Professional terms used in community and economic development may mean different things to different people in different professions. This can be confusing! We've started a basic list of terms used in Open Source Economic Development. Do you have a term you would like to add?
The Innovation Framework (shown above) is a heuristic model for strategic investment in Open Source Economic Development. The Innovation Framework is designed by Ed Morrison, Co-Founder of the Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) and Economic Policy Advisor, Center for Regional Development, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana USA.
Terms in Open Source Economic Development
We've created a starter list of terms that may be common or uncommon to entrepreneurial leaders in open economic networks. Is there a term you would like to add? Let us know!
Add you suggestions to the comment section below or email your suggestion to "Library Terms" to mailto:info@i-open.org
Add you suggestions to the comment section below or email your suggestion to "Library Terms" to mailto:info@i-open.org
Action Planning - Some groups work well together and just want periodic updates on what they want to do and how to do it. Action planning helps them focus on where they are now and where they want to go from here.
Related Resource: Facilitation and Action Planning
Capacity Building - Organizations build capacity, or improve and enhance its ability to achieve its mission and sustain itself over time.
Related Resource: Facilitation and Capacity Building
Civic Forums – are a platform for new experiences in civic engagement. Forums are most effective as weekly, programmed forums gathering business, civic, government, and academic leaders in guided, open discussions focused on information sharing and knowledge exchange for the purpose of building networks and community for transformative enterprise collaboration.
Civic Space – the civic space occurs at the lateral intersections of social and economic complexity, and is the most volatile, opportunistic situation for transformative innovation to occur. It appears as the area outside the four walls of any organization, comprised of leaders in academia, civic, business, and government who are equally affected by disruptive social, economic and environmental change.
Related Resource: The Innovation Framework
Civic Insight Library – The I-Open Video library is a collection of searchable interviews, stories, conversations, and transcriptions begun as a pilot in 2009. Civic leaders have contributed over 100 interviews, nearly fifty conversations with over 1000 voices participating, and over 150 hours of content to I-Open research. Interviews share civic leader insights, stories of innovation, and strategic investment through the lens of The Innovation Framework.
Related Resource: I-Open Video Library on Vimeo
Collaboration -- is the ability to work together toward a goal larger than what is capable by any one member alone. Collaboration in OSED is accelerated by conversations; networks, collaborative leadership and a process called, Strategic Doing - a simple, disciplined process of moving ideas to action quickly.
Collaborative Community –is a networked, co-branded, thematic community that shares information, knowledge, talent, and resources for projects focused on a social and/or economic opportunity. Collaborative communities often result from Civic Forum conversations focused on a next step initiative, sustaining and amplifying activity between face-to-face meetings and who may remain loosely connected to each other.
Collaborative Conversations -- help human communities and organizations talk together effectively to make things happen where people decide what it is they want to have happen and then walk through the steps to make that happen.
Related Resource: The Power of Collaborative Conversations by Ken Homer
Convener— Civic Forums are convened by colleges, universities, and libraries; places associated with civility, culture, knowledge, and research. Institutions are stewards of previously gifted industrial economy assets that include buildings, administration systems, parking, cultural artifacts, research and knowledge, inter-generational activity, curriculum, project work spaces, technology and Internet access.
Related Resource: I-Open Backgrounder
Connector— is a person who, acting as a goodwill intermediary, ‘connects’ people who may or may not know each other via e-mail introduction and/or face-to-face for mutual benefit.
Contextual Communications – I-Open publishes media interviews and conversations across it's technology infrastructure to accelerate member learning and catalyze meaningful social network formation and community building.
Contextual Communications – I-Open publishes media interviews and conversations across it's technology infrastructure to accelerate member learning and catalyze meaningful social network formation and community building.
Creative Commons License – let people distribute their work under specific conditions. It is increasingly valuable to address accountability in collaboration and multiple, varying, degrees of sharing and co-creating across industries. I-Open publishes all content under the Creative Commons License with Attribution back to the original source.
Related Resource: Creative Commons
Economic Development -- is any strategic investment that leads to sustainable communities, including, but not limited to, urban, real estate, social, and community development.
Enterprise Collaboration – is the result of acting with others in an entrepreneurial way to identify new innovation opportunities, locate human talent, and accessing resources connected to civic forum networks, that results in collaborative opportunities for business development.
Enterprise Collaboration – is the result of acting with others in an entrepreneurial way to identify new innovation opportunities, locate human talent, and accessing resources connected to civic forum networks, that results in collaborative opportunities for business development.
Facilitation for Emerging Organizations - Many organizations struggle trying to achieve their goals because they feel their efforts are fragmented and unfocused. Facilitation is a process that can help them reach consensus on what they want to do and how to do it.
Related Resource: Facilitation And Capacity Building
Related Resource: Facilitation And Capacity Building
Focus Group - is a tool to help an organization develop strategies to survive and thrive. Organizations can grow by assembling small groups of people from outside the organization to identify new observations about how the organization can grow.
