John Crickett has compiled a useful list of what he considers the 100 Best Blogs about Business. It was a pleasant surprise to see Open Innovators included in that list (at #83), taking into account that our site is only 5 months old and covers quite a niche-oriented topic.

Although you can always argue about the arbitrariness, the list provides an unique opportunity to find some excellent new business sites without having to waste hours wading through all search results on Google for example. There were quite some interesting blogs I didn’t know yet (now included in Google Reader under my Testing label). Have a look:

1. Copy Blogger T: 36 A: 7,825
2. Seth Godin T: 47 A: 10,314
3. MicroPersuasion T: 169 A: 33,643
4. How To Change The World T: 180 A: 14,709
5. Freelance Switch T: 312 A: 10,638
6. A VC T: 1,226 A: 27,737
7. Rough Type T: 1,253 A: 69,429
8. Successful Blog T: 1,432 A: 44,935
9. Small Business Canada T: 1,517 A: N/A
10. David Allen, Getting Things Done T: 1,549 A: 53,592
11. Springwise T: 1,913 A: 23,858
12. Small Biz Trends T: 2,155 A: 63,364
13. Fast Company T: 2,310 A: 12,141
14. Instigator Blog T: 2,477 A: 58,816
15. Occam’s Razor T: 2,548 A: 45,541
16. Smart Wealthy Rich T: 2,879 A: 79,415
17. eMoms At Home T: 3,443 A: 27,125
18. Escape from Cubicle Nation T: 3,467 A: 202,751
19. The Marketing Technology Blog T: 3,496 A: 47,038
20. Business Pundit T: 3,724 A: 114,669
21. The Engaging Brand T: 4,404 A: 433,644
22. Influential Marketing Blog T: 4,779 A: 98,886
23. Drew McLellan - The Marketing Minute T: 4,820 A: 129,669
24. The Digerati Life T: 4,873 A: 53,353
25. Success From The Nest T: 4,908 A: 95,008
26. Business Blog Consulting T: 5,186 A:237,901
27. Church Of The Customer T: 5,576 A: 250,201
28. Todd And T: 5,643 A: 161, 019
29. Net Business Blog T: 5,936 A: 36,107
30. Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing T: 6,583 A: 92,784
31. Bootstrapper T: 7,497 A: 50,304
32. About.com Entrepreneurs T: 7,797 A: N/A
33. Blogtrepreneur T: 7,897 A: 53,011
34. Branding & Marketing T: 8,200 A: 710,326
35. Duct Tape Marketing T: 8,985 A: 31,714
36. Simplenomics T: 10,252 A:288,753
37. Freelance Folder T: 10,543 A: 63,590
38. Business Opportunities Weblog T: 11,018 A: 16,213
39. HELLO, My Name Is Blog T: 11,395 A: 422,218
40. Self Made Minds T: 11,704 A: 39,719
41. Sox First T: 12,894 A: 994,161
42. Young Go Getter T: 14,239 A: 45,373
43. Trust Matters T: 15,462 A: 58,403
44. Small Biz Survival T: A: 18,074 A: 875,069
45. The Personal MBA T: 19,207 A: 142,649
46. The Entrepreneurial Mind T: 21,958, A: 155,166
47. Blog Business World T: 23,025 A: 252,405
48. Working At Home On The Internet T: 23,247 A: 423,900
49. Biz Informer T: 24,631 A: 904,745
50. EmpowerWomenNow T: 25,837 A: 117,085
51. Biz Plan Hacks T: 27,048 A: 1,335,732
52. CreateBusinessGrowth T: 32,949 A:197,290
53. Business Opportunities and Ideas T: 33,205 A: 282,805
54. The KISS Business T: 35,496 A: 621,082
55. Startup Spark T: 35,747 A: 386,949
56. Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing Blog T: 41,092 A: 467,418
57. MindPetals T: 41,714 A: 128,487
58. Marketing Deviant T: 43,764 A: 281,072
59. Go Big Network T: 44,842 A: 25,303
60. Cool Business Ideas T: 49,679 A: 187,126
61. Neville’s Financial Blog T: 52,048 A: 140,296
62. Atlantic Canada’s Small Business Blog :T 52,589 A: 795,253
63. College Startup T: 53,143 A: 184,398
64. Reflections Of A Biz Driven Life T: 79,365 A: 361,398
65. Branding Blog T: 93,462 A: 1,110,518
66. Carnival Of The Capitalists T: 93,462 A: 1,897,375
67. Young Entrepreneur T: 104,933 A: 26,491
68. Marketing Genius T: 132,066 A: 2,222,119
69. Better For Business T: 137,774 A: 590,797
70. The Small Business Blog T: 140,824 A: 577,490
71. Focused Mind T: 162,356 A: 520,971
72. Small Business Tips T: 166,367 A: 74,005
73. Lifes Perspective T: 194,358 A: 179,801
74. Business Opportunities Blog T: 199,700 A: 832,678
75. The Savvy Entrepreneur T: 224,227 A: 391,147
76. Egg Marketing Blog T: 231,062 A: 740,867
77. The Franchise King Blog T: 273,240 A: 520,732
78. Small Business Entrepreneur T: 317,977 A: 883,094
79. The Great Startup Game T: 331,293 A: 421,492
80. Work At Home Start Up Guide T: 345,597 A: 1,190,178
81. Dorm Room Biz T: 360,865 A: 957,072
82. Startup Blog T: 377,609 A: 2,552,189
83. Open Innovators T: 395,824 A: 1,230,257
84. Get Entrepreneurial T: 437,475 A: 446,085
85. Bplans Blog T: 437,475 A: 1,373,525
86. Stuff4Restaurants T: 461,534 A: 298,982
87. Canadian Entrepreneur T: 484,461 A: 237,901
88. Strategize T: 487,964 A: 2,856,731
89. The Marketing Spot T: 587,893 A: 2,550,840
90. The Ravings Of A Mad Entrepreneurial Scientist T: 587,893 A: 566,836
91. More Than We Know T: 871,446 A: 2,964,420
92. Solo Entrepreneur T: 1,212,405 A: 471,491
93. Stuff4Business T: 1,391,575 A: 298,982
94. Consultant Journal T: 4,262,598 A: 667,342
95. Startup Addict Musings T: 4,446,976 A: 1,03390,690
96. Edith Yeung T: 8,911,336 A: 125,290
97. Boostrap Me T: 8,911,336 A: 550,348
98. The Selling Sherpa T: Not Listed A: 772,292
99. BizzBangBuzz T: Not Listed A: 1,484,797
100. The Freestyle Entrepreneur T: Not Listed A: 1,519,518

