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New Channel for Quick Submission of Ideas to Development Process (September 27, 2009) - A structured series of discussions held during the past several months with scholars, practitioners and managers is leading to new opportunities for prolific knowledge contributors to have their newest thinking considered more quickly by the humaneering technology development process. These changes will (a) provide frequent knowledge contributors with a new channel of review and feedback for their innovative thinking, and (b) accelerate consideration of potential breakthrough ideas by the developers of humaneering technology.

These discussions, conducted by research staff at the Tiffin Center for Humaneering Technology Research, Transfer and Commercialization, have sought to identify faster and surer pathways for new thinking to be considered. Currently, Stage One protocol begins the humaneering development process by creating discipline-specific and trans-disciplinary syntheses of existing application-relevant knowledge drawn from the scientific literature, the experiences of practitioners and managers, and other relevant sources. The discussions were prompted by concerns of Tiffin Center staff that the current social processes through which new thinking by scholars, practitioners and managers must emerge for consideration are generally too slow and too biased to satisfy the development goals for humaneering technology.

For example, it is well understood that research scholars generally face multi-year lead times and screenings based on biases (e.g., limited publication space, editorial themes, research characteristics) that may not be relevant to humaneering technology in order to get their work first published. Additional lead times and more screenings are involved in determining if and when meaningful dialogue on this new thinking will follow within the literature. Practitioners and managers face equally daunting challenges when it comes to getting any new thinking widely recognized. The questions posed in these discussions with scholars, practitioners and managers focused on how the Institute could capture new thinking earlier and without the biased screening of intervening institutions.

A new alternative will be tested for one or more quarters, and permanent changes appear likely. Initially, Stage One protocol will continue using science- and practice-discipline representatives who prepare synthesis papers and may be selected for a subsequent Delphi process to further synthesize this knowledge from traditional sources (e.g., peer-reviewed literature, conferences, books, and articles). In addition, the "open source" input channel recently created for use by the general public will be expanded to now include prioritized input from scholars, practitioners and managers. Corresponding volunteer panels will be created to review and appraise this input as it is received. The test of this new alternative will begin in January 2010.