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and Robertson 2013 ). Maaike Lauwaert ( 2009 ), in this context, conceptualized the
sum of all play practices, design, and discourses in terms of geography of play:
“Within the LEGO geography, part of such activities are commoditized and used for
innovation. This gives fans a more active role in the design of new products. Fans
become to a certain extent co-constructors of new products and of the embedded
design scripts and user confi gurations of these products (p. 70).” This represents the
fundamental transcendence of the fans' role from being merely informants to being
legitimate and acknowledged participants in the design process (Bødker et al. 2004 ).
9.5
Ideas and Companies in an Innovative Democratized
Relationship
When von Hippel argued that innovation was being democratized, he meant that
“users of products and services, both fi rms and individual consumers, were increas-
ingly able to innovate for themselves. User-centered innovation processes offer great
advantages over the manufacturer-centric innovation development systems that have
been the mainstay of commerce for hundreds of years (von Hippel 2005 , p. 1).”
Companies, in this context, have expanded their reach to capture the talents of here-
tofore excluded groups of eccentrics and mentioned nonconformists. For example,
after the premiere of The Lego Movie on February 7, 2014, the hero brought The
Emmet Awards, 6 a series of monthly contests where participants can express what-
ever their imagination can create to everyone. Their imagination and building skills
will be then tested and some of the creations awarded. In addition, fans co-created
more than 100 unique 30 s stop-motion movies; fi ve were used in the fi nal version
of the movie.
More ambitious project was launched in the fall of 2008, when the CUUSOO
SYSTEM and the LEGO Group teamed up to launch the LEGO CUUSOO crowd-
sourcing experiment. According to The Offi cial LEGO® CUUSOO Blog, the
promising results from the pilot LEGO CUUSOO platform led to the launch of the
international LEGO CUUSOO beta site in the fall of 2011.
The partnership with CUUSOO SYSTEM had been such a success that LEGO
decided to integrate the CUUSOO concept more closely into the LEGO experience.
Now it is called: LEGO Ideas. All projects, supports, comments, profi les, and other
data from LEGO CUUSOO were automatically migrated to LEGO Ideas. Now,
ideas have value (Weiers 2014 , p. 74). As the focus and emphasis on ideas shift, so
does its value. Ideas are seen as the true sources of innovation. Richard Florida
( 2012 ) argued that creativity had become to be the most highly prized commodity,
not being a “commodity.” Accordingly, they should be rewarded. Ideas, according
to the same author, will receive increasing credit and be rewarded for the innovation
6 http://www.lego.com/en-us/movie/emmet-awards/
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