Presentation given at the Managing Open Innovation Technologies Workshop, Uppsala University, Sweden, November 5, 2010

1. “It’s the Conversation, Stupid!”
Social Media Systems Design for
Open Innovation Communities
Managing Open Innovation Technologies Workshop
Uppsala University, Sweden, November 5, 2010
Aldo de Moor
CommunitySense
the Netherlands
WWW.COMMUNITYSENSE.NL

2. Communication tools: then

3. Communication tools: now

4. Collaborative communities
Communities
Strong, lasting interactions
Bonds between members
Common space
Sense of community
Collaborative communitiesCollaborative communities
Common goals
Effective/efficient communication
Perform/coordinate work
Community governance structures/processes
Common space = Internet + face-to-face
Prime examples in/between/around (multinational)
corporations, (government) bureaucracies, research
networks, innovation networks

5. Collaborative fragmentation
Open innovation = 99% perspiration, but too many
participants & channels
Paradox:
Never before so much need & potential for collaboration
Never before so much fragmentation of collaboration
Collaborative fragmentationCollaborative fragmentation
Organizations
Workflows
Technologies
Pragmatic errors abound
Breakdown of social and contextual components of a
discourse
Far beyond ICT

6. Community = conversation
Conversations build the common ground of a community
Principle of least collaborative effort
depends on purpose and (costs of using) the medium
Language/Action Perspective
Conversations = set of communicative acts grounded in social
relationships and focused on organizational coordination
Conversations are back with a vengeance on the Internet
1960s-1980s: e-mail, mailing lists, Usenet (communication)
1990s-2000s: the Syntactic, early semantic Web (information)
2010s-…: Web 2.0, social media, Semantic Web++/Pragmatic
Web… (content + conversations + context = collaboration)

7. (Chesbrough, 2003)
Innovation community =
conversation++

8. Socio-technical conversation
context

9. Conversation purposes
Information exchange
Coordination
Collaborative sensemaking
Relationship buildingRelationship building

10. Twitter functions
• Self-contained
tweets
• Replies• Replies
• Retweets
• Links
• Topics (#)
• Lists

11. Twitter topic conversations
#semanticweb
http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23semanticweb

12. Twitter affordances/constraints
Functionalities/practices Twitter
Conversation fragmentation • One server
Conversation links • Tweet reply to tweet? –
• Tweeter has replies? +
Conversation tracking • Centralized: replies, topics +
• Linear presentation -
“Conversational glue” • Replies, # topics +
Conversation spawning • Tangential conversations ++
Conversation with self/others • Conversation with others ++

13. Twitter in conversation context

14. Social media systems design
Ecosystems of tools & systems
Communityware = dinosaurs R.I.P.
Functionalities compete, evolve, are used, and replaced
Socio-technical systems design
Collaborative communities need to evaluate the
functionalities in their unique usage contextfunctionalities in their unique usage context
Conversations are key
Understand the purpose of the technologies in this context
Adopt a collaborative sensemaking process (from informal
stories to formal collaboration patterns) view with
stakeholders
Use this context info to select, link, configure (social media)
tools & information systems

15. Scenario: IPCC report review
Scenario based on ESSENCE (E-
Science/SENsemaking/Climate changE project)
International Panel on Climate ChangeInternational Panel on Climate Change
• Very complex assessment reports
• E.g. 5th report had 831 scientific contributors
• Results often controversial
• InterAcademy Council requested to do independent review
• But: quality/legitimacy requires input from multitude of
stakeholders
• How to scale their sufficient/timely input ?

16. Scenario: IPCC report review (1)
Write review
IPCC Report
Review Wiki
IPCC Report
Review
Mailing List
Coordinate
Topic #1
Topic #1
Topic #11
View: world
Edit: topic stewards
Coordinate
review
View: review committee
Edit: review committee

17. Scenario: IPCC report review (2)
@ipcc_review #ipcc_t11 #ipcc_t11
• Requests
• Announcements
View: world
Edit: review committee
Solicit input
@ipcc_review
account
#ipcc_t11: Needed, expert
on polar ice cap melting
• @John: I know an expert
X #ipcc_t11
• @Jane: I know an expert Y
#ipcc_t11”
View: world
Edit: ---
Review input
(public)
#ipcc_t11
topic conv’n
View: review committee
Edit: review committee
Use input
(private)
#ipcc_t11
experts list
• @Jane: I know an expert Y
#ipcc_t11”

18. Connecting conversations
Drafting the review Soliciting input Finalizing review
Write reviewWrite review
Coordinate
review
Solicit input
@ipcc_review
account
Review input
(public)
#ipcc_t11
topic conv’n
Use input
(private)
#ipcc_t11
experts list

19. Capturing lessons learnt with
collaboration patterns

20. Conclusions
Open innovation: crossing boundaries to create networked
synergies in/across collaborative communities
Webs of conversations are the engine of innovation
Collaborative communities analysis
Socio-technical conversation contexts as building blocks
Social media systems designSocial media systems design
Collaborative sensemaking
Match communicative requirements with relevant (social
media) functionalities, e.g. Twitter, wikis
Directions
Circumscribe + analyze best(good/bad) innovation practices
using collaboration patterns
Use patterns to design/implement social media systems for
catalyzing innovation conversations
From firm-centric to stakeholder network perspective through
conversations (LAP, Pragmatic Web): wicked problems

21. References
A. de Moor and M. Aakhus (2006). Argumentation Support: From Technologies
to Tools. Communications of the ACM, 49(3):93-98.
A. de Moor (2009). Collaboration Patterns as Building Blocks for Community
Informatics. In Proc. of 6th Community Informatics Research Network
Conference, Prato, Italy, Nov 4-6, 2009
(http://communitysense.nl/papers/cirn09_demoor.pdf)
A. de Moor (2010). Conversation in Context: A Twitter Case for Social Media
Systems Design. Proc. of I-SEMANTICS, Graz, Austria, Sep 1-3, 2010.
(http://communitysense.nl/papers/icpw10_demoor.pdf)(http://communitysense.nl/papers/icpw10_demoor.pdf)
A. de Moor (2010) Using Collaboration Patterns for Contextualizing Roles in
Community Systems Design. Proc. of 7th Community Informatics Research
Network Conference, Prato, Italy, October 27-29, 2010
(http://communitysense.nl/papers/cirn10_demoor.pdf)