Knowledge Assets

Written by Betsey Merkel

Co-Founder and Director, I-Open
July 2010

I-Open knowledge assets are shared, applied, and improved upon by

others. Knowledge assets include processes, practices, and
language developed and contributed to I-Open to accelerate
information sharing, knowledge creation, and enterprise
development.

Civic Forums - are a platform for new experiences and conversations

in civic engagement. Forums are most effective as weekly,
programmed forums to gather business, civic, government, and
academic leaders. Forums are open, guided discussions informed by
civic leaders and their enterprise opportunities. Conversations focus
on information sharing and knowledge exchange to build networks for
transformative enterprise collaboration. Forums are an important tool
to rebuild civic spaces in communities, strengthen innovation,
entrepreneurial culture and business development.

Civic Image Library - is a collection of searchable images created to

accompany interview and conversation archives. Images add a

Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons

Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License The Institute for Open
Economic Networks (I-Open), 4415 Euclid Ave Suite 306, Cleveland,
Ohio 44103 Phone: 216-220-0172 Web: http://i-open-2.strategy-
nets.net
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dimension of storytelling experience for viewers that generate higher

levels of meaning.

Civic Information System 1.0 (Civic IS 1.0) – is a coordinated process

of media protocols to gather, publish and distribute knowledge
through the lens of the Innovation Framework to strengthen Open
Source Economic Development (OSED). Information is organized
hierarchically by category and topic. Context describes the
relationship between civic insights to Framework categories; content,
by describing the role and value the information plays in OSED. Civic
IS 1.0 is a shareable, cost effective set of protocols that can be
orchestrated by one person or a team of people. Civic IS 1.0 is
recommended for individuals and organizations to align core
investments and activities with Open Source Economic Development.

Civic Interview and Conversation Library – is archive and broadcast

video interviews and searchable transcriptions, edited, published with
analysis, and digitally presented with online commentary. Begun in
2008, this collection of civic knowledge contains 100 contributed
interviews or 3000 minutes; fifty conversations with over 1000 voices
participating, and over 150 hours of content contributing to I-Open
research archives. Interviews are an educational resource to inform
government and policy leaders by sharing civic leader insights,
stories of innovation, and investment priorities through the lens of the
Innovation Framework. This library is an addendum to the Center for
Regional Economic Issues (REI) library of over 100 hours of recorded
public civic forums currently residing at Case Western Reserve
University (not accessible to the public).

Civic Interview and Conversation Research – I-Open research

focuses on building knowledge networks between research and
industry. Interview questions begin with social values; progress to
investments in innovation, collaboration and project work; continue
with strategic activities in Strategic Doing; and conclude by
ascertaining the relevance of the topic to education, economic, and
workforce development.
Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons Attribution-
ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-
Open), 4415 Euclid Ave Suite 306, Cleveland, Ohio 44103 Phone: 216-220-0172
Web: http://i-open-2.strategy-nets.net
 3

Civic Networks – human relationships built from face-to-face

interactions and online connectivity exchanging information and
knowledge about talent, resources and tools.

Civic Operating System 1.0 (Civic OS 1.0) – orchestrates an

ecosystem of experiences, communications, network building, and
performance to advance knowledge in the Civic Space. Civic OS 1.0
is shareable, cost effective set of protocols that can be orchestrated
by one person or a team of people to build meaning, relevance,
experience, embodiment, and timing of information within a social
and economic context. The Civic OS 1.0 is a net-centric approach to
“continuously-evolving, complex community of people, devices,
information and services interconnected by a communications
network to achieve optimal benefit of resources and better
synchronization of events and their consequences.” – Wikipedia.
Civic OS 1.0 is recommended for individuals and organizations to
align activity with education, economic, and workforce development.

Contextual transmedia communications - I-Open publishes interviews

and conversations across media platforms in their entirety and as
fragments to build deeper, richer storytelling to enhance strategic
branding, network and community building. Information is shared
through the lens of the Innovation Framework, I-Open principles, and
collaborative leadership practices.

Enterprise Collaboration – is the result of acting with others in an

entrepreneurial way to identify new innovation opportunities, human
talent, and resources for business development. Enterprise
collaboration is the outcome of Strategic Doing.

