
Exploration of the science behind how we learn. A conversation with Reshan Richards, educator, writer and co-founder of Explain Everything whiteboard.
We humans are storytellers. It’s the stories that carry ideas no matter what technology we support ourselves in the process. In the conversation we look into five pieces of scientific research to explore correlation between the nature of representation and clarity.
Listen to the conversation:
Transcript
B.A. Gonczarek
I’m here with Reshan Richards, welcome Reshan.
Reshan is a researcher, educator, and a writer of two books on technology and leadership, with the last book titled Make Yourself Clear on how to use a teaching mindset to be understood. Reshan also co-founded a whiteboarding platform used for teaching in many schools across the glob and it’s where we teamed up. And this cross-roads of technology and education is something that I’m sure will be inspiring for our listeners when we discuss the science of how we learn. Was my introduction of your background accurate Reshan?
B.A. Gonczarek
I’m here with Reshan Richards welcome Reshan.Reshan is a researcher, educator, and a writer of two books on technology and leadership, with the last book titled Make Yourself Clear on how to use a teaching mindset to be understood. Reshan also co-founded a whiteboarding platform used for teaching in many schools across the glob and it’s where we teamed up. And this cross-roads of technology and education is something that I’m sure will be inspiring for our listeners when we discuss the science of how we learn. Was my introduction of your background accurate Reshan?
Reshan Richards
Oh, I think so. It was a very kind and generous introduction. Thank you.
B.A. Gonczarek
Great. So, to begin, let me confront you with this thought. We humans are storytellers no matter what technology we use in the process. The stories are very efficient keras for ideas, would you agree?
Reshan Richards
I would absolutely agree with that statement.
B.A. Gonczarek
There are two interesting avenues to explore: On the receiver’s end – there’s the question of “how we learn”, on the presenter’s end – how do we provide stories? The right combination of both is essential in education, to learn things, it is also essential in persuasion outside educational realm. The better we tell our stories the more we improve chances for being understood. Right?
So my goal for today is then to explore with you the scientific foundations of visual storytelling. Let’s try to provide for the benefit of our listeners. What are the underlying facts of storytelling, we gathered scientific papers were inspired with and we’ll use those for our discussions will be doodling and sketching while exploring the papers. So if any listener would want to see us doing that, please use YouTube link provided with the podcast.
Now we’re Reshan, we have five stunning articles to discuss and I’m looking for a good starting points, maybe let’s cover the difference between the verbal and textual first.
So, this one comes from knowledge Media Research Center in Germany, and the article asks what improves learning results, text or pictures, while the bulk of existing research is focused on the sequence in which text or picture is provided in learning. This paper, however, operates under the assumption that it is not the sequence rather the function of text or picture in the process of learning. So they look at the function and they defined text. It’s actually in this part here. Then define text as verbal coat in a short or long prose Or instructions, let’s say. However, pictures come in different forms as less or more abstract representations of objects that still contain some similarities. So pictures in the research can be a photo, but also a doodle, or a map diagram, graphic organizer, or let’s say concept map. And the conclusion the way I see it is that the type of information to be learned dictates the way it should be presented. Basically, some materials are better one learned when provided us text other if they come in form of a picture, or they also suggest that the complexity of information is the key. And they conclude, acknowledging that their work is more of a guideline for future research server. Reshan, what’s your perspective as a teacher and a graphical facilitator at the same time, what your experience tells you about using pictures versus text?
Reshan Richards
Yeah, it’s a great question. I think it’s a great kind of area of thought. And I’m chuckling as I’m looking at the closing statement from this research, because to degree, almost all new contemporary research on emerging phenomenon always include this idea that hey, well, this should now be extended into a further study, which it’s, it’s so true, right? Like not, nothing is conclusive yet. And I think what’s also interesting about what you shared in thinking about the, you know, that it’s about choice, right? So if you’ve got an idea or concept or some bit of knowledge or understanding that you’re trying to convey or build in somebody, you’re certainly going to make choices about, you know, either the sequencing or even the more binary choice of text or image as like, well what’s the best medium to convey that, but I think, you know, that that’s still to a degree one directional so as a teacher The other thing that we’re also going to be thinking about is about the receiver. And the reality and kind of the emerging research that validates it that people have different modalities that depending on the concept or content that they might be more dominant in. So for example, you know, there might be some people who for certain types of topics or disciplines that are much better auditory listener, so we’re and then some people, while they might be highly visual, they might be visual towards text and reading narrative. And another visual learner might also be much more into photo and imagery. So ultimately, as as people who are trying to communicate to teach trying to persuade, as you mentioned before, there’s just it starts with a baseline understanding that you do have to be really intentional about the format that you’re presenting the content information in. And then you also need to be really thoughtful about the learning styles and channels of that audience member.
B.A. Gonczarek
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So, you know, when looking from my perspective, when I learned complex things, I like picture to form a structure and then leave the details to sit inside of a picture inside of picture as a text. So it’s essentially the same idea as infographics, where we, we mix graphical form with textual content. So this “blending” thing is it’s something that there is no clean part between one modality and the other that you suggested is rather at blend to convey an idea, isn’t it?
Reshan Richards
Yeah, that’s a great way to describe it. Blended media, mixed media, mixed modalities. I think anybody who’s interested in, you know, the types of things we’re talking around here. Those would be those would be good. words to describe it like and, you know, yeah, this blend this mix of, of a representation or presentation of information.
