Social technologies
as new forms of
organizational
innovation
CEO Teemu Arina / Dicole Ltd.
2007-09-18
Photo: Tracy O

The past: speed and repetition,
rather than innovation and learning
Photo: tashland

Technology as an extension of the body
Marshall McLuhan
(1911-1980)
Photo: Don J. McCrady

Human Evolution
Homo Habilis Homo Erectus Homo Sapiens
2.5m - 1.8m years ago 1.8m - 70k years ago 250k years ago
Brain: 500 - 800 cc Brain: 950 - 1100 cc Brain: 1000-1850 cc
Tools Advanced tools Art, writing, speech
“Man the Wise” - Carl Linneaus

Horse wagons vs. Iron horses
Towards mechanical speed and predictive control
Photo: Mike Wood

Speed
\"good luck, success, prosperity, advancement”
- Online Etymology Dictionary
1300 - To go fast
1382 - Full speed
1569 - To send forth with quickness
1856 - To increase the work rate of
1866 - Gear of a machine
1891 - One who drives fast
1965 - Speed reading
1967 - Methamphetamine, caffeine etc.
Photo: Ben McLeod

Artist: Lotta Viitaniemi, Story: Kim Forsman & Teemu Arina Dicole Ltd.

Artist: Lotta Viitaniemi, Story: Kim Forsman & Teemu Arina Dicole Ltd.

Homo Contextus
Contextus = connected or weaved together
Context = Circumstances in which an event occurs
Homo habilis → Homo sapiens: Brain size increases physically
Homo sapiens → Homo contextus: Brain size increases virtually
Connected human escaping the physical limitations of connectivity
with modern network technologies and distributing its cognition

Social web = Noosphere?
• Planetary thinking network
• Interlinked system of consciousness and information
• Global net of self-awareness, instantaneous feedback,
and planetary communication
Teilhard de Chardin
(1881 - 1955) Photo: Don J. McCrady

Reactivity > Proactivity > Coactivity
Future: Co-creation, peering, collaboration
Photo: Thomas Hawk

Mechanical age Digital age
Efficiency Responsiveness
Mass-production Mass-customization
Economy of scale Economy of small
Predictability Adaptation
Repetition Learning
Re-inventing Outsourcing
Speed Real-time
Photo: Don J. McCrady

Greatest innovation of our time is not going
to be based on technology, but process
Photo: tashland

New paradigm: Enterprise 2.0
“Enterprise 2.0 is the use of emergent
social software platforms within
companies, or between companies
and their partners or customers.\"
Andrew McAfee
Kuva: GustavoG

Enterprise 1.0 Enterprise 2.0
Hierarchical organization Flat organization
Automation in the core Interaction in the core
Tree representation Associative representation
Bureaucracy Agility
Static and rigid Dynamic and adaptive
IT driven technology User driven technology
Feature-driven value User-driven value
Top-down Bottom-up
Centralized Distributed
Hand-picked teams Self-organizing teams
Silos Open borders
Controlled communication Transparency
Taxonomies Folksonomies
Complexity Simplicity
Closed standards Open standards
Photo: JJay

Command & Control
becomes
Collaboration and Communication
Photo: tashland

Crowdsourcing
Taking a job traditionally performed by an employee
or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined,
generally large group of people
Photo: Hugo*

Goldcorp Inc. story

Example: Dell IdeaStorm

Innovations
“Conversations are the stem cells of
innovation”
― Jay Cross
Kuva: Andrew Mason

Innovation driven by
Outside - In
instead of
Inside - Out
Photo: Tarotastic

Top-down Innovation Bottom-up Innovation
Inspiration Executives Customers
Existing assets, products Deep observation of
Drivers
and positioning customer needs
Interaction Structured and controlled Spontaneous
Strategy Go to the customer Invite and engage customer
Process Linear well-defined Emergence
Online communities,
Market research, surveys,
Techniques crowdsourcing, peer-
focus groups
production, search, blogging
Photo: JJay

Dicole Knowledge Work
Environment
Areas Blogs Wikis Feeds

Anatomy of an Organisation as an Organism
Nervous system Brain
Feeds, Search, APIs - Wikis, tagging -
Sharing, discovering and Connecting and remixing
tapping into reflections reflectons
Senses Blood system
Blogs, Microblogs, Social networking,
Social bookmarking - Real-time
Reflection in and on action communications,
Network analysis -
Optimizing interaction flow
Skeleton
Automation, Real-
time processes,
Muscles = Money?
Operative
technologies - Back-
bone for business processes
Ref: Teemu Arina, Illustration: Lotta Viitaniemi

Neuroplasticity of Organizations
“Changes that occur in the
organization [of the brain]
as a result of experience”
Ref: Andrew Mason

Information
Image: rogiro
overload
“Information overload is
a symptom of future shock”
―Alvin Toffler, 1970

Rats and
chemical messengers
Increase information overload
to get over crisis when
business process fails
Ref: Rosebud 23

Pattern recognition
“Information overload is an opportunity for
pattern recognition” – Marshall McLuhan Image: jbum

Man is an over-complicated
organism. If he is doomed to
extinction he will die out for want of
simplicity.
Ezra Pound
Photo: Don J. McCrady

Contact info
CEO Teemu Arina
Dicole Oy
050 – 555 7636
teemu@dicole.com
Blog: tarina.blogging.fi
www.dicole.com
Photo: Tanakawho

Reading
• Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers (Robert
Scoble)
• The Medium is the Message (Marshall McLuhan)
• Complex Responsive Processes in Organizations: Learning and Knowledge Creation (Ralph
Stacey)
• The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century (Thomas Friedman)
• Informal Learning: Rediscovering the Natural Pathways That Inspire Innovation and Performance
(Jay Cross)
• Deschooling Society (Ivan Illich)
• The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth (Clayton Christensen)
• The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual (Christopher Locke)
• Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (Henry Jenkins)
• The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom (Yochai
Benkler)
• Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape (Henry Chesbrough)
• The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More (Chris Anderson)
• Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything (Don Tapscott)
• Seeing What's Next: Using Theories of Innovation to Predict Industry Change (Clayton
Christensen)
• Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages
(Carlota Perez)
• The Social Life of Information (John Seely Brown)
• Wisdom of the Crowds (James Surowiecki)
• Complexity and Innovation in Organizations (Jose Fonseca)
Photo: Tanakawho