Other levels of information

In this post we’ll be looking at the third and fourth levels of information derived from a VisualsSpeak Strategic Thinking process. Below are the four levels of data we analyze:

1. Which individual images were selected across all groups.
2. Analysis of the content of the written descriptions.
3. The visual language in the structure of each table’s image.
4. The intersection of the words and images, and how they are used together.

Level 3: The overall image patterns

The VizThink Challenge group images featured four types of patterns. They were similar to patterns we have observed in other applications.

1. Contained collection (1 clump) of images
2. Images spread along a line
3. Images in separate clumps
4. Images on a curve, circle or spiral

In the VizThink Challenge, the overall patterns were fairly evenly distributed across the 40 tables. Sometimes in a VisualsSpeak Strategic Thinking process a dominant pattern will arise. Since that isn’t the case this time, any of these patterns might work as an underlying structure for the visual aspect of a website or marketing materials.

For example if the Artrain chose to use a journey theme in their marketing materials, then they might use a spiraling shape to reinforce that idea. Or if they chose to use a bridging communities theme then they could use arch or bridge shapes to make the images congruent with the words used in marketing materials.

You can see photographs of the individual tables on Fickr.

Level 4: Words and Images

When we look at the words and images together we are looking for the conscious intention of the participants. What stories did they tell, and how did they use the images? Do the messages resonate with the audience? Also are there particularly divergent ideas, as indicators of something we might not have considered?

Data in context

When analyzing the combination of words and images, we look at what is pertinent to the stakeholders based on what their needs are. After looking at three previous levels of data, we have identified many patterns and insights, so we begin to refine and isolate more specific outcomes.

The direction is largely determined by where the stakeholders are in the process. For example, if VisualsSpeak is used at the very beginning of a strategic process, we may be looking to identify all of the possibilities. Entering into the process in the middle like we did with Artrain, we might look at what messages were getting through and how they were received. Later, we might be using it to align stakeholders with a chosen strategy.

Selected Examples

Here are a few of the images together with their stories that were contributed by the participants in the VizThink Challenge. This is some of the raw data we look at when doing an analysis.

Table 23

People-Diversity

• stressing wide audience
• cultures from around the world
• art connecting people

Pathway- Images of Connection

• Bridge
• Path
• Lighthouse
• Affecting people a mile at a time

Beauty/Culture all around us

• Available
• Accessible
• Abounding

Table 31

We identified themes that the experience should include to engage communities and sponsors. It should inspire feelings such as:

Hope

• dreams
• children as future
• exploration of new grounds

Sense of community and belonging

• storytelling (from roots)
• history/tradition (teach old ideas new community members can share)
• impact (purpose of community to be)
• pride and inclusion of smaller groups

Fun/Joy

• creation process
• empowerment

Art as vehicle of creation

• Artist as visionary
• Education as path to expand
• Artist as source of inspiration

Table 42

Bring a smile to a child

By making the museum on wheels, Artrain brings smiles to families and most importantly children who have never experienced live art. The center photo would illustrate one happy or not so happy child, Would then segue to an open road displaying the ease and accessibility of America’s successful infrastructure for supporting such an endeavor. The large crowd image captures the large audience size that will expereince the impact. The hot air balloon laying behind the other images displays those who expereince Artrain, and its mission, will only soar- the sky will be their limit- similar to the sponsor who should only encounter greater visibility & profits form touching the lives of families who have the privilege of experiencing Artrain.

Thanks to all who participated

We’d like to thank the well over 300 people who participated in creating the group images for the VizThink Challenge. We realize it isn’t easy to accomplish this much in 30 minutes, and were amazed at how much information emerged from the process. Have any additional insights or ideas? See anything interesting in the section of the data we have shown in this series of posts?

• Artrain’s Challenge
• VizThink Challege: Overview
• VizThink Challenge: Which images were used and why it matters
• VizThink Challenge: What the words tell us
• Description of the challenge on the VizThink wiki, complete with video of the session.
• from Jamie Nast, VizThink Re’VIZ’ited and Mindjet Map of the Month
• Mindjet February newsletter featuring Jamie Nast

To follow the progress of Artrain USA, sign up for their e-newsletter.