B.A. Gonczarek
Right. So let me present you a second piece of research that discusses the suitability of medium again, pictures of loads when communicating with either people we know, or strangers. It turns out that we’re inclined to use different medium. When sharing thoughts with someone that is known to us and different when we communicate with someone we don’t have much in common. So the authors here, they describe six experiments to build the evidence that it is, in fact, the distance that sets our preference for choosing between using text and pictures. And again, in this paper as before authors looking to unique characteristics of both pictures and text. Pictures are defined as concrete representation as analogies of the real world. While words nearly always are abstract, with arbitrary relationships to their corresponding subjects. They even stayed that the word is actually a category that refers to a broad range of concrete objects. Words carry the essence of an object, but usually not its properties. So in result, it turns out that pictures are more often use among friends. And the use of words translated better over distance. What’s your reaction to that?
Reshan Richards
That’s so interesting, because I would have expected it to be the inverse and mostly because when trying to have the challenges of distance and proximity or lack of process activity, you would think that the more concrete representation would be helpful for kind of eliminating misunderstanding. So this is really interesting that it’s actually, at least for people’s preferences, what they measured in practice, that those who were working with known people tended to use more images. But part of that also, I’m so curious that like, in their work, is it also that familiarity means that in one ways, you’re being concrete but you’re also not doing some of the formalities as far as supplying kind of preamble or context for the thing that is sent. Whereas with a stranger or across distance, you almost do have to use more words to kind of set up somebody for whatever is trying to be communicated. I also thought about you know, I’ve done a lot of work and teaching across distance and having meetings and conversations and you know, small and large video conference. rooms. And I have found that those types of meetings are always more effective when either there’s an existing relationship that you have had some closer in person time with the parties so that your first meeting isn’t the one that’s there, or if it’s going to be like a regular ongoing thing that you you find a way to blend it together. And I what I mean by this is, you know, a lot of companies are certainly looking to do more sales motions, more customer service, customer success types of things online, but I almost I think it becomes a mistake based on like, some of the things you’re describing here to think it can be 100% substitute for that real kind of close on connected engagement. And I think the companies who are succeeding are realizing you can be more selective about when you do have those in person content. But then you can still do a lot of the other work using digital media light, like, you know, video conferences or what we’re doing a collaborative whiteboard to still like maintain and strengthen that relationship.
B.A. Gonczarek
Yeah, absolutely. I think in that setting, you would want to find a solution to close the gap to get you closer to the to the recipient of your information. And I agree that the findings here are kind of counterintuitive, but there’s a good reason why is it so. The authors refer to CLT (Construal Level Theory) that states that people increasingly use more abstract representations when communicating with those they don’t know that match. And the reason for that is that people seem to be afraid to provide too much personal information to those that are not yet considered friends. Therefore, they use disembodied linguistic representations of text while leaving concrete contextualized pictures for communicating with those that they have already. something in common? You see the point here?
Reshan Richards
Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, when you describe it that way like I can, I can fully relate that there’s this, this the psychological element in in detaching any potential clues or to specific or to accurate details because of not being too familiar with the audience. So that’s that that makes sense, even though as you said it on the surface feels very counterintuitive.
B.A. Gonczarek
Yeah, absolutely. The visual representations seem to be more appropriate when we already share a piece of reality with the person on the other end. That’s, that’s basically what they found. But I wonder, in teaching environment, I guess being specific and being clear, is the goal, right?
Reshan Richards
Oh, absolutely. I mean, that that’s the thing, can you not only you know, transmit or share some idea or concept but clarity comes from confirming understanding, and that with the most efficacy or efficiency, that that understanding was built. I mean, that’s really what what clarity happens, like I have something that I want to convey or to build in somebody else. And clarity comes when that is done with the least amount of friction.
B.A. Gonczarek
Right. But does that actually says the preference for using pictures instead of woods?
Reshan Richards
I think that anytime you can be more concrete… Let me let me rewind that. I do believe there could be a correlation between the concrete nature of a representation and clarity. I think so. So here’s, here’s an example where the mix of pictures and words in a professional setting can can often get to get in the way of that clarity. So often when doing kind of employee or, you know, supervisor evaluations and review comments are often left in text, right? So, a supervisor might write text comments typed up in a narrative added to a file, dot, dot dot. And so it’s immediately already a couple of degrees away from the actuality of the work, right? Because it’s the supervisors interpretation of what might have been observed and communicated, but then re re put out in text form. Whereas if somebody just had a simple snapshot, or a video of that behavior, action, or whatever somebody being, their performance is being evaluated in you almost removing all of that abstraction. It’s like super concrete, like, how does someone so lead a small group meeting? You know, I could write a narrative about it. Or I could just make a 32nd clip of here’s how somebody kicked off their meeting. And that concrete thing will actually get to that greater clarity of the situation. But I still as a supervisor, would want to be able to comment What’s interesting or important about that thing, but if I’m both describing it and then commenting on it, it’s immediately a few degrees of separated away from what you might have been trying to look at in the first place.
B.A. Gonczarek
I think that’s a, that’s a great example. So moving on to the two pieces of research that you provided it on memory and meaning making, which one you think should come first, which one would you like to tackle?
