I’m talking about intellectual diversity: the ways in which MCDM students and faculty approach and solve problems, skills and abilities applied in novel and meaningful ways, and outcomes that far exceed my admittedly high expectations. The student work from Fall 2011′s COM 546 Foundations course - Narratives & Networks in Digital Media – exemplifies both the challenges and the opportunities that true diversity can provide.

Course Background

As a foundational course to the MCDM program, Narratives & Networks in Digital Media had the unique position of orienting Cohort 11 students both to the theory and also the application of many elements they will encounter in the program. Taking a bit of their own advice, this course was newly revamped for 2011, and co-taught by MCDM Director Hanson Hosein and Dr. Malcolm Parks. The result for this first incarnation? Engaging discussions, relevant lectures and guest-speakers, and tangible takeaways for professionals and creatives, alike.

Students in this course witnessed the rise of the Occupy movement, the start of the upcoming nomination and election season, and the death of Steve Jobs. Meanwhile, they engaged with new tools and platforms, tried valiantly to “publish then filter,” and were brought together in new and sometimes challenging ways. Students were exposed to basic principles of digital media, and become comfortable with the central tenet of the MCDM: to effect trusted and persuasive communication, professionals need to develop a compelling narrative tied to strategic network engagement.

With this post, we would like to share some of their work, some of the process, and some of the core philosophies of the MCDM program.

Binaries

Human beings are wired for a binary world – but not the digital binary of 0s and 1s. Rather, as humans move through their world, they inherently seek out and identify similarities and differences with the people, places, and ideas they encounter. This identification process helps us to navigate the tricky waters of modern existence by leveraging our past experiences. While this process has become an evolutionary necessity, it can also keep us from broadening our horizons and hinder our development.

In the wild – or the wilds of the workplace – being able to quickly identify something, reference it against our experience, and decide a course of action is a matter of survival. In the classroom, however, facing these tensions head-on can mean the difference between going through the motions or finding a breakthrough moment. This course was designed to leverage this human tendency to both expose students to new views on topics they were familiar with while simultaneously including topics and tools they hadn’t seen before.

As with much of the MCDM, students were given a chance to apply these new experiences in both individual and group settings.

Go Team!

In this course, students were allowed to choose a topic that resonated with them for the individual assignments. This resulted in people pursuing topics they were passionate about – but left the instructional team with a significant challenge when it came to group work: How to go about creating groups that will have enough tension to thoroughly explore an issue, but retain enough cohesion to complete the assignment?

Group work is rarely easy – yet it has become a fixture of our modern lives. This “team” mentality abounds at the workplace and at home, but despite its prevalence, the challenges remain. Learning to work together – especially when there are significant differences amongst group members – is essential. These classroom experiences offer students a chance to take risks in the name of education, where the consequences are minimized and the feedback and engagement is maximized. They are actively encouraged to try things outside of their comfort zone, both individually and in groups.

The only caveat: if you fail, fail forward.

Applied Examination

For the group assignment, students were tasked with creating:

[a] ten-minute class group presentation that gets to the heart of your story strategy, and how you engaged networked community to spread the word. This presentation should ideally incorporate a short, sharable piece of multimedia content (visual or audible) that can serve as a demonstrable artifact for your overall project. You’ll also include examples from your blogs, strategy papers, and class content. You’ll be subject to a 10-20 minute class Q&A and discussion.

Not only would students need to address their own individual applications of the principles of digital media, but they would have to create a set of packaged, compelling, cross-project narratives exploring these issues more deeply. This is truly a difficult challenge, requiring students bring to bear not only the tools and techniques they had been exposed to over the course of the quarter, but also their own experiences, talents, and skills to approach this multi-faceted problem.

Group Selection

The formation of class groups is always a challenge for the instructor. On the one hand, do you simply let the students choose their own group, and let them live with their own choices? Or, should group selection be seen as a chance to encourage students to engage with new viewpoints, individuals, and challenges that they may not choose for themselves?

