Screen-sharing programs like WebEx, GotoMeeting, etc. allow you to show a desktop over the internet. They allow one person to present at a time, by broadcasting that person’s computer’s desktop to all participants. bCisive Online instead provides access to a common virtual workspace — and a superbly functional one at that! — with one person able to edit…
Some people protest that they’re not visual thinkers and shy away from visual thinking approaches. My off-the-cuff reply is that most people — even avowed non-visual thinkers — tend to consult a street directory when trying to figure out how to get from A to B: A page from a street directory The general point…
Top-down and bottom-up thinking are complimentary. Let’s see why: The alternatives (all images produced in bCisive Online) Both top-down and bottom-up thinking cut across the critical / creative thinking divide: Critical thinking Structuring and categorizing (mainly bottom-up) Hypothesis testing (top-down) Argument mapping (top-down and bottom-up aspects) Creative thinking Brainstorming (bottom-up) Mind-mapping (top-down) Dialogue and issue mapping (top-down) Let’s…
No! It should be critical thinking andcreative thinking. Some definitions, from Tim Hurson‘s book Think Better: Creative Thinking: generative, nonjudgmental and expansive. When you are thinking creatively, you are generating lists of new ideas. Critical Thinking: analytical, judgmental and selective. When you are thinking critically, you are making choices. Experts in both styles of thinking will prefer more nuanced definitions,…
Microsoft Visio is primarily a computerized drawing program. With it you can draw very precise diagrams in a multitude of different styles. It is great for visual communication. In fact Microsoft suggest that we all “Learn why Visio is the key to Visual Communication”. Fair enough! But before visual communication, you need to think and work through…
Manual tools are not good enough for real visual thinking. The conventional whiteboard is big and tactile, but has only two operations: Draw Erase You can do visual thinking on a whiteboard, but rearrangement — which is crucial if you are trying to solve a problem or gain insight, rather than simply present — is only possible with constant rubbing out and rewriting, which is prohibitively difficult.…