A little Sensazione distraction I wanted to share....
http://content.4at5.net/email_domains/coa/0422/hilltopsong.swf
Monday, November 12, 2007
Friday, October 5, 2007
You Need a Healthy Dose of Sfumato...
I continue to be intrigued by DaVinci's principle of Sfumato as it keeps coming into my life. Rereading Langer, I was amused by imagining my high school Chemistry teacher taking us through the Elements Table using phrases like "In most cases Oxygen is the 9th element of the... (I made that up - I also got D's in Chemistry). I'm sure I would have been much more engaged and learned more had we been able to play more in class and not memorize equations and other things that I truly believe ARE facts and not fodder for "mindful learning". I know I would have loved history much earlier had we been able to explore it and not memorize dates - or try to. But I see Mrs. Cates just seething if we answered her pedantic questions with "might have been" or "maybe"! Talk about a woman who did not embrace ambiguity! For several years I've been thinking what fun it would be to go back and do 6th grade all over again, this time learning and not memorizing. Between new teaching methods and the wisdom a creative adult could bring, it would be a blast! And it would open up so many new worlds.
I have a wonderful client who is letting us do a month long in-depth online ethnographic research project about 25-27 year old guys. The results are profound yet, as a typical client, he's chomping at the bit for results. "So what can we make of all this? What am I going to put in my ads? I don't think we're getting anything usable!" That was last week's concern. He's happy now - downright delighted - but you have to trust the process of research. You don't just open the can and insights spill out. Like facilitating ideation for new product work, you have to wallow in uncertainty and look for paradigms to break before the answers neatly fall out of your brain onto flipchart pads and computer keyboards.
I think this year instead of holiday greeting cards, I'll send my friends and colleagues a simple message... My holiday wish for you is....SFUMATO!
Chris
I have a wonderful client who is letting us do a month long in-depth online ethnographic research project about 25-27 year old guys. The results are profound yet, as a typical client, he's chomping at the bit for results. "So what can we make of all this? What am I going to put in my ads? I don't think we're getting anything usable!" That was last week's concern. He's happy now - downright delighted - but you have to trust the process of research. You don't just open the can and insights spill out. Like facilitating ideation for new product work, you have to wallow in uncertainty and look for paradigms to break before the answers neatly fall out of your brain onto flipchart pads and computer keyboards.
I think this year instead of holiday greeting cards, I'll send my friends and colleagues a simple message... My holiday wish for you is....SFUMATO!
Chris
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Sfumato & Endings
My cousin died this week. Not unexpected but still not expected. Anyone who has ever lost someone to a terminal illness lives with ambiguity and uncertainty about when, not if. When my dad was close to death last year I hesitated to make business travel plans and instead booked Florida trips to visit him on "gut feel," hoping my instinct nailed a weekend when he felt good.
This recent family event made me think of the anxiety around an impending death. Most of us are not prepared for what we need to do. It's not comfortable to ask what the dying wants for a funeral. And how often do we shop for caskets? A very recent memory of my cousin was when he and I were meeting the pastor to plan my aunt's (his mother's) memorial service and neither of us knew her favorite hymns -- or any hymns other than Easter and Christmas songs.
Authors have written about the mysteries of death. This wasn't a mystery. More a waiting game - a life lesson in Sfumato.
This recent family event made me think of the anxiety around an impending death. Most of us are not prepared for what we need to do. It's not comfortable to ask what the dying wants for a funeral. And how often do we shop for caskets? A very recent memory of my cousin was when he and I were meeting the pastor to plan my aunt's (his mother's) memorial service and neither of us knew her favorite hymns -- or any hymns other than Easter and Christmas songs.
Authors have written about the mysteries of death. This wasn't a mystery. More a waiting game - a life lesson in Sfumato.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Library Science 101
Man, am I glad I bought a new computer with a 24" monitor! Annotated biblios are not for the cute little book-size laptops! Anyone else have at least 4 screens/docs up at one time? Wow! And I still haven't quite figured out how to list a dissertation. That's on my to-do list.
Truly the hardest part of this assignment was settling on a research question. I actually went back to my SNL focus area and concept-mapped that along with my effectiveness. I still have a lot of love for my topic -- How does aging affect women's self-esteem and, ultimately, how can I help. It dawned on me that the passion I have for the topic relates to my personal effectiveness as well. So maybe I can get some solid learning around why I'm bothered by aging, move on and help others.
Once I settled on my question, I was overwhelmed with good stuff. SO no obstacles, except limited monitor size and that darn dissertation !
Chris
Truly the hardest part of this assignment was settling on a research question. I actually went back to my SNL focus area and concept-mapped that along with my effectiveness. I still have a lot of love for my topic -- How does aging affect women's self-esteem and, ultimately, how can I help. It dawned on me that the passion I have for the topic relates to my personal effectiveness as well. So maybe I can get some solid learning around why I'm bothered by aging, move on and help others.
Once I settled on my question, I was overwhelmed with good stuff. SO no obstacles, except limited monitor size and that darn dissertation !
Chris
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Real Effectiveness
An event happened this weekend that really got my attention! I'm interpreting it as one of the finest examples of my own personal effectiveness along with some great teamwork to deliver a truly poignant experience.
In April a woman I know through the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust passed away after a heroic, but losing, battle with cancer. She was so bubbly and friendly, a great role model for all the volunteers of the group. Maybe because we both had chaired the Volunteer Services committee or had worked together on other projects, but I felt her loss, as did the organization.
