brenda michelson

gone astray

  • Blog
  • About
  • Archives

PEW Research: Tech Saturation, Well-Being and (my) Remedies

May 29, 2018 By brenda_michelson

Back in January, I was asked to participate in PEW Research’s survey on the impact of digital life:

“Over the next decade, how will changes in digital life impact people’s overall well-being physically and mentally?”

The choices: more helped than harmed, more harmed than helped, not much changed.

PEW and partner Elon, published comprehensive results of the survey in April:

“Some 1,150 experts responded in this non-scientific canvassing. Some 47% of these respondents predict that individuals’ well-being will be more helped than harmed by digital life in the next decade, while 32% say people’s well-being will be more harmed than helped. The remaining 21% predict there will not be much change in people’s well-being compared to now.”

I was amongst the optimists, more helped than harmed. Though, I thought about the ills — tech addiction, inequality, algorithmic bias — before answering. For me, the opportunities brought by connection and crucial intelligence outweigh the bad. Plus, we can fix the bad.

As with all PEW/Elon studies, respondents were asked for supporting commentary on their choices. Ten themes emerged:

For detailed responses, many named, some anonymous, see the research report.

Regarding fixing the bad, the survey asked:

“what might be done to diminish any threats to individuals’ well-being that are now emerging due to people’s choices in creating digital systems and living digital lives”

Five themes emerged:

I was pleased to see my response make the report, as it validates my current (and future work): intersecting arts, tech and information to make technology knowledge and participation more accessible.

The first part was rolled into “reimagine systems”. No surprise to anyone who has heard my STEAM pitch:

Brenda M. Michelson, an executive-level technology architect based in North America, commented,

“We need to improve how we build and introduce digital products, services, information and overall pervasiveness. On building, we need to diversify the teams creating our digital future. 1) These future builders must reflect society in terms of race, gender, age, education, economic status and so on. 2) As digital is integrative – technology, data, arts, humanities, society, ethics, economics, science, communication – the teams must be composed of individuals from across professions and backgrounds, including artists, scientists, systems thinkers and social advocates. On introduction, we need – desperately – to build information literacy and critical- thinking skills across the population and improve curation tools without impinging on free speech.”

The second part, deep in the report supplement, was rolled into “redesign media literacy”:

“We need (desperately) to build information literacy and critical-thinking skills across the population and improve curation tools without impinging on free speech. Broad education on information literacy and critical thinking can help people discern the validity of information, view multiple sides/perspectives of an issue and consider the motivations of content creators/providers. There should be a developing/refining of our individual habits. Turning off notifications. Giving ourselves digital breaks with other people, doing outdoor activity and so on. Essentially, regaining our attention. As well, we can choose devices and interfaces that augment our everyday experiences while being a present participant in social/work/family situations.”

The report is a truly interesting read. A variety of perspectives from leading thinkers and innovators in our field. Rounded out with regular folks, like me.

Filed Under: arts_and_techs, digital_acumen

Comics & the Curse of Knowledge

June 27, 2017 By brenda_michelson

A few years ago, I came across Steven Pinker’s writing on the Curse of Knowledge:

The curse of knowledge is:

…a difficulty in imagining what it is like for someone else not to know something that you know.

Because:

The better you know something, the less you remember about how hard it was to learn.

Resulting in unsuccessful communication:

…The curse of knowledge is the single best explanation of why good people write bad prose. It simply doesn’t occur to the writer that her readers don’t know what she knows—that they haven’t mastered the argot of her guild, can’t divine the missing steps that seem too obvious to mention, have no way to visualize a scene that to her is as clear as day. And so the writer doesn’t bother to explain the jargon, or spell out the logic, or supply the necessary detail.

The cure:

The key is to assume that your readers are as intelligent and sophisticated as you are, but that they happen not to know something you know.

In other words, the communication burden needs to be placed on the knowledge holder, not the receiver.


