A virtual world, a real world, brainstorming and good ideas

Hmm . . . I wonder how the following from Marc Andreesson might apply to faith and cyberspace and/or faith in cyberspace.

From Frans Johansson's book The Medici Effect:

Brainstorming [is] used in nearly all of the world's largeset companies, nonprofits, and government organizations. And the reasons seem obvious... "The average person can think of twice as many ideas when working with a group than when working alone."... But is it true?

In 1958... psychologists let groups of four people brainstorm about the practical benefits or difficulties that would arise if everyone had an extra thumb on each hand after next year. These people were called "real groups" since they actually brainstormed together. Next, the researchers let "virtual groups" of four people generate ideas around the "thumb problem", but they had to brainstorm individually, in separate rooms. The researchers combined the answers they received from each [virtual group] individual and eliminated redundancies... They then compared the performance between real groups and virtual groups...

To their surprise, the researchers found that virtual groups, where people brainstormed individually, generated nearly twice as many ideas as the real groups.

The result, it turned out, is not an anomaly.  In a [1987 study, researchers] concluded that brainstorming groups have never outperformed virtual groups. Of the 25 reported experiments by psychologists all over the world, real groups have never once been shown to be more productive than virtual groups. In fact, real groups that engage in brainstorming consistently generate about half the number of ideas they would have produced if the group's individuals had [worked] alone.

In addition, in the studies where the quality of ideas was measured, researchers found that the total number of good ideas was much higher in virtual groups than in real groups.

I've thought of a few things to say about this, but need a little more time to brainstorm before I put any thoughts down.

Well, let me share one thought - I wonder how this might influence the idea of leadership by consensus.

HT - Wired Parish

From Frans Johansson's book The Medici Effect:

Brainstorming [is] used in nearly all of the world's largeset companies, nonprofits, and government organizations. And the reasons seem obvious... "The average person can think of twice as many ideas when working with a group than when working alone."... But is it true?

In 1958... psychologists let groups of four people brainstorm about the practical benefits or difficulties that would arise if everyone had an extra thumb on each hand after next year. These people were called "real groups" since they actually brainstormed together. Next, the researchers let "virtual groups" of four people generate ideas around the "thumb problem", but they had to brainstorm individually, in separate rooms. The researchers combined the answers they received from each [virtual group] individual and eliminated redundancies... They then compared the performance between real groups and virtual groups...

To their surprise, the researchers found that virtual groups, where people brainstormed individually, generated nearly twice as many ideas as the real groups.

The result, it turned out, is not an anomaly.  In a [1987 study, researchers] concluded that brainstorming groups have never outperformed virtual groups. Of the 25 reported experiments by psychologists all over the world, real groups have never once been shown to be more productive than virtual groups. In fact, real groups that engage in brainstorming consistently generate about half the number of ideas they would have produced if the group's individuals had [worked] alone.

In addition, in the studies where the quality of ideas was measured, researchers found that the total number of good ideas was much higher in virtual groups than in real groups.

I've thought of a few things to say about this, but need a little more time to brainstorm before I put any thoughts down.

Well, let me share one thought - I wonder how this might influence the idea of leadership by consensus.

HT - Wired Parish

Comments

[Jay Hamilton-Roth]

The advantage of brainstorming virtually is that you're not competing with the most vocal people in the room, and you're operating at your own speed of thought (rather than try to catch up / slow down to the room's speed). If you did the same test with a group of people online at the same time, but using a bulletin board-like system to type in their ideas, you'd get a similar result to the real-groups as well.

It's possible to combine the best of real/virtual into a real meeting. Remember that one of the goals of a real brainstorming meeting is to create community (using a shared exercise), something that a virtual group can't achieve.

[Julia Styles]

If you are interested in brainstorming virtually try http://www.brainreactions.net.

I still believe Brainstorming in a group is effective as long as Quantity is the goal of the brainstorm, and analysis happens after the brainstorm is over and not during idea generation. The nice thing with virtual groups is that the group can be much larger (1000s of brainstormers) than it would in a physical room (about 12 brainstormers.)

[Rael]

I've read an article once where it says a lone genius has better or more ideas than a collaborating group. This sticks well with the virtual groups concept.

I'm kind of new to the real concept of brainstorming and I'm really anxious to see it in action in my group. But being in a geographically dispersed team, the biggest challenge is to have everybody sit in one place. And doing it through phone conferencing doesn't show much promise as to how effective it could be.

Virtual groups seems to be a good fix for this concern, and I'm more excited to try it out.

Any insight if this is really a better approach in my situation?

[Evang.Gideon Agwara]

Dear Brethren,

Calvary greetings in Jesus wonderful name amen. My name is Evang.Gideon Agwara the co-ordinator
of WORD TO WORLD OUTREACH MINISTRIES INT'L.

We are in west Africa and have been in the field for many years now.

We are in position to work with your organization in building the body of Christ together and saving
the lost soul's for our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are also inviting you to our yearly programme coming up by November as one of our guest speaker and upon your confirmation we will give you details information.

We are believing God that you have the mind of Christ even as you consider our letter.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Yours in His service.

Evang.Gideon Agwara
W.O.M.I
COTONOU BENIN.
WEST AFRICA.