback, there’s a few threads that I only recognize, many years later. The tables of contents (disambiguating various editions) were previously listed as 1969, 1981 Emery, System Thinking: Selected Readings. — begin paste — Introduction In the selection of papers for this […]
    • Concerns with the way systems thinking is used in evaluation | Michael C. Jackson, OBE | 2023-02-27
      In a recording of the debate between Michael Quinn Patton and Michael C. Jackson on “Systems Concepts in Evaluation”, Patton referenced four concepts published in the “Principles for effective use of systems thinking in evaluation” (2018) by the Systems in Evaluation Topical Interest Group (SETIG) of the American Evaluation Society. The four concepts are: (i) […]
    • Quality Criteria for Action Research | Herr, Anderson (2015)
      How might the quality of an action research initiative be evaluated? — begin paste — We have linked our five validity criteria (outcome, process, democratic, catalytic, and dialogic) to the goals of action research. Most traditions of action research agree on the following goals: (a) the generation of new knowledge, (b) the achievement of action-oriented […]
    • Western Union and the canton of Ticino, Switzerland
      After 90 minutes on phone and online chat with WesternUnion, the existence of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland is denied, so I can’t send money from Canada. TicinoTurismo should be unhappy. The IT developers at Western Union should be dissatisfied that customer support agents aren’t sending them legitimate bug reports I initially tried the […]
    • Aesthetics | Encyclopaedia Britannica | 15 edition
      Stephen C. Pepper was a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition, on the entry for Aesthetics.
  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • RSS on daviding.com

    • 2023/08 Moments August 2023
      Catching up with family and friends, locally in Toronto, west to Iowa, and east to Nova Scotia
    • 2023/07 Moments July 2023
      Busy with family visits and celebrations in first half of month. Return to quiet time in second half of month.
    • 2023/06 Moments June 2023
      Enjoyed early summer in Toronto with multiple festivals, and made a quick trip to Vancouver to visit family
    • 2023/05 Moments May 2023
      Spring full of cultural and family activities.
    • 2023/04 Moments April 2023
      Sightseeing one day in Vilnius, then variable weather in spring in Toronto.
    • 2023/03 Moments March 2023
      Right ring finger in splint discouraged activities, yet last week of month saw flying through Vienna to an intensive research visit to Kaunas University of Technology in Lithuania.
  • RSS on Media Queue

    • 2021/06/17 Keekok Lee | Philosophy of Chinese Medicine 2
      Following the first day lecture on Philosophy of Chinese Medicine 1 for the Global University for Sustainability, Keekok Lee continued on a second day on some topics: * Anatomy as structure; physiology as function (and process); * Process ontology, and thing ontology; * Qi ju as qi-in-concentrating mode, and qi san as qi-in-dissipsating mode; and […]
    • 2021/06/16 Keekok Lee | Philosophy of Chinese Medicine 1
      The philosophy of science underlying Classical Chinese Medicine, in this lecture by Keekok Lee, provides insights into ways in which systems change may be approached, in a process ontology in contrast to the thing ontology underlying Western BioMedicine. Read more ›
    • 2021/02/02 To Understand This Era, You Need to Think in Systems | Zeynep Tufekci with Ezra Klein | New York Times
      In conversation, @zeynep with @ezraklein reveal authentic #SystemsThinking in (i) appreciating that “science” is constructed by human collectives, (ii) the west orients towards individual outcomes rather than population levels; and (iii) there’s an over-emphasis on problems of the moment, and…Read more ›
    • 2019/04/09 Art as a discipline of inquiry | Tim Ingold (web video)
      In the question-answer period after the lecture, #TimIngold proposes art as a discipline of inquiry, rather than ethnography. This refers to his thinking On Human Correspondence. — begin paste — [75m26s question] I am curious to know what art, or…Read more ›
    • 2019/10/16 | “Bubbles, Golden Ages, and Tech Revolutions” | Carlota Perez
      How might our society show value for the long term, over the short term? Could we think about taxation over time, asks @carlotaprzperez in an interview: 92% for 1 day; 80% within 1 month; 50%-60% tax for 1 year; zero tax for 10 years.Read more ›
    • 2020/07/13 “Making Growing Thinking” |Tim Ingold (web video)
      For the @ArchFoundation, #TimIngold distinguishes outcome-oriented making from process-oriented growing, revisiting #MartinHeidegger “Building Dwelling Thinking”. Organisms are made; artefacts grow. The distinction seems obvious, until you stop to ask what assumptions it contains, about the inside and outside of things…Read more ›
  • Meta

  • Creative Commons License
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
    Theme modified from DevDmBootstrap4 by Danny Machal