In this case, I was tasked with forming the groups. Each student had submitted a one paragraph description of their Action Idea – the central narrative thread the compels both their strategy and their content. I had a good sense of who each of the 48 students were, how they interacted, and had seen some of their work product.

The real challenge was creating consistent group sizes while knowing that student’s individual topics were set. On top of that, I wanted to create opportunities for students to work with some new ideas and new peers – i.e. not the people they sat next to every week in class. Diversity amongst group members – again, talking about intellectual diversity as well – was key. Instead of creating a group that would essentially say the same thing four different ways, I worked to form groups whose overarching themes may not be so readily apparent. While I knew that the students were capable, I was pleasantly surprised with the final products.

Outcomes

The “Family” group featured one student sharing her grandmother’s photos, memories, and thoughts on a blog called Upload Your Grandma. Another student was exploring life as a 20-something who had moved back home after college.  Yet others found themselves facing challenges as a modern-day father, a mother to her children and caretaker to her parents, and one living in “the real modern family.” These individual narratives combined to paint a very compelling picture of what it means to be a part of a family today.

Featuring one blog about eating gluten-free in Seattle, one about learning to cook, one featuring the MilkBread Monster, and one about bees, the “Conscientious Consumption” team put together a great take on what, how, and why we eat – or don’t – in America today:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Another group of students combined nature, boxing, robots, and collaboration to help expose kids to leadership opportunities:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Yet another group leveraged their diverse backgrounds and topics to tackle Taboo Conversations:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Moving Forward

Through a combination of theory and practice, familiar and new, individual and collective, MCDM students find new and exciting ways to see their world, tell the stories they find compelling, and build and grow the communities that will make a difference for us all. Just as our students continue to grow and evolve, so does the program. If you have any questions about the MCDM program, please don’t hesitate to reach out  by email, on Twitter, on Facebook, or by phone at (206)-543-6745.

Related Posts

• April 21, 2011 -- Greg Mortenson and Leadership Narrative Lies (12)
• December 20, 2011 -- The Power of People and Story (1)
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• April 13, 2011 -- Make The Change (1)
• September 21, 2010 -- Going Epic regarding the Future We Make (4)

Over the last year, our content output has grown from an average of two to three posts a week to an average of five posts a week. At the same time, we have also pushed the quality of our posts with deeper analysis and a broader reach of topics. Our daily average readership has doubled since last December. We believe we’ve found a winning formula in consistant postings combined with solid journalistic values. We have also instituted a few regular Flip features including the Viral Video of the Week and the Flip Infographic. We plan to continue these features and augment them with other regular features for 2012.  2011 marked the year that Flip the Media also introduced the student editor position which is currently being shared by Jonathan Cunningham and Daniel Thornton. We have also increased our contributor base with more people (in and out of the MCDM) providing posts. We look forward to having even more contributors in 2012 and having more posts coming from outside of the MCDM.

Looking back at 2011 here are the top ten Flip stories that received the most attention:

The Arab Revolution and Social Media

In this post, Liz Hunter was out in front of the growing Arab Spring story and the role social media played in the uprisings.  Liz’ analysis takes a critical look at the role of Facebook and Twitter in the uprisings just as Hosni Mubarak was swept  from power by the protestors in Tahrir Square.

Why HTML 5 will Kill or Seriously Injure Mobile App Stores

Karen Wilken weighs in on the role that HTML 5 will have in the future of the web and mobile. This post was picked up by a blogger at Forbes and that drove the readership numbers through the roof.

Is the Facebook Phenomenon Planking Actually Racist?

Planking wasn’t necessarily new in 2011, but the marriage of mobile cameras and social media has reached a point where phenomenons like planking can outpace notions of virality which were defined at one time by flash mobs and youtube. Is there a dark side to planking that harkens back to the colonial slave trade? It became a hot topic this summer and Flip Editor Jonathan Cunningham was on it.

Why Netflix Is Moving Our Cheese

The biggest business and media story this year was the missteps Netflix made when they tried to spin off its DVD mail distribution arm this Summer. Sean Wang was there to look at the Netflix story and see what the fallout was.

