I recently wrote a 2-part article on online communities for innovation and new product development for Visions, the magazine of the Product Development and Management Association. This is an area I'm going to continue to monitor and research. I'm interested in both return of experiences from practitioners and feedback to the article so I may improve presentations and future writing. Both articles, and my research, are more focused on the use of online communities for consumer-led or externally driven innovation than as an intra-corporate tool.

The first part, published last December, covered the various types of communities, their broad applications from front-end of innovation to commercialization, and 3 case studies. It is online at http://www.visions-digital.com/visions/200812/?u1=texterity

The second part just came out.  It is focused on the how to get started and how to avoid pitfalls. It is online at http://www.visions-digital.com/visions/200903/?u1=texterity

Do you use online communities for NPD? Is it making a positive impact? Are you struggling? Is it changing your company's innovation culture (and maybe it's culture) and ways of doing business?

I look forward to your stories and opinions, and thank Barry and his team for their collaboration to this research.