Promoting Creative Promoting Creative Interdisciplinarity in a Interdisciplinarity in a Disciplinary World: Disciplinary World: Part I: Cold War Mindset in an Internet WorldPart I: Cold War Mindset in an Internet WorldDavid E. GoldbergIllinois Foundry for Innovation in Engineering EducationUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUrbana, IL 61801

deg@illinois.edu; www.Ifoundry.illinois.edu

Fast Times in Higher EdFast Times in Higher EdLive in fast-paced era.A creative era.Advance of knowledge.Augmented by

information technology. Institutional & information

systems have not kept pace.

Need historical & conceptual understanding of forces of change.

Helps think about the institutions and IT needed for rapid advance.

RoadmapRoadmapThe world is flat & all that.From cold war to creative era.The technoeconomics of now. Promoting interdisciplinarity in a disciplinary world.

Lessons from the IT landscape for creative interdisciplinarity.

The World is Flat & All The World is Flat & All ThatThatWidely asserted that world

is flat and returns to creativity are increasing.

For example:◦ Tom Friedman, The World is

Flat.◦ Richard Florida, Rise of the

Creative Class.◦ Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind.

Implications of past and present for interdisciplinary work & IT.

But university reborn in cold war.

Cold War Mindset in an Internet Cold War Mindset in an Internet World?World? In final days of the

Vannevar Bush era. Headed US wartime

Office of Scientific Research and Development.

Report, The Endless Frontier, set stage for NSF and ongoing funding of scientific research.

Curriculum, funding, P&T, and institution adapted to this change.

Hierarchical specialized industrial organizations.

Universities follow suit with departments & isolated, specialized disciplines.

Vannevar Bush (1890-1974)

The Missed RevolutionsThe Missed RevolutionsChanges adopted in industry.Largely missed in the academy.We teach, but do not practice what

we preach.Missed revolutions since WW2:

◦Quality revolution (teamwork).◦Entrepreneurial revolution (startups).◦ IT revolution (innovation at a distance).

Teach the “revolutions,” but do not integrate lessons into academy or curriculum.

(c) 2008 David E. Goldberg

The Technoeconomics of The Technoeconomics of NowNowFrom cold war to creative

era. How’d we get here?Technoeconomic effects:

◦ Transport and communication improvements.

◦ Network effects.◦ Transaction costs.

Small agile firms connected by communication/transportation networks. Karl Marx (1818-

1883)

Implications for Creative Implications for Creative EraEraSmaller organizations,

sticking to knitting, interacting easily with others at a distance.

Easily find/connect with others at distance.

A recipe for creative action.Koestler’s term: bisociation. Creativity at the

intersection of disparate disciplines.

But all is not well.

Dueling Dueling Departments/DisciplinesDepartments/Disciplines Missed revolutions &

power of departments/disciplines.

University of Illinois as Italian renaissance experience.

Warring factions in Venice, Rome & Florence.

Fighting for treasure, loyalty, allegiance.

Machiavelli would have been at home.

Return to treasure allocation later.

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469 – 1527)

Promoting Creative Promoting Creative Interdisciplinarity in a Interdisciplinarity in a Disciplinary World: Disciplinary World: Part I: Cold War Mindset in an Internet WorldPart I: Cold War Mindset in an Internet WorldDavid E. GoldbergIllinois Foundry for Innovation in Engineering EducationUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUrbana, IL 61801

deg@illinois.edu; www.Ifoundry.illinois.edu