This site is very new (start date June 28, 2000). It is intended to host online presence of TRIZ. I believe the shared medium that the Internet offers can be quite useful to exchange experiences.
Why this site?
Because I think that TRIZ needs better propagation through the world; it's currently too much of a niche that nobody knows about.
One way of doing so is to make the content easier to use, i.e. by tool support.
In these modern times, tool support on the Internet seems logical.
An enormous potential of an Internetted version of TRIZ tools is that it allows the community to learn from each other's experiences.
Not just in human writing, but also in a form that is digestible for computers.
And in a form that allows confidence votes and community corrections.
I think such an evolving community would do a lot of good for TRIZ.
What will be on this site? Mostly, several experiments. To which everyone is welcomed to participate. The list of tools is currently not very long, but it does demonstrate the kind of things that can be achieved with a good idea and two days of time. I am very interested in placing stuff by other people too of course!
How will this site's content grow?
Rick van Rein has started it off with a first tool.
Others are quite welcome to add theirs!
I've always enjoyed open, group-based development, and would like to see that happen for TRIZ.
I think a site like this should contain (a) data, such as the standard tables, but also (multiple) translations between the general TRIZ concepts and concrete application areas, and (b) code, such as online tools to guide the TRIZ approach; I think there's less need for documentation because that is already available on other sites.
When every member is allowed to extend the system, it is important to do some form of peer review on the entered content.
For data such as examples, the peer reviews could consist of votes by web site users, and for code there should probably more open, verbal discussion on the TRIZ mailing list at ListBot.
What's that weird URL?
This is an experiment for me, and it runs under Rick van Rein's personal domain vanrein.org.
In the long run, it'd be nice to obtain something like tools.triz.org, but until Ann Davidson starts liking me, this'll have to do.
Please embrace for impact: this site may well be restructured and renamed as it starts up.
Who is Rick van Rein?
Just another TRIZ enthousiast who found back much of his own thinking in the TRIZ method but found that it made things more explicite and understandable.
If you want to know if I'm a capable inventor, be welcome to visit The BadRAM patch and see if you agree that I did an ideal design for Linux.
I am a PhD finishing somewhere in 2001, and after that, I am seriously considering to get a firm grip on anything that connects TRIZ and Internet-tools.
Everything in the open/shared mood of TRIZ, that I happen to know under the term Open Source from the software world.
Who is Kevin C. Rea? Kevin is also enthousiastic about the combination of TRIZ with computer science. He is hoping to set up a business that is based on this combination, providing Open Source tools for TRIZ, and selling the consultancy and teaching around them.
Any comments? Or if you have remarks on this website, you may want to contact Rick or Kevin instead.