Characterizing the AQ Cluster

Cyberinfrastructure

• Distributed
• Collaborative
• Multidisciplinary
• Heterogenous
• Interoperable
• Accessible as a Public Good
• Sustainable
• Facilitates Collaboration
• Supports Experimentation
• Time and place are no longer barriers to participation and interaction
• Access is open to specialists and non-specialists alike
• Information is the primary driver for progress
• The realm of the possible is expanded through new capabilities, resources, and mechanisms

References

• D. Crawford, Charting our Cyberinfrastructure Future
• Necessary Characteristics of a Cyberinfrastructure for the Humanities and Social Sciences
• Greer, NSF and Cyberinfrastructure

System of Systems

Systems of Systems Engineering

• Dual Citizenship

Leaderless Organization

• Is there a person in charge?
• Are there headquarters?
• If you thump it on the head, will it die?
• Is there a clear division of roles?
• If you take out a unit, is the organization harmed?
• Are knowledge and power concentrated or distributed?
• Is the organization flexible or rigid?
• Can you count the employees or participants?
• Are working groups funded by the organization or are they self-funding?
• Do working groups communicate directly or through intermediaries?
• Circles
• The Catalyst
• Ideaology
• The Preexisting Network
• The Champion

References

O. Brafman and R. Beckstrom, The Starfish and the Spider

Open Innovation

• Not all the smart people work for us. We need to work with smart people inside and outside our organization
• External R&D can create significant value; internal R&D is needed to claim some portion of that value
• We don't have to originate the research to profit from it
• If we make the best use of internal and external ideas, we will win
• We should profit from others' use of our intellectual property, and we should use others' intellectual property whenever it advances our own objectives

References

H. Chesbrough, Open Innovation