Navigators

In the distant time before 2006, when I was still Vice Provost forSurprising and Interesting Ideas (aka Vice Provost forInterdisciplinary Studies), before my (glorious) leave, before myreturn to teaching (in two days), I used to consult often on how onemanages diverse, unusual, distributed, organizations. I organizedsome management seminars on new-style forms of management andcommunication and took some. It was during that time that I learnedabout the importance of navigators. In HASTAC, and as part of theMacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Initiative, I've seenagain and again how important navigators are in a distributedenvironment.

Apparently it was medical schools that first used navigators. These are not assistants. They are not journalists. They are not PR people. They are informed professionals who travel with one or a group of medical researchers from appointment to appointment, not participating in the conversation but taking notes on who was there, what they are working on, what their new projects and goals are. And then the navigator makes connections. The medical researcher, of course, well might make some connections, perhaps between herself and Colleague A. But the navigator is the one who sees that Colleague A and someone mentioned by Colleague C need to be in touch with that person at the professional meeting last month.

Medical schools quickly found that the navigator more than earned his salary by not only putting together disparate people, across fields, who might not ordinarily even read one another's work but who, working together, could write a powerful and innovative grant. A good navigator even compiles notes from the conversation and makes suggestions, possibly alerted by a new call for proposals. And then the navigator is also constantly in touch with the communications office to make sure that these new collaborative ties are reported on, since that is what generations still other collaborative ties.

What we have found for virtual networking is that this navigator role continues to be essential. Web 2.0 only works when there is someone actually generating the connectivity. There are, of course, celebrity websites that gets lots of hits. That's not what I mean. I mean when collaboration works on the web, it is usually because someone has a designated function of attending to, being watchful of, linking, acting upon, following up, and in all of the ways big and small making sure that people and ideas are knit together and followed, that connections are not just mapped but, well, navigated.

There is no conventional title for the navigator on the org sheet but it is a crucial job that can turn weak ties into strong ones.

---

Special thanks to Flickr community member innamoo for this image of "Three Portuguese Navigators" (click on the image for documentation and more of the photostream.)