The Center for Graphic Facilitation

West Bank Grafitti Wall

“Art has been saying with more and more intensity: the nature of the painting has become less interesting than the nature of the relation of painting to society.” - Norman Mailer, The Faith of Graffiti

As graphic facilitators, we cannot underestimate the power of an image--created in a specific cultural or political context--to contribute to fundamental change.

In the photo to the right, a Palestinian woman and her children walk past a drawing by notorious British culture jammer and graffiti artist Banksy, along part of the controversial Israeli barrier in the West Bank city of Aram. Reuters has a slideshow of art created on the tall, concrete security wall seperating Palestinians and Isrealis in the West Bank. 

In 1984, I visited divided Berlin along with 15 students from my US High School. We were taken to The Wall with its machine gun towers, armored personel carriers, and scrolls of barbed wire. At the age of 14, I was captivated by the bursts of color along the grey facade... grafitti! 

Tarpipes: Multi-platform publishing integration

Tarpipe is a publishing mediation and distribution platform that simplifies regular upload activities:

• Publishing content to multiple Web locations;
• Combining different media into a single blog post or article;
• Transforming documents on-the-fly;
• Managing repeatable upload actions.

The above workflow allows me to take a photo with my mobile device and email the result to Tarpipes, which then publishes the photo, title and tags on Flickr, Evernote, del.icio.us and Twitter... simultaneously!

Show/World Mapping Tool

 http://show.mappingworlds.c

Similar to WorldMapper, this cool Flash-enabled tool allows you to selct a subject from the top menu and watch the countries on the map change their size. Instead of land mass, the size of each country will represent the data for that subject --both its share of the total and absolute value. [Thanks, Tim Zak]

Is Facilitation Necessary?

ABOVE: An elderly man and a child perform tai chi together. source

Three Insights about Facilitation
from Master Facilitator Journal | Issue #0368, Nov 11, 2008:

Truth by its nature is simple. Expressing our simple truth to the best of our ability is curative. Expressing our relative truth allows the wisdom of life to unfold as needed, when needed. We must be willing to jettison the idea of political correctness in service to our personal version of truth, however it looks. If something sounds complicated or doesn't make sense, it's not really true. It's a head trip. How the process unfolds can be extremely complex but always elegant and beyond the mind's ability to anticipate or significantly influence.  

Trusting in the intelligence of life gives it the space of operate. Any issue in the life of an individual or group will find its own best resolution if those involved express their truth and provide the space and time for the solution to unfold. Any efforts to force, cajole, or manipulate what is, impede the natural flow of life. 

Presence facilitates flow. The inner space occupied by each participant influences "the field" of the group. Noise in any mind adds noise to the field. Quiet minds clear the field. A clear field makes what's next self-evident and facilitates the flow of the group's work.