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2: Creative Translation - related posts External Voices In Process

Creative diagramming

Creative diagramming

GAMEChange diagrams

Bono, E. D., (1982) de Bono’s Thinking Course, London: BBC Books.
Buzan, T., (2002) How to Mind Map, London: Thorsons.

!! This is a topic I had originally intended to look at in detail. Now planned for future.

  • GAMEChange pictorial diagrams
  • Mapping techniques: systems maps, concept maps, mind maps etc.
  • Digital diagramming software eg Mindjet Manager (business and strategic planning oriented), Inspiration (for essay design and education), InDesign and Illustrator
  • Freehand and sketchnoting

GAMEChange Pictorial Diagrams

The pictorial diagrams I had developed for analysis and planning with people in communities are based on a number of basic diagram types:

  • change journeys over time
  • trees to analyse issue components
  • maps to examine interrelationships
  • diamonds to develop differentiated hierarchies of criteria for assessing eg empowerment/disempowerment.

Each diagram uses systems of line, shape and colour differentiation, spatial placement etc to convey more complex information, together with the use of drawings and symbols – some of which are ‘individual parole’ symbols, and some of which are more widely acceptable common ‘langue elements. Some diagram examples used in the community research here are shown on the right. Further details are on my professional website:

Systems thinking and disruptive design

Systems thinking is a holistic approach to analysis that focuses on the way that a system’s constituent parts interrelate and how systems work over time and within the context of larger systems. The systems thinking approach contrasts with traditional analysis, which studies systems by breaking them down into their separate elements. Systems thinking can be used in any area of research and has been applied to the study of medical, environmental, political, economic, human resources, and educational systems, among many others.

Systems thinking originated in 1956, when Professor Jay Forrester founded the Systems Dynamic Group at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

According to systems thinking, system behavior results from the effects of reinforcing and balancing processes. A reinforcing process leads to the increase of some system component. If reinforcement is unchecked by a balancing process, it eventually leads to collapse. A balancing process is one that tends to maintain equilibrium in a particular system.

Attention to feedback is an essential component of system thinking. For example, in project management, prevailing wisdom may prescribe the addition of workers to a project that is lagging. However, in practice, that tactic might have actually slowed development in the past. Attention to that relevant feedback can allow management to look for other solutions rather than wasting resources on an approach that has been demonstrated to be counterproductive.

Systems thinking uses computer simulation and a variety of diagrams and graphs to model, illustrate, and predict system behavior. Among the systems thinking tools are: the behavior over time (BOT) graph, which indicates the actions of one or more variables over a period of time; the causal loop diagram (CLD), which illustrates the relationships between system elements; the management flight simulator, which uses an interactive program to simulate the effects of management decisions; and the simulation model, which simulates the interaction of system elements over time.

Systems theory is the interdisciplinary study of systems. A system is a cohesive conglomeration of interrelated and interdependent parts that is either natural or man-made. Every system is delineated by its spatial and temporal boundaries, surrounded and influenced by its environment, described by its structure and purpose or nature and expressed in its functioning. In terms of its effects, a system can be more than the sum of its parts if it expresses synergy or emergent behavior. Changing one part of the system usually affects other parts and the whole system, with predictable patterns of behavior. For systems that are self-learning and self-adapting, the positive growth and adaptation depend upon how well the system is adjusted with its environment. Some systems function mainly to support other systems by aiding in the maintenance of the other system to prevent failure. The goal of systems theory is systematically discovering a system’s dynamics, constraints, conditions and elucidating principles (purpose, measure, methods, tools, etc.) that can be discerned and applied to systems at every level of nesting, and in every field for achieving optimized equifinality.

General systems theory is about broadly applicable concepts and principles, as opposed to concepts and principles applicable to one domain of knowledge. It distinguishes dynamic or active systems from static or passive systems. Active systems are activity structures or components that interact in behaviours and processes. Passive systems are structures and components that are being processed. E.g. a program is passive when it is a disc file and active when it runs in memory. The field is related to systems thinkingmachine logic and systems engineering.

Key concepts
  • System: An organized entity made up of interrelated and interdependent parts.
  • Boundaries: Barriers that define a system and distinguish it from other systems in the environment.
  • Homeostasis: The tendency of a system to be resilient towards external factors and maintain its key characteristics.
  • Adaptation: The tendency of a self-adapting system to make the internal changes needed to protect itself and keep fulfilling its purpose.
  • Reciprocal Transactions: Circular or cyclical interactions that systems engage in such that they influence one another.
  • Feedback Loop: The process by which systems self-correct based on reactions from other systems in the environment.
  • Throughput: Rate of energy transfer between the system and its environment during the time it is functioning.
  • Microsystem: The system closest to the client.
  • Mesosystem: Relationships among the systems in an environment.
  • Exosystem: A relationship between two systems that has an indirect effect on a third system.
  • Macrosystem: A larger system that influences clients, such as policies, administration of entitlement programs, and culture.
  • Chronosystem: A system composed of significant life events that can affect adaptation.

Systems thinking and practice Open University 2019 Free course What is systems thinking and practice? The essence of systems thinking and practice is in ‘seeing’ the world in a particular way, because how you ‘see’ things affects the way you approach situations or undertake specific tasks. This free course will help you to learn about the problems of defining a system and meet some of the key concepts used in systems theory: boundary, environment, positive and negative feedback, etc.

Disruptive Design course

Bono, E. D., (1982) de Bono’s Thinking Course, London: BBC Books.
Buzan, T., (2002) How to Mind Map, London: Thorsons.
Stroh, D. P., (2015) Systems Thinking for Social Change, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing.

