Go Visual to Communicate Simply

It's easier to grasp a character
profile that's visual

I'm gradually getting converted to using more and more visual elements for communicating. Earlier, I posted about using drawings to get going on a project. But now I'm seeing the importance of going visual when one is mid-project, as a way of pulling back and getting clarity. A drawing, idea map, picture, or storyboard can help you to get back to basics, to simplify.

And so, as my collaborative novel group is ramping up on inviting people to contribute 1500-word subchapters to their outlined novel, I thought I would use some visualization to assist myself and others who wish to contribute to the novel to get a better sense of the characters they will be writing about.


Right now, the group has laid out a set of character biographies on their project wiki. This is work well done, since everyone can be on the same page about who is who. But from another angle, the very problem is that people are being taken to pages -- rather than pictures -- and so it is hard to grasp what these characters look like, or their relationships with other characters. I spent time today reading through each of those biographies carefully and then remixing / translating that information into a Prezi presentation. I know this will help me keep the characters straight when I write my segment for the novel. What do you think of the following?

Keeping Confusion out of Collaboration

One of my student project groups is conducting an experiment in creative collaboration. They are crowd-sourcing a novel whose characters are already set up and whose plot is also fixed (divided into chapters and subchapters or "segments"). People sign up to complete a component of the whole.

I'm excited and scared by this idea, and immediately I'm seeing the messiness of collaboration: there are too many ways into the information about the novel and not a clear enough path for the would-be contributors to get to the info that they need:

1. A clear concept of the experiment and what their role in it could be. (The pitch needs to be as clear as the NaNoWriMo concept)
2. A quick, inviting overview of the story and its world (Potential contributors need a quick teaser into the genre, characters, and general plot of the novel -- but without having to read an entire detailed plot summary. Right now, my only choice is to got to a complete chapter outline. That's too much info too soon!)
3. An easy way to sign up for a portion of the project (Something that guides them through a process rather than giving them a lot of links to get lost in.)

Much of this confusion has been fixed through a new wiki. They are getting there! But I still think that the way that they have all their information online shows that they are not keeping straight the three different groups of people for which they are providing resources:

Ignite Your Ideas With Social Proof

Once again I'm pushing my students to get social proof of their ideas. It's a simple principle: at each stage of development, circulate your thoughts to get feedback. When others show interest (or provide suggestions), then you start taking your own ideas seriously and have the fuel to invest more effort into what you are doing.

There are several different types of people one can seek out for social proof:

1. Homies
   People with whom you have close, friendly relations and would be willing to listen to anything you say just because of that relationship. 
2. Peers
1. Those you know who are in a comparable position (e.g., fellow students)
2. Those you do not know who are in a comparable position (e.g., others who are beginners with your topic also)
3. Enthusiasts
   Those that demonstrate a great interest in your topic, as manifest in content they have curated, events they have been part of, or efforts they have organized to serve that topic
4. Experts
   Credentialed people like scholars, scientists, or other professionals whose job it is to know that topic. Their expertise is evident in formal publications, degrees, or positions of authority.

(I describe these types of people in more detail in "Make Your Content Legit: Four Phases of Social Proof")

These types of people roughly correspond to three types of content or three different levels of development I've discussed previously:

Creativity and the Big Picture for New Media

We need to get the big picture for learning and using new media and feel their potential for bringing out the best in people through creativity and collaboration. This was the theme of our third class in Digital Culture today (Recordings of all class periods can be found here or via the recordings tab above).

To this end, I showed some examples of collaborative creativity. First, Eric Whitacre's virtual choir:


This project from 2009-10 was remarkable due to its manner of creation. First, Whitaker put his musical scores up on his blog for anyone to download: