These questions are more difficult to answer than they appear in fields that are either emergent (e.g., social innovation) or those characterized by many different goals – such as workforce development in which meeting economic prosperity for people, firms, and communities is the goal, but strategies may differ quite markedly. So too all of the elements that define it as a field.
Are We a Field?
Irvine Foundation/Bridgespan Group Identify Five Elements of “Field” of Practice
The h3 Field Framework Report identifies five characteristics of a field of practice:
Hard Questions
These questions are more difficult to answer than they appear in fields that are either emergent (e.g., social innovation) or those characterized by many different goals – such as workforce development in which meeting economic prosperity for people, firms, and communities is the goal, but strategies may differ quite markedly. So too all of the elements that define it as a field.
Examples
The Irvine Foundation explore Multiple Career Pathways as a field here. And Lucy Bernholz addresses Digital Media and Learning here.