Behind the Photograph:  What is the White House Situation Room?

One of the biggest political stories of the decade was the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. That hunt dramatically ended this past spring and a single photo from that event prompted a fascinating degree of speculation about what happened during the operation that ended one of the world’s longest fugitive hunts. MCDM student and former Assistant Director of the White House Situation Room Brian Sollum provided the Flip with a behind the scenes look at that iconic room.

The Digital Ethics of Weinergate

Combining partisan politics, cell phone cameras, twitter and speedos, Anthony Weiner managed to hit for the digital media cycle this year with his bizarre and troublesome twitter antics.  Brook Ellingwood took a look at the ethical implications behind the story.

Netflix Moves Fast, but at What Price?

In the aftermath of the Netlfix meltdown, Brook Ellingwood sifts through the ashes of Reed Hasting’s once spotless reputation and comes away with a cautionary tale of hubris, imprudence and customer insensitivity.  Budding CEOs take note.

+1 Takes on New Meaning with the Launch of Google Plus

The biggest tech flop of the year might have been created by the hype surrounding Google +. While the ultimate success of Google’s foray into social remains to be seen, the MCDM’s own Kathy Gill gave the Flip an early look under the hood at Google+ and provided some must-read early analysis.

Occupy Seattle Takes Another Step

Just as the Arab Spring took nearly everyone by surprise, the Occupy movement that sprung up this fall was a fascinating development in a highly charged post-meltdown political landscape.  Flip Editor Dan Thornton went down to Westlake Park in Seattle to investigate.

Doodling: an antidote to digital distraction

Flip the Media is an excellent source for information about developing technology products and platforms. Cheryl Lowry takes the age old notion of doodling and puts it through its brainstorming paces in its newest “Sketchnote” form.

2012 promises to be an even better year at the Flip with a new design (see a version of our new logo from Therese Stone above) and more flexible back–end content management interface that will allow us to expand our regular content features and experiment with new formatting. This technological change will suport our continuing mission to provide thoughtful and informative content for our readers and an innovative and experimental platform for our student–journalists and editors.

Thank you to all of our contributers, advisors, editors and readers. From all of us at Flip the Media, we wish you a healthy, prosperous and peaceful new year.

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The holidays are upon us and this time of year reminds me of family—the importance of family, and the importance of being with family.

Growing up, my family always had at least one holiday where everyone–aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, even the pets–were physically together. We all lived in the same state, so it was easier to get together.

It’s not like that now. Today, we are much more spread out. I have family in different time zones, different states, and even different countries. We are lucky if we see each other once a year.

As a new mom, I sometimes think it is sad that my son (who just turned 1) will likely never share these same family reunion experiences—the ones where all his aunts and grandparents pinch his cheeks while simultaneously arguing about who he looks like and telling the same three tired old stories which, for some reason, still make them all laugh.

I find some solace in the fact that technology allows us to spend more time together as a family (despite being spread around the world) than we ever did when I was a kid. Maybe this is because the distance makes us more intentional. Maybe it is because technology has made it easier to stay in touch.

Today, we don’t have to wait until there is a big gathering to “see” each other. No longer do we have to worry about long distance bills or waiting for the mail to arrive with news from family.  We don’t even have to wait for family gossip–everything is already on Facebook. This allows our conversations to go more than surface deep because we really know each other. We don’t have to ask, “ what have you been up to?” or “how is school going?” We already know these answers.

Our ability to communicate with those close to us has grown exponentially in the last decade, especially with the proliferation of mobile technology and by all indications this trend is growing.  According to a 2011 survey by the Pew Research Center 35 percent of American adults have some sort of “smart” mobile device and more than 40% of adults have a cell phone and the marriage of mobile with video, social media and the web is what has made these new opportunities possible.

I often say that if it weren’t for technology, my husband and I would not be married. I am from the U.S. He is from Colombia. We met in Argentina. We were in the same city in Argentina for a relatively short period of time, so the majority of our courtship happened through computers. It began with e-mail, then progressed to instant messaging and culminated with skype. We were in long-distance love at the perfect time. As our relationship grew from interested, to excited, to in love, technology allowed us to move “closer” even though we were still countries apart.

