6 Part 1: 5 Dead certs and dead ends You can experience this free course as it was originally designed on OpenLearn, the home of free learning from The Open University: Author(s): 5.15 Intellectual property and patents At any stage of the innovation process, from invention to diffusion, a bright idea with market potential can be a target for unscrupulous copying. Or, as you've seen with simultaneous invention, people might be working on similar ideas in parallel and the origins of inventive ideas might be difficult to identify with precision. So it is sensible for inventors to establish their claim to a particular invention and to protect it against unauthorised exploitation by others. There are diffe 5.14 Compact fluorescents and new developments In the case of the electric light there were a series of incremental product innovations (metal filaments, gas filled bulbs, frosted bulbs) as well as process innovations (some of which were mentioned above), which steadily improved performance and reduced price until, by the 1930s, the incandescent light was mature and diffused in many nations. Then in the mid-1930s a new invention appeared that was to challenge the incandescent lamp – the fluorescent lamp. This was the culmination o Introduction Historians on both sides of the Atlantic have argued that the empire was not an issue of popular interest in the late nineteenth-century Britain and the United States. This course examines some of the evidence available to assess the truth of this claim. More broadly, the course raises questions related to evidence: is it possible to discover what ‘ordinary’ people thought about expansionism? ‘I couldn't give a damn’; ‘I don't know anything about politics’; ‘Why don't they 5.8 Dominant design In most examples of evolving technological innovation there is a period when rival designs are competing to outperform each other, both in what they do and how well they appeal to the consumer. Certain features of a product or process come to be recognised as meeting key needs and they are incorporated in subsequent improved versions of the design. Other features might meet too narrow a set of needs to be economical and are dropped. Gradually what emerges is a dominant design, wh 5.6 Improver At different stages of the process of invention, design and innovation there's a role that can be played by improvers. The improver is an individual or group whose concern is to do things better by making improvements to existing products or processes. Such people can help transform an inventor's first prototype and early design into a commercial product. Edison's team at Menlo Park included a number of engineers, chemists and mathematicians who contributed to the improvement of the ele 5.5 Entrepreneur From this it is clear that money is a key requirement for transforming an invention into an innovation. Money pays for the people and equipment needed to refine the invention into a practical working prototype, and money pays for manufacturing it. A key role in providing this vital monetary support is played by the entrepreneur. This is a persuasive individual or group providing the resources and organisation necessary to turn the invention into an innovation. Entrepreneurs 5.1 Introduction to key concepts Before I go any further I will establish the meaning of some of the key concepts that you will encounter throughout this unit. The key concepts elaborated in this unit are: inventor invention design product champion entrepreneur improver innovation dominant design robust design lean design radical i 4.7 Has telephone design changed over time? As you can see from Figure 5 the design of the telephone has changed considerably over its lifetime, reflecting the improvements in technology, materials, components and manufacturing processes. Figures 1(a) to (f) show some of the early progress. 4.6 Was the telephone an immediate success? By the end of 1876 Bell had managed to build an experimental device that could carry a conversation across 2 miles of wire. The following year the first operational telephone line was erected over the 5 miles between Charles Williams’ factory in Boston and his home in Somerville. It was done there because Bell had conducted some of his experimental work in Williams’ electrical workshops a couple of years earlier. These first telephones were still fairly crude devices and arranged in pairs 4.3 Who invented the telephone? The popular image of Bell inventing the telephone, while it has some truth, is by no means the whole story. The two most significant players in the invention of a practical working telephone were Bell and Elisha Gray. Gray was the co-owner and chief scientist of a company that manufactured telegraphic equipment. Bell's patent description had sound transmission as a minor purpose. But Gray's caveat declared that the main purpose of his device was ‘to transmit the tones of the human voi 2 Part 1: 1 Living with innovation You can experience this free course as it was originally designed on OpenLearn, the home of free learning from The Open University: Author(s): 1 Part 1 Investigating the innovation process You can experience this free course as it was originally designed on OpenLearn, the home of free learning from The Open University: Author(s): Learning outcomes After studying this course, you should be able to: explain invention, design, innovation and diffusion as ongoing processes with a range of factors affecting success at each stage explain how particular products you use have a history of invention and improvement, and appreciate the role that you and your family, as consumers, have played in this history define key concepts such as invention, design, innovation, diffusion, product champion, entrepre References Conclusion This free course, Systems diagramming, provided an introduction to studying Computing & IT. It took you through a series of exercises designed to develop your approach to study and learning at a distance, and helped to improve your confidence as an independent learner. This OpenLearn course provides a sample of level 1 study in Author(s): 4.2 Diagrams for understanding Diagrams for understanding are best developed within the creativity phase, though sometimes you can go straight on to using a diagram more suitable to the connectivity phase. Most diagrams for understanding begin at the centre of the sheet of paper and work outwards. Buzan's (1974) spray diagram is built up from an initial idea with its branches; these branches have their own branches and so on until you reach the detail at the end of each twig. This technique is particularly useful fo 4.1 Systems diagrams and diagrams helpful for systems work Diagrams are used extensively in systems thinking and practice. All of those types included in the animated tutorial, as well as other types not covered there, can or have been used in systems studies. As mentioned at the beginning of the course the use of diagrams is very personal. For instance I find it helpful to group diagrams into three sorts depending o 3.9 Key points Diagrams can be helpful in: understanding a situation; analysing a situation; communicating with others about that analysis; planning to deal with a situation, both logically and creatively; and implementing, monitoring and evaluating those plans. They are therefore used at different times and in different ways within the same investigation and many investigative meth 3.7 Working with other people's diagrams – reading diagrams Reading diagrams is an equally useful skill to that of drawing diagrams. Not only does it help you understand what other people are trying to convey, it also helps you be critical of the diagrams you draw yourself. In some cases diagrams are used to make the text look pretty or appealing and do not add to the understanding of the reader (hopefully not the case with the diagrams here!). Even when they are used more effectively there is a need to be critical of what information is being conveye
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Bignell, V. and Fortune, J. (1984) Understanding Systems Failures, Manchester, Manchester University Press.
Buzan, A. (1974) Use Your Head, London, BBC Publications.
Checkland, P. (1981) Systems Thinking, Systems Practice, London, Wiley.
Fisher, W. and Hudson, J. (1997) Using diagrams – a diagram , unpubli
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