Here I am at Starbucks and I am suppose to be working on a new web page I’m designing. But, as I sit down with my venti Pumpkin Spice Latte-4 shots espresso (caffeine is a good thing!) I start reading my cup. Starbucks has random thoughts they call “The Way I See It”. Well this thought #90 and it goes like this:

If we really want to understand innovation and collaboration, we

have to explore shared space.

Consider Watson & Crick: How many experiemnts did they do to

confirm DNA’s double helix? Zero. Not one.

They built models based on other people’s data. These

models were their shared space. Their collaboration in that shared space

powered their Nobel Prize-winning breakthrough. If you don’t have a shared

space, you’re not collaborating.

(Michael Schrage-MIT design researcher and author of Serious Play)

Pretty much hits the nail on the head. To expand ourselves, our knowledge, our community, our world, our universe – we must take the time to collaborate. Learn from each other. Take what others know and expand it to help not only ourselves grow but those around us. I check my bloglines account at least once and day and usually more often. I unfortunately and with shame admit to surfing through the posts of some of my favorite writers and think to myself -”wow! Great writing!” Then I’ll start composing a comment in my head only to leave it there. In order for me to grow I must get the comments out my head and begin to collaborate with some of the best writers out there in the blogosphere. I want my students to understand that collaboration is a great way to work and grow. We all have a voice – let them be heard. Until next time.