Reshan Richards
So I find that that this picture of superiority effect body of research is really important because I want I think it’s connected to the two studies or articles which you referred to, and what I like and it took so first of all, it’s already building off of previous research that to a degree validated, you know, in in pretty controlled experimental studies where somebody was given just an audio representation of some Something, something that had audio plus text, and then something that had audio plus image in these controlled experiments, the retention. So this is really about like recall and memory call. But the audio plus picture almost always outperformed any of the other two groups, right as far as people’s retention and recall. So that’s interesting, right as a baseline, but you can’t make too many generalized conclusions just based off of you know, these kinds of experimental studies. This particular one that I selected and pulled out that builds deeper into it was looking between correlate or looking for correlations between the sorry, it was looking for correlations of the extent of this effect and age. So as you get older, how much more pronounced is this picture superiority effect over the other two modes. And this particular study did find that there is absolutely a correlation, we’re not going to call it causality. But as people get older, this picture superiority effect actually escalates and gets reinforced even stronger. And it’s because when you add your days and months and years of life experience, you’ve had time to reinforce these mental images or mental models or visualizations of different things that you’re capable of having certain retention and recall in a greater degree because of all your prior knowledge. So while it was still present in younger people, it was the the difference of the the extent of this effect was far less pronounced than in their older subjects.
B.A. Gonczarek
You know, that’s quite fascinating, you know, it also proves how much we learn about the picture superiority effect recently. You know, the last time I checked her there were like 40 articles on the subject and the number is growing rapidly these days, too. So it shows that this area still needs further inquiry to what I personally like about picture superiority effect is its linkage with our spatial memory where location of elements help understanding and I was taking by illustration explaining the historical logic using just one picture I don’t know if you if you know that one.
Reshan Richards
Now tell me more about that.
B.A. Gonczarek
It’s the picture that describes the entire logic of Aristotle. Once you familiarize with it, the beauty of that is that you can literally close your eyes and the recall by location each bit. It’s a breathtaking example of how of how this effect works yet, we don’t know for sure still, why it works and in what age group would work the best. Let the quickly pull the example of this illustration real quick to our whiteboard here.
Reshan Richards
Yeah, I’d love to see that. Yeah.
B.A. Gonczarek
Okay. That was something that was used for teaching students a long time ago, though, but it’s still a real life example of using picture superiority effect. I don’t know for which age group, but still, I still love more of those visuals and photographing being used in schools for stimulating retention and recall of information. I’m sure you’re on the same with me on that.
Reshan Richards
Yeah. This is a really cool example here.
B.A. Gonczarek
And the other material that you provided to the canvas was on doodling, right?
Reshan Richards
Yeah, so this one is connected and it’s actually a little bit more about both the the presenter, but also the idea of inviting other to kind of doodle and visualize along with you. Now in this study, which also again, it, it has its limitations because of its experimental nature. But it was, it was having people listen to the audio, and that the group one was, as they were listening, they weren’t doing anything else. And then they had to do kind of like a rent attention and recall. And the other group was doing, as they were listening was also just asked to draw and doodle on whatever like notepad they have. And somehow, the kind of externalization of, of just kind of like sketching, jotting things down I believe some of their notes were relevant. Some of them were just kind of like random, like the things that you might see in a in a middle school, child’s notebook. But there was still a measurable effect on retaining When other kind of expressive channels were active at the same time that somebody was hearing some audio. And what’s interesting to me and the things that I like to dive into is that this in this study, there was no real guidelines around the doodling. But in thinking about situations where you’re trying to build understanding and somebody and you presented some information, having them activate more channels, and then just their listening and their visual, cognitive channels, but actually starting to a little bit of like haptic or even kinesthetic action, and at the same time and this so I put this notice here about random versus purposeful doodling that I think there’s so much to be learned and considered that when you’ve got people engaged, that you’re trying to trying to help them learn. Have them activate the same positive principles around visual visual storytelling in their own note taking and reception and consumption. The information right so it shouldn’t all those benefits that we’ve kind of highlighted and talked about from the delivery standpoint to me have just as much value in the recipient or participant and I felt like this study in particular is kind of a stepping stone or starting point in considering how the recipients channels can be activated towards building that greater clarity and understanding
B.A. Gonczarek
Right, but you know, for me, this shape-shading task also reveals something that is counter intuitive, you know. How come one might recall better if the thing he or she is drawing is not directly connected to the subject of the discussion, right? I find it surprising and I would wish to know more about what was at work on the cognitive level.
Reshan Richards
Yeah, and you know, like for me as somebody who you know, does practice graphic facilitation or sketch noting or however, visual note taking all these different terms that it can be described it I do find sometimes that even when I’m trying to be a very active listener, that I will do some random doodles or shapes, kind of in the meat in the midst, or in the middle of maybe some things that were a little bit more purposeful or relevant. And sometimes they’re just these kind of, in between or bridge moments between like, big concepts. And it’s almost this like, continuation instead of like being like, on off on off. You’re just constantly like in a flow. And yeah, sometimes they just become things of the background or filling the page. But in, in your, in my own review of the things that I might have taken notes on. I remember when I see like a random structure like this, oh, that was an in between moment. And I don’t have to admit, I’ve actually visualize something that I know I don’t have to worry about later, which is kind of almost like how often do you take notes on things you don’t want to remember? But but it brings back recognition of the like the setting or the scenario. So like, I don’t know, in some weird way, maybe maybe this is like the words of a maniac, but like I actually find it helpful to have useless notes, but be able and like they actually helped me filter out the things that are more meaningful on that same page.
