Full Circle Associates

I’m home from another adventure! I’m back from Maastricht, Bonn and Lyon where I’ve been working and playing on various thingamabobbers. In Lyon, I really stepped into a new domain for me, Open Source Software (OSS) development. I was invited by the energetic and creative Stephane Ribas to present at fOSSa2011, a 2.5 day gathering of mostly French and Italian OSS developers and academics, along with a few philosophers and inventors thrown in to spice up the mix.

Conceptually, the discourse on Open Source makes a lot of sense to me. I did get lost when they started talking code. So I decided to sketch the sessions where I could understand “enough” to do a little reflection and sense making. It turns out people seemed to really appreciate the notes based on the feedback on Twitter and from people directly. After the organizers scanned the paper images, we gave each of them their own picture. I sense that this is a unique way to know you have been “heard.” It also helped me get to know people a bit easier.

My talk was a mish-mosh of ideas that relate to supporting communities of developers and related roles in the OSS space. I talked general, not OSS, but with the intent that the ideas were applicable. Slides are also below. I went out on a limb and had them start with the face co-drawing exercise from Johnnie Moore. I sense it pushed some out of their comfort zones, while others seemed to enjoy it. My goal was both to show another “face” of co-creation and collaboration, AND to break out of the traditional academic presentation mode.

As I reflected on the 2.5 days, there were a ton of amazing ideas, but it was challenging to be sitting and listening in schoolroom set up all day. Just imagine these same people using OpenSpace and what additional space for conversation would be available! Next year the fOSSa theme is “archeology” looking back at the open source software movement. I suggested they do a large graphically captured history wall. YES! I hope I can help contribute to that next year, on site or remotely. In the meantime, I’ve been given a lot to reflect on regarding the politics of OSS, the wonderful side conversations with the wonderful Miguel Cornejo, who I finally got to me F2F, and finally, the enticing possibilities of RepRap machines from Adrian Bowyer! Holiday project?

My thanks to all the organizers, hosts, speakers and presenters. I had a wonderful time, including the great wine tasting meal on Thursday. Pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/choconancy/sets/72157628002081730/

via fOSSa2011 sketchnotes.

This week I’ve been at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for the Agricultural Knowledge Share Fair. One of my roles was to facilitate a half day graphic facilitation workshop and then share a report to those who did not attend. (disclosure: I facilitated something like 8 sessions and thankfully some of my colleagues are helping me. Sophie Alvarez of CIAT has a great post on the communities of practice clinic that Etienne Wenger and I did together and Pier Andre Pirani is doing a post on the “chat show” we did on the application of social media in international development. Still to write are posts on the session on rural poultry, migration and land use issues for the Masaai in Tanzania, “making agricultural knowledge travel” chat show and… I think that may be it. Mamma Mia!)

In living up to the “show, don’t tell” adage, there are some beautiful images created by the participants which I can share.

More here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/choconancy/tags/sfrome/

My goal was not to do a drawing class. Instead I wanted to encourage people to experience then joy of the physical act of drawing, then connect that joy to the power of visuals to encourage conversation and their use in a diverse set of group processes.

After we experienced the joy of beautiful colored pens chalk and the liberation of drawing on large scale paper, we reviewed a variety of visual facilitation practices such as mind maps and mandalas, river of life, sketch noting and graphic recording, card sorting and hands on drawing icebreakers. Participants took turns with graphically enhanced flip chart note taking. Finally we did a quick graphic recording so each participant could begin their own graphic facility toolkit. They did amazing work.

What was more amazing was to see enhanced use of visual practices in the following days of the fair, as people applied what they experienced.

Ironically the next day dawned and the Internet access was out just before Rob Burnet of Well Told Story was to begin his keynote. This was particularly challenging to the Fair team because social reporting was part of the heart and soul of the Fair. So they asked me to graphically record the talk which was fun because one of Rob’s key strategies for reaching Kenyan youth was comics! In the end then wifi was back and the social reporters tweeted about the analog note taking!!

Nancy’s Note: In July Michelle Laurie and I ran another graphic facilitation workshop in beautiful Rossland, BC, Canada. In summer mode, I still haven’t written up my reflections. When I saw Sylvia Currie’s great post on her blog, I begged her to let me reblog it as a guest post (only the second in FullCirc history!) here. So THANKS Sylvia! I will follow up with my reflections and pointers to more of Sylvia’s great workshop videos.  Sylvia came to the RosViz 10 and returned this year as our social reporter. FABULOUS!!!

Reflections on a fantastic workshop

What happened at the 2011 RosViz Graphic Facilitation Workshop? I’m not sure where to begin! It was 2 1/2 days of pure fun, intense learning, lively networking, and the occasional emotional tug. I created this little video in an attempt to capture the experience, which of course will be most meaningful to the participants but hopefully will also give others a glimpse of what the workshop is all about.

