I-Open Insights

September 2009

I-Open Insight and Innovation Networks

An interview project this summer lead I-Open Director Betsey Merkel and photography intern
Alice Merkel to New York, New England, New Jersey, and Cincinnati. They met with leaders in
government, civic, academic, and business sharing what matters most to them in their work and
how they live and lead. These are the stories of Open Source Economic Development, a
networked approach to enterprise collaboration in education, economic, and workforce
development in communities and their regions.

Reminded by “an challenges to strengthen transparency, and grappling

economic crisis is with the realities of why collaboration is so
a terrible thing to important to generating enterprise. This community
waste,” I couldn’t of leaders is focused on innovating from within these
help but ask, what
are the new I-Open
insights people are The Institute for Open Economic
Networks
experiencing in
response to http://i-open.org
change? How are
people applying I-Open designs and delivers civic
their insights to experiences that teach people how to connect, how
innovate? And to communicate, and how to collaborate.
how can the new
practices and tools I-Open accelerates innovation, builds networks and
community to generate enterprise.
in Open Source Economic Development strengthen
innovation? The answers to these questions are the I-Open discovers and connects leaders in education,
stories Alice and I sought to capture in our July 2009 economic, and workforce development.
interviews.
I-Open shares insights and innovations in Open
We learned from leaders envisioning new systems, Source Economic Development.
building the networks they need, addressing
Copyright 2009 I-Open. Distributed under Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0
The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave 3rd Fl Cleveland, Ohio 44103 USA
new contexts and their stories tell of pursuing
meaning to deepen connectivity and relevance.
Alice explains, “Being the photography intern for the
Insight and Innovation Networks Project this
summer not only led me to experience what I-Open
does, but also connected me with people I would
typically not connect with. I met innovative people
who are thinking in new ways about how to improve
their community in the very present future, and who
would like to connect with similar mind sets.
Through the face-to-face experience of the
interviews, I have expanded my networks and
learned from different thinkers with new ways of
thinking.
“The interviews act as a window into each person’s
unique solution and capture what they are passionate
about and how they are incorporating that into their
work. This was accomplished by asking them a few
simple, but complex questions while also
videotaping.
“By being part of the interview process, I got to
witness what each interviewee’s passions are and
how they see their work connecting to Open Source
Economic Development.
“I furthered my experience of each one of the
interviewee’s and what they are doing by capturing
the space they work and live in through photography.
Taking still images allowed me to profile how their
community is growing as a result of their
innovations.”
Copyright 2009 I-Open. Distributed under Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0
The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave 3rd Fl Cleveland, Ohio 44103 USA
I-Open interview research
I-Open interviews discover insights from theoretical
and practical research. Interviews tell the story of
innovation happening in Open Source Economic
Development, a networked approach to enterprise
collaboration in education, economic and workforce
development in communities and their regions.
Interviews are storytelling through the lens of the
Innovation Framework, a simple model that helps
people to understand where their work is focused
and how it connects to economic development.
Interviews offer insights into academic, civic,
business, and government systems, inform I-Open
Civic for enterprise collaboration.
Insight and Innovation Networks is a collection of
pictures and video interviews that offer guidance to
people about how to function going forward in
rapidly changing times.
This work begins to explore innovative ways, the
affect of place on creativity, and how resources and
can be shared.
What people said
Interviewees have expressed an openness to
convene, meet one another face-to-face, and engage
with economic development leaders to inform
solutions to national and global imperatives affecting
communities and their regions.
All express a desire to build and strengthen some
combination of connectivity to business, civic,
government, and academic constituents.
Still others would like to focus on how the field of
economic development is shifting and explore their
role in this new, networked context. Many have
discussed the idea of participating in a 2010
gathering.
What we learned
Our research continues to demonstrate there are no
experts. We are all co-creators in a larger research
driven, open process. In the past experts have been
determined by criteria of proximity, social
acceptance, and access to resources. Today, in this
connected world, must all make the cognitive shift
from follower to co-creator.
Alice says, “As a young adult I am still learning how
to gather new ideas and apply them to what I know.”
“While I have been taught how to absorb new
information and apply that to different areas of
interest in order to produce a final solution, I have
not had the opportunity to create my own creative
solution by using what I am passionate about.
Throughout this project I have had the opportunity to
learn, experience, and create by helping to interview
the interviewees, learning how they are incorporating
Copyright 2009 I-Open. Distributed under Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0
The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave 3rd Fl Cleveland, Ohio 44103 USA
their passions into what they do, and creating images
that capture the environment that they work in.
“I would definitely participate in this project
again because I have expanded my networks,
experienced new ways of thinking and witnessed
how they connect to the work of I-Open, while also
contributing my work. I would recommend this
project to others because it is a great way to grow as
a thinker of the next generation.”
Related Links
• New York, New England, New Jersey,
Cincinnati July 2009 http://www.flickr.com/
photos/16914646@N02/sets/
72157621883388446/
• Interviews http://i-open-2.near-time.net/wiki/
show/Interviews%20and%20Conversations
• Alice Merkel on Flickr http://
www.flickr.com/photos/16914646@N02/sets/
72157621883388446/
Learn about I-Open
• http://i-open.org
• http://i-open-2.near-time.net
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