[link to embedded video]
The above 5 minute video is a great recap of a book by the same name and it eloquently explores the ripples that are changing the way we value, sell, consume and share media around the globe.
I wanted to point out another article by the same author regarding hacking Detroit.
Matt talks about "systems that allow for change". Something any book on Innovation invariably deals with - from creating an environment for change to supporting initiatives for change. Not an easy task any way you cut it.
In Experience Design (human factors), we look for how people are hacking systems. It's often a key insight into how products or services are not meeting the needs of the audience (or could be improved). It could be a note taped to a door telling users to pull, not push. Or it might be a complicated piece of medical equipment with buttons taped off so they don't get pressed. They are critical and very blatant hints to a problem in how something was designed or deployed because they represent an innovative hack of a product or service to make it better serve it's customers.
Online, users have been hacking services in a positive manner since the beginning of computers. Many online businesses began as combining (hacking) services from companies like google and yahoo to form new businesses/services. We came to call these activities "mashups" and they came to define what web 2.0 was. In essence, they were hacks - people altering or building upon products to better meet an underserved need in the world.
Smart companies paid attention to mashups and embraced this revolution in end user created innovation. They developed services that supported or built upon what was being explored or expressed. Many opened up their API's and actively supported users to mashup their services.
Which leads me to a desire to redefine the role of hacking. Or better yet, how to support hacking as a form of innovation internally. How do we embrace and identify hacking that innovates inside our own firms?
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