Visualizing Data

(Images by Otl Aicher for the XXth Olympic Games, 1967-1972)

I began this blog in honor of being selected as an offical speaker for TEDXZagreb in 2010.  It was such a special experience and the common thread is that people who think for the next generation get together and share whether they are speakers, participants, organizers or volunteers.  TED is a part of all the classes I teach and so is this blog.

The inspiration for this blog is that last rite of passage of my doctoral dissertation that is organizing and sharing all the data I have collected physically, electronically and now presenting so others can understand and use it.  My original title was Understanding Social Entrepreneurship in Croatia and I turned it into Visualizing Social Entrepreneurship in Croatia about 6 months ago.  I got brave enough to fully embrace mindmaps, infographics and push their scientific application that simplifies the complex and requires quite an immense amount of reflection and clarity.

Today, I wondered how to relay the importance of the visual elements to the storytelling nature of my qualitative dominant research.  Through my search I discovered that the infographics trend began as an attempt by the Olympic games to better organize and communicate to athletes, coaches, organizers and spectators.  While they started as "pictograms" at the London Games 1948, their advancement took of at the Tokyo Games of 1964, they evolved through experiment in Mexico in 1968 and finally reached a critical appeal point at the 1972 Olympic Games.  With the awareness of the Olympic games and the number of countries involved the interest in using visuals to inform and communicate accelerated.

Today, infographics have been mainstreamed because the information overload through satelite, cable, wireless, online software and hardware devices needs help directing the consumers to what's important and why fast.  Infographics are used to illustrate and inform in one image and text visual with many symbolic elements in an eye appealing way.  Some examples include static information or can even be set in motion to show dynamic change over time and space like the work of TED alums Hans Rosling, David McCandless, JoAnn Kuchera-Morin and Anders Ynnerman.  The application of visualizing data crosses borders and fields of far ranging interests.

Resources:

Moss, L. (n.d.). Visual Data. Retrieved from http://www.scoop.it/t/visual-data/p/1473462724/openstreetmap-overlays-turn-digital-maps-into-watercolors

Munich Organizing Committee. (1972). Die Spiele: The official report of the Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXth Olympiad Munich 1972. Munich: pro Sport Munchen.

Popovic, J. J. (n.d.). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://1stmuse.com/pictograms/

The Wondrous.com Design Magazine. (2012, March 20). 12 Inspirational Infog

raphic Designs. Retrieved March 31, 2012, from TheWondrous Design Magazine: http://thewondrous.com/12-inspirational-infographic-designs/

Applying your gifts and experience to things you care about.

The trick about really being creative and getting the most by giving authentically starts simply.  The formula is most easily understood by two factors: goodness and caring.  Everyone has got the goods.  Each one of us has talents and experience and gifts that come naturally.  Then we add to that the things that pull at our heart strings and motivate us with passion.  Sometimes its hard to come to terms that just activating that goodness with that immense inner concern could be combined to create something really special and authentic. 

When I came across an example, 2x in one week, I knew it was time to pass it on. 
Good photographer + concern for shelter animals = attention drawing images which give mutts a light hearted hug.  The photographer in the spotlight is Amy Chadwick Williams: http://www.vetstreet.com/our-pet-experts/shelter-photographer-talks-about-her-hilarious-series-of-dog-blooper-snapshots?WT.z_mod=RP. The link has a spotlight interview with the artist talking about her crafty approach to raising issues about unwanted pets.  She uses a bit of reverse logic, making the animals appear so ugly they are irresistbly cute.  The key to her likability is that through her lens she captures alot of personality and uniqueness in her canine models.  Check out her whole gallery and have a smile all the while thinking about how you could combine your goodness and caring.

BARTER NOW - Getting Creative with Promotions

No money needed?  Bludot was featured in an article about how the Minnesota, USA based company is running a promotion that features an online swap meet.  They post pictures of their furniture and let the public bid on the items with anything they have to offer.  When I checked out the online auction in progress on 8 March 2012, some items being offered and accepted were:

Offered
Tatto Space - in exchange for a sectional sofa a man from California offered up a choice spot on his arm for the company's logo. (see photo above)

Hand Sculpture - in exchange for a "one night stand sleeper sofa" a man from Utah offered up a "time management" sculpture of a hand with money, house, car, dog, people symbols floating over the palm. Clever.

Accepted
Iconic Architecture Retreat - in exchange for a sectional sofia the Blu Dot executives will get treated to a Creative retreat at a Frank Llyod Wright designed home in Wisconsin.

Love - in exchange for a lamp a women from Massachusetts will carry the lamp around with her for 24 hours over 7 days.  She proved how it would look like in her arms by photoshopping it in.