How can we visualize the power of the Artrain experience to engage individual and corporate sponsors?

For the first level, we looked at the frequency of image use. We then invited our colleague Dr Rene-Marc Mangin to bring his perspective as a marketing communications consultant to analyze the narrative used by each table to describe their images.

Level Two Content Analysis

VisualsSpeak Level Two analysis features a content analysis of the language participants used to describe the selected images.
Ordinarily the VisualsSpeak process involves analyzing a recording of the participant’s description. In the VizThink challenge, tables compiled their results into a single report written by volunteer participants. The latter process introduces potential translation errors as the writer(s) may accidentally or intentionally change wording thereby altering the data obtained. Additionally, speaking about ideas encourages more fluid translation of images into words and is more likely to produce the deeper revelations that make VisualsSpeak outcomes different from outcomes obtained using different methods.

Recording speech yields richer information from a discourse analytic perspective. Speech is not consciously restricted by the linearity of the writing process (syntax, digressions, etc.), and therefore facilitates the emergence of deeper thoughts. It’s just easier to translate visual images into spoken rather than written language. In a way, this may be analogous to the difference between typing and writing in longhand. Many celebrated authors still choose to write in longhand, and then have their manuscripts typed. We suspect this preference reflects the ease and flow of translating mental imagery to words while writing in longhand compared to typing.

The objective at the start of this analysis was to identify the main themes in the written language of the participants. We found that several words were used more frequently than others. For example, path/journey, connection, and community metaphors were among the most frequently used.

VisualsSpeak and metaphor

The VisualsSpeak tool is a metaphor elicitation tool. Metaphors, used here, includes similes, allegories, and proverbs. Put simply, it is a user-friendly strategy for exploring and elucidating people’s experiences. It is particularly useful for examining customer experiences—an activity that is at the core of experiential marketing.

The VisualsSpeak strategy induces people to think metaphorically. By inducing people to use metaphors to talk about a product or service, researchers bring the client’s unconscious thoughts and feelings to a level of awareness where both parties can explore them more openly together. Prominent researchers in the area of cognition estimate that 95 percent of all cognition occurs below awareness while, only 5 percent occurs in high-order consciousness. Most marketing and problem solving strategies focus on conscious processes and neglect unconscious processes, but we now know that the conscious mind typically attempts to explain actions produced by unconscious processes.

Metaphors allow marketers to see beyond what customers can readily articulate. Metaphors are a powerful tool for unearthing the hidden thoughts and feelings that profoundly influence consumer decision making. That said, researchers have to be careful not to contaminate their search by framing (or discussing) situations in ways that inadvertently implant metaphors—something that appears to have happened in the Vizthink Challenge.

Grid/Group model

The second phase of narrative content analysis is based on a classification scheme and content analysis technique developed by Rene-Marc in his doctoral research. The classification system is based on a modified version of grid/group theory.

The grid/group model, while commonly presented as a risk analysis model, is really a way to organize cultural information according to ways of life. We think this analytical framework is applicable to this problem because of the importance of relationships and values inherent to the VizChallenge.

Information about culture is particularly relevant because culture incorporates values, hidden assumptions, perceptual patterns and behaviors. We identified cultural preferences from the language of the participants.

The following four cultural patterns were evident in the analyzed responses: hierarchical, egalitarian, individualist, and fatalist. The large majority of the language fit the first three patterns, but it is important not to discount the minority view. The “minority” view typically represents a significant portion of the population. We have provided a sample of each group’s perspectives below.

Hierarchists – This view is reflective of people associated with museums, art schools and other major institutions. From this perspective, art is a product that is produced by talented people. The more talented, the more the artist is recognized to be in the upper echelons of the art world. Hierarchists might be induced to invest in Artrain to bolster the standing of their respective institution.