B.A. Gonczarek
Right. So actually font something that is related to this, but actually speaks about drawing representations of concrete scientific phenomena instead of just, you know, shading something or, as you mentioned, doing useless drawings. This is an inquiry wood drawing does when we learn science, and it’s an article that comes from August 2011 issue of the Science Magazine, and the authors here… they make a point that visuals are crucial for learning. They suggest that the proficiency in science requires learning to develop representational skills. And I don’t know about you but I’m easily persuaded by that as I cannot imagine how anyone could cope with, let’s say, a concept of particles or chemical reactions without abstract visual representations, right?
Reshan Richards
I mean, what’s so interesting is I think we could probably like do a little bit of like historical digging that any kind of scientific phenomenon or principles, it was probably easier to pass those down in Britain, because of like the printing press, the printing press can much more easily replicate, you know, the written or the printed form word than it could have with graphics, right? Because you didn’t have type sets to pull from to create, you know, highly complex visual drawing. So, you know, the original researchers and publishers from back in the day probably had to default to very text heavy ways of transform, transferring and scaling out information and then it just became a default. I think maybe only in recent times has the technology. And the formats of publishing become a little bit more accessible to let’s call, let’s call them lay people that, you know, these visual representations as a dominant form as far as impacting science proficiency, like you said, I mean, seems obvious, like, of course, how could it not?
B.A. Gonczarek
Yeah. I also remember that from from Dürer’s perspective, Albrecht Dürer’s. During his times, were the times when the printing press was brand new, and he was already trying to find a way to incorporate those hand drawings into the printed materials just to inspire thinking, you know, to inspire this mode of exploration. What is interesting in this article, though, is that it mentions the surveys that indicate that those students that drew to explore to coordinate or to justify understanding where more motivated to learn in the end. So basically we can improve understanding, in other words, by working on graphical representations of what we start to know or what we already know. So that’s something that I actually really like – stating that the drawing is in fact, way of reasoning. And it’s a different kind of reasoning than, let’s say, argumentation. It’s the creative reasoning to engage and explore ideas by refining your drawings of concepts. So instead of looking at the picture, as some sort of fixed universal illustration, we begin to see it as an artifact of cognition. So I’m sure Michelle, that this is essential from the perspective of a teacher, isn’t it? What are the opportunities for having such a window into students thinking?
Reshan Richards
So the thing that was resonating or stirring curiosity in me as you were sharing that were these connections between drawing As a form of reasoning, but the the embedded layer which I jotted down in my margins here is around intrinsic motivation. And I think through reasoning via drawing, I think I would surmise that the reason that students might be able to perform or share or achieve greater proficiency might be because the process of drawing as a form of reasoning is like an intrinsically motivating exercise. There’s a reward in being able to communicate and demonstrate understanding and kind of untangle complex things. That’s kind of harder to do in a more abstract setting, like trying to use the constraints of text and paragraph and sentence structure and all of the other elements that are part of printed text that again are separating the learner from you know, The true expression or representation of what is being thought. And it doesn’t surprise me. And I absolutely think there’s connections to what we’re trying to as what as teachers were trying to achieve in classrooms, which is to instill this kind of love or intrinsically motivated joy around learning, so that it’s not seen as transactional, but rather, it’s it’s fundamental. It’s pure and natural curiosity.
B.A. Gonczarek
Yeah. Yeah. And what is also astonishing that drawings actually lay a foundation for future learning. So it helps students to discern key features and also understand challenges as they go. Right.
Reshan Richards
Yeah. And I mean, there’s, there’s some like really interesting, like papers and articles that talk about how drawing traditionally in schools and I’m talking about K to 12 schools, and I mean, certainly even higher ed, that there’s a perception that Using imagery using doodle sketching things out, is childish or juvenile and not academic or scholarly enough. I think it’s exciting because of conversations like these and pulling scholarly research and really trying to surface all of the values and true like cognitive benefits of visualization and doodling that it might contribute to changing that perception that, hey, I can write my dissertation in the form of a graphic novel, right? And somebody has done that before. And you and I have talked about some somebody who went to who did their doctorate at Teachers College at Columbia University, in that form. Now granted, that person may have been purposefully trying to brush up against norms, but it was completely valid and you want you need kind of pioneers and people to do things like that. To set the example like there are other ways to convey excellence to convey scholarly work to convey findings from research that don’t have to fall into kind of these traditional formats. I mean, all of the articles that were pulled up here, if you look at them, they look like very traditional papers, right? Because that is kind of the societal norm for conveyance of knowledge. So that almost brushes up against what we’re talking about here, which are the many other ways that people are able to transfer into to receive information.
B.A. Gonczarek
Yeah, absolutely. I think you’re spot on here Reshan. Before we close. Let’s try to briefly summarize what we’ve learned from those papers that we discussed. I can try to do that unless you’d like to start first.
Reshan Richards
All right, let me try to zoom out on the big picture here. Okay. And so, let me try to think of like three overarching cues, thoughts that that anybody who’s engaging in this, this conversation might take away. So the first is, there is a growing body of contemporary research. that’s helping make clear the links between visualizing information and better proficiency and understanding it exists and it’s increasingly valid. Second would be that people who have the job or charge the responsibility of communicating to others have to consider the ways that people learn and receive information in their design. There’s never going to be one strict way. But there’s going to be many modalities and modes and today there are far more tools and choices for being able to do that kind of communication. And the third one would be around kind of challenging traditional constraints and norms around what professional what academic communication is supposed to look like, when in the end. It’s really about being clear and getting to a point of under Standing as effectively as possible.
