Urban Land Institute Asks: "What about this Social Media Thing, Anyway?"

Looks like the Urban Land Institute (ULI) -- the biggest trade group for developers -- is considering how its members and supporters are thinking about social media. Their big annual meeting in Europe will present findings from a survey they have up right now. Glad to see they are thinking about the connections between on-line and physical communities.

From ULI email:

"What are your thoughts on social networking sites? Are you going to be digitized? Networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, are increasingly becoming the preferred method of communication. But it is real estate lagging behind? Do we need to change the way we do business? ULI Europe would appreciate a few minutes of your time to fill out this survey on social media. The results will be presented at our annual conference in Paris on 3rd February 2010. You can access the survey at:  ULI Survey "

Individual Failure Offers as a Chance for Community Success

Expertise and specialization can create a mind focus that stubbornly ignores anomalies and misses potential paradigm shifts that arise from seeking explanation of unexpected data.

Wired's (Jan-2010) article on failure reports that "classic outsiders" --  those who are new to a field or lack certain specialized focus --  are often the ones who can acknowledge the anomaly and whose less vested position allow them a creative flexibility to seek solutions. 

In the setting of scientific research, labs who emphasized the broadest review of experimental results achieved better results. During peer reviews it was not the presentations that created better results, but the sometimes heated debate that followed. As the article suggests: "questions asked during the group sessions frequently triggered breakthroughs; a single bracing query was enough to turn scientists into temporary outsiders, able to look at their work anew."

Can a social media platform function as "community lab," providing the benefit of "outsider's insight?" The infrastructure is certainly there, but the frame of mind is currently focused elsewhere. The social web's tendency to focus on anonymity and snark impedes progress that comes from the honest sharing of, and learning from, failure.

Let's build some better examples. The best we could do is fail! ;)