Egalitarian – This view tends to reflect communal interests.
Art is seen as a process for strengthening and bringing people together. Artistic endeavors and outcomes are about communal interaction. There is little interest in the assessment of the “value” of a piece of art, or the level of talent of the artist.

Individualist – This is the competitive individualist’s view of art. It actually can have one of two manifestations: 1) a focus on art as an individual endeavor meant to satisfy the artist or increase their skill; or, 2) a focus on the value of art as an investment. Many people with an individualist perspective might support the Artrain as an investment from which they could anticipate some sort of return, or as a vehicle for self-expression and self-development. The former could be expected to see the ROI as enhanced brand recognition, increased direct sales, or an elevated standing in their field of endeavor.

Fatalists – – To fatalists, art may just be something they do, and they may actively resist the evaluations of others. Fatalists are outsiders, rebels or people who feel disenfranchised in some way. They often have a visceral response to the view that art is produced elsewhere and brought to them by others. They also may actively resist the notion of “high art.” This was a minority view, but is not an especially rare view in some of the demographic targets of the Artrain. It might be wise to see those who expressed this view as canaries in the proverbial coalmine, because they may represent the voices of many more than are apparent. It is also important to note that “fatalists are not born; they are made.” They are often reacting to a sense of being disrespected, disenfranchised, or discounted after encounters with people impose their values on them.

One of the most important questions to answer in moving forward is whether there is common ground among these groups? If so, a core message might be developed that engages all the groups, that allows specialized messages to be targeted to specific groups?

How did the VizChallenge fit into this grid?

Below is some language from the written descriptions organized by cultural grouping. Some language may reflect the values or sentiments of more than one cultural group. The values of some cultural groups overlap.

Hierarchists (9 groups)

• Communicate to the inner city and rural areas
• Learning about art to help create a path in life
• Child-rich & art-poor
• Bring communities together
• Brings people to art & art to people

Egalitarians (23 groups)

• Linking people
• Community & inspiration
• Connection & journey
• Bringing communities together, open access
• Art is everywhere
• Embracing difference through exposure to art

Individualists (21 groups)

• innovation, fuel the spark
• potential reach, more diverse images, more locations
• what and who do we need to make this happen
• have art will travel
• opportunity to be impacted

Fatalists (1 group)

• Artrain message is paternalistic

How can this information be used?

When an organization operates from one cultural perspective yet needs to engage people with other worldviews (values, attitudes, and perceptions), it is very helpful to understand the difference in those values and how they are expressed in language. This can help identify themes and language to use when intersecting with those groups. It can help avoid inadvertently sending unconscious messages to groups of people who may receive them differently than intended.

Artrain presented their current pitch “We bring art to communities” to a group of people primarily composed of one target audience. We have presented data indicating what resonated with these participants. Collaboration and agreement requires shared meaning. Any effort to engage people who have a different cultural orientation is likely to produce confusion and conflict without an appreciation of cultural differences. America is not homogeneous. It is quilt composed of different regional cultures, rural and urban cultures, and a variety of ethnic cultures. Culture embodies values, attitudes, perceptual biases, and behavioral norms. Fortunately, metaphors, imagery, and language give us access to important information about culture that can be used to enhance the quality of interpersonal interactions, as well as, marketing and sales.

Companies and consumers primarily engage each other’s attention and imagination through metaphors. They are now being used to discover consumer’s thinking about services and products, to generate new services and products, and in advertising. They are conspicuous in advertising and are particularly valuable in marketing intangible items such as insurance. For example, what feelings and thoughts are associated with The Rock of Gibraltar, cupped hands, and an umbrella. Not only are metaphors used to present images, but also to shape language in tag lines “you’re in good hands with…” and “the question is when you turn your car on, does it return the favor?”

Representatives of companies doing outreach often mistakenly think that people are interacting with them. But most people are initially interacting with what their company represents to them. They know your company or institution’s image, far before they know you. And decisions about doing business with your company are based less on the representative than what the company represents. Metaphor elicitation makes it possible to know what the consumer (or sponsor in this case) is actually thinking and feeling about your company or product/service, even when they are not consciously aware of it. These thoughts and feelings should affect how you engage them, present and “package” your product or service, and negotiate transactions.

