Sharing ideas, work and knowledge used to be an extremely novel concept. It is now increasingly accepted as vital for community recognition and distinction for businesses. We publish all types of information online, but the sharing of ideas, thoughts and insights is arguably the most fundamental and imperative form. With the pervasiveness of sharing, its current manifestation is quickly becoming the lowest common denominator. Our standard methods of sharing are quite old (in internet years) and improvements upon them are yielding diminishing returns. The thought leaders and evangelists of ideas who fostered the sharing environment will likely push sharing to its next step. I believe the focus of this next step needs to be on behavioral and technological improvements allowing shared ideas to more easily grow beyond their initial form and also empowers communities to participate in the process.

One constant that has stood the test of time in new media/technology projects has been the tension between designers and developers. There have been very few places I have worked where this tension was not one of the central issues holding back teams from generating successful final products. We, as a community, have tried countless ways to alleviate this issue, but it continues to persist despite our efforts. Sadly, I feel this issue stems less from process (although that can definitely exacerbate the situation) and more from a company’s culture and organizational approach. The seamless integration between design and technology is becoming increasingly vital to a product’s success. Up to this point, a lot of subconscious time and energy is put into the segmentation of designers and developers, but what we should really be doing is working to blur the lines between the skill sets. The companies that will thrive moving forward are the ones that resolve this tension. With that in mind, what can both designers and developers do in their everyday process to create a more mutli-disciplined approach that still works within a company’s structure?