B.A. Gonczarek
Well, I think I fully agree with you. One additional thought to the second point that you mentioned. For me, I’m most excited about this concept of drawing as a form of reasoning. And the reason I’m excited about is that because technologies now are so good at broadening concept of growing with, let’s say, motion or ad-hoc provided animations. The technology makes it easy to transform existing digital assets into something I like to call “smashing bits & pixels” to represent what you need from what you have in your documents or photo library. So a collage, a digital collage is one example of that, but also, our use of the whiteboard here during this conversation is another example. I just think that the phenomenon of Visual Thinking is empowered by the use of digital medium. So before to be a digital thinker, one needed to acquire at least basic drawing skills, right? But now with digital tools that we have, that seems completely optional, as instead of drawing, one can rearrange existing representations to perform, as we call it here, creative reasoning, and be open for all benefits that we discuss here. Would you agree?
Reshan Richards
I agree. Absolutely. And I would say that so many people, when they think about having these kinds of open ended visual experiences, say, Well, I can’t draw so I can’t participate, but all you need to everybody, if they’ve got, you know, you know, their, their, their hands and arms or whatever else they can manipulate to create something on a piece of paper or on a screen, can draw a line can draw a circle can draw an arrow. These are not advanced, you know, you don’t have to go to art school to be able to construct those things. And because as you said, the technology helps make it easier to bring in different types of visual content. This isn’t about being a great artist. This is about putting visual information together in order to help things make more sense.
B.A. Gonczarek
Well, Reshan, thank you for sharing your perspective. I’m positive that are many ways we could further explore the scientific foundations of learning and visual storytelling. So let’s pause here for now here the reaction of our listeners and perhaps continue in the future, shall we?
Reshan Richards
That sounds great. Thanks very much.
Resources
Here are the resources we discussed during our conversation:
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- Smith and Wilson show how Adam Smith's model of sociality can re-humanize twenty-first century economics by undergirding it with sentiments, fellow feeling, and a sense of propriety - the stuff of which human relationships are built.Jan 24, 2019
- Douglas Rushkoff wrote this book to help as many people as possible who now struggle in the world of today. It feels as if civilization itself were on the brink, and that we lack the collective willpower and coordination necessary to address issues of the very survival of our species." He then asserts, "It doesn't have to be this way."Jan 22, 2019
- A set of practical strategies to embrace differences and work successfully across increasingly diverse business cultures. Publication coming from a chairman of an international institute of cross-cultural training with offices in over 30 countries and founder of the quarterly magazine Cross CultureDec 18, 2018
- On how China caught AI fever and implemented government goals (with benchmarks) for 2020, 2025 in an attempt to become the world center of AI innovation by 2030.Sep 25, 2018
- We have less and less time to think, less and less time to get in sync with what's happening. We cannot trust conventional wisdom to guide us. The book explores explores six conversational capabilities that we can cultivate to navigate uncertaintySep 25, 2018
- Visual Consulting: Designing & Leading Change shows how visual practice can combine with dialogue and change methods to get more creative and sustainable results. The practices can be applied to organizational and diverse, cross-boundary consulting projects.Sep 17, 2018
- the postmodern moment was a necessary one, or will have been if we rise to the occasion to arrive at a new and more textured humanism.Sep 6, 2018
- The subject of causation has preoccupied philosophers at least since Aristotle. The absence, however, of an accepted scientific approach to analyzing cause and effect is not merely of historical or theoretical interest. The book covers how understanding causality has revolutionized science so far and will revolutionize AI.May 15, 2018
- Bringing together economics and conflict resolution, counselling and mindfulness, Kofman provides a leadership framework that is counterintuitive to the regular MBA practices but based on a very firm foundation - the meaning.May 1, 2018
- A practical guide for business leaders looking to get value from the adoption of machine learning technology.Apr 30, 2018
- One of the best books on management, tasks, goals and their measurement. Full of stories from successful companies (like Google).Apr 24, 2018
- Data science primer explaining its evolution, relation to machine learning, current uses, data infrastructure issues, and ethical challenges.Apr 6, 2018
- Regarded as one of the most important works in the social sciences in decades, Cultural Evolution argues that people's values and behavior are shaped by the degree to which survival is secure.Mar 1, 2018
- Data is replacing money as the driver of market behavior. Big finance and big companies will be replaced by small groups and individual actors who make markets instead of making thingsFeb 27, 2018
- Steven Pinker argues that humanism (a reasoned commitment to maximizing human flourishing), science, and democracy have resulted in substantial, measurable human progress over the last 500 years.Feb 13, 2018
- An essential primer on a rapidly emerging Internet-of-Things concept, focusing on human-centric applications. An indispensable resource for researchers and app developers eager to explore HiTL concepts and include them in their designs.Feb 5, 2018
- The Qualified Self offers a new perspective on how social media users construct and distribute 'self-portraits' through media technologies. A truly original revision of 'mediated memories' and a much-needed update to the age of connectivity.Feb 3, 2018
- The book brings together research on various topics of limited reach that, when combined, speak to the outrageous gall of the mind in recreating reality to its own liking, and then covering its tracks.Dec 1, 2017
- Scientific management asked us to be efficient. Now, we are asked to be agile. But what does this mean for the everyday lives we lead?Sep 21, 2017
- The book investigate how visual and material features of early English books, documents, and other artefacts support - or potentially contradict - the linguistic featuresSep 14, 2017