My unique talent that I bring to life and to all those around me - whether they want it or not - is ideas. Some of them are hare-brained. Others astonishingly good. This was a good one. I knew we had to recognize Catherine's grace and spirit with an award.
On Saturday night the award came to life in the most memorable way. Catherine's husband, a writer, presented the award with the bravest, most perfect speech that captured everything I had hoped when I had the original idea. He talked about her hospitality and way she made every volunteer feel special, he talked about her struggle for the last few years and how much support from other volunteers meant. Then he presented the Waterford Crystal bowl to the 1st recipient -- who also was a good friend of Catherine's.
The winner embodies everything the award is meant to recognize. He volunteers several hundred hours each year, primarily working with the new interpreters of the Wright Home & Studio - and has never been recognized for his efforts. His acceptance speech - totally spontaneous as he knew nothing of getting this award - was so gracious and heartfelt I felt this was almost a "convergence moment" when all good things come together in this world.
There was a lot of behind the scenes work that had to be done to meet the party deadline and potentially a lot of politics that could have undermined the beauty of this award. But everyone worked together to make this happen.
Ideas are my profession so many come to life often. But this was the best. It didn't sell any products. No one got a raise. But it enriched lives, mine included. And it pointed out that this is what my personal effectiveness is all about.
In April a woman I know through the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust passed away after a heroic, but losing, battle with cancer. She was so bubbly and friendly, a great role model for all the volunteers of the group. Maybe because we both had chaired the Volunteer Services committee or had worked together on other projects, but I felt her loss, as did the organization.
My unique talent that I bring to life and to all those around me - whether they want it or not - is ideas. Some of them are hare-brained. Others astonishingly good. This was a good one. I knew we had to recognize Catherine's grace and spirit with an award.
On Saturday night the award came to life in the most memorable way. Catherine's husband, a writer, presented the award with the bravest, most perfect speech that captured everything I had hoped when I had the original idea. He talked about her hospitality and way she made every volunteer feel special, he talked about her struggle for the last few years and how much support from other volunteers meant. Then he presented the Waterford Crystal bowl to the 1st recipient -- who also was a good friend of Catherine's.
The winner embodies everything the award is meant to recognize. He volunteers several hundred hours each year, primarily working with the new interpreters of the Wright Home & Studio - and has never been recognized for his efforts. His acceptance speech - totally spontaneous as he knew nothing of getting this award - was so gracious and heartfelt I felt this was almost a "convergence moment" when all good things come together in this world.
There was a lot of behind the scenes work that had to be done to meet the party deadline and potentially a lot of politics that could have undermined the beauty of this award. But everyone worked together to make this happen.
Ideas are my profession so many come to life often. But this was the best. It didn't sell any products. No one got a raise. But it enriched lives, mine included. And it pointed out that this is what my personal effectiveness is all about.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Indexer In Training
In between being curious, I'm managing an incredible research project for a client with 20 participants doing online ethnography for 30 days. This means a HUGE amount of data. And someone has to code it - which is going through every line of transcript (and each guy spends about an hour online writing!) and INDEXING it so we can pull it up later.
Actually it's a great exercise in logic - something I don't often do. My coding list AKA index possibilities is growing so fast that I'm going to have to buy a larger monitor tomorrow. Plus my thumb is numb, so I think it's time for a mouse to attach to my laptop. Can you get a callous from your computer?
Am I being effective? I'm certainly getting "up close and personal" with my study participants and their data - which will make me a better researcher. Unless I go off the deepend and can't see the forest for the trees.
My goal here is to synthesize the big ideas and be curious for other themes. Without killing myself over these details. And I certainly used a concept map to set up my codes!
Actually it's a great exercise in logic - something I don't often do. My coding list AKA index possibilities is growing so fast that I'm going to have to buy a larger monitor tomorrow. Plus my thumb is numb, so I think it's time for a mouse to attach to my laptop. Can you get a callous from your computer?
Am I being effective? I'm certainly getting "up close and personal" with my study participants and their data - which will make me a better researcher. Unless I go off the deepend and can't see the forest for the trees.
My goal here is to synthesize the big ideas and be curious for other themes. Without killing myself over these details. And I certainly used a concept map to set up my codes!
Sunday, September 2, 2007
The Joys of Convergence
Yes, it took a class assignment to actually get me blogging. Yet it seems like something I should have been doing for ages. May I blame my lateness on advancing age and no longer being in the "Early Adopter" demographic?
Yet I'm also working on a major research initiative where our participants are expected to blog -- and download photos and mindmap and do all these cool things. So I'm learning as they are -- and finding that much of the mystery is really pretty intuitive and fun.
I'm torn between making this a real blog that I invite my friends and family to see -- or keeping it just for class. We'll need to think about this some more. Maybe I'll run some research? Perhaps a Zoomerang to see how many people would be A) Very interested B) Somewhat interested C) Don't give a rat's ass one way or other D) Somewhat disinterested E) Would disown me.
Yet I'm also working on a major research initiative where our participants are expected to blog -- and download photos and mindmap and do all these cool things. So I'm learning as they are -- and finding that much of the mystery is really pretty intuitive and fun.
I'm torn between making this a real blog that I invite my friends and family to see -- or keeping it just for class. We'll need to think about this some more. Maybe I'll run some research? Perhaps a Zoomerang to see how many people would be A) Very interested B) Somewhat interested C) Don't give a rat's ass one way or other D) Somewhat disinterested E) Would disown me.
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