Like any new young couple, we would spend hours “talking” to each other without saying anything in particular. We were doing what all couples do early-on.  We were getting to know each other and it was exciting. As long as we had an internet connection it was also free, which allowed us to spend this time together without worrying about the cost.

Now, thanks to this technology, as long as we have the Internet, we can all be together. It is not uncommon for our families to eat meals “together”, each joining in from their respective corner of the world. This happens at least once a week. Sometimes it is formal, we set a date and a time—like on Christmas—and literally “sit down” together at our respective tables. Other days, it just happens naturally. Those of us with kids are in the same time zone and often eat about the same time, which us usually the same time those in Colombia who don’t have small kids are sitting down for dinner.

For those who want to stay connected with their families long distance, here are some of my favorite tools to keep in touch for free:

• Skype –We use this to video chat with friends and family around the world at home or on the go (works with 3G).
• WhatsApp- When we need to send a quick message to someone in another country, this application allows us to get in touch with others without having to have a 10 minute conversation.
• Facetime—we use Facetime the same way we use skype, except it’s use is limited to friends and family with iphones, iPads or Mac computers.

While technology is great for helping us stay connected to our friends and family that live far away, I can’t help but wonder if it is simultaneously eroding relationships that are closer to us physically. Some studies have found that increased convenience in communication is in fact reducing socialization and weakening bonds.

I know I am guilty of using and sometimes abusing the conveniences of technology in place of face-to-face meetings.  How many times do I choose to call someone instead of taking the time to stop in for a visit because it is “easier”?  How many times do I send a text instead of responding to a phone call because I just don’t feel like having that conversation right now? I have even been known to chat with people who are in the same building instead of getting up and going over to physically talk to them. Technology is a tool. It is not inherently good, nor is it inherently bad. It is what we make it. For me, it is both the glue that keeps my geographically dispersed family together while simultaneously being the water that erodes the bonds I have with those who are physically closer to me.

photos from Heidi Isaza

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• November 9, 2010 -- Windows Phone 7: Could Mobile Gaming Be Microsoft’s Ticket? (21)

Click here to view the embedded video.

This past summer I got to do some deep hanging out with folks from Brazil and the Puyallup Tribe as we canoed up the Puget Sound. The encounter grew out of a of conversation that occurred nearly one year ago at the home of Geralda Soares in Araçuaí, Brazil. I was to there to help with the FLIP Brazil: Documentary Filmmaking, Human Rights and Global Activism program. Led by Professors Angelica Macklin, Margaret Griesse and Jonathan Warren the program is jointly sponsored by the University of Washington’s Comparative History of Ideas Program, The Latin American Studies Program in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies and the Master of Communication in Digital Media (MDCM) program.  The FLIP Brazil program is grounded in the work that Jonathan Warren has been doing for over 20 years and is chronicled in his book, “Racial Revolutions: Antiracism and Indian Resurgence in Brazil.”

I sat around the table with Ivan, Geralda, Jonathan, Angelica, Margaret, Matthew Franco, and Jaquelina Pinheiro Neiva.  Ivan (Chief of the Pankararú indigenous people of Brazil) was telling the tale of how his people have worked to reclaim their land and are now in the process of re-awakening their canoe traditions.

They live near the nexus of two rivers and were known as canoe people until they were driven from their land around 1850. Upon hearing this story and because I had my laptop ready at hand, I pulled up the movie that I had made with the Hoh River Nation documenting the 2002 canoe paddle to Quinault : “Tribal Journey: Celebrating our Ancestors.”  These tribal journeys are part of a series of inter-tribal cultural exchanges reaffirming and re-awakening the canoe cultures of the Northwest coast. The film portrays the celebration of ancestors through the journey of the canoes; along with the art, dance and songs of the participating tribes; through the preparation and sharing of meals and through the celebration of the potlatch (gift giving ceremony).