- The book challenges the traditional beliefs on employee engagement and traditionalist leadership. It explains why it is time to move on and take on alternative takes on employee engagement.Sep 1, 2017
- The book provides an informative, easy to follow and fun introduction into the basics of visual thinking and drawing. It is unique by applying these visual thinking and drawing techniques to everyday business settings.Mar 31, 2017
- The book provide an essential foundation for understanding the impact of culture on global business and global business on culture.Mar 17, 2017
- Delving into the intersections between artistic images and philosophical knowledge in Europe from the late sixteenth to the early eighteenth centuries, The Art of Philosophy shows that the making and study of visual art functioned as important methods of philosophical thinking and instruction.Feb 28, 2017
- The Take Smart Notes principle is based on established psychological insight and draws from a tried and tested note-taking-technique.Feb 24, 2017
- In From Bacteria to Bach and Back, Daniel C. Dennett builds on recent discoveries from biology and computer science to show, step by step, how a comprehending mind could, in fact, have arisen from a mindless process of natural selection.Feb 7, 2017
- A collection of dialogues on interpreting conversations from the founder of intercultural communication training and consulting firm. 1998 text revised as second editionJan 24, 2017
- The book provides a view into our future reality. The amount of data we have today and will have in the future will be leveraged to augment our daily lives.Jan 1, 2017
- Hand-drawn by the author, this creative collection of illustrations, inspirational quotes, and savvy business models shares one purpose: to spark conversations and evolve companieDec 30, 2016
- The book provides set of new utopian ideas, like the elimination of poverty and the creation of the fifteen-hour workweek, can become a reality in our lifetime. Being unrealistic and unreasonable can in fact make the impossible inevitableNov 19, 2016
- The book investigates the evolution of scholarly practices and the transformation of cognitive habits in the early modern age with the use of technologyNov 15, 2016
- Wonderful book about belief systems and how bringing in personal beliefs and values into a business can positively affect the success and impact of businesses.Oct 11, 2016
- What happens when people turn their everyday experience into data: an introduction to the essential ideas and key challenges of self-tracking.Jun 30, 2016
- An illustrated version that conveys the main ideas of the original book "Reinventing Organizations" that shares many of its real-life stories in a lively, engaging way.Jun 30, 2016
- The Qualified Self offers an excellent overview of the breadth and depth of issues related to self-tracking cultures.Apr 1, 2016
- An accessible introduction to multimodality. Illuminates the potential of multimodal research for understanding the ways in which people communicate. Key concepts and methods in various domains while learning how to engage critically with the notion of multimodality.Mar 22, 2016
- 4th edition of essential reference for evidence-based guidelines for designing, developing and evaluating asynchronous and synchronous e-Learning for workforce training and educational courseware.Feb 19, 2016
- A comprehensive overview of the entire field of Machine Learning that is better than most of the book on the topic. Author also explores an idea, related to his scientific research, of a master algorithm which could explain everything given enough data.Sep 22, 2015
- …Sep 17, 2015
- If "violent" means acting in ways that result in hurt or harm, then judging others, bullying could indeed be called "violent communication." Nonviolent Communication is the integration of four things: Consciousness, Language, Communication, Means of influence, Empathic Connection and Sharing of resources so everyone is able to benefitSep 1, 2015
- Data-ism: The Revolution Transforming Decision Making, Consumer Behavior, and Almost Everything ElseData-ism is about this next phase, in which vast, Internet-scale data sets are used for discovery and prediction in virtually every fieldMay 10, 2015
- Nick Sousanis defies conventional forms of scholarly discourse to offer readers both a stunning work of graphic art and a serious inquiry into the ways humans construct knowledge. A dissertation in a form of a comic book.Apr 20, 2015
- The publication integrate three interrelated literatures on Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. Chapters were provided by the leading scholars in these research areas.Apr 15, 2015
- The first book to name, characterize and consolidate a wide array of current critical, theoretical, and philosophical approaches in decentering the human in favor of a concert for the nonhuman in the humanities and social sciences.Mar 9, 2015
- The interplay between culture through language and practices presents new insights in the importance of combining cognitive semantics with cognitive anthropologyDec 12, 2014
- A goldmine of historical and contemporary case studies with which readers are invited to visualise the complexity of self-representation practices and artefacts.Oct 2, 2014
- The volume systematically presents cultural-historical psychology as an integrative/holistic developmental science of mind, brain, and culture.Sep 30, 2014
- If perception is real - what this reality means for a subject? Wiesing's methods chart a markedly new path in contemporary perception theory. As part of the argument, he provides a succinct but comprehensive survey of the philosophy of images.Aug 28, 2014
- A comprehensive, up-to-date analysis of research and theory in the field, with a focus on computer-based learning.Jul 28, 2014
- In the longer run biological human brains might cease to be the predominant nexus of Earthly intelligence. It is possible that one day we may be able to create ʺsuperintelligenceʺ: a general intelligence that vastly outperforms the best human brains in every significant cognitive domain.Jul 3, 2014
- A book that illustrates the misunderstandings that can arise from clashing cultural assumptionsMay 27, 2014
- A timeline of capsule biographies on key figures in the development of the tree diagram containing more that two hundred tree diagramsApr 8, 2014
- Ben Horowitz, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley's most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, offers essential advice on building and running a startupMar 4, 2014
