The Center for Graphic Facilitation

MindMaps and MindManager

Many visual learners have discovered the benefits of MindMaps, the technique developed by Tony Buzan in the late 1960s.

MindMaps use radiant thinking and simple drawing skills to synthesize complex sets of information. His classic work The Mind Map Book, is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the intricacies of how the mind, cognition, memory, emotion and learning work together.

The Buzan Centre describes the tool as follows:

A Mind Map is a powerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to unlock the potential of the brain. It harnesses the full range of cortical skills – word, image, number, logic, rhythm, colour and spatial awareness – in a single, uniquely powerful manner. In so doing, it gives you the freedom to roam the infinite expanses of your brain. The Mind Map can be applied to every aspect of life where improved learning and clearer thinking will enhance human performance. (More at  http://imindmap.com)

However, MindMaps may be difficult to consistently use. It helps if you can write and draw, while listening deeply to a discussion or presentation.

Several companies have developed software tools based on the concept. Tony Goodson shares his experience using MindManager and a tablet PC.

Pixelplosion

ABOVE: Poster by eBoy, a digital artist collective (buy poster).

Ever wonder how the creators of SimCity and other on-line games create their wonderfully complex worlds of simple pixelpeople?

The Gaping Void of Creativity

Hugh Macleod spent hours each work day on the Chicago El train commuting to and from work. He also spent lots of time in bars. And in New York. And at work.

These are the 3.5" x 2" canvases  recording his journey

Macleod's barbed insights into life, love and the pursuit of artistic happiness are captured in singleframe cartoons on the back of business cards.

The 30-point manifesto, How to Be Creative (html or pdf) may resonate with you creative commuters out there, slinging your creativity in the Wild West of corporate culture.

Visit gapingvoid.com for more acerbic servings of life in the Real World.

(Thanks to Nellie Bass Durand for the post.)

Hypercomics

This has to be experienced to be understood.

Daniel Merlin Goodfrey's hyperfiction uses Flash and non-linear storytelling to allow the viewer to wander bizarre narratives, including his recent 24:Three, A 24-Hour Hypercomic.

HBR on Using a Strategy Canvas

Excerpt from:
Your Company Strategy—in Pictures
by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne
HBSWK Pub. Date: Jul 22, 2002

READ ON-LINE ARTICLE
DOWNLOAD ARTICLE

Preparing a company strategy can bury you in data. Make it easier by drawing a strategy picture, advises this excerpt from Harvard Business Review. Here’s how Southwest Airlines found "The Big Picture."

(thanks to Al of the Pittsburgh Social Enterprise Accelerator)

Magnatune: The Answer to the Evil Music Empire

We listened the founder and CEO of Magnatune on IT Conversations and it blew our minds.

The interview is from the series Voices in Your Head, hosted by Dave Slusher.

Just as iTunes fixed the flat tire inhibiting the legal purchase of music on-line, John Buckman and Magnatune Records, has embraced Creative Commons licensing, internet streaming and distribution of music, and introduced innovations such as customer-chosen pricing for albums. Buckman recent article for Five Eight Magazine answers critics, proving that Creative Commons can work in the real world.

Even though they are an official record label, Magnatune's slogan is "We Are Not Evil."
 

On Visual Management

Stewart Liff has improved the performance of his own federal workplace, and worked with a number of other federal offices to support their performance improvement efforts. Namely, he has brought his experience as a sculptor and fine artist to his work with vetrans, private companies and the US government.

This book address the need for--and the challenges of--converting employers, employees, unions and other stakeholders to embrace the value of visual learning in the workplace.

Reflections on Facilitation and Leadership

In the Fall of 2003, after fires destroyed 75% of the homes in their valley, Joe and Rita Sterling's converted barn became the epicenter for disaster recovery.

In a FEMA, the US Marine Corps and dozens of volunteer and church organizations descended upon their property to organize the distribution of food, clothing, water and grief counseling.

Following the fires, there were several secondary crises that rocked the valley: looting, , insurance hassles, post-traumatic stress disorder and the stress of navigating good old fashioned red tape.

Fortunately, the Sterlings were both experienced facilitators and strategists; they fell naturally into the role of coordinators for the recovery effort, and used their talents, tools and specialized environment to mitigate the chaos of disaster recovery.

JPG, GIF, ON HBO. ASAP!

RDB not up to speed? XML got you down? And whatever happened to CCR?
Here's a very handy tool to explain many of the FUBAR acronyms you might come across during work. AcronymFinder is a searchable database of business, computer, technology, telecommunications, and military acronyms.

Search boxes can be added to your site for quick reference and you can submit new acronyms for inclusion [site stats claim an average of 152 new acronyms are submitted by users each day].

Collaboration & Democracy

"All around this vast room, you heard citizens saying politely to others, ‘What do you think?’ and then listening - actually listening - to the replies. In this room ‘I’ had turned to ‘we’...and it was absolutely thrilling."

Real democracy in action. America Speaks is an organization bringing the power of deciding what's best for their city to the citizens. Through 21st Century Town Meetings and collaborative design, this organization is involving dozens of cities worldwide is building a better future. One fascinating project involved rebuilding the World Trade Center site.

They now will be working with a coalition of folks here in Cleveland to help us shape the future of our own city. Poverty, unemployement, schools, green spaces, and economic development. Nothing is off the table.
Brilliant.