Click here to view the embedded video.

After watching the film, the conversation turned when I said, “hey, you should come up to the Northwest and do some deep hanging out through participation in an upcoming paddle.” Ivan then said, “OK, make it happen.” We all looked at each other and said “let’s do it. So with a little help from our friends, we did. Jonathan Warren adds:

“The impetus for the trip had several origins. First, I have always believed that the best way to advance indigenous movements in the Americas is to forge intertribal linkages within and across national boundaries. So for some years I had been hoping to at last link those communities that I have partnered with in Brazil with those in the Puget Sound. Secondly, the Indians in Brazil have always been very anxious to make connections with indigenous communities in the US – I believe for many of the same reasons that I have had, including the belief that such connections will further the indigenous movement in Brazil and elsewhere. So we’ve been searching for ways to make these connections – something that is more difficult than what you might imagine. Thanks to your previous experiences with the NW canoe journey, that sparked the idea of making the connection through that annual ceremony.”

Along with the folks sitting around the table we’d like to thank Suzanne Martin, Carla Simone Barbosa de Brito, Connie McCloud and several members of the Puyallup, Pankararú and Pataxó  communities.  Thanks also go to University of Washington’s Diversity Research Institute, Office of Minority Affairs & Diversity, School of Social Work, Clowes Center, Center for Northwest Studies, and the Master of Communication in Digital Media program for helping to support this encounter.

We also wish to express our deep gratitude for the care that the Puyallup canoe family took in hosting our friends from Brazil.

May the sound of your drums continue to touch the sound-boxes of our souls as the rhythms and ripples of your canoes chart a better humanity for us all.

Most Commented Posts

• November 21, 2008 -- Crowdsourcing: Name the New MCDM Center! (37)
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• November 9, 2010 -- Windows Phone 7: Could Mobile Gaming Be Microsoft’s Ticket? (21)

I am not brave.

People have said that I am, but I’m not. I am surviving cancer the only way I know how – by leaning on others. When I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic lymphoma I had a secure job, health insurance and an arsenal of family and friends ready to step in with anything I might need. Mine has not always been a graceful journey, but it is one I shared with the family, friends and people I don’t even know who have reached out to carry me in my moments of weakness.

Whether you are my parents, who paid for $8000 in fertility treatments to ensure I could have kids someday, my boyfriend who held me during more than one emotional meltdown, or someone who is taking a moment to read my blog and listen, you have had a hand in my survival. I am alive today because of you.

As I near the end of my treatment, I would like to help those who are not as lucky I am by establishing a new non-profit for cancer patients age 18-30. And MCDM community, this is where I need your help.

Being in your 20′s and having cancer comes with its own special challenges. Many of us have just recently moved out on our own, but might not be too financially stable yet. If we are employed, we may not have a plush salary or cushy benefits. We are less likely to have health insurance.

But besides the financial burden that cancer brings, I believe cancer takes a unique emotional toll on young adults as well. When I was diagnosed with cancer I was in graduate school and aggressively chasing my career goals. I hoped to soon get married and eventually have children. But cancer halted all of these dreams. I have watched my friends get promoted at work, plan weddings and stay out late dining and drinking with other 20-somethings while I was in chemotherapy, having blood transfusions and watching my hair fall out.

There’s no good time to have cancer. But as a young adult, this disease is especially challenging. So my non-profit organization will support newly-diagnosed cancer patients from age 18 to 30.

The idea comes from an incredible organization founded in my own neighborhood of West Seattle - Northwest Hope & Healing. This group provides “healing baskets” filled with comforting items to newly-diagnosed breast cancer patients as well as non-medical financial aid to those struggling under the burden of medical costs. I know from personal experience how crucial both kinds of support can be when you are facing a cancer diagnosis and I believe that developing a similar organization under the guidance of Northwest Hope & Healing could greatly serve young adults with cancer.

But I need help! Right now this nameless organization is sorely in need of a marketing guru, someone to create a promotional video, legal advice, a web designer and anyone who has an idea for fundraising or collecting in-kind donations.