Following the introductory evening session and graphic jam we launched right into some activities aimed to, in Nancy’s words, “L O O O O S E N up”, create the unexpected, and most importantly, raise questions in our minds about how this all feels. I mean, how often have you started a drawing with a sopping wet tea bag? Comments after viewing our gallery: I would have never created this if you had just given me a blank piece of paper and markers.

Tea Bag Drawing Exercise

Tea Bag Drawing Exercise

Giving a starting point, a tea bag splotch, we started to see potential — familiar images formed in our minds from the shapes we saw in front of us. It was a very quick exercise, and aside from some drippy canvases we were ready for a gallery walkabout within minutes.

The same principles were applied in another exercise which can best be described as musical chairs but without the chairs, and with markers and chalk. As soon as the music stops markers are lifted and on you move to the next canvas.

By the time we were finished rotating through each station we had a collection of stunning art that, in most cases, was quite different from what the original artist envisioned. Questions continued to emerge through participation: What did it feel like to draw on someone else’s work?

Musical Drawing

Musical Drawing

In keeping with Nancy’s approach to just dive right in, more challenging activities were interspersed throughout the workshop. Sure she was careful to lay a bit of foundation, but rather than gradually build up to the big crescendo (live graphic recording without any clues about the topic), these experiences felt more like check points. Wow, that was way more difficult than I thought it would be! And neat, look what I created in just 6 minutes! What really stood out after several practice sessions, debriefs, and plenty of opportunities to network (the power of the snack table!) was the comfort level in the room. We had evolved into quite the uninhibited group!

Looking back on the graphic recordings of Matt Cutts’ Ted Talk: Try Something New for 30 days it’s astonishing to think that these images emerged from a talk that was less that 3 1/2 minutes long. (Violette Clark invites you to participate in her 30-day challenge — a portrait a day for the month of August!)

TED Talk Graphic Scribes

There were some surprises as well. For one of the graphic recording exercises Violette Clark told her story and for all workshop participants this proved to be the most difficult exercise. I wanted to honour Violette and her amazing story, and I was afraid that I wasn’t doing it justice in my drawing.

During the debrief, Violette talked about how overwhelming it was to see her life story represented in all the the incredible drawings around the room. Through this exercise we all experienced how emotional this visual practice can be; I think most of us were fighting back tears at that point!

Another useful practice session was the icon jam. It’s amazing to me how often I can think of the perfect icon while I’m listening, but the right image just won’t form in my brain. Oh! The recycle symbol would go perfectly in this spot. Then my mind goes blank. Others in the workshop shared this same experience. Nancy led us through a couple icon jams to tap into both sides of our brains. Here are some creations from a “throw out, throw in” activity. Nancy also offers an open invitation to contribute to this icon collection.

We weren’t holding crayons every minute of the workshop. Our circle of chairs brought several debriefing conversations, a “fish bowl” activity, a chat with Susan Stewart from California via Elluminate (recording here) about her experiences using an iPad, and a final reflection on the entire workshop experience.

This sounds like a lot over a 2 1/2 day period, and believe it or not I’ve left out quite a bit! Other reflections on the Graphic Facilitation are continuing to pop up:

• Graphic Facilitation Workshop 1
• Graphic Facilitation Workshop 2
• Workshop ends…community begins

Also, the RosViz10 Facebook Group is bubbling, and you’re all welcome to join us. (Advance apology — we can’t seem to flip a switch to make this group public so you’ll need to wait for one of the admins to approve your membership.)

Next, while the experience is fresh in my mind, I plan to write about social reporting. But for now I’d like thank Michelle and Nancy for the opportunity!

I have been running more graphic facilitation workshops and everyone asks me how to draw icons. Icon drawing comes from both having both a visual vocabulary in one’s head/practice, and being able to draw with just a few strokes. I need a ton of practice in this area, and have started compiling my own “icon” book – basically looking at others’ icons and practicing drawing them myself.

Today via DroolyDog I ran into some slide decks from Betsy Streeter that I found really easy and useful. (I tried to embed them, but today something is amiss, so you’ll have to just follow the links.)

via Draw Faces Your Own Way.

Here is another on “Drawing Nothing”. !!

My goal is to do some practice EVERY DAY. Wanna hold me to it? Ask me about it whenever you see me. A little pressure never hurt. But I promise to remain a model of “the person who can’t draw who can do this graphic stuff” — we can all create beauty in our own way!

Here is a yesterday’s practice piece – a visual self introduction. This was my second version. I decided I wanted something with SOME sort of cohesion and chalk coloring in the first version didn’t do it for me. So I decided to do a “one line” drawing. This is essentially keeping your pen on the paper the whole time. Then I went back and colored in. I liked this version better and shared it as part of my work in the AlphaChimp Studio’s online “Graphic Rockstars” workshop.

The fabulous Sunni Brown celebrates us doodlers (and I do a Monday video on Tuesday… heh!)

via YouTube – Exclusive video of Sunni Brown doodling her creative process.