The Center for Graphic Facilitation

Open Learning Tools

[ From new member Andi Roberts in Spain ]

The Open University, part of the OpenLearn story, has also allowed free access to part of their courses on "systems" courses which can be found at the bottom of this page for those who don't know how to map systems its a basic start.

They have many simple tutorials for educators and life-long learners on new web-based learning tools, for example:

FlashMeeting is a one-click video conferencing tool. It allows a dispersed group of people to meet from anywhere in the world with an internet connection, running in a standard web browser window, with the Adobe Flash 'plug in'. If you have a properly installed web cam and microphone you will be able to communicate with friends and colleagues anywhere they are.
See OU QuickGuide

Compendium is a software tool for visual thinking. You can use it to cluster and connect icons linked to ideas, concepts, arguments, websites and documents. Use it just for personal reflection as you study or work on a problem, or share your maps with others... your summary of a topic, or a learning path through the maze of the Web, might really help someone else!
See OU QuickGuide

ScanR: Scan, copy and fax with your camera phone or digital camera

Forget sliced bread... scanR is the best thing since Flickr. At least for those of us who spend more time cleaning photos of whiteboards than we do sleeping or watching YouTube!

Basically, this service allows you to upload photos of whiteboards, business cards or documents, and scanR cleans the images or converts the business cards to electronic text or vCards.

One drawback: your cameraphone needs to have around 2MB resolution.

Service is great, though. I uploaded 5 large-scale JPEGs of whiteboards via email, and a couple taken by cellphone. The turnaround time was less than 4 minutes to get an email link to cleaned up JPEGs and PDFs. You can also photograph documents and have them converted to legible PDF files ready to print.

Don't believe it? Try it for free.

Jeff Han's Touch Interface Revolution

Can't Touch This   

Working all but alone from his hardware-strewn office, Jeff Han is about to change the face of computing. Not even the big boys are likely to catch him.

Video: Remapping the Universe In this video, Jeff Han and Phil Davidson demonstrate how a multi-touch driven computer screen will change the way we work and play.

   

From: Fast Company Issue 112 | February 2007       | Page 86    | By: Adam L. Penenberg

Buzan's iMindMap

Mindmapping software ain't the newest squid on the dock. Packages such as MindJet, Mind Manager and Inspiration have been around for years. New players like MindApp and OminGraffle (for Mac) are crowding the playing field.

But here is a package from the Grandaddy of MindMapLand...

Tony Buzan is the world's leading expert on the brain and is the inventor of Mind Maps®, the thinking tool used by over 250 million people. Mind Mapping helps you to excel in every area of your life by allowing you to achieve your full mental potential. A Mind Map is a tool for any thinking task.

Whilst many products have claimed to allow you to Mind Map on a computer, none have managed to fully duplicate Tony's world renown process. Until now that is! iMindMap™ gives you the infinite visual variety, portability, freedom, brain friendliness and effectiveness of traditional highly proven Mind Mapping techniques. Watch our free videos on computer based mind mapping to find out more by clicking here.

From Buzan's iMindMap ™

technorati tags:mindmaps, mindmapping, Tony Buzan, software

Flock: The Blogger's Browser

There have been a whole gaggle of new browsers nipping at Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Apple's Safari. Barely a year after Mozilla's Firefox began creeping into the mainstream, some of its developer broke off on a new browser project, Flock.

This is the blogger's browser because it make the rapid integration of blog posts and phot integration extremely easy.

Digg Lab Swarm

One of the emerging issues with traditional graphic facilitation is this: How best do we integrate the ideas generated in collaborative sessions into a dynamic, visual and usable format?

Digg Labs has created a mash-up between Digg posts (user-generated comments on news and blog posts) and a swarm-like,  dynamically-generated network diagram.

ZeusDraw

Need a vector-based drawing tool, but don't want to shell out the big bucks for the Adobe Creative Suite? Too tired of pestering your designer buddy for a bootlegged copy of Illustrator?

Try ZeusDraw, a new drawing program from Chromatic Bytes with a fluid, graceful interface. It has a different, more intuitive approach to paths (Bezier curves) and great brushes.

Cleaning Digital Photos of Drawings

One of the big hits from the IFVP 2006 Conference was the Tech Session. There was quite a buzz about the Photoshop demonstration on "cleaning" photos of graphic recording artwork.

Click below for a step by step guide on how.

HelloDeo Video

Using the free tool HelloDeo.com, David Sibbet and the participants from the IFVP 2006 Tech Session sent a message out to fellow graphic facilitator, Rheinhardt, in Germany.

IVFP 2006: Tech Talk

From Day One of the IFVP 2006 Conference...

Download IFVP-Tech-Workshop.pdf

Being able to navigate and leverage the myriad tech tools out there can set you apart from the crowd with your clients, enabling you to offer themeverything from the simple (clean, compressed images of your charts in a flash!) to the complex (professional-quality clip art images from yourcharts, interactive, digital e-Book reports, virtual meetings and beyond). It can also open up a whole new world of marketing and promotionalpossibilities for your business!

This 2-part workshop was lead by David Sibbet of Grove Consultants and Dana Wright Take Action Inc.

Click below for a list of technologies covered in the session...