Facilitating Innovation

Nate Hill
@natenatenate
Re-Think IT: Libraries for a New Age

presentation: http://natehill.net/rethinkit

The ol' switcheroo

How I did this at my old job

How I plan to do this at my new job

here's something you've seen a lot of at this conference

Chattanooga's 4th Floor as an example

From Edge to Core

prototype ideas, fold projects and culture back into your organization

"we know this place sucks right now"

by helping your library, you are helping yourself

The 4th floor is a public laboratory and educational facility with a focus on information, design, technology, and the applied arts.

avoid analysis paralysis

and

launch more new things!

the result

emergent structures you can learn from

linked edges

The 4th Floor worked (and still works) because:

  • we aimed to help solve other people’s problems - we empathized
  • we both used and facilitated the design process - dogfooding
  • we loved to collaborate, and brought value to the table
  • we knew that culture is EVERYTHING
  • we tried new stuff all of the time - we iterated
  • we all liked making real things - we made prototypes
  • we went and partied at other people’s parties, not just our own

Applying this pattern to another kind of organization

A lab where New York's libraries and archives learn together and collaborate on digital initiatives