The bigger the words, the more lists I was mentioned on with that exact phrase. Only exact matches count to determine the size of text. So mentions “graphic-facilitation” and “graphicfacilitation” will not combine to make a larger size.

In this version, I removed hyphens in the text, which led to a different variation. I think this one is more accurate than the one above.

Very excited that a piece I worked on with AllClearID has gone live. The video explains how thieves steal the identity of children in order to commit fraud. In fact, children are ideal targets of Identity theft, since they start out as blank slates that thieves can fill in with false information to take out huge fraudulent loans.

The Today show just did a piece on the problem, even tracking down and confronting alleged identity thieves. Compelling stuff!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

(Benefits of using pictures to plan projects)

Complete photoset from last night here)

It was my pleasure to give a mini-workshop for the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication last night. We focused on using pencil on paper drawing and diagraming techniques to plan projects. Each participant picked a project they were working on. Projects ranged from remodeling a Victorian house to creating documentation for a complex technical process.

The photo above shows benefits the participants found in using this approach.

A few resources:

Books:
Back of the Napkin
One of my favorites This may go into a little more detail than people want, but I actually loved how thorough it was. .

Gamestorming. This book is about using a game framework to get serious work done, and it has a great section on visual thinking, which is key to most of the the activities in the book.

The Mind Map Book. Full of useful methods for applying mind mapping to problem solving and communication. Bonus: lovely pictures! Warning: “relentlessly upbeat.”

Links to my work:

Professional site envizualize.com
Blog
jonny goldstein flickr stream
Twitter

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Related Organization

IFVP. The International Forum of Visual Practitioners. There are several of us in the Pittsburgh area. We may start having local meetings. The annual conference is fantastic. This year it’s in Hawaii!
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I am available to do more in depth workshops on using visual techniques to enhance communication and problem solving, so please feel free to get in touch if your organization is interested in learning how I can help people build this critical capacity.

When:May 12, 6:30 PM
What: If you want to get a taste of how you can plan projects easier and better by drawing pictures, join me in this mini workshop I am leading at the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication.

I just ran a similar mini-workshop at the Maryland Society for Educational Technology conference and people told me they loved it.

Price: It costs $15 for non-members, which goes to the organization.

Sign up here.

This is a sped up video of me creating large scale visual notes of a keynote at a recent conference. The speaker, Chris Lehmann talked about “School 2.0,” which, it turns out, draws heavily on what education pioneers have preached for over 100 years: let the students do things that matter. The event was the Maryland Society for Educational Technology 2011 conference. Chris Lehmann is a remarkable principal who guides a remarkable school in Philadelphia. Thanks to the Maryland Society for Educational Technology for asking me to be part of this event. To hear the full length audio with my visual notes, click here.

Here are three videos of me doing graphic recording of high school principal Chris Lehmann’s keynote address at the 2011 Maryland Society for Educational Technology conference. The first video is sped up, the other two videos are the first and second halves of Chris Lehmann’s keynote audio with the visual of me creating the notes as he talks. Thanks to super producer Scott Stead for shooting the video.

(Length 3:39)
This version is a sped up version of me doing large scale notes of Chris Lehmann’s “School 2.0″ keynote at the 2011 Marylyand Society for Educational Technology Conference.

Download Link.


(Length 26:45) Part 1 of Chris Lehmann’s MSET 2011 Keynote “School 2.0″ accompanied by Jonny Goldstein’s visual notes.
Download Link

(Length 27:33) Part 2 of Chris Lehmann’s MSET 2011 Keynote “School 2.0″ ccompanied by Jonny Goldstein’s visual notes.

Download Link.

It was my pleasure to create large scale visual notes at the 2011 Making Sparks event for the Sprout Fund. The event is designed to stimulate thinking and discussion to prepare people to apply for grants to develop projects “That engage children ages birth to 8 through the creative use of technology and media.” The theme for this round of Making Sparks: creativity.

First a series of speakers composed of experts and former grant recipients gave presentations about what makes for successful projects. Here are my visual notes from this part:

(click for a larger image)

And here are close ups of the visual notes for a few of the featured speakers.

Sarah Tambucci talked about the natural creativity of young children and how we hammer the creativity out of them as they get older. She pointed to several of her efforts to encourage the continued creativity of young people as they get older.

Drew Davidson, director of Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center talked about the power of STEAM education—science, techology, engineering, ART, and math. This adds a crucial letter “A” for art to the popular formulation of STEM education. He also talked about the importance of building the field of technology and media education field through various means, including a new project he is involved in called workingexamples.org

Dave English and Don Orkoskey are the awesome artists behind Schmutz Company. Among other things, they teach teachers how to do stop motion animation projects. They said their Spark grant helped them partner with organizations like the Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh JCC, and the Children’s museum to reach more people in the region.

Dr Alice Wilder, who was head of R&D and producer of Blue’s Clues, has gone on to create a series of successful projects to help children learn and grow. These projects include Think It Ink It Publishing and Speakaboos, Which are both geared toward developing literacy for children. She shared her insights into creating projects with a strong educational core that make the most of their media and are ripe for brand extension into other media. We got to chat a bit during break and she critiqued my drawing of Blue from Blue’s Clues. Great meeting you Alice!

Dave Edwards of Art Energy Design brings together art, engineering, and exploration to help children learn about mechanical concepts through building and exploring with the help of a grant from the Sprout Fund.

After the presenters gave their talks, the audience split up into groups to come up with ideas for projects to pitch to judges.

Here are the visual notes of the pitches and the feedback each proposal got.

The Sprout Fund staff closed by encouraging people to submit formal proposals for Super Spark grants within the month. Audience members were encouraged to be in touch with Sprout early and often as they prepare their proposals to get advice on creating winning pitches.

Thanks again to the Sprout Fund for tapping me to visually synthesize the ideas bouncing around the event. And now I can say I have played at Carnegie Hall (Carnegie Lecture Hall in Pittsburgh, that is, not the one in NYC).

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Convivial connections:

Big fish: met Gregg Behr, director of the Grable Foundation. The Grable Foundation is a major supporter of innovation to support early childhood development in the Pittsburgh region.

Up and coming: Nina Barbuto, founder of Assemble Pittsburgh. Nina is a young architect who has founded a community space in Garfield/Friendship called Assemble “… a place where one can engage their intrigue through hands on activities about art and technology.” Assemble is right around the corner from where I live, so I will be over there often.