As more companies attempt to take advantage of “distributed work” trends like online collaboration and interest-based communities, are they really able to translate all these “conversations” into real, tangible products? That’s the question asked by Elizabeth Albrycht of Future Tense, who wonders aloud how effective these online communities actually are in getting things done:

“Whether it be online communities of practice (associations, alliances, ventures), interest-based communities (dogs, Vioxx, Treos) or distributed work for one organization, I hear a lot about “listening” and “conversations” and “emergence” — many of these discussions exhibiting a rather utopian bent. While there is still much to learn about those three topics, and many other related ones, it seems there is a lack of widespread debate about transforming all that listening and conversation into action in the real, physical world.

Now, clearly, in the case of distributed work for an organization, the people involved by definition need to produce something in the real world. But are they truly efficient in doing so? In the case of communities of practice (or the perhaps not-so-aptly-designated activist communities), how many of them have really made something happen? A change in behavior, a change in legislation, a person elected, a product designed and delivered, and so on. How many times have we seen a failure of expected result (ineffectiveness or impact failure) despite all of the buzz?”

The key, says Albrycht, is designing the online community in an appropriate way from the very beginning:

“When action (and the rules that need to be put in place to facilitate this) is an afterthought, you can’t hammer it onto a community that has only vaguely addressed it. When action has to happen, all of the hidden biases, struggles, vanities, egos, weaknesses etc. that have been glossed over during the listening/conversing phase jump into heavy relief. And the result can be disheartening and discouraging.”

Over the past two weeks, the FORTUNE Business Innovation blog has been highlighting the types of big thinkers and strategic viewpoints that will be part of the upcoming FORTUNE Innovation Forum in New York City. We’re now pleased to welcome Douglas Rushkoff, a globally-recognized thought leader on media, marketing and Internet culture, as a regular contributor to the Business Innovation blog. During November, in the weeks leading up to the forum, he will be contributing unique insights and views about business innovation and commenting on different topics that appear on the blog. (He’s also helping us judge a business innovation contest - more of that below. Or, if you’re impatient, skip to the fourth paragraph)

His forthcoming book, Get Back in the Box: Innovation from the Inside Out, is full of insights and observations about the ways that companies can re-connect with true innovation, instead of becoming lost in jargon-speak about efficiencies, business transformations and strategic overhauls. It’s an interesting premise – that after decades of being told to “think outside the box,” it’s now time for corporations to start thinking about ways to “think inside the box.”

Since the theme for the FORTUNE Innovation Forum is “Innovation is Everybody’s Business,” we’d like to open the blog doors to our readers to hear their opinions on business innovation, and specifically, about ways that companies can think “inside the box” to generate positive change.

With that in mind, we’re pleased to announce the first of our weekly contests on the site: “What is your favorite business innovation hack?” We’re not looking for the latest consulting strategy du jour or the newest theory from an Ivy League business school – we’re looking for the types of simple, everyday business innovations that help companies re-connect with their customers and partners.

Submit your selections over the next few days for your favorite “business innovation hack,” and you could win a free, autographed copy of Get Back in the Box: Innovation from the Inside Out by Douglas Rushkoff. The most innovative entry, as judged by Doug, is the winner. That’s all you need to know – so start submitting examples of ways that companies can start getting back into the box (either by adding comments to this blog entry or sending email responses with “CONTEST” in the subject line to: basulto@gmail.com).

Not sure where to begin? Here are two “business innovation hacks” from Doug’s new book to get you started:

“Adobe Systems, the software company responsible for Photoshop, has encouraged a porous relationship between its developers and its users. As a result of the free flow of information, the user community ends up developing a great many of the “plug-ins”for Adobe’s programs, and takes its delight when their efforts are integrated into the next release, for the benefit of all.”

“Shoemaker John Fluevog offers an “open source
footwear” forum on his Web site through which his fans can create and
post their own footwear designs. Fluevog picks finalists from among
the hundreds of entries and then invites the online community vote for their favorite one.”

