In a recent article in the UK magazine "Director" (April 2009), There
is an article
"Googling the future: Could open-source management save the US car industry?"
"
http://www.director.co.uk/MAGAZINE/2009/4%20April/elkington_62_9.html"Inside, an extract from What Would Google Do?, the book by blogging
pioneer Jeff Jarvis, argued that Detroit might just be turned around
in time if the search giant's open-source management style could be
applied to the leading three American carmakers, and particularly to
the way they connect with their customers.
The big three car firms have long been intensely stealthy, cloaking
new models in secrecy to ensure that their styling is a surprise on
launch day. But these days, Jarvis wonders, who really cares? New cars
"rarely engender excitement or passion". What if, instead, a car
company were to open up the whole process to its customers, asking
them to get involved in co-creation? What if they launched new cars in
beta?
Design, he believes, should be a conversation. So BMW invited
customers to colour in pictures of its new M5 model, with—perhaps
surprisingly—more than 9,000 people sending in designs within a few
days. Fine, as far as it went, but what if you could help drive
natural selection in automotive design, co-evolving the car you really
wanted?"
Is there something that government can learn here?
Instead of an RFI or RFP, just supply the specs and data as open
Linked Data, and wait for the designs and/or implementations to roll
in? As governments have less IP issues (or should, with the exception
of privacy and national security issues) than private industry, this
model should work well.
Let's look at a local example: Landsdown Park[1], Ottawa, which the
city of Ottawa previously discussed having an open design competition
for its re-development[2,3]. Ignoring the unsolicited fiasco[4] that
has transpired since (!), what if the city released the cadastral data
for the site, along with data on height restrictions, rights-of-ways,
the % of greenspace desired, locations, sizes, types and ages of
existing trees, proportions of desired land-use, etc and just let the
architects (and Jane & Joe Designer) design something?
Just some thoughts....
-glen
[1]
http://www.dailycommercialnews.com/article/id24361[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lansdowne_Park#The_future_of_Lansdowne_Park[3]
http://www.dailycommercialnews.com/article/id27730[4]
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2009/01/19/ot-090119-lansdowne.html--
-
Locked
