Knowledge Weaving for

Social Innovation Laying the First Strand

Aldo de Moor CommunitySense

WWW.COMMUNITYSENSE.NL

12th Prato CIRN Conference,

November 11, 2015

The commons

• Communities meet and mingle in “the commons”

• Commons: – any collectively owned resource held in joint use or

possession to which anyone has access without obtaining

permission of anyone else (Nemeth, 2012).

– active process that is always emerging in a mode of being

and working together for the greater good of the community

(Wong, 2011)

• How to get networks of communities to co-create in

the commons?

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The commons: networked communities

collaborating on social innovation

• Wicked problems: ill-structured, suffer from social

complexity, stakeholders have different views about

what the problem is and what constitutes acceptable

solutions (Conklin, 2006)

• Social innovation: the process in which relevant

stakeholders jointly develop solutions to wicked

problems that none of them can solve on their own

• Networked communities key stakeholders

• The commons is their workspace

• Social innovation catalysts facilitate the process

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“The Tilburg Way”

Regional social innovation ecosystem

Tilburg regional network of

social innovation catalysts

Top Institute Social Innovation Government innovation

Excellent residential climate

Positioning the region

Open source knowledge & devt platform

SI stakeholders

Need for better knowledge sharing:

catalyzing & connecting conversations

Many social innovation catalysts…

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But how to patch them together?

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Knowledge weaving

• An intercommunal sensemaking process

• facilitated by social innovation catalysts

• in which existing community-owned knowledge

sharing practices, initiatives, and resources are tied

together

• into commons-based ‘knowledge fabrics’ that support

intercommunal collaboration

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Example: ESIW pre-events

Pre-events Post-events

? Cross-overs

Pre-event #1 (July 13, 2015)

Pre-events Post-events

? Cross-overs

• KnowledgeCloud

• Thematic network

• Online platform x physical meetings

• “Connecting across themes” methodology

• Cross-over topics

• Cross-over events

ESIW pre-event #1 – generating cross-

overs

ESIW pre-event #1 – reflecting upon

cross-overs

Thematic cross-overs

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Event-crossover: Water Debate

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Environmental Café

Site-specific theatre

X

= “Water Debate”

“Artistic community”

“Environmental

community”

Pre-events: lessons learnt

Pre-events Post-events

? Cross-overs

• Cross-over topics

• Cross-over events

• Pre-pre-event (June 1):

many tips for pre, during & post-knowledge sharing

• Pre-event #1 (July 13):

many topics & cross-over ideas

• Input for knowledge groups

• Pre-event #2 (August 26)

• Online dissemination & expansion

• KnowledgeCloud

• Thematic network

• Online platform x physical meetings

• “Connecting across themes” methodology

Distilling collaboration patterns

• Pre-event long before drumbeat-event

• Generating & reflecting on cross-over topics & events

• Capture cross-over results in commons

• Ensure follow-up triggers from social innovation network

• Widen the circles by “meta-communication” (social media,

mailing lists, personal communication..)

Pre-events Post-events

Cross-overs

• Cross-over topics

• Cross-over events

“Drumbeat-event”

Local knowledge

network broker

Collaboration patterns: reusable socio-technical lessons learnt matching specific collaborative requirements (De Moor, 2013).

Collaboration pattern: pre-event for drumbeat-event

Discussion

• Cross-case analysis: scenario-based design and

claims analysis method (Carroll, 2012) plus

collaboration patterns (De Moor, 2013).

• Knowledge weaving: focusing on community

demarcation or jointly enlarging the pie?

• Knowledge weaving by networked communities:

- meso-level commons building/use

- reduction of local governance/legitimacy complexity

• Expanding the metaphor

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