[blog 2006-05-30] Wired Rave Awards - the Power of the Individuals

Instructables won the Wired Rave Award for Industrial Design this year! The Squid Labs team got all dressed up and went to the reception where Wired's editor, Chris Anderson, gave a wonderful toast to all of the winners. He said each winner represented the innovative work of individuals in areas that were usually dominated by big industry, and that, "They inspire new ideas and most of all, they inspire us."

I feel this is particularly true of Instructables, where each new Instructable inspires even better Instructables, and individuals can have impact just by showing the things they are passionate about.

I dug a little deeper into this theme for a talk I gave at an Institute for the Future conference themed "What companies can learn from DIY culture." The main point of my presentation was that it is becoming easier for individuals to innovate, and that companies need to start looking to these people -- the Makers, the DIY'ers, the Instructables community -- for their next ideas. And further, these people probably already exist within the companies; they just need to be given a chance to show their passion.