Bid or check out the activity going on through 16 March 2012 yourself.  Here is how it works according to the Bludot site:

The cool part is that visitor's to the site can also vote if they think the matching is "swap worthy".  What are some other authentic ways to make the old fashioned barter systems and social media blend in interesting ways?  Leave your comments below.

The Flip Book

Right now I am working on a book for High School students to get passionate about themselves, their ideas and the possibilities of an entrepreneurial future.  This is fun but challenging.  I keep thinking of myself at their age. As a mother of two kids, 7 and 11, I know how important it is to tell the story using the right language and emphasis to have it be understood by different age levels or better yet stage levels. The age I hope to reach is the elusive teenager.  Coming into their own this group is not quite a child and not yet an adult (sounding an awful lot like a Britney Spears song just about now).  So I am doing my research.  I met with a focus group of my target market and their teacher.  It was a frightening experience as its not the college crowd I have been around for the past 14 years, its the would be freshmen.

I really loved being that age.  It had a lot of drama and excitement.  We had our own real life soap operas going on.  Crazy weekend parties when various parents went out of town; stress of what college to apply to as we prepared to take our SAT tests, this is just one weekend I can recall.  But squeezed into that teen world of yesteryear, we also did find time to have a part-time job and do volunteer work.  This is not the reality of today's youth and their are not so many opportunities to find work let alone have it encouraged in Croatia.  This leads to an increasing importance of the theme of entrepreneurship.  Being able to push thinking and action to a new level, to go beyond what is currently accepted and see things and manifest things in new ways.

The best hope is for students to come with some kind of passion for some interest/hobby that connects them to the world around them.  From this passion could be the seed that starts them on the journey to building their future instead of waiting for it to happen.  The book we are creating will flip stories that students are familiar with and retell them with an entrepreneurial twist.  Once we have acknowledgement that the book will be published we can reveal more but for now I can just give some real life examples of people turning their passions into businesses.  Once such case is that of Ketra Oberlander, a blind painter who started Art of Possibility Studios http://www.aopstudios.com/index.php which is a cooperative of talented illustrators, graphic designers and artists who also happen to be choosing to emphasize what they can do rather than what they can't. Be inspired.

Food issues - the lunchbox pictorial

What moms pack for lunch in Japan: Custom rice creations in a Bento box

Hello Kitty and her friends make lunch more colorful and fun to share with classmates.

Offers up pretty and healthy edible storytime.

Animae in cold cuts and seaweed form the perfect superhero

fighting for a balanced diet everywhere.

Watched it on BBC's "Japan's Amazing Lunchboxes and had

to spend 30 minutes learning more about it.

Even came across the book

A book by Christopher D. Saylers which is now on my

Wish list!

Can you ever look at food the same way again and not think

about the possibilities?

Entrepreneurship in flight

Its amazing what a little bit of free time can bring.  On my travels to a UNESCO conference in Thessaloniki, I had to go from Zagreb via Frankfurt.  I tried to track the entrepreneurship ideas I came across in the variety of free media sources available to me.  Several inflight magazines, USA Today and the International Herald Tribune supplied me with enough to inspire a mindmap of sorts.  On the fly, and wherever you are their are inspiring ideas that can take you in new directions if you are simply open to them.  

EN ROUTE

Being inspired by beauty and traditions found in Croatia Airlines’ inflight mag

Croatian island hopping recommendations from Award-Winning CBS Producer, Pete Radovich

1. Well Known: Korcula, Hvar, Brac

2. Lesser Known: Lastovo, Rab, Vis

3. Hidden Treasures: Kaprije, Pasman, Zverniac

Every wonder where your salt comes from….well they describe the heritage of salt harvesting around the town of Nin that has been in place since the 6^th century.  The Nin Salt Pans Park produces salt with all natural methods using sun and wind which expose the salt ready for the taking.

Note to self

I have been experimenting with playing music during exams….to calm the savage beast that seem to show up at exam time instead of my average student.  While this raised some eyebrows it was a great classroom management tool and even the initially resistant students asked for the calming tunes to remain on.  Then the USA Today I was given Weintraub (2011) reported that in America, there are more than 5,000 musical therapists in an industry that should experience growth.  The results of music therapy in treating everything from physical problems to mental stress and even aging has been promising. This gave me hope that musical applications for learning also need to researched and could make for interesting pedagogical studies worth pursuing.

New regime and new rules have enterprising individuals filling niches

New found freedom over daily life has citizens of Tripoli flocking to get items they were not previously allowed to consume in places they were not previously permitted to buy.  Now windows can be tinted, decorative jewelry can be worn and an abundance of fruits and vegetables are now available through many channels.  The rule of law is free as well and it will take a while to get crime, violence and traffic in order as well.  Freedom to choose also makes people have to understand the rights and responsibilities that come along side of this new reality.

