Transformational Events
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Authors
Denning, Peter J.
Hiles, John
Subjects
Learning Publications
Advisors
Date of Issue
2006-06
Date
2006-06
Publisher
Language
Abstract
Transformational Events is a new pedagogic pattern that explains how innovations (and other
transformations) happened. The pattern is three temporal stages: an interval of increasingly
unsatisfactory ad hoc solutions to a persistent problem (the ‘‘mess’’), an offer of an invention or of a
new way of thinking, and a period of widespread adoption and settlement. The pattern has been used
by historians to document how innovations happened. The authors used it in addition to help students
learn to spot modern ‘‘messes’’ and use them as springboards to generate innovations of their own.
Type
Article
Description
The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08993400600768158
As part of a June 2006 special issue of Computer Science Education, the authors disuss a recurrent pattern of innovation and transformation. The pattern includes1
As part of a June 2006 special issue of Computer Science Education, the authors disuss a recurrent pattern of innovation and transformation. The pattern includes1
Series/Report No
Department
Computer Science (CS)
Organization
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NPS Report Number
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Citation
Transformational Events (with John Hiles). 2006. As part of a June 2006 special issue of Computer Science Education, the authors disuss a recurrent pattern of innovation and transformation. The pattern includes (1) a "mess" -- a period of discontent with ad hoc solutions to a pervasive problem, followed by (2) a "transformational event", usually a seminal invention or paper, followed by (3) a "settling" period in which the new idea is incorporated into common systems and eliminates the original problem. The authors discuss how this pattern can be used to organize a course on how great discoveries in computing were made. They discuss more generally how to maximize one's chance of being an innovator by identifying and understanding current "messes".
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This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.