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Our ApproachCollective Intelligence Open Source MappingExperience shows that nascent markets and ecosystems are often chaotic, fragmented, and uncoordinated. The various players are hamstrung by an asymmetry of information - knowledge tends to pool in isolated locations, rather than flowing freely. That in turn constrains the flow of capital. The money side doesn't know what a good investment looks like, and the product or service delivery side doesn't know what the appropriate sources of money are. We develop “collective maps,” graphical depictions of the often-complex web of organizations, issues and gaps associated with key social initiatives. Then we construct interfaces, often technologically based, that enhance the transactional value of the network of organizations in the field.
The first steps to solving such problems are maps - marketplace overviews that categorize the roles of the various players. Though all three CI partners are involved in scoping out the outlines of the projects they undertake, the partners take turns taking the lead in the process. Most of the time, Collective Intelligence co-founder Kevin Jones goes out and gathers the stories, data and relationships of those players, placing them in an initial categorization and relationship matrix, typically using a wiki like this one. From those primary sources fellow CI co-founder Mark Beam begins the visualization and mapping that clarifies the higher level order to the complex, multidimensional social , cultural and financial ecosystems we've studied. Mark focuses on portraying the complexity of these ecosystems and the asymmetry of information while highlighting gaps and overlaps. The goal is to discover core patterns and inflection points where the flow of information and distribution of resources can be optimized. Then Gary Bolles, the third CI co-founder works on project phasing placing those inflection points into a grid by which the clearest path to the highest impact in the shortest amount of time becomes clear. The CI partners are only a part of the picture, however; the mapping process engenders a collectively built vision of the market or ecosystem through iteration, critique and review. When gaps or blockages are discovered and seen together the individual players are empowered to adapt toward greater advantage for the network or ecosystem as a whole. Social MarketsOur first inclination was to study three nascent, but significant social markets that are emerging. We’ve identified these as Social Capital, Appropriate Technology, and Clean Technology. Download them by clicking on the links below. Social Capital Map: the Virtue Marketplace - an operating system for an open source economy.
A full version of the Clean Technology (CleanTech) map is available, in three separate, printable PDFs. Download part 1, part 2 and part 3. Local Efforts in the Context of a Global InitiativeWe looked at international development where long established players like the UN, USAID, governments and NGO’s around the world have been positioned in relieving the world’s most pressing problems like AIDS. In particular we looked from the vantage point of the UN and their Millennium Development Goals (global) and the Anglican Church (local) who operate most of the hospitals, schools and missions in southern Africa , where AIDS is the most devastating. At the urging of Jeff Sachs and the Earth Institute we changed our focus from AIDS to malaria because it’s a manageable problem in shorter time period with the effective distribution of insecticide treated nets. Our first in country focus was Uganda. Maps from the Uganda project
We are becoming more deeply involved in the malaria issue through the partners work with the Anglican Malaria Project. Nascent Cultural NetworksIn Canada Mark has been working with the Canadian Heritage Information Network to map “digital culture” throughout the country including activity in academic, corporate, museum, gallery and independent artist run centers. While there is widespread activity across the country and high professional achievement, as evidenced by the success of Canadians in international venues, public understanding of the landscape of digital culture in Canada is virtually non-existent. This project seeks to build awareness, document references, reveal gaps, challenges and opportunities for development, networking and collaboration, locally, nationally and internationally. We'd love to have your comments and criticisms. E-mail your thoughts to Mark.
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