ON THE GROUND

Thessaloniki tour of shops when out and about

Fine Chocalatier, Papillion Colore, was just opened on the day we arrived.  The shop was jammed with eager buyers and the chocolates were encased in dreamy glass and wood displays befitting fine jewelry.  They tasted just as good and the nut lover in me got a hand packed and hand picked items directly from the owner.  They have been manufacturing and wholesaling their products but chose to launch their own high end retail space to attract the next generation of entrepreneurs, their daughter and the next generation of customers as well.

Kids clothing, independent retailer, Angela.  The owner of the shop gave us conversation, handmade Christmas decorations, angels (ofcourse) and hugs!  The neighborhood and welcoming feel of this authentically decorated shop comforts you with clothing advice that only a real Grandma would know.

Chain excellence, JUMBO.  Upon landing in the airport and waiting for luggage, I ran into a woman just like me…an expat married to a local.  In her case, a Greek and found herself married with children.  I knew she would have the answers to my time constrained search….Where can I buy toys?  Her immediate answer was Jumbo, www.jumbo.gr.  This is one giant space that is beyond toys into the realm of everything at a value oriented price. Sold on the her recommendations, went to store, made purchases in less than an hour.  Got something for everyone on the family Christmas list.

RETURN TRIP

Athens’ innovation trends…as found in Aegean Airlines in Flight Magazine, Blue

Troofoodliberation.com is described as “gastronomy activists, raw-food enthusiasts and sworn vegetarians, this group is trying to emphasize the benefits of healthy eating” (Valatos, 2011).  Their website tagline lists…Fighting Food Crime Since 2009.

The Meet Market is a trendy mix of gently used clothing, art bargains and eco-food wrapped up into festive gathering point for hipsters.  You can find them online at www.themeetmarket.gr and also on their Facebook page where you can join their 4834 friends and counting.

Blogger extraordinaire Costas Voyatzis offers insights into his unique design sense and provides pictorials and commentary on categories ranging from architecture to V.O. W.  The latter which can only be fully appreciated by visiting his site: www.yatzer.com. He offers inspiration to those at a creative roadblock.

References:

Krauss, C. (2011, November 30). Elation and trepidation in Libya's capital. International Herald Tribune, p. 4.

Petricusic, T. (2011, Autumn). Nin's flower of salt. Croatia Inflight Magazine, 96-102.

Valatos, F. (2011, Autumn). Athens: The modern identity of an historic city. Blue Magazine, (38), 142-151.

Weintraub, K. (2011, November 30). Music can heal mind, body soul: The therapy lifts spirits while helping retrain an injured brain. USA Today, p. 10b.

Zlof, K. (2011, Autumn). Passion as a driving force: Interview with Pete Radovich. Croatia Inflight Magazine, 6-11.

Global Entrepreneurship Week at ZSEM and beyond

November 14th through the 20th, celebrates the theme of entrepreneurship around the world.  Students, teachers, practitioners and the general public get some increased exposure of the entrepreneurs past, present and future in impacting our lives.

Every year I have students conduct an interview with an entrepreneur.  These one on one sessions which I encourage to be face to face is one of the easier, straight forward assignments in the array
of tools used to teach the course.  But the exchange is not as impactful as it could be if it happens between 2 people and it is not shared.  I get so much joy out of seeing the dialog exchanges and the wisdom, honesty and reality checks most entrepreneurs provide to the students.  Every year I try to have the post-interview sharing with peers be a little different.  Some years its a poster session, some years its live entrepreneurs like show and tell and this year its all about the video presentations.

As of Monday, the start of GEW there are now over 60 videos posted by students on our event Youtube page and on the Vimeo playlist also created.  The levels of creativity, technical ability and storytelling vary greatly.  But I appreciate the full range of ideas that are behind the creations so its the process not just the product that I will recognize and in teaching terms I must grade.  There are some who planned in advance with a clear vision and were able to execute; there were others who kept it to a clean and simple story and format and resulted in a standout; there were others inspired or intimidated by the technology who pushed themselves out of their comfort zone or retreated to an online template transfer of ppt to video.  There are some who are not satisfied with the work they did either because they are perfectionist or because they started late and don't want to be compared to their peers.  Any way you slice it, entrepreneurs were celebrated and students engaged in some facet of being entrepreneurial themselves in the process.  If we were able to do this in conjunction with a global initiative then that is just the cherry on top.

I also made a submission and I showed them the process...with a simple powerpoint, research I added music, posted and played in front of an audience 4 times, got feedback, retooled and reposted.  I gave them permission to one up the professor and some took that challenge and soared in their own unique vision of the assignment.  There are many more who will need to learn how to take feedback without getting defensive and learn the lifelong lesson "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again".

To learn more about Global Entrepreneurship Week, please visit www.unleashingideas.org
You can check out all the activities registered for each of the 123 countries participating.