Today's Learning Terrain

Click on the illustration to enlarge.


This is a map I created based on a blog posting by Tony Karrer on the state of learning in today's environment. Tony was working on a presentation for DevLearn and ASTD and wondered if elearning, elearning 1.3, and learning 2.0 co-exist.

While I am not crazy about the moniker 1.3, I suppose there is a stage between elearning and what others are calling elearning 2.0, but I prefer to refer to as learning 2.0 -- actually it is just learning! Tony asked for a bone -- here is mine.

Notice the relative sizes of the training department and learners in each "land."

Tony: Albeit delayed, here are my answers to your questions 1 and 2. Enjoy.

Bootstrap Your Book - Oct 7 2007

This is a mind map of a presentation by Bootstrap Austin on how to Bootstrap a book. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Catherine Crago's Diversity Communication Workshop

This is a recording I did today at the Austin Human Resource Management Association workshop presented by Catherine Crago. The topic was about what one needs to consider when communicating about diversity initiatives.

The workshop was well attended and Catherine did a great job. To learn more about Catherine and her company, visit her website.

Click on the image to get a better view.

Austin's Non-Profits Celebrate 2nd Katrina Anniversary

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I was privileged today to hear leaders in the non-profit community, Austin City Manager, Toby Futrell, and mayor, Will Wynn, reminisce about how Central Texans opened their hearts and pocketbooks to hurricane refugees in the late summer of 2005. Over 160 agencies participated and many of the case workers and representatives of those agencies were present today to be recognized for the work that continues even now. Thank you Amy BeVille Elder for the invitation to be a part of this event. The recording above captures some of the highlights of today's celebration.

Later, I redrew the map to "clean it up" a bit so that souvenir copies could be made for many of the non-profit organizations who participated. Here is the cleaned up version:

Mind Map on MBTI

This is from a workshop offered by the Texas Association of Non-Profits and Austin Community College as part of the Non-Profit Leadership and Management Institute. The workshop was expertly presented by Jeff Johannigman of PeopleType Consulting.

Click on the image to see the details.

Architect's Role - Concept Map

I am doing some work for a large architectural firm -- very interesting and I am learning a lot about the industry. Here is a concept map I created to remind myself of the differences between architectural concept drawings and contractor's shop drawings.

Here are three maps I created for Bootstrap Austin representing the Ideation Phase, Valley of Death Phase, and Growth Phase all bootstrapped businesses go through.

Visual Learning on Steriods

Wired Magazine has a wonderful new video demonstrating a multi-touch display in use by its creator Jeff Han. This video has been wildly popular in the blogosphere and has been downloaded many times from YouTube. On the surface, the Wired article is about a revolutionary new user interface scheme, but I couldn't help but notice how little of the information is pure text and now much is graphical in nature. Not only with the tools we use change the nature of work, but the format and construct of our knowledge sharing will change also. Highly recommend you look at Han's demonstration.

[link: fastcompany.com|via asourceofinspiration.com]

Information Design Examples

I have had several discussions lately with colleagues about the importance of information design. As a point of illustration I have remarked I had several calendars on my desk. They all contained the same information, but depending on how I will be using the information, I will likely pick one calendar over the other. For example, if I just want to know what the date is of the third Thursday in July, I will probably pick up the little 12-sided calendar.






Or, if I want to make a note of my next dentist appointment I might jot it down on one of these two calendars, depending on whether I want the information at my desk or in my purse:

This little calendar, on David Seah's website as part of his Printable CEO tools, is great for project planning by week:













And just for fun (because I'm not exactly sure how one would use these circular calendars), here are a couple more:

They must be useful to someone!

So what does this have to do with graphic recording or graphic facilitation?

In addition to thinking about what information to record and how to capture it visually, the artist must also consider how the information is likely to be used by viewers. For example, the placement position on the page, the arrangement of images in relationship to other images and words, and the sizes selected for images and words are all important considerations. Certainly for pre-planned recording, the artist must give some thought to the process, although this is a much more challenging proposition for those recordings drawn on the fly.

links: Creative Calendar Design