In our research lab we work quite a bit with the BBC. In a recent meeting, we were talking about how we could help them with a recurring innovation problem.

They often contract design agencies to develop ideas that address issues the implementation of new technology will throw up. The problem the BBC has is that often the suggested solutions are unworkable or inappropriate and rooted in old technology. In Imagination, we are going to run an event with 20 or so agencies to help with iTV development. But, it made me think that if there were one book everyone should read it would be

… hard to implement, but worth it if everyone could read …

Thomas Khun’s ‘The Structure of Scientific Revolutions’.

This is not a very exciting title, but the ideas within this have a profound impact on design, science, engineering, Innovation and the way we think about thinking.

Kuhn argues that most ‘normal’ science uses agreed models and patterns and the evidence we collect is shaped to fit these models. Ptolemy is a key example of this with positively convoluted explanations being developed to place us at the centre of the universe. Kuhn goes on to argue that a time comes when the tension on a model is so great, it snaps, a revolution takes place and a new model gains ascendancy (Copernicus’s big moment reacting against Ptolemy).

This revolution represents a new paradigm. This is a very much overused and misused word, but if everyone understood the idea of understanding adapting or transcending models of use, it’s more likely iTV would get a move on a become a pleasurable experience.