Create a city-wide ideas network: Jane Pyper's Big Idea

We should use the knowledge-sharing systems and expertise of the Toronto Public Library to create a living network of ideas.

  (Illustration by Raffi Anderian)  

What if …

… we created a city-wide network that allowed us to share and borrow ideas as easily as we share and borrow books in the library’s collection?

At Toronto Public Library, a book can travel all over the city, being read and enjoyed as readily in Rexdale as in Parkdale, in Willowdale as in Thorncliffe Park, in Guildwood as in Long Branch. Our collections move through the city like a giant circulatory system, making it possible to share knowledge easily. What if we could share our ideas with each other as easily as we share library books, taking advantage of this city’s greatest and most creative asset — its residents.

How would your big idea transform the city?

Through this network, the sharing of small sparks of inspiration could create big ideas that make Toronto and its residents more knowledgeable, more connected, more resilient and more successful.

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This new ideas network has, at its heart, the people of Toronto, but to make it really powerful, we need to connect it to learning resources and local knowledge. These resources will help people grow ideas, uncover information and create links to mentors who can both inspire and assist in learning and discovery.

How much would your idea cost?

The expertise, systems and technologies already exist, and are available throughout the city at local library branches and at other community learning institutions. We simply need the will to connect them. The cost is negligible, the payoff enormous.

This year, the Toronto Public Library will reach its 100th-branch milestone and will incorporate two more Toronto neighbourhoods into its network. As we continue this conversation about the big ideas that will transform Toronto, it makes sense to use this network and our knowledge-sharing expertise not just to spread existing information, but also to incubate new ideas. We would thus create endless opportunities for inspiration and talent to collide, and for collaboration to flourish. It would enrich the conversation and unify the city, knitting it together with our collective creativity. The result: an informed, engaged citizenry that has the power to transform the city, one big idea at a time.

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https://www.thestar.com/bigideas/experts/2014/02/20/create_a_citywide_ideas_network_jane_pypers_big_idea.html
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