By Stuart Silverstone
Graphics News Service
[Editor's Note: Visual journalism brings right-brain balance to print reporting. For the second year, visual journalist Eileen Clegg and her associates will again create murals on-the-spot to explain each large session at COFES: The Congress on the Future of Engineering Software. Last year these “reports” were real conversation starters, and eye-opening for some who had never considered the use of graphics in this fashion. You can see the results at http://www.cofes.com/gallery/?Gallery=12. IBM hired Clegg to cover a similar conference they sponsored in 2003; you can see the results at http://almaden.ibm.com/coevolution/gallery.shtml. Correspondent Stuart Silverstone interviews Eileen Clegg about her work, and her plans for COFES 2005, which starts next week.]
What will you be doing for this your second COFES appearance?
I will be creating a visual journal of the entire meeting. A series of 4-by-8 foot murals will unfold during presentations and meetings. They will then be posted in the main room for people to view. By the end of the three days, there will be a "storyboard" with themes that have emerged from the conference. We encourage people to congregate around the murals, discuss, and remember what they thought during the session. The murals will be posted in the dining area, and I hope to get them online every day so people also can access digitized versions from their PDAs.
How might attendees prepare for this visual note-taking process?
In the past year we have seen a burst of interest in the meaning of symbols and shapes. The fascination with "The DaVinci Code" and hundreds of derivative works speaks to a growing awareness of what we call the "open secret"—we are surrounded by symbols that affect us deeply. I use symbols and shapes to "contain" the main points in a presentation or conversation.
The best way to prepare to look at these drawings is not to prepare at all. My murals are designed to convey emerging ideas and holistic concepts, working more on the imaginative "right brain" than the analytical "left brain."
Are there any differences between the experience of someone familiar with your processes and someone learning them for the first time?
Great question! I think that people who first see my murals are trying to analyze what and how much I captured from a presentation. People more familiar with the process realize that the point is not what I do but what they see, and how that helps them remember their own thinking at the time they hear the presentation. They realize the visual journal is a cognitive tool to jog their own innovative processes. I'd encourage people to visit my website (www.visualinsight.net) to learn more about the ideas behind the work.
What might they hope to take away from such a session?
Last year I found myself conducting an unscientific poll of participants at COFES about how they used visuals in their creative process. Interestingly, everyone said they had a "picture" of what they were creating throughout the development of a new product. Then I asked how many shared a "picture" of their idea before it was formed, while they were still brainstorming, and few did. I'd like to see a shift in thinking about the role of visuals. Yes we use them to depict a specific "thing" but they also can help with capturing the amorphous concepts that go into creating the thing, and can aid in idea-sharing and co-creativity.
Any tips for benefiting more or participating more actively in a session or for attendees' own note-taking during the session?
In a pre-conference session 3:00 p.m. Thursday at COFES, people can come to my presentation and discussion about "The Secret Story of Visual Insight"—this is also the title of a new book I am working on with Bonnie Devarco. And yes, I will share some of my own "secrets" for using shapes and symbols as a shortcut for personal note-taking and hope this will give people an alternative way to record their own experiences during sessions. Also we will have a fun exercise to demonstrate why it's helpful to "see differently."
What challenges do you face in facilitating a successful meeting?
I have two different ways of working. First is visual journalism, which I do at COFES and other conferences, in which I create a visual record of emerging themes. Second is meeting facilitation, in which I usually partner with an organization leader to harness the "collective IQ" and get everyone aligned in the same direction. In visual journalism, I've only had a problem once out of hundreds of sessions, and that was because the topic was dull—not just to me but to everyone there. Of course, COFES is just the opposite—the ideas are fresh, the presenters are excellent and there is a lot of energy among participants. My work is highly intuitive and creative and entirely driven by the excitement of new ideas. It seems to work best when everyone is engaged.
How do you prepare for creating visual journals at a meeting like COFES?
I immerse myself in cutting-edge ideas year-round through my research in the fields of learning, technology and organization. I never prepare specifically for a meeting. In fact, it is better if I am not enmeshed in the details of the specific presentations, but better for me to come in fresh and listen as an informed outsider for the themes that are most lively. In general, I accept invitations to visually record or facilitate meetings only in areas where I have some content expertise. Also, as a research affiliate with Institute for the Future I am fortunate to see forecasts 5-10 years out. This helps me to keep a future-oriented frame of mind—looking for disruptive ideas rather than following the same paths.