Art and Artrain represent many things to different people. For example, it is viewed by some as an opportunity for interaction and connection; a means of interacting or connecting; a process for self-expression or development; a mark of sophistication and refinement; and possession. Each of these ways of valuing art as a process, object, or commodity influences Artrain’s perceived mission and preferences for interacting with Artrain.

Next up: We’ll look at what else can be seen in the data set.

• Artrain’s Challenge
• VizThink Challege: Overview
• VizThink Challenge: Which images were used and why it matters
• Description of the challenge on the VizThink wiki, complete with video of the session.
• from Jamie Nast, VizThink Re’VIZ’ited and Mindjet Map of the Month
• Mindjet February newsletter featuring Jamie Nast

To follow the progress of Artrain USA, sign up for their e-newsletter.

Forty table groups participated in the VisualsSpeak part of the process. Each table created an image and a written description in response to the question: How can we visualize the power of the Artrain experience to engage individual and corporate sponsors?

Each group used the VisualsSpeak ImageSet, so they all had the same 200 tested images to choose from. The set is organized into four main categories, each with three subcategories. We created a chart reflecting the category breakdown in the set. We then organized the images by how many tables used each one.

Here is the overview of the images by frequency of use.

And a closer view of the individual categories.

What can we learn?

At the first level of analysis, the nature of the images used and the relative proportion of their usage are important. The images can be deconstructed in a variety of ways to reveal values, attitudes, or associations, among other things. Since behaviors and actions are motivated by needs and values, content analysis that produces information about these variables can contribute to the framework of a marketing campaign. In this case if we had been able to correlate the characteristics of stakeholders and their selected images we could have provided some valuable insights about the values of various groups. Additionally, the characteristics of the images could become the basis for evaluating images to be used in a marketing campaign.

The most used images

22 tables out of the 40 selected this image.

While we can’t determine exactly what this image meant to every table, a range of reasons for selecting it were given, as well as, descriptions of what it represented were presented including:

• art is everywhere and can bring life
• finding art in everyday life
• different perspectives, new definitions of art
• beauty & culture are all around us
• hope blooms eternal
• connects people to community, from local to global
• linking communities and cultures
• empowering growth
• color and fragrance
• from the complicated comes the simple and compelling
• new uses for old things
• innovation
• touch heart and mind

The selection of this image was not particularly surprising given the fact that the presentation that preceded the exercise discussed the impending change from rail travel to roads and the obvious link between beauty, as represented by flowers, and art. The appeal of this image is predictable considering the frame constructed by the theme of “bringing art to communities” (particularly rural) and the change in transportation.

• on the road
• long road to success
• path to community
• people feel passed by
• transports you to other places
• takes people on a journey
• movement, Artrain is dynamic, bring art to people
• bring art to communities all over America
• new places
• bring art
• bringing communities together
• access
• journey ahead
• $2/day connection
• open road displaying ease & accessibility of America’s successful infrastructure for supporting such an endeavor

This image reflects a fairly literal and analytical interpretation of the question. Like the preceding image, it seems to reveal a focus on the communities that receive the experience and features an aspect of the delivery process rather than the experience or a way to convey the experience to a sponsor. The lack of emphasis on the sponsor may have been due to the fact that the participants may not have had much information about existing or potential sponsors. There is an adage in communication that says that, “the audience determines the message.” If you don’t know the audience it is hard to craft a persuasive message.
Again the suggestion in the introduction to the circumstance of the organization probably created an obvious association in people’s minds regarding a journey, roads, and paths. The fact that the road seems to be leading to an isolated, distant destination also fits with the frame implanted in the introduction.

• happy child
• young artists
• reaching and inspiring kids
• 3.2 million people
• provocative seeds
• connection to people
• art spark
• childhood
• opening access to children
• diverse people
• embrace difference, benefits people
• children are engaged and transformed by the power of the interactive experience
• a child with hope
• limitless possibilities
• need to bring communities together to