What are Space Guidance Widgets?

We asked Gary Jackson to explain his p2p-inspired Space Strategy project, i.e. Space Guidance Widgets, an attempt to make knowledge work sustainable.

Gary Jackson:

“Simplicity is obviously the other side of complexity! To an Architect – as I am – this seems a very sensible premise and aligns with my favorite quote ever, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler” (paraphrasing Einstein, 1933).

In 2007 however, I read ‘Wikinomics’ (Tapscott et al.) and this book changed everything! I now additionally believe that ‘everything’ also needs to be seen as part of a rich and complex eco-system. Moreover, that complexity is inherent to any future success! This clearly also applies to Knowledge Work.

We generally all think too simply; yet Open Innovation and P2P processes can deliver a positive vision-for-change and the possibility of simultaneous truths co-existing.

SpaceStrategy.Org.UK has been my first step along this road to change.

Perhaps the esquisse for this piece should be the Law of Requisite Variety, which suggests that; “the variety in the control system must be equal to or larger than the variety of the perturbations in order to achieve control” (William Ashby).

I have always been a keen follower of Prof. Christopher Alexander (Architect) who advocates using a ‘hierarchy of linked patterns that are open to multiple interpretations when ‘designing’ spaces for people’ – particularly in his original book; ‘A Pattern Language’ (1977).

Following reading Wikinomics – and using Mediawiki – I conceived of a way that Alexander’s Pattern Language could be re-interpreted for the ‘place-makers of the 21st Century’ using P2P processes. To deliver commercial success, I merely had to reconcile how this made money for all those involved.

As with other Social Media, to gain popularity and footfall one would have to engage potential users’ sense of prosumption; be perceived as an Information Gateway (i.e. Third Sector); create a Open Business Eco-system that moved beyond a Market Economy and encouraged users to become Citizens – as has LinkedIN, Last Fm, Twitter, etc.

What differs from the Social Media (above) is an intention to put ‘peer production’ at the centre of the business. We are asking people to collaborate and create a spontaneously-coordinated-framework of ‘Spatial Guidance Widgets’ that would then be ‘sold to the outside world’. Designers would be buying these ‘information-widgets’ to use in their own ‘designs’; more or less following Alexander’s Model (albeit he produced the information in a book form). Those buying them would be using them as ‘accelerators’ in a market where there is never enough time to reflect.

In branding terms, a USP and reputation for delivering ‘brilliant ideas that are modularized and intimately related with other adjacent ideas thereby creating a trusted high level ‘knowledge platform’ for those needing to deliver quickly ’.

Selling bundles of what Tapscott (2007) calls pre-competitive knowledge.

Those writing these ‘Spatial Guidance Widgets’ would have to have worked out how to encapsulate their knowledge; such that it is workable, contestable and a knowledge (valuable) product – i.e. ‘as simple as possible, but no simpler’.

To do this they will have to have done-the-essential-thinking-in-advance. This maps well to examples such a Wikipedia where accuracy and speed of update have tested well.

Ok we now have our Widgets (in theory at least).

Add a front-end Sales/Marketing Team and an effective ‘eBay for designers needs’ (i.e. what Widgets does the world need next; – you tell us – bringing together problem-seekers and problem-solvers in a bid to make the sale).

The Basic Open-Market Economy is defined.

The Law of Requisite Variety now begins to apply. We needed a democratic mechanism to control the flow of income back to the Widget owners. I began looking for a ‘Local Means of Exchange’ – and from a P2P perspective, it all got more interesting when the idea of a Internal Market emerged.

Firstly, I decided to (theoretically) relate the Internal Means of Exchange to the business’ Income/Profit (via Stockholdings in Trust; or retained % of Sales) and thereby determine an exchange rate with US Dollars – thank you, Linden Labs (but that is another story…).

Hard-currency value can now be extracted for (what is essentially) robust thinking!

Further, we conceived of each Widget-cranking Team having a limited number of owners – creating an internal venture-capital market; where people might invest in a Widget as-and-when the owners decided to sell shares. From this grew the idea of an Internal Stock/Futures Exchange; Internal Trading Market (or IdeaAgora as Wikinomics, 2007); a Collaborative Library; and the Big Board (a leader board showing who was doing well). All of which, drive the internal economy.

We have now not got a P2P Ecosystem – open innovation driven internal and external markets – based solely on the idea of pre-thinking about how ideas relate (knowledge work) and then allowing the delivery processes to be defined by those best positioned to do so.

In doing this, Information (pre-complied stacks of knowledge) become valuable to both the Thinker, and value to the Designer/Manufacturer. In essence, Knowledge Work has become usefully complex, as opposed to ‘vertically integrated’ (i.e. only Designers can have good ideas).

I like to think of the Internal and External mechanisms as a Mandlebrots of each other – simple rules delivering naturally symmetric complexity!

The Law of Requisite Variety also applied when thinking about the management of such a community. A high level of Peer Governance would be required, in a place where the structure of the community could not be determined. If one wished to treat those involved as citizens rather than employees then the citizenship would have to trust whoever is managing the community. The ‘currency of trust’ is reputation. By allowing reputation to be aggregated and reported – certain individuals could rightly rise to the various management ‘circles’.

All of these issues are outlined in more detail on our website, yet we remain adamant that an Open Business Eco-system is likely to be the only way that we can meet both the Law of Requisite Variety and sentiment of Einstein’s actual quote which read, “It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience.” [My empahasis].

In Summary I believe that:

* Earlier Social Media Companies focused on capturing attention without considering the Business Eco-System they created in doing so. The Next Generation of P2P Businesses are emerging.

* The Online Knowledge-Market is growing up fast – we are moving even more strongly towards a point where a Micro-Knowledge Eco-system is sustainable. Possibly nudged by the global-work-seeking-needs of a ‘world recession’.

* Open Innovation will give us the Control we don’t need; and an Open Eco-system, the Perspective.


Postscript:

Where is this project now?? Searching for those who would enjoy being involved in taking this project to the next step – be that LinkedIN, Twitter, or just talking to people!

We remain committed to solving ‘issues’ ecologically; they get captured, clarified, organized, reviewed and acted upon – in a way that you can be as collaboratively engaged as you want to be.

SpaceStrategy remains a Wiki for anyone interested in thinking about the generation of a positive Micro-Knowledge-Economy. I stand by what I have written – when it succeeds financially and theoretically; that success will flow to those involved.”

More info from Gary Jackson at [email protected]

Leave A Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.