Interested in Open Innovation & Crowdsourcing? Subscribe to RSS!

Hi there. My name is Thomas Maiorana and I thought it’d be a good idea to introduce myself since I’ll be posting here regularly. I promise, there won’t be this much of “me” in any of the following posts.

My educational background spans the humanities, creative writing, anthropology and American culture, but professionally I’ve found a way to bring all this together as a visual designer. For the past 10 years, I’ve developed websites, user interfaces, stories and interactive experiences.

Last June I finished up an MFA in Design at Stanford University. The program is technically called the Joint Program in Design. Joint, because the program brings together folks from the Art Department and the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Since I’d always felt comfortable bridging disciplines, this type of setting quickly became a home. And although I’d been creating solutions which addressed user needs for some time, at Stanford I was able to get a deeper understanding of how to connect with users and address their latent needs.

Which is where my interest in crowd sourcing or participatory design comes in. I’m fascinated by the ways in which co-authorship offers us new ways to understand and communicate with users. I’m interested in how large corporations outsource innovation, but also the systems which must be put in place to allow for efficient collaboration across distances and disciplines. I’m interested in the ways that a more collaborative model will challenge designers’ sense of control, the ways corporations define their relationships to consumers and the ways co-creation will offer users a new way to describe their needs. These relationships are shifting, and I’m thrilled to explore the ramifications as they unfold.

A final note: I come to this as a designer. I hope to be able to lend that perspective to these questions and I look forward to learning from the other disciplines as well. I’ll be posting soon. Take care.

Open Innovators: Join the Open Innovators team!

Hello, my name is Emile Petrone. I responded to Philippe’s previous post, and here I am! I started Knowble.net, a community for researchers, scientists, and scholars to connect, communicate, and collaborate, around common research areas and methodologies. I recently graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, majoring in Political Science. My interests are basically anything that has to do with shaking up traditional processes & industries through online technologies. Think Wikipedia, Open Access, Creative Commons. I am also a fan of connecting people online for great, hilarious, innovative ideas.

But to get this first post off with a bang, the title of this post may have caught a few of you as a double entendre. I was referencing the first Apple ad for the iPhone. Why the iPhone? Isn’t it closed? Well yes, but just recently it was cracked by George Hotz meaning it may now be used on any network. So technically it is half open. Now no matter what your stance is towards Apple or cellular providers, you have to admit that the iPhone is one of the largest leaps in technology in a long time. You can drive down the street and literally surf the web (minus a few Flash applications and other black areas)(and it is a giant leap over the Blackberry’s internet). When I was a kid, surfing the web was like exploring the unknown. Now I can do it wherever, whenever. You can access the world’s information in your pocket. Utterly amazing.

So why am I mentioning a semi-open phone in this blog for my first post? For two reasons: it is the first phone to unite a global community and it will become the first computer in your pocket.

Just as exciting as the technology, is the community which has self-organized around the iPhone as a crowdsourcing platform. BarCamps are being organized around a phone. It is a phone and you have people meeting each other, sharing information, and creating new websites and software. Ten years ago my mom had a phone in her car, and I promise you there were no communities organizing around its black, plastic box. So the crowdsourcing around the iPhone cannot be ignored or underestimated.

Now out of those communities will come the first computer for your pocket. I say “will” because right now it is closed, but you and I both know that, that which is closed, is always meant to be opened. And when that day comes, when apps start being thrown around like they are on Facebook, is the day the world will change. Everyone already went into a tizzy after Facebook opened their community for user generated applications, just think of the hysteria that will erupt when you can do anything and everything in the palm of your hand! I will consider that an innovation.

Already I do not bring a laptop with me on trips because I can do my basic work through my iPhone. But to be able to download applications or widgets, would mean I could work from the park or while on a bus. Think of a widget for Google Analytics; I could keep track of Knowble’s traffic in real time no matter my location. Every person could literally work while walking.

I hope this first post raised a few iBrows. The iPhone will become the open innovation of our lifetime and I can’t wait for that day! But thanks again to Philippe for welcoming to the blog. I hope to write many, many more posts!

Keeping it knowble,

Emile