Study note on user-led innovation

Study note on user-led innovation

References with extracted contents

Humphreys, S., B.Fitzgerald, J. Banks and N. Suzor. 2005. "Fan-based production for computer games: user-led innovation, the 'drift of value' and intellectual property rights" Media International Australia incorporating Culture and Policy 114, February: 16-29.

"The basic principle in copyright law is that, unless the content is deemed to be jointly authored (that is the contributions cannot be separated out), each author owns the copyright in the original work that they produce as part of the collaborative exercise (Fitzgerald, 2004: 92). The existing law suggests that, in a fan-based/user-led production scenario, the developer will own the platform, tools and initial content that are employed by users to generate new content. Those users will in turn own the new content that they create, to the extent that it is original";

"When uploading content, the fan creator also warrants that they do not infringe the copyright, patent or trademark rights of any other person. Creators using or modifying the work of others has been a continuing issue of concern to Auran and of conflict among the Trainz fan content creator community";

Truffer, B. 2003. "User-led Innovation Processes: The Development of Professional Car Sharing by Environmentally Concerned Citizens, Innovation" The European Journal of Social Science Research 16(20: 139-154.

"Users play an essential role in the early development and diffusion phases of an innovation. Citizen groups may directly influence user-relevant characteristics of a new technology. They may actively engage in the social construction of quality characteristics, the perception of costs and the development of specific use forms and product images. By this they create ‘technological niches’ where essential learning processes for the further development of the technology may take place. This contribution may not be copied by more professional actors or, if so, only with considerable difficulty";

"A technological (or socio-technical) regime is the rule set or grammar comprised by the complex of scientific knowledge, engineering practices, production process technologies, product characteristics, skills and procedures, and institutions and infrastructures that make up the totality of a technology (e.g. a computer or gas turbine) (see also Rip and Kemp, 1998; Hoogma et al., 2002). An important part of a technological regime is the evaluative framework shared by producers, consumers and regulators about what the product is, who its users are, how it is to be produced and used, ideas about what can be achieved technologically, what the key parameters are of a product, and the kinds of advances and product changes that are economically viable";

".... in a world of strongly myopic individual actors, the mutual stabilization of individual travel choices and dominant technological regimes is likely to persist. However, individuals may also become aware of these relationships and take an active role in breaking the taken-for-granted elements of the technological regime. Users as isolated individuals will, however, have a difficult time contributing to any changes at a systemic level. Associations of users who engage in the development of technological alternatives could be an important force for redefining the taken-for-granted definitions of technological regimes (Irwin et al., 1994)";

Rothwell, R. 1986. "Innovation and re-innovation: A role for the user" Journal of Marketing Management 2(2): 109-123.

"The importance of active customer involvement in machinery development was much more widely acknowledged in the considerably more successful West German and Swiss textile industries, whose constituent manufacturers had strong traditions of involving users in their machinery design procedures";

"User-producer interactions during innovation do not, of course, always progress smoothly and harmoniously and, in the case of major and expensive innovations, both partners can take considerable financial risks. Such was the case with the development of the Boeing 747, which involved intensive interaction between Boeing (the producer) and Pan Am (the user)";

"It was," without doubt, the work of E. von Hippel (1976, 1978, 1979a) which first demonstrated, in any systematic sense, that in certain sectors of industry users can. play the major role in invention and early innovation. Von Hippel's pioneering work covered four families of scientific instruments: gas chromotography, nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, ultraviolet absorption spectrometry and transmission electronic microscopy. In each case, the instrument was first developed by a user and later transferred to a manufacturing company for commercial production";

Dibben, P. and D. Bartlett. 2001. "Local Government and Service Users: Empowerment through User-Led Innovation?" Local Government Studies 27(3): 43-58.

"One of the key tenets of the government’s Best Value agenda is the consultation of users of local government services. By this process it is intended that services will more accurately reflect users’ requirements, will become more innovative, and furthermore will encourage an increase in local democracy (DETR, 1998b; 1999). In this respect, Best Value can be contrasted with compulsory competitive tendering, where decision making on provision of services was almost exclusively within the domain of local authority officers and members";

"Broadly, user involvement can be divided into two strands: an approach which focuses on the role of the service user as a mere consumer of services (consumerist) (see, for example, Brown, 1997), and that which emphasises a clearer role in decision making (collectivist) (Hoggett and Hambleton, 1987). Criticisms have been raised against local authorities that apparently focus on the first approach whilst neglecting the second";

"Turning to the collectivist approach, which implies a role in decision making, this has been further divided into representative democracy and direct democracy (Hoggett and Hambleton, 1987). The former implies the role of councillors as advocates, and the latter suggests that the public have a direct input into how services should be provided";

Trott, P., P.V. Der Duin and D. Hartmann. 2013. "Users as Innovators? Exploring the limitations of user-driven innovation" Prometeus 31(2): 125-138.

" .... research exploring the role of users as innovators has been extensive. It covers a diverse group of academic fields adopting a variety of theoretical perspectives, including social exchange theories and economic incentives theories for information sharing. Furthermore, studies on lead-user characteristics apply theoretical work from marketing and psychology (such as motivation and creativity theories) and within innovation management and technology forecasting the lead-user concept has a common currency and it is operationalised into management decision making. In view of this, we refer to this body of work as the lead-user school";

"Godin argues that Freeman transformed an old meaning of technological innovation (introducing technical change within firms) to commercialising technological invention, and so helped build a new tradition. The European tradition saw invention as part of the innovation process and introduced the function of market uncertainty. This begins to shift the focus to product development and the role of users in the testing of such products";

"The lead-user school further contends that while many users modify products for their own use (for example, computer hardware and software for industrial processes and high-end sports equipment), these innovations are concentrated among the lead users. The example of surfers is cited as an illustration; they developed an experimental surf board with foot straps that enabled them to leverage the energy of waves to make controlled flights. Lead users are characterised as ahead of the majority of users with respect to an important market trend, and they expect to gain relatively high benefits from the solution to the needs they have encountered";

Anon. 2007. "User Innovation: Changing innovation focus" Strategic Direction 23(8), Emerald: 35-37.

"Lead users are not early adopters and are often not existing customers. They typically reside at the leading edges of target markets, and also in advanced fields that are often adjacent to a company’s own – areas which a company does not and never intends to serve. Moreover, they are usually masters of the one-off special; people with a need so great that they create a customized product to take care of it without regard for whether or not anyone else has an interest in it";

"Von Hippel also noted that mountain bikes were not invented by bike manufacturers, but by kids who customised their bikes to cope with going down mountains. Bike manufacturers then saw the growing popularity of these types of bikes and then developed them into standard, mass produced products";