- Probably the most influential management book of this decade, inspiring to take a radical leap and adopt a whole different set of management principles and practices.Feb 9, 2014
- Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers. The book illustrates existence of a vast chasm between the early adopters and the early majority in the Technology Adoption Life CycleJan 28, 2014
- The explanation of the technolgy revolution that is overturning the world’s economies.Jan 20, 2014
- On how to incorporate sketchnoting techniques into your note-taking process--regardless of your artistic abilities--to help you better process the information that you are hearing and seeing through drawing, and to actually have fun taking notes.Dec 31, 2013
- An interdisciplinary examination of the history and the state of the art of the quest for visualizing scientific knowledge and the dynamics of its development.Jul 30, 2013
- The book examines ways in which the quality of information can be improved in knowledge-intensive processes (such as on-line communication, strategy, product development, or consultingJun 5, 2013
- Using a list of more than 2,000 successful innovations the book explores these insights to diagnose patterns of innovation, and to evaluate how firms are performing against competitors. The framework has proven to be one of the most enduring and useful ways to start process of transformation.Apr 15, 2013
- How the concentration of data and distribution of risk by those who own the data creates a significant risk to our capitalist based economy and over the long term to the very companies that create the situation.Mar 7, 2013
- Big data is about predictions. Academic Mayer-Schönberger and editor Cukier consider big data the new ability to crunch vast collections of information and draw conclusions from it.Mar 5, 2013
- On how the digital universe exploded in the aftermath of the WWII, the nature of digital computers, an how code took over the world by storm.Dec 9, 2012
- An intellectual journey through the world of "outliers"--the best and the brightest, the most famous and the most successful. He asks the question: what makes high-achievers different?Jun 7, 2011
- Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All LearnersVisible Thinking is a research-based approach to teaching thinking, begun at Harvard's Project Zero, that develops students' thinking dispositions, while at the same time deepening their understanding of the topics they study.May 3, 2011
- The research, experiences from the field, vignettes, and work. A book that links research and practice and shows the true impact of a specific instructional approach on student learningJan 28, 2011
- The first book to take a systematic theoretical approach to all of the central issues of literacy, including decoding, comprehension, and memoryDec 1, 2010
- The book explains authors' thinking on Mincrosoft MyLifeBits project predating the "Quantified Self" and "Internet of Things" movementsOct 26, 2010
- Collection of essays on new thinking about matter and processes of materialization centered around reworking older materialist traditions, contemporary theoretical debates, and advances in scientific knowledge to address pressing ethical and political challenges.Sep 9, 2010
- The introduction to Senge's carefully integrated corporate framework, which is structured around "personal mastery," "mental models," "shared vision," and "team learning."Apr 30, 2010
- A masterful work by two leading economists on some of the biggest issues in economics: economic growth, human capital, and inequality. There are fundamental insights in the book, not just about our past but also our future.Mar 30, 2010
- A comprehensive perspective on the micro- and macroeconomics of innovation. The book breaks new ground in identifying and analyzing the key ingredients driving economic growth.Jan 24, 2010
- The Universal Principles of Design is a resource to increase cross-disciplinary knowledge and understanding of design. The concepts broadly referred to as “principles,” consist of laws, guidelines, human biases, and general design considerations.Jan 1, 2010
- A collection of studies on the image offers both a case for the importance of image studies and a broad introduction to this area of philosophical enquiry in which author implies that "the image opens up a view on reality liberated from the constraints of physics"Dec 3, 2009
- The book recognizes that the future of economic well being in today's knowledge and information society rests upon the effectiveness of schools and corporations to empower their people to be more effective learners and knowledge creators.Nov 26, 2009
- The Ego Tunnel provides a stunningly original take on the conscious self, explaining it as the content of a model created by our brain.Sep 2, 2009
- Creative geniuses can be both a boon and a bane in the workplace, so getting the most of these extraordinary minds can be slippery for everyone involved.May 12, 2021
- The minds of biological creatures occupy a small corner of a much larger space of possible minds that could be created once we master the AI. A sensible approach requires reforms of our moral norms and institutions along with advance planning regarding what kinds of digital minds we bring into existence.Apr 18, 2021
- “The best online whiteboard for teaching – how …Feb 24, 2021
- Self-talk as a contribution to motivation and emotional regulation, with some higher cognitive functions such as developing metacognition and reasoning.Dec 28, 2020
- To allow a neural net to process the symbols like a mathematician mathematical expressions were translated into more useful tree- forms. This process parallels how people solve integrals — and really all math problemsMay 22, 2020
- Interaction with “representations” on a whiteboard canvas can trigger learning processes. This phenomenon has been extensively observed and documented in child development.Apr 24, 2020
- Until just recently, mobile digital whiteboards seemed like an optional, cool gadget. But now that flights have been canceled and schools closed, digital whiteboards have suddenly become a necessity within an important scope of business activities.Mar 22, 2020
- A look at three scenarios in which remote communication can be supported by a whiteboard for learning and teaching as well as conducting organizational business.Mar 4, 2020
- How religion will be newly shaped with the advent of technology? A look at the various religions that have started relying on technology in today’s digital age.Feb 28, 2020
- Visuals enhance text-based communication. They provide a better way to spread ideas, explain concepts, and processes. No need to be a master designer. Here’s how you can share your observations visually in a very simple yet engaging way.Feb 27, 2020