Framed Civic Communications and Conversations – is a method of

inquiry to communicate the value of social and economic investments
in the Civic Space and their meaning within the context of the
Innovation Framework. Framed conversations focus attention and
accelerate cognitive shifts in working knowledge and behaviors.

Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons Attribution-

ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-
Open), 4415 Euclid Ave Suite 306, Cleveland, Ohio 44103 Phone: 216-220-0172
Web: http://i-open-2.strategy-nets.net
 4

Innovation Framework - is a heuristic model for a balanced approach

to investment in Open Source Economic Development (OSED). The
Framework is flexible enough to be applied to the health of an
individual, business, community, or region. The five areas of
investment are: (1) Brainpower; (2) Innovation and Entrepreneurial
Networks; (3) Quality, Connected Places; (4) Dialogue and Inclusion;
and (5) Branding Stories.

I-Open Collaborative Communities – are loosely coupled thematic

communities, often co-branded, that share information, knowledge,
talent, and resources for projects focused on social and economic
solutions. Collaborative communities can result from Civic Forum
conversations introducing Strategic Doing initiatives. The
development of projects takes place in working meetings outside of
civic forums. I-Open uses an integrated Web 2.0 toolset with
technology partner, Strategy-Nets.net to sustain conversations and
amplify project work between face-to-face meetings.

I-Open Process - is a net-centric system of communications and

interactions designed for open networked architectures intended to
integrate face-to-face activity and interactive technology to share
information and create human knowledge. I-Open process is
comprised of convening civic entrepreneurs, archiving civic interviews
and conversations, and sharing that information to elucidate
knowledge. Information may be mapped to discover opportunities for
enterprise collaboration.

Link and Leverage - strategies guide how we invest our time and
attention in civic networks. To leverage the value of networks, we
begin by "connecting on our similarities and innovating from our
differences", Valdis Krebs, Orgnet. By continually asking, "What can
we do together?" and "What are our next steps?" we explore how to
re-combine interests and resources to innovate. In OSED, link and
leverage strategies allow us to connect closely with specific interests
through networks, and to engage in a Strategic Doing process to
leverage larger industry goals.
Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons Attribution-
ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-
Open), 4415 Euclid Ave Suite 306, Cleveland, Ohio 44103 Phone: 216-220-0172
Web: http://i-open-2.strategy-nets.net
 5

Open Conversations – are guided, public conversations informed by

civic insights in social and economic change and describe innovation
opportunities. Open conversations are designed to encourage people
to make cognitive shifts, such as thinking in terms of networks, to
utilize information effectively.

Open Source Economic Development - Open Source Economic

Development (OSED) is a methodology, an inclusive system of
practices and tools to advance transformative enterprise opportunities
positively affecting education, economic, and workforce development
in communities and regions. OSED draws upon the best practices
and examples developed in the Free/Open Source Software industry.
OSED happens in the Civic Space.

Social Media Communities - I-Open publishes content from civic

interviews and conversations across selected social media platforms,
each with it’s own community of publishers and fans. Content is
created in response to platform preferences of the community. For
example, the Flickr community is interested in photographs and the
details of photography, probably of interest to, but not the priority of
the Vimeo artistic video community. I-Open’s media communities are
Twitter, Flickr, Posterous, Vimeo, Livestream, You Tube, Slideshare,
Scribd, Facebook, Friendfeed, and Yudu.

Strategic Doing – is a simple, disciplined process developed at I-

Open and based on appreciative inquiry and the scientific method.
Strategic Doing is a pragmatic process that connects civic leaders,
ideas, and assets to enterprise initiatives.

Thought Leader Network – I-Open connects to a network of practice

and tool thought leaders who specialize in network building, mapping
and analysis, collaboration, network weaving, open space
technology, strategic branding, writing, conversations, technology,
design, small business, and complexity science, and many other
areas of inquiry.

Copyright 2010 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons Attribution-

ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-
Open), 4415 Euclid Ave Suite 306, Cleveland, Ohio 44103 Phone: 216-220-0172
Web: http://i-open-2.strategy-nets.net