Maybe because you’ve offered it in the past, or simply because you will listen, I am asking you to help me help others who will be facing those terrifying words “you have cancer” when they should be starting their careers, their families, their lives.

Because cancer would be unbearable if it were not for people like you.

I am hosting a meeting for those who want to get involved on Sunday, November 27. If you are interested, please email me.

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I’ve got a lot of beef with the most recent social media vengeance story currently making the Internet rounds. On Friday night, according to Cha Cha/Bimbo’s waitress Victoria Liss, a customer ordered $28.98 worth of food and beverages, didn’t tip, and scrawled “you could stand to lose a few pounds,” on the bottom of the credit card receipt.

Really?

First and foremost, my sympathy lies with Liss, a woman working to earn her keep at a busy and crowded Capitol Hill establishment who undoubtedly deals with a slew of moderately-to-severely annoying customers daily. Over the past two years, at my own bar, I’ve been stiffed, mocked, smirked at, and ignored—but her insult was extremely personal, and regardless the quality of her service to this couple, it was cruel and unwarranted.  Furthermore, it was a sexist slight, perpetrated by a man who lives in a society in which women are scrutinized in every aspect of their lives by how they look.

Which leads me to this point—and my fellow bartender AJ put it best—her social media tirade should not be seen as a lesson in how to tip properly, but a genuine call to reality that in the age of social media, you can and will be held accountable for your actions. Liss shared that image on her Facebook on Saturday and by Monday the national Gawker blog Jezebel was calling out Seattle’s own culture commenter Dan Savage to “enter the fray.” He did, along with at least a dozen other local and national blogs.

When Sarah Palin’s daughter Willow made homophobic remarks on Facebook, the world took notice. In August of this year, an accused rapist saw his bail increased by $200,000 when incriminating Facebook comments were discovered by the victim’s father and brought in as evidence. Even before the damning repercussions of offensive Facebook comments, Clay Shirkey wrote about a woman who retrieved her stolen T-Mobile Sidekick by utilizing early social media to track down the thieves. In short, if you have a social media presence at all, anywhere on the Internet, and you decide to be a jerk (or worse), your odds of being caught are increased. This is generally a good thing.

The Bimbo’s case brings up some ethical issues involving social media, however. Some of the comments on Dan Savage’s Slog post (SLOG is the blog of the Seattle weekly The Stranger) question whether this was a case of the bullied becoming the bully. Is using his credit card to search for his public profile a breach of privacy? And, frankly, with a name like Andrew Meyer, how many perfectly well-behaved Andrew Meyers out there are suffering from the severe ire of an enormous Internet and neighborhood community out for blood? Where do we draw the line between “community action” and mob mentality?

Regardless, we can all learn a lesson from this instance—treat your bartenders, servers, and fellow human beings with courtesy, kindness, and respect, both in person and online, and you will probably escape the wrath of the Internet. Except if your name is Andrew Meyer, in which case, on behalf of many happy bartenders, I apologize, unless you are the person who left that note, in which I say, for your own sake, keep off the Hill.

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Qwiki has opened its alpha release to the public since January. With its stated objective to “deliver information in a format that’s quintessentially human – via storytelling instead of search”, Qwiki has generated great interest, even hyped by media as the “next Google.”

Qwiki turns text based search into a multimedia experience that is similar to combining search results of Google, YouTube and Wikipedia all on the same page. Test drives show Qwiki is more interesting than practical at this point, although it holds great promises in areas that perhaps wasn’t initially intended.

Here are two reasons Qwiki will not replace Google:

• First, Qwiki is indexed to words, not sentences, which is its greatest limitation to replace search. From its inception, it is suited for only a subset of subjects. This is the same way that Wikipedia has been so successful yet never a threat to Google.
• Second, while multimedia is great for those who seek the story, the format severely limits the amount of information presented on the screen. Video and voice is inherently time consuming, they are great for interaction, entertainment, education and illustration. But they are inefficient as carriers of raw information.