Related Resource: Facilitation and Focus Groups
Free/Open Source Software (F/OSS) industry – is a meritocratic community of software developers, their projects, and project teams whose combined enterprise comprises the greater majority of operating systems servicing operations of the World Wide Web. The F/OSS community offers lessons and deep value to civic leaders working in Open Source Economic Development.
Fund Raising Strategy - with the assistance of a facilitator, groups can be easily led through a process of developing strategies to break down barriers, evaluate and maximize methods, and identify potential funding targets to achieve the organization's goal.
Related Resource - Facilitation and Developing a Fund-Raising Strategy
Ground Rules - Ground rules govern the behavior of people in a meeting. With the assistance of a facilitator, adhering to a few ground rules while engaging will get the most out of a group in a short time.
Related Resource: Facilitation and Ground Rules
Innovation Economy -- an economic model centered on knowledge, technology, entrepreneurship, and innovation.
The Innovation Framework -- is a heuristic model for a balanced approach to investment in OSED. The Framework is flexible enough to be applied to the health of an individual, business, community, or region. The five areas are: (1) Brainpower; (2) Innovation and Entrepreneurial Networks; (3) Quality, Connected Places; (4) Dialogue and Inclusion; and (5) Branding Stories.
The Innovation Framework -- is a heuristic model for a balanced approach to investment in OSED. The Framework is flexible enough to be applied to the health of an individual, business, community, or region. The five areas are: (1) Brainpower; (2) Innovation and Entrepreneurial Networks; (3) Quality, Connected Places; (4) Dialogue and Inclusion; and (5) Branding Stories.
Related Resource: The Innovation Framework
Link and Leverage -- strategies guide how we invest our time and attention in civic networks. To leverage the value of networks, we begin by "connecting on our similarities and innovating from our differences", says Valdis Krebs, Founder, Orgnet.com. By continually asking, "What can we do together?" and "What are our next steps?" we explore how to re-combine interests and resources to innovate. In OSED, link and leverage strategies allow us to connect closely with specific interests through networks to leverage larger industry goals.
Related Resource: A Conversation About Networks With Valdis Krebs
Meditation for Entrepreneurs - Many entrepreneurs struggle trying to do what they love to do because they can't make a living doing it. Many barriers stand in their way from doing so. Daily meditation can help them overcome these barriers because it puts them in a frame of mine to deal with them constructively.
Related Resource: Meditation for Entrepreneurs Video
Networks – human relationships exchanging knowledge, information about innovation, talent, tools and resources.
Related Resource: Network Theory & Analysis by Valdis Krebs, Founder & President, InFlow
Network Weaving -- "A network weaver is someone who is aware of the networks around them and explicitly works to make them healthier (more inclusive, bridging divides) and they do this by connecting people strategically where there's potential for mutual benefit, help people identify their passions, and serve as a catalyst for self-organizing groups." - June Holley, Network Weaver.
Related Resource: Networks: Weaving People, Ideas and Projects
Open Conversations – are guided, public conversations that share knowledge and are informed by civic leader insights into aspects of social and economic change and innovation opportunities. Our conversations us today set the direction for what people will do tomorrow. I-Open conversations help people to make important cognitive shifts, such as thinking in terms of networks, to utilize information effectively.
Related Resource: 12 Simple Rules For Convening Open Conversations
Open Source Economic Development -- Open Source Economic Development (OSED) is a methodology, an inclusive system of practices and tools to advance transformative enterprise opportunities positively affecting education, economic, and workforce development in communities and their regions. OSED happens in the Civic Space.
Related Resource: Open Source Economic Development
Open, neutral spaces -- I-Open builds the open, neutral spaces for new experiences in Civic Forum discussions that, over time, develop a reputation for trust, mentor civility, and practice non partisan dialogue attracting higher levels of participation, conversation, and contribution.
Strategic Doing – is a simple, but disciplined process based largely on the scientific method of inquiry to connect civic leaders, ideas, and assets to enterprise initiatives. I-Open Co-Founder, Ed Morrison, leads this practice largely at the Purdue Center for Regional Development (PCRD), the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Economic Development Administration, in collaboration with education, economic, and workforce development leaders and their organizations.
Related Resource: Strategic Doing
Strategic Planning - is how an organization can clearly define its goal and barriers that impede the organization from achieving it. A facilitator leads people through a process of developing strategies to break down those barriers and achieve their goal.
Related Resource: Facilitation and Strategic Planning
Systems Thinking - systems thinking is a philosophy for how an organization can identify a problem it may be facing. It involves taking a "larger" view of a situation so that as many directly related partners can be considered as possible.
Related Resource: Facilitation and Systems Thinking
Team Building - Many groups of people want to become better teams in order to achieve their goals. Team building helps organizations focus on what they want their organization to be, agreeing on top priorities for improvement, and developing an action plan to implement these priorities.
Related Resource: Facilitation and Team Building
Above: Photo of "Midtown Brews" a monthly I-Open Civic Forum co-hosted by Cleveland, Ohio technology companies.
Do you have words that are important to you in your work? We invite you to add the word, it's definition, and how you use it in the comment section below.
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