In the past, many organizations have been divided into silos and in turn, those silos can be quite competitive therefore sharing little to no information. A less social person may prefer to work alone in these silos. However, working alone can mean that fewer ideas are thought of and creativity is hindered. By collaborating and working in groups, you allow for more ideas, better problem solving, more communication, and hopefully more learning as a result.
The Web 2.0 has allowed us to use technology in an effort to bring together talents and ideas from across the world. One example of effective online collaboration is InnoCentive created by Eli Lilly. InnoCentive is an online collaboration network of scientists from 70 countries working in research and development. Scientific problems are posted to the online site and via collaboration; the problems are resolved resulting in a cash prize. This allows for these extremely bright scientists to extend their knowledge beyond their country promoting profound innovation in the scientific world.
With collaboration, the creativity and positive impacts are endless. Those benefitted range from the individuals, to corporations, to students. Classes can connect from across the world, new languages can be learned, donations can be made to those in need, and group projects can be completed with millions of miles separating group members – AND SO MUCH MORE!
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Me and my father were just talking about InnoCentive. I am no the best at science but it was informative to explore the site; I imagine something like this could be used in the classroom. Maybe with another classroom from somewhere, trying to solve problems using different methods, and hypothesis; all the while collaborating. I found this site recently, its collaboration but in a data base fashion.
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What an interesting site, InnoCentive. Never even heard of it. It's mind boggling how the use of technology can bring ideas together that would have never been connected in the first place. As for science, the break throughs for the medical community is staggering. Connecting data and research to find cures, help those in need, or even ask a Doctor half way across the world a question about a diagnosis to help a patient with out access to proper medical care.
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