Search to Go definition:

Digital Diagramming

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2: Creative Translation - related posts 3: Contemporary Animation Inspiration - related posts In Process Inspiration: global animation cultures

Global Inspiration: India

Animation in Hindi about the behefits of womem gettingva loan to buy a cow. Hanna Barbara productions.nwholecseries of Meena stories. Meena’s oarehts are un debt and her father says she will havevto be taken outbif school. They gobtobthe jarket to get a loan from a shopkeeper. Meena notices thaf thecshopkeeoer has put the loan for 18 years and not 8 years – cheating her father outbif a lot of money. Hecsays he wants her to carrybon a5 school. Her teachers suggesr they get a loan and buy a cow. And everything ends happily. Meena gets a bike.
An8mation witg English text about eatly marriage,
Animatuon in English about benefits of wonen getting loans and tra8n’bg gor handicrafts.
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2: Creative Translation - related posts External Voices In Process

External Voices: empowerment animations

Women’s empowerment

Animations

You Tube and Google searches on ‘women’s empowerment animations’ and ‘gender equality animations. Some of the You Tube viewer comments are also quite revealing – and shocking.

Amusing short textless animation for Social Europe about the inequalities in recognition of skills between women and men.
An overview for Trocaire of meanings and patterns of women’s participation and empowerment in DRC, Nicaragua and India. Shows variety between cultures. Argues we must address underlying inequalities between all women and all men, and between citizens and states. Voiceover and text are both in English, and seems to be aimed more at promotion to donor publics, rather than women in communities on the ground.
A comparison of the lives of two girls: Maritas who is the daughter of a teacher and gets secondary education and sex education and trains as a doctor. She is able to plan family and contribute to family and community. Cristina is from a poor family, her mother dies in childbirth, her father remarries and she is married off at 13 to a man three times her age. She contracts HIV and has a series of unplanned children. Argues Cristina should have had the chance to decide. Voiceover and text with supporting statistics and arguments in English.
Video for Pacific Community on causes of domestic violence in sex differences and stereotypes that are internalised by girls and boys from being very young, then translated into low pay and work opportunities reinforcing men’s feeling of power, leading then to violence. This is reinforced by the attitudes of church and police. Voiceover and simple text in English.
A Sketchnote cartoon by USAID. Apart from You Tube and USAID, it is not clear who the audience is.
Thinking Beyond Borders: India and US published May 2012
Through questions and stories from around the world, Thinking Beyond Borders gap year students examine the meaning of empowerment and it’s potential to create social impact.
Animation in Hindi about the behefits of womem gettingva loan to buy a cow. Hanna Barbara productions.nwholecseries of Meena stories. Meena’s oarehts are un debt and her father says she will havevto be taken outbif school. They gobtobthe jarket to get a loan from a shopkeeper. Meena notices thaf thecshopkeeoer has put the loan for 18 years and not 8 years – cheating her father outbif a lot of money. Hecsays he wants her to carrybon a5 school. Her teachers suggesr they get a loan and buy a cow. And everything ends happily. Meena gets a bike.
About UN commitment to increasing women’s agency to control her life. Argues that the way to address global poverty is to empowerment women. All in English with lots of text. Promotion of a Christian training programme called ‘Imagine’, Empowerment Workshop.
An8mation witg English text about eatly marriage,
Cartoon with animated English text, about global gender stereotypes in education and professions. By PowToons.
More artistic treatments for video competitions etc.
Artistic Sand Art on women’s empowerment.
Artistic cartoon about gender discrimination. Lots of simple animated English text and English voice over but interesting art style. For an Indian movie competition.
This has nice very simple white on black drawing. More arty than detailed concept. By Arcsoft Animation, India?
Artistic cartoon about gender and caste discrimination, with critique of Mahatma Gandhi’s attitudes to caste at the end. Driven by lots of paragraphs of animated English text and English voice over, symbols just illustrating this text. Created with PowToon for an Indian movie competition.
Cartoon of apparently random drawings of different aspects of women’s position as a card for International Women’s Day.
Animation in English about benefits of women getting loans and training for handicrafts.

Violence Against Women

Training for development staff

https://beamexchange.org/market-systems/video/

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2: Creative Translation - related posts External Voices In Process Theory Posts

Creative Process

Twyla Tharp.

slowmotion multitasking
think of random words
De bono. 1) generation of x alternatives visual/narrative 2) selection of alternatives: positive negartive thoughts questions 3)challenging big picture assumptions -what are your undeerlying assumptions? Are they correct? What if they were different? 4)Provocation: bringing something new into the mix, and adapting to it. Random juxtaposition.
a bit ott. But importance of emptying bthe mind and switching off eg through play.
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2: Creative Translation - related posts External Voices In Process

WordPress interactivity embed options

Concept maps from iThoughts

Concept maps in jpg or png are often not legible.

Interactive concept maps from iThoughts lose their interactivity (see below).

The most workable solution is to use pdf from InDesign for legible text with with simple hyperlinks, and embed using Pdf Embedder plug-in – assuming this continues to work. After communication with the Plug-in Developer I was able to style this to show in full wide in-line as I wished (though it subsequently got screwed up by Workdpress and had to be reformatted again).

Animations from Adobe Animate

Click on the image to bring up the interactive animation file and then click on the text.
Based on my notes from: Davis, M., (2012) Graphic Design Theory, London: Thames and Hudson.

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smugmug

Click on the image to bring up the interactive animation file and then click on the text.
Based on my notes from: Davis, M., (2012) Graphic Design Theory, London: Thames and Hudson.