The Importance of Visualisation – Mapping the Way Forward

Maps are more than just diagrams of the route from A to B – to draw one is to bring together the whole view of our surrounding world so that we can gain a better understanding of it. Even a single, simple example has the ability to delight, unsettle and reveal truths. In politically-charged environments an objective visual map can reinforce, influence or challenge held perceptions and beliefs, making them a vital tool in designing pliable, people-focused content systems that are fit for purpose. Their proactive and reactive qualities force ourselves and others to see things as they really are; to contemplate the relationship between them and how they vary together.

Presented at the Content Strategy Forum 2013 in Helsinki, Finland on 13th September 2013.

Transcript

1. MAPPING THE WAY FORWARD The importance of visualisation - Richard Ingram @richardjingram Friday, 13 September 13
2. © Trustees of the British Museum Babylonian map of the world Clay tablet, probably from Sippar, southern Iraq (c.700-500 BC) Babylon Friday, 13 September 13
3. © Trustees of the British Museum Hereford Mappa Mundi (‘Sheet of the World’) Inked parchment, the largest medieval map known to still exist (c.1300) London Edinburgh Friday, 13 September 13
4. Friday, 13 September 13
5. Administrative Friday, 13 September 13
6. Administrative Social Friday, 13 September 13
7. Administrative Social Military Friday, 13 September 13
8. Administrative Social Military Political Friday, 13 September 13
9. Walt Disney’s business map,1957 Depicts a central film asset and its supporting entertainment assets Friday, 13 September 13
10. Growth of Las Vegas, NV 1984–2012 Google Earth timelapse constructed from satellite imagery Friday, 13 September 13
11. Radial hierarchical organisation structure About as complex and contradictory as its name suggests Friday, 13 September 13
12. John Rocque's map of London, 1746 Rocque deliberately left out the city’s unsavoury elements Friday, 13 September 13
13. John Rocque's map of London, 1746 Rocque deliberately left out the city’s unsavoury elements Friday, 13 September 13
14. John Rocque's map of London, 1746 Rocque deliberately left out the city’s unsavoury elements Friday, 13 September 13
15. Map of organisation-wide content distribution Or that giant hairball the cat coughed up yesterday. Equally yucky. Friday, 13 September 13
16. MAPPING OUT A STORY Beyond physical geography - Friday, 13 September 13
17. Wabash river Ohio river Mississippi river © Trustees of the British Museum Native North American buckskin map Possibly used in land negotiations with the British (c.1744) Friday, 13 September 13
18. Distribution Distance Overlap Direction N A B C A B Friday, 13 September 13
19. LIGHT HEAT SUN gives gives Exploded view Concept map Different maps, same basic building blocks Friday, 13 September 13
20. Topological map Star map Different maps, same basic building blocks Friday, 13 September 13
21. North South East West Find your coordinate system Anything can be mapped using pairs of opposites Friday, 13 September 13
22. Expensive Cheap Slow Fast Find your coordinate system Anything can be mapped using pairs of opposites Friday, 13 September 13
23. High Low Small Large Find your coordinate system Anything can be mapped using pairs of opposites Friday, 13 September 13
24. N Plot your landmarks Start with the most prominent feature, then move outward Friday, 13 September 13
25. N Plot your landmarks Start with the most prominent feature, then move outward Friday, 13 September 13
26. N Plot your landmarks Start with the most prominent feature, then move outward Friday, 13 September 13
27. FINDING OUR WAY The unfamiliar environment - Friday, 13 September 13
28. Content Processes People Tackling that complex trinity Content governance is an important tool for this end Friday, 13 September 13
29. web
30. Regional English Council Approx. 15,000 staff 7 departments Serving approx. 700,000 people Scenario: Design a new content workflow Friday, 13 September 13
31. Digital Services department (Our heroes) Our varied, siloed environment Some departments are responsible for 100s of pages, while others only a few Friday, 13 September 13
32. Follow
33. Our varied, siloed environment To discover how content decisions are made and how they could be improved, we need to figure out who best to talk to Mandy ? ? ? ? ? Friday, 13 September 13
34. Let’s map our environment Digital Services Chief Executive's Corporate
35. Large Small Fast Slow Let’s devise our coordinate system Digital Services Chief Executive's Corporate
36. Large Small Fast Slow We’re on the move! What can we see? Digital Services Chief Executive's Corporate
37. Large Small Fast Slow We’re on the move! What can we see? Digital Services Chief Executive's Corporate
38. Large Small Fast Slow Digital Services Chief Executive's Children and
39. Large Small Fast Slow Digital Services Chief Executive's Children and
40. Large Small Fast Slow Digital Services Chief Executive's Children and
41. Large Small Fast Slow Digital Services Chief Executive's Children and
42. MAPPING OUT A PROCESS The unfamiliar environment - Friday, 13 September 13
43. Requirements for an effective CMS workflow Meet the needs of the organisation and your content players Friday, 13 September 13
44. Conducting content player interviews Ask them to walk you through several different content creation and publishing scenarios Digital Services Mandy Content Officer Friday, 13 September 13
45. The ensuing conversation Mandy talks us through the typical process for publishing a press release on the council website On
46. The ensuing conversation cont. Mandy talks us through the typical process for publishing a press release on the council website After
47. The ensuing conversation cont. Mandy is still talking us through the typical process for publishing a press release on the council website John,
48. Who are the players in our story? Mandy Content
49. Mandy Content
50. Mandy Content
51. Mandy Content
52. Mandy Content
53. Mandy Content
54. Large Small Fast Slow Digital Services Chief Executive's Children and
55. Large Small Fast Slow Digital Services Chief Executive's Children and
56. Large Small Fast Slow Digital Services Chief Executive's Children and
57. Large Small Fast Slow Digital Services Chief Executive's Children and
58. MAPPING THE WAY FORWARD The power of drawing - Friday, 13 September 13
59. Remember: We are not completely bound by what has happened before Content Processes People Balancing that complex trinity Friday, 13 September 13
60. Suggestion: let’s not always rely on the old established categories, we can always invent new ones New ideas won’t always fit neatly
61. Suggestion: let’s not always rely on the old established categories, we can always invent new ones New ideas won’t always fit neatly
62. Suggestion: let’s all step away from our screens and draw together. Encourage those innate inventive qualities Friday, 13 September 13
63. Make use of basic shapes, arrows, and faces. Find your axis. Above all: Embrace your mistakes. Mapmaking is a basic human instinct Friday, 13 September 13
64. KIITOS ! / THANK YOU ! Richard Ingram @richardjingram ringram@ingserv.com www.ingserv.com +44 1424 205 383 Friday, 13 September 13
65. Communicating Design: Developing Web Site Documentation for Design and Planning by Dan M. Brown (@brownorama) You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination by Katharine Harmon Blah Blah Blah: What To Do When Words Don't Work by Dan Roam (@dan_roam) The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures by Dan Roam Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer by Peter Turchi Recommended reading Friday, 13 September 13
66. You have been watching... David Helen John Mandy Me Mr