7 Components: the Function Pages - Developers

Collecting ideas
Brainstorming
Seize ideas and
new thought
processes
268
��
��
��
� More ideas can also be collected for the paper between meetings.
They would be immediately worked into the paper and
available online to all participants.
� The draft paper can be further developed in a cooperative way.
Cooperative writing will also come into play for the subsequent
organizational planning, applications, goal descriptions, task
planning and invitational texts.
Now we can already start collecting ideas or query people's expectations
on a wiki page for the next meeting, to summarize them in a
text on a new page. The involvement of the people concerned in the
formulation process increases the chance that the draft paper will be
read and agreements will be better understood and accepted by everyone.
Any modifications can vary greatly, from the correction of
minor typing and grammar errors to the editing of long passages.
Wikis can serve as a private notepad on which impressions, inklings,
tips, questions, etc. can be noted down at random intervals.
The hypertext structure can reflect and promote basic networked
thinking. However, you can also use the wiki for cooperative forms
of writing, such as collaborative brainstorming and other playful
types of idea collection. One popular variation is to have the first
person write one sentence, and the next person add a sentence to it
spontaneously, and so on. For brainstorming, “fantastic” or “imaginary”
ideas are also welcome, since they motivate participants to
abandon habitual thought routines and think innovatively. “Food that
won't run away,” may have been one such invented idea on the
verge of the Neolithic Age. Only after such a thought is expressed,
has caused friction or prompted objection can it be seized by others.
10
Cooperative and associative thinking is a must, in which ideas are
grasped and developed further in a cooperative manner toward a
common goal. Initial fuzziness is not a hindrance; on the contrary –
even if one does not agree with a point of view, an important impulse
may be triggered that sheds light on aspects that had been previously
ignored. This requires an attitude in which one asks what
someone else had really been trying to say. A relaxed atmosphere
means unusual ideas and half-baked thoughts can also be expressed,
which can be the source of innovative thinking as well as “criticism.”
10 Which may possibly have developed from the desire for food that
would not bite back.
18 Conceptual Phase: Collecting Ideas and Outlining the Project