New TASCHA research projects

April 30, 2014

It’s finally spring here in the Northern Hemisphere, and we decided to celebrate by highlighting some of our new research at TASCHA. From crunching big data on mobile money and developing new resources based on research findings to travelling around the world and working with new partners in the field, we’ve accomplished quite a bit in 2014 so far! Here’s a snapshot of a few new TASCHA research projects.

Innovation Spaces: Supporting individual action

February 6, 2014

In June 2013, I joined TASCHA’s Chris Coward to help launch a project on Innovation Spaces. This work builds on earlier conversations Chris has had with Christine Prefontaine and Beth Kolko, among others. Using a giant whiteboard, we shared, discussed, debated, synced, and altered our understanding over a period of weeks. The office got used to the hijacking of most of the common wall space. We had many questions: What are these spaces and what do we call them? What types of innovation do they foster? Why do people go to them?

What is innovation?

January 28, 2014

In our research on innovation spaces, we needed to arrive at a definition of innovation that fit the spaces we were observing. It was not entrepreneurship, as that would be too narrow and not explain many of the uses. Rather, it was about problem solving, and making use of these spaces to find answers to individual questions in ways that were superior than trying to do it alone, on the internet, or otherwise. The works of three authors in particular resonated – Matt Kingdon, Ken Robinson, and Steven Johnson. Here are some snippets…

Innovation Spaces: From access to information to access to each other

October 22, 2013

Innovation Spaces: From Access to Information to Access to Each Other was the topic of a presentation delivered by TASCHA Director Chris Coward at Cotexto Digital in Bogota Colombia, October 17, 2013. Contexto Digital is a series of events organized by the National Library of Colombia and the Luis Angel Arango Library of Colombia aimed at addressing various topics at the intersection of digital media, culture, and development.