Google’s strength is still with the simplicity and efficiency of text, as it can transmit and present the most information on the least screen for the searcher to choose from. Google is not always correct, but it doesn’t need to be. Users provide their own intelligence. Qwiki, on the other hand, attempts to digest and select information, and “tell the story” with sound and video. Therefore it is a much more difficult task to present the “right” information to the audience. For example, the word “Washington” could have different meanings. Qwiki has done a better job with its search prompt feature, which displays multiple items as user types, thus allowing the audience to participate in the selection. As shown, the word “Amazon” brought up a number of different subjects.

Qwiki as a search tool is elementary at best, its multimedia style of presentation is more pretty than it is useful for in-depth information. But Qwiki has its shining places.

It is naturally suited for people and places, as well as entertainment, scientific and educational subjects.

Its social media potential is also promising, as it can be the hub of a particular subject, which extends to conversation between interested parties. Qwiki also said that it will provide a service later this year that allows people to merge their Facebook and LinkedIn data, along with other online content, into a personal “Qwiki”.

Qwiki has almost instant commercial value due to its word based categorization. For example, companies will use Qwiki as a great PR outlet, cities can promote tourism, and new film launches will find its multimedia format a natural fit.

Qwiki is not the future of search, but it may be among the new contenders in online media to watch for.

Most Commented Posts

• November 21, 2008 -- Crowdsourcing: Name the New MCDM Center! (37)
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Picture your last meeting or classroom experience: was everyone staring at a digital device? Despite the wishful demand for multitasking skills found in most job descriptions, none of us are actually that good at it.  There’s been a lot of media focus on the cognitive cost of digital distractions, but we don’t need another web article to tell us that checking Tweetdeck at work or in class makes it harder to pay attention.

The visual thinking movement has an antidote for the problem of digital distraction, but it may require you to set aside your iPad and pick up a pen. Sketchnotes are handwritten notes that use simple visual cues —doodles, lines, and labels—  to capture and organize information. As you’ll learn from this Sketchnotes 101 presentation from SXSW 2010, you don’t have to be an artist to practice visual notetaking. All you need to know how to draw are the 6 fundamentals: letters, connectors, bullets, shadows, frames, and stick people. Sketchnote Army, an online community of visual notetakers, has many examples of how to use these fundamentals to take notes if you’re looking for inspiration on how to get started.

Although some of us were probably busted for doodling back in grade school (and may be understandably nervous about trying it now in business or classroom settings), cognitive science supports the value of pairing images with learning. Gamestorming author and visual notetaker Sunni Brown says that sketchnotes greatly improve recall of information because people are primarily visual; in fact 75% of the neurons in our cerebral cortex are dedicated to processing visual information. The studies she cites conclude that the more visual an input is, the more likely we are to recall it. The focus required to take effective sketchnotes also helps us to develop listening skills, an ability atrophied by all the digital distractions competing for the scarce resource of our attention.

Sunni Brown is a professional “graphic recorder”, which is large-scale sketchnoting done in meeting settings to visually capture the collective output of group sessions. Her blog provides fascinating examples of and research about the sketchnoting craft. Mike Rohde and Austin Kleon are also influential sketchnoters who use creative handwritten lettering, simple pictures, and basic lines and connectors to make art from information.

Other sketchnote resources include Dan Roam’s Back of the Napkin (a great resource for understanding how to use sketches to solve business problems), user experience designer Eva-Lotta Lamm’s Web Expo 2010 presentation on getting started as a sketchnoter, and the Ed Emberley drawing book and childhood classic Make a World, which has been teaching kids (and everyone else) how to draw anything using lines, circles, and scribbles for over 40 years.

And for those of you who want to try it but just can’t put down the digital device, you can sketchnote with an iPad too. (Just don’t check Tweetdeck while you’re doing it.)

The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) sponsors talks by leading intellectuals and uses a sketchnote strategy to “animate” these talks and shares them online.  They are awesome examples of how sketchnotes can work in real-time.

Here is an RSA animate video from Mathew Taylor:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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