{"id":591,"date":"2008-07-24T04:02:53","date_gmt":"2008-07-24T09:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/?p=591"},"modified":"2008-07-24T04:02:53","modified_gmt":"2008-07-24T09:02:53","slug":"cross-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/archives\/591","title":{"rendered":"Cross-Training"},"content":{"rendered":"

If You Have a Problem, Ask Everyone<\/a><\/p>\n

A clearinghouse, of sorts, for unsolved problems, open to anyone who wants to try and solve them.<\/p>\n

The idea that solutions can come from anywhere, and from people with seemingly unrelated work, is another key. Dr. Lakhani said his study of InnoCentive found that \u201cthe further the problem was from the solver\u2019s expertise, the more likely they were to solve it,\u201d often by applying specialized knowledge or instruments developed for another purpose.<\/p>\n

For example, he said, the brain might be thought of as a biological system, but \u201ccertain brain problems may not be solvable by taking a biological approach. You may want to cast it as an electrical engineering approach. An electrical engineer will come in and say, \u2018Oh, here\u2019s the answer for you.\u2019 They have not thought of themselves as being neuroscientists but now they can approach the problem from the point of view of electrical engineering.\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’ve seen this, in my own limited experience, and even within different branches of physics. There are different mindsets and approaches to problems; getting experience in different fields often pays dividends.<\/p>\n

Offering prizes for scientific achievements is hardly new. \u201cIt has been around for centuries,\u201d said Karim R. Lakhani, a professor at Harvard Business School who has studied InnoCentive. One early example was the work of John Harrison, the 18th-century clockmaker who, in response to a prize offered by the British Parliament, solved the problem of determining longitude at sea by inventing a clock that would keep good time even in heavy weather.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Good and bad example \u2014 Harrison solved the problem, but the government kept changing the rules on him and it took a decree from the king to get the balance of the prize paid out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If You Have a Problem, Ask Everyone A clearinghouse, of sorts, for unsolved problems, open to anyone who wants to try and solve them. The idea that solutions can come from anywhere, and from people with seemingly unrelated work, is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-general","category-tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.scienceforums.net\/swansont\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}