Around the time I learned of the curse of knowledge, I read Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, which is a comic book explaining the power of comic books, not in a superhero power way, but as a visual communication medium. (panel highlights are mine)

It’s also where my journey began, because I started to notice the use of comics to explain complex topics to the rest of us. Not infographics or one-pagers, but full books taking on topics across arts, humanities and STEM.

I was intrigued. I read books on topics both familiar and not. Each book taught me something on visual communication, storytelling/narrative and curse free explanation techniques.

As a plus, I learned a bunch on new topics in a fun, engaging manner.

I just finished Jessica Abel’s terrific Out On the Wire. Judging from the post-it decorated pages, I have a lot of thoughts on this one, which I’ll address in another post. (Intend to address, anyway)

And yes, I’m tinkering with comics/graphic narrative in my explainer work.

In the meantime, a sampling of my reading list:

Comics on comics (meta)

Storytelling

Philosophy

Statistics

Economics

Adaptations


Tech

Filed Under: context, knowledge, visualization Tagged With: books, comics

Experts Sketch

May 3, 2017 By brenda_michelson

I think best with a marker in my hand. Always have. My workspace, and all paths to and from it, are littered with box and line diagrams, doodles, code snippets, and my (at that moment) best idea ever, on any scrap of paper, notebook or whiteboard within reach.

Quirky, my friends think. But, I’m far from alone. Especially in the software field.

In the wonderful Software Design Decoded, 66 Ways Experts Think, an early section is Experts Sketch.

Experts Externalize Their Thoughts [24]

Experts sketch when they think. They sketch when alone. They sketch in meetings with colleagues or clients. They sketch when they have no apparent need to sketch. They sketch on paper, on whiteboards, on napkins, in the air. Experts know that sketching is a way to interact with their own thoughts, an opportunity to externalize, to examine, and advance what they have in their minds.

How do experts sketch? Messily, formally and in between. Pressing notation to their advantage, as a tool rather than constraint. Ever been in a room where the model’s notational correctness overtakes the problem (or solution) correctness? Consider these practices:

Experts Use Notations as Lenses, Rather Than Straightjackets [21]

Experts understand the true value of notations: they serve as lenses to examine a design solution from a particular perspective. Experts are not married to any notation and will use whichever notation best suits the task at hand…

Experts Invent Notations [28]

Experts choose a notation that suits the problem, even if the notation does not exist. New notations arise when, in the heat of design, shorthand symbols are used that take on a meaning of their own…

An insight that, frankly, was a relief to me: re-drawing is a good thing. Not all repetition falls under that insanity definition adage. Results can differ, for the better:

Experts Repeat Activities [44]

…Experts draw a diagram, then draw it again, and perhaps again and again. Experts repeat these activities because they know that, each time they do so, they must re-engage with a fresh mindset and re-explain to themselves or to others. Variations in how they engage, think, draw, and communicate, as well as variations in what they choose to focus on, uncover new issues and opportunities.

Regarding variation:

Experts Change Notation Deliberately [49]

Experts ask themselves what would happen if they remodeled what they have in a different notation, using somewhat different modeling concepts or somewhat different semantics. Differences in expression can prompt them to consider additional issues.

Beyond sketching, Software Design Decoded covers simplification, non-linearity, collaboration, uncertainty, fear and more.

If you are curious how your practices match with, or can be expanded to, expert levels, pick up this book.

And if you work with a manager that doesn’t get your seemingly random, casual, exploratory approach, drop a copy on their desk.

Filed Under: craft, visualization Tagged With: sketchfirst, thinking

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next Page »

about me

Technology architect exploring the interplay of arts, technology, and information.

I’m in Maine, quietly working, playing and learning.

Recent Posts

  • PEW Research: Tech Saturation, Well-Being and (my) Remedies
  • Comics & the Curse of Knowledge
  • Experts Sketch
  • Lessons from Critical Making: Thingking
  • Current Path

This no one reads blogs anymore thing is freeing.

Write to take note and think.

Audience of (n)one.

— brenda m. michelson (@bmichelson) May 30, 2018

© 2017-2019 Brenda M. Michelson and Elemental Links, Inc.