For COFES, for example, do you study architecture, engineering and construction issues, or manufacturing design?
I study all of these topics not as a practitioner but as a generalist, that is from a historic perspective with an eye toward future trends.
Do you design icons and images in advance?
I am always visiting art galleries and looking at nature to find interesting shapes and images that will work for organizing information. The Egyptians had the term "cartouche" which is an artistic container for words. The concept of containing words within images goes back to the days of hieroglyphics.
What goes through your head while you're doing visual note-taking?
I do not logically think through my artwork. True, my background of 20 years as a daily news journalist provided training so that capturing good quotes is almost second nature. But the art I use to organize the quotes is strictly intuitive.
Do you encourage participants to contribute to a mural with suggestions?
Yes, in small group facilitations.
How about their own hand?
Group murals are a great technique for brainstorming in small groups. We have seen people completely change their ideas when they see someone else express their thoughts with images. It's very powerful.
Do you layout a mural in a particular format, left to right, up and down? Do you establish a color-coding system?
There's no planning for how the murals unfold, I move right, left, down, up, around a mural and sometimes between murals to tell the story. A close colleague, Wayne Hodgins of Autodesk, said only half jokingly I am like a "medium channeling" information. Somehow the whole picture always comes together in a meaningful way.
How might the visual meeting facilitation process be improved and evolve in the future?
Visuals can be used to enhance so many types of interaction. One thing I am doing is providing visual facilitation for telephone conferences. Especially when people can't see each other, it's great if they can see a visual record unfolding or, if they do not have the video technology, they can still get a copy of what they said immediately afterwards. I've had calls from attorneys who would like to use visual journalism to help juries understand issues. Teenage children of my friends have asked me to help them "see" their options in life. There are so many applications.
Any technology advances that might play a role in the visual journal process?
Definitely! The tablet PC and video conferencing enable real time visual documentation for virtual meetings. Also more people are using templates designed in advance to help them facilitate meetings. In a recent book I coauthored with Kevin Wheeler of Global Learning Resources— "The Corporate University Workbook" (Jossey Bass Pfeiffer, Feb. 2005)—we include a CD with templates that people can print out and use. I am also developing a library of symbols so that people can build their own visual story, creating online murals. This is a work in progress, with much interest from places looking at real-time learning and improved work support, such as Jay Cross' Workflow Institute.
Can alumni of your meetings learn to apply visual learning principles to their own thinking—and their own meetings?
Absolutely! We do have workshops and at COFES I'll share some of the basic ideas.
What is the key message running through your most recently completed book works?
They are on different topics, but all come down to the importance of clear communication, spending the time and creativity to get everyone on the same page. As personal computing pioneer Douglas Engelbart says, "collective IQ" is developed by having the right processes "thinking about your thinking to improve your thinking."
What are you working on for your next projects?
I am working on several writing-and-illustration projects, including "The Engelbart Hypothesis," with Valerie Landau, synthesizing the ideas of Douglas Engelbart, one of the fathers of modern computing. His 1968 technology demonstration contained all of the innovations that would develop decades later, including email, graphical interface, computer keyboard, videoconference, mouse, and, of course, he was one of the three first people on the Internet. Too few people know about his role—which is one reason for the book! Also, I am working on a book about symbols, which also is related to Engelbart's ideas about graphical interface and "multiple views" of information.
Any particular issues that interest you in the AEC community?
COFES offers a great opportunity for people to focus on the most important issue: What's next? Breaking away from traditional mindsets, questioning assumptions, having candid conversations. My part of that will be to help people see "the writing on the walls." Also being attuned to the power of certain shapes and symbols—images that show up throughout history and across cultures—is of enormous value in designing anything you want people to find visually engaging.
How can Web viewers of your COFES murals follow their sequential development and various contents without having been present at the live performance?
For people who do not attend sessions, the murals provide a "gestalt" covering main points and raising questions. Ideally these are thought-pieces that will ignite interest in the background materials. For example, speakers usually have PowerPoints or sometimes books or websites that elaborate on their ideas. The mural is a "portal" into all of that type of information. Sometimes I create "clickable murals" working with a presenter so that specific images link to deeper content that is at the heart of COFES.