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White
Paper
The Writings On
The Wall – Process Art: Building
Relationships and a New Multimedia Center.
How the Digital Clubhouse was born.
By: Sean Griffin &
Lou Moskowitz
We’ve all heard it before and perhaps
now more than ever, "everything old
is new again"; the same could be
said for Process Art.
Over 40,000 years ago, cave dwellers created
wall paintings illustrating critical elements
of their hunt for the great Wooly Mammoth.
Cave dwellers understood that these drawings
would allow them to visualize the vital
steps needed to create their success prior
to actually going out and gaining the
sustenance needed to survive. Process
Art, also known as Graphic Facilitation,
is a creativity tool that elevates this
ancient form of visual communication to
new levels. Some have said that Process
Art is like an engine driving the generation
of new ideas and strategies.
How Process Art Works
Quite possibly, the greatest asset of
Process Art is its simplicity. Via the
use of imagery, color, icons, distance,
shapes and metaphor, Process Art creates
a cohesive visual representation of thoughts
and ideas, illustrated in real-time, harvested
from individuals participating in group
meetings.
The result is the creation of what I like
to call a "Modern Day Wall Painting."
Process Art, however, is much more than
just a way to present ideas and capture
concepts. After 12 years of utilizing
Process Art involving more than 1,500
programs, I have discovered its true value
extends beyond an ability to illustrate
ideas in real-time. Perhaps more importantly,
Process Art has been shown to be an effective
tool to enhance individuals’ involvement
and interest. Process Art stimulates participants
involved in group environments to contribute
and expand their thinking by the illustration
of their thoughts and ideas in real time
on large pieces of butcher paper.
Boosting the creative thinking of participants
is always a challenge in any environment.
While there are many powerful techniques
being employed by organizations all over
the world, Process Art has proven itself
to be unequalled in its ability to tap
the vein that motivates people to generate
new and innovative ideas on just about
any subject.
Boosting The Creative IQ
Integrating Process Art into a traditional
meeting setting creates non-traditional
results by stimulating thinking and talking.
Nuggets of hidden meaning become identifiable
from the ideas illustrated during the
discussion, frequently uncovering hidden
keys – such as those that drive
the success of marketing programs and
product development.
One of the best ways to understand how
organizations can benefit by utilizing
Process Art is to review a case history
of an organization I co-founded with Warren
Hegg and Joe Lambert. The Digital Clubhouse
Network, a community based multimedia
digital learning center, targeting technologically
disenfranchised consumer and business
segments, was conceived, developed and
refined through information obtained via
extensive user group gatherings that employing
Process Art. I Graphically Facilitated
all sessions leading to the development
and refinement of The Digital Clubhouse
Network model. Here is the Digital Clubhouse
story.
Case History: The Digital Clubhouse
Network
In 1995, before the widespread acceptance
of multimedia into virtually all segments
of world culture, The NASA Ames Research
Center, seed funded an ambitious endeavor
to accelerate the development of networked
multimedia technology and applications.
One of the primary outcomes of NASA’s
activities was The Digital Clubhouse Network
– a new kind of digital learning
center. The Digital Clubhouse Network
was formed for the purpose of creating
innovative ways of using the power of
networked multimedia to develop stronger
communities among consumer and business
segments of the population who were technologically
disenfranchised at that time – youth,
seniors, teachers, women, the disabled
and small business owners.
Envisioning The Future
These diverse segments were targeted based
on the belief that they would gain the
most from their full participation in
a networked multimedia world. The use
of Process Art was instrumental in harvesting
new knowledge from those in the target
segments.
Specifically, the Process Art facilitated
programs were charged with the mission
of obtaining concise and clear profiles
of the complex relationships that exist
between technology and human emotions
and desires.
The research program consisted of several
phases – initial intelligence gathering,
assessment of potential offerings and
refinements. Process Art played a key
role in each phase.
In the initial intelligence-gathering
phase, some 25 Process Art implemented
mini groups (3-5 participants), focus
groups (8-11 participants) and maxi group
sessions (15-25 participants) across the
diverse market segments being studied
were conducted.
Output from these sessions included a
series of Process Art murals representing
real-time documentation of participants’
thoughts, emotions and ideas. In essence,
each mural represented the "detailed
findings" harvested from each session.
Chuck Castellano, the senior NASA official
assigned to oversee program, said: "The
use of Process Art creates an environment
where people feel heard, are able to listen
to one another, and, in the moment, see
a work of art unfold which reflects a
shared vision and strong sense of community
which they have created together."
