More Innovation Through Collaboration With Filmmakers

In a recent New York Times article, Denise Caruso wrote about the AFI and its Digital Content Lab.

The article offers further proof of the value of collaboration by people from different disciplines, in this case film and digital media, and how that collaboration helps media companies increase the value if existing assets and/or create valuable new ones.

I found the Lab's model or mandate quite interesting. Corporate sponsorship enables them to solve a company's problem while having no rights to the end result. More than one company benefits because the Lab chooses projects from applicants that will serve more than one company.

While not exactly the same, Digifest is another example of different disciplines collaborating but not just on media problems. I had the opportunity to participate in a charrette intended to assist a member of the UN's Habitat organization working in Asia on reconstruction projects after the Tsunami. It was a fascinating afternoon and it certainly gave me new insights into unforeseen or surprising human factor issues that can arise in the midst of trying to advise and assist people.