- Demystify the learning process with the help of Explain Everything WhiteboardFeb 10, 2020
- A Spanish scientist records all his activities so he can learn how to live more effectively. But what do you gain from forensically tracking every part of your day?Dec 2, 2019
- There is currently no single definition of new materialism but at least three distinct trajectories with one common commitment to problematize the anthropocentric and constructivists orientation.Nov 23, 2019
- Practicing sketchnoting in the classroom for thinking visuallyNov 3, 2019
- Instead of forcing visual thinkers into textual thinking, we need to see the world differently and develop critical thinking skills [eSchool News article]Aug 8, 2019
- The conventional wisdom says we can expect a more centralized structure. The author says the conventional wisdom has it wrong.Apr 1, 2019
- What is this tradition of explaining thinking by representing the brain as a computer, an object grounded in the mathematical logic?Feb 15, 2019
- In not so distant future algorithms running on your smartphone will have capacity for empathy. The devices will soon appear to read your mental states. What would be your reaction?Jan 29, 2019
- Why it is worth paying attention to the article of Erik Brynjolfsson and Tom Mitchell (Science Dec 22, 2018) and what it changes when discussing effects of AI on the job market.Jan 22, 2019
- Quanta Magazine by Jordana Cepelewicz, Jan 14, 2019Jan 20, 2019
- Inquiry into what is missing for Artificial Intelligence to learn like a child. Article from Vol 360 of Science (May 2018, Issue 6391)Jul 8, 2018
- Participants monitored a monotonous mock telephone message. Half of the group was randomly assigned to a ‘doodling’ condition where they shaded printed shapes while listening to the telephone call. The doodling group performed better on the monitoring task and recalled 29% more information on a surprise memory test.Jun 4, 2018
- The Chinese government plans to launch its Social Credit System in 2020. The aim? To judge the trustworthiness – or otherwise – of its 1.3 billion residentsOct 9, 2017
- A survey of existing AI uses suggests a distinction between weak and strong versions of cognitive symbiosis. Article introduces Strong Cognitive Symbiosis with goal to produce software systems whose interactions with people are optimized to identified weaknesses in human, as well as machine cognition.Sep 14, 2017
- Daniel Miessler’s reaction to the final chapters of Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari that talks about the concept of Dataism.Apr 7, 2017
- His history of humankind, Sapiens, was an international best seller. Now Yuval Noah Harai is back with a big new idea: DataismSep 1, 2016
- Journal-based science communication is not accessible or comprehensible to a general public. We propose an alternative medium for scientists to communicate their work to the general public in an engaging and digestible way through the use of whiteboard videos.Apr 1, 2016
- The comparison of CPAC creativity scores of different business majors yielded unexpected results. The article offers recommendations for business curriculum.Mar 6, 2015
- David Brooks article that popularized the notion of dataism, focused around ability of data to illuminate unnoticed patterns of human behavior.Feb 5, 2013
- How creativity is both nurtured and thwarted when people team up. „Everything . . . is infused with banality. Who is using whom here?''Jul 25, 2012
- Visual representation has been shown to encourage constructive strategies. Inventing representations (including drawings) acts as preparation for future learning. The growing interest in drawing reflects new understandings of science as a multimodal discursive practice, as well as mounting evidence for its value in supporting quality learning.Aug 26, 2011
- What happens when technology can analyze every quotidian thing that happened to you today.Apr 30, 2010
- Summary of research that examined how students learn Science with an interactive whiteboard that support a range of multi- modal representation typesMar 3, 2010
- What are the tools of cognition for teachers to use to directly facilitate the specific thinking skills of apprentice learners so they move from being novice thinkers to expert thinkers?Jan 1, 2009
- The article sketches an overview of some recent attempts to arrive at a realistic mode of futuristic thought, and it offers a brief discussion of four families of scenarios for humanity’s future: extinction, recurrent collapse, plateau, and posthumanity.Dec 12, 2007
- HBR article based on a research into team behavior that illustrated, that the same four qualities required for success are the same qualities that undermine success. Also, about creating cooperative “gift culture” instead of “tit-for-tat culture.” and ways of modeling collaborative behavior.Nov 15, 2007
- This survey defines such systems as “personal knowledge bases," for managing the personal, subjective knowledge.Aug 18, 2005
- 2005 review of the the concept of knowledge visualization, background of the discipline and potential aplication fieldsJul 28, 2005
- For every year that development of technology and colonization of the universe is delayed, there is therefore an opportunity cost: a potential good, lives worth living, is not being realized.Apr 18, 2003
- Inspired by Simon’s 1960 paper, article weaves many other strands into the tapestry, from classical discussions of the division of labor to present-day evolutionary psychology.Sep 9, 2002
- The ‘visual turn' in communication, forces to consider visual presentation of information together with linguistics. This article presents on what empirical grounds exists in the study of mulimodal meaning-makingApr 29, 2002
- Real, personal identity springs from the capacity of human beings to resist dehumanizing ideological and collectivist abstractions and counter them with free acts of their own invention.Feb 3, 2000
- In the new product development (NPD) unacceptably high failure rates have often been related to insufficiencies during the early development phases. Nevertheless, only little effort is devoted to the early phases, and managers often indicate the front end as being one of the greatest weaknesses in product innovationJan 19, 1999
- “Consider a future device … in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications (..) an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.”Jul 18, 1945
- Visionary article that explicates a desire for a sort of collective memory machine with concept of the memex that would make knowledge more accessible, believing that it would initiate knowledge explosionMay 19, 1945
- Idea #211The essence of human nature as a project of technological mastery??