The individual "detailed findings"
murals illustrated during the 25 intelligence
gathering sessions were summarized on
one cohesive visual representation and
action plan mural. Thereby, creating a
"management summary" of the
finding and recommendations.
Process Art was the perfect vehicle to
clearly and simply illustrate the complex
thoughts and emotions obtained from the
wide variety of constituencies.
Crossing The Digital Divide
During the second phase of the program
– assessment of potential offerings
– concepts and prototypes of specific
new program ideas were developed and evaluated.
Among the more than 50 new product ideas
conceived and tested Producing the Producers,
Webucation, Cousins of the Clubhouse,
Project DigitallyAbled, and Youth Enterprise
Zone are examples of those that were eventually
introduced.
Once again, Process Art played a critical
role in the evaluation of each potential
offering. Specifically, new product offerings
"visions" were visually presented
via a Process Art mural that was displayed
to participants. These "Process Art
Vision Murals" provided all the information
that would have been typically written
in an executive summary or presented via
a PowerPoint. The Vision Murals answered
the questions of: What? Why? and How?
for each potential program. The murals
were used as stimuli during the sessions.
Development
of Groundbreaking New Product Ideas
One of the cornerstones of the Digital
Clubhouse Network is the building of community
via the expansion of the knowledge and
skills acquired at the Clubhouse. Towards
that end, those participating in the program
are required to teach others the networked
multimedia skills they acquired at the
Clubhouse.
Producing the Producers was designed to
provide ordinary people with an opportunity
to see themselves as filmmakers, visionaries,
and technologists. Participants in this
program included cross-generational groups
– seniors, teachers, youth, women,
and the "differently-abled."
The program empowered participants to
produce, write, direct and star in a short
digital autobiographic movie. People opened
their hearts and their photo albums to
create short multimedia documentary style
digital stories depicting important events
in their lives. In the words of many involved,
the result of this program is "magical."
During the refinement of the Producing
the Producers program "beta tests"
were run. These tests allowed individuals
to actually produce their digital stories.
Before completing their stories, beta
testers participated in a Process Art
lead group discussion to share ideas and
emotions about their experience. This
learning process supported the development
and refinement of the program as well
as identifying new opportunities.
One of my personal favorite programs I
was able to develop and lead by Process
Art, is Project DigitallyAbled. Targeting
"differently-abled" individuals,
this program included elementary school
aged children with Down Syndrome, young
adults with severe physical disabilities,
adults with MS, the hearing and or sight
impaired, as well as Dyslexics. The objective
of this program was to equip these individuals
with the skills necessary to effectively
participate in the mainstream of the emerging
Digital Age. An example of a successful
application of this program was the creation
of a "digital resume," designed
to enhance employment opportunities.
Reflecting back on what has been created,
it was a uniquely rewarding experience
to have been part of and contribute to
the creation of The Digital Clubhouse
Network. Today, standing the test of time,
almost seven years since the initial Process
Art implemented user groups were undertaken,
branches of the Digital Clubhouse Network
continue operating. You can find a Digital
Clubhouse at 55 Broad Street in the Financial
District of Lower Manhattan and in the
Heart of Silicon Valley at the Sunnyvale
Town Center, California.
To this day, The Clubhouse remains true
to its original purpose and charter of
building community and serving the needs
of individuals taking part in its programs
and services. Many of which were initially
developed from the information and insight
harvested from the Process Art implemented
user group programs conducted in 1995
- 1996.
A New Way of Thinking
One of our prime objectives in writing
this article is to share my experiences
with as many people as possible. The benefits
of Process Art that I share have been
learned from projects conducted on behalf
of Corporations, Universities, Entrepreneurs,
Not-for-profit organizations, as well
as marketers and strategists. Moreover,
personal experiences gained as a result
of graphically facilitating more than
one thousand Process Art programs provides
me with a unique vantage point.
Breaking Out of The Box
Process Art is powerful. I believe it
can be a valuable enhancement to any group
gathering or meeting environment. If you
do not feel comfortable doing Process
Art yourself, there are professional Process
Art graphic facilitators who are skilled
and experienced.
At the same time, do not dismiss Process
Art because you "can’t draw
a straight line." Remember, it was
Picasso who said, "We are all
born artists the challenge is staying
one." A few simple and easily
learned icons, some straightforward templates,
a large piece of paper and a pallet of
colored magic markers (I prefer scented
markers, for that extra kick of creativity)
can add a great deal of creative power
and effectiveness to your next meeting.
Like I always say during the introduction
warm-up of our Process Art facilitated
sessions: "I promise you three things.
You’ll have a good time. You’ve
never seen anything like this before.
And, you know more than you know you know!"
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