There is nothing like being a student so I have taken advantage of being back at UC Berkeley and have attended a class or two.
One of my favourite classes back in ’81-’82 was the History of the U.S. Cultural Environment (ED169B). The class was and is taught by then Ph.D. candidate and now full Professor, Dr. Paul Groth, architect turned cultural geographer. http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/ced/people/query.php?id=55
Here is Paul looking scholarly (which he is) and I hope you can also see his great sense of humour. I asked permission to attend his class and he graciously agreed.
So I happened to land (sort of on purpose) in the lecture about Innovation Diffusion because this is something that interests me and relates to design, sustainability and change in preparation for the beyond carbon world. How will these ideas “diffuse”?
Paul is a talented teacher — he is entertaining, full of information and keeps our attention throughout the class. Of course, who wouldn’t be interested in Innovation Diffusion? And — you know what else the students love? Paul still uses side-by-side slides! What novelty! And what a relief from power-point. I settle into this sizeable class and try (in vain) to blend in and look like one of the students.
Paul first of all defines invention and innovation – a useful distinction (all the italics are from the ED 169 reader):
Invention is the creation of something new, but only its inventor may know or care about it. Innovation is the use of something new. It implies an idea or new product that is catching on. Innovation diffusion is the widespread adoption of a new idea by people; among scholars, the term “innovation diffusion” also refers to the social processes by which people spread ideas.
Paul asks the question — Why is innovation diffusion important to understand? This is where I get really interested because I think we do get confused around how change happens in society, in organizations and even with ourselves.
His answer is:
We study innovation diffusion as a series of repeating, predictable processes in order to fight the erroneous notion that change “just happens,” and to replace fuzzy, thin explanations of change as a result of “merely economics,” “great leaders,” “great books,” or “zeitgeist” (a spirit of the times).
Paul is also clear about the fact that it isn’t objects that make change – it is people.
Until used by people, these objects just sit there. What is important is the decision to use or adopt a technology or idea, and what social, cultural, and political parameters lead to that decision.
And not all innovation makes for improvement in our society.
I am interested in what we can learn about how to translate and transfer ideas in small cultures like Faculties or institutions like universities and governments. How much do these innovation diffusion approaches, that probably tend to be on a larger cultural scale, relate to us learning how to change organizational cultures? Or embed concepts like design thinking processes in curricula?
Next blog: 10 ways that people adopt and move ideas from one place to another.