In “The Mid-Market Innovation Evolution,” Bob Violino of Optimize Magazine looks at the special needs of mid-market companies as they attempt to introduce innovation within the organization. It’s not easy, says Violino, if you do not have access to the resources of a FORTUNE 500-type company:

“Lacking the resources of big companies, midsize businesses have to be especially discerning and creative when it comes to using technology to increase competitiveness. Successful companies look for innovation wherever they can: inside and outside the IT department; industry trade groups; leaders within their industry; the Web; customers; systems integrators; and vendors.”

One of the examples in the article is Baton Rouge-based Associated Grocers, which looks to its business units, customers, suppliers, and other sources for innovation:

“We don’t sit here and think we have all the technology answers,” says Steve Miller, senior VP of strategic planning, projects, and information services. “We go out on the Web and Google things to see what’s available. We look at consulting groups and their evaluations, and we look at industry best practices before moving forward with a technology initiative.”

Moreover, Associated puts a special emphasis on listening to and collaborating with its customers: “When they ask us to make a change that will improve the way we do something, we look at how we can do that, often with customer recommendations.”

Interested in tapping into the knowledge and expertise of your customer base? On Friday, the Danish design and innovation community site CPH127 provided a number of fascinating links that take a closer look at the process of customer co-creation and customer-driven innovation, including the following:

How to Turn End-User Understanding Into Innovation [Arne Stjernholm Madsen]

Customers as Co-Designers [Christoph Berger and Frank Piller]

User-Centered Design [IBM]

Oh, and we finally found out why the site is called CPH127 - CPH is the code for “Copenhagen Airport” and there are 127 flights out of CPH daily. Hence, CPH127.

Get ready for some big-time innovation in the world of agribusiness - and we’re not talking about new farm machinery or incremental new approaches to farming. According to Walter Derzko of Smart Economy, the next wave of innovation in the world of agribusiness means thinking about “cellstock” rather than “livestock.” In a blog post called “Chicken Fingers Minus the Chicken,” Derzko highlights recent findings from the Journal of Tissue Engineering on how it might soon be possible to grow meat for human consumption in vitro. After detailing the benefits of in vitro meat production, Derzko highlights the specifics of such a process:

“One technique is to grow cells in large flat sheets on special thin membranes. The sheets of meat would be grown and stretched, then removed from the membranes and stacked on top of one another to increase thickness.

The other method would be to grow the muscle cells on small three-dimensional beads that stretch with small changes in temperature. The mature cells could then be harvested and turned into a processed meat, like fish sticks, nuggets or hamburgers.”

(photo credit: timburts on Flickr)

Late last week, Delta announced that it was discontinuing service on Song, its discount carrier that was set up as a worthy rival to the super-popular (and super-profitable) JetBlue. Like JetBlue, Song attempted to woo passengers with state-of-the-art airborne entertainment systems, cool marketing campaigns, and a certain hipness factor. Unfortunately, while JetBlue continues to pile up the cash, Song somehow ended up in bankruptcy.

Seth Godin delivers a post mortem:

“My first reaction… was, “of course it failed.” It failed because they didn’t burn their bridges, didn’t really commit, didn’t do anything but a pale imitation of Jet Blue. But then I realized that Song wasn’t a failure on at least one level… it allowed a stodgy brown company to move fairly quickly and to discover the power of story telling. Everything from the organic food to the paint job was about telling passengers a different story. Song had trouble keeping that promise, but at least they tried. So maybe Delta learned a lesson about flexibility and speed and risk. Failure is rarely fatal.”

The bottom line: innovation does not occur without some risk. In this case, Delta took a controlled market risk, but failed more in the execution of the idea than in the idea itself. If Delta can learn from its mistakes, who knows? Maybe it is possible for Delta to incorporate these lessons when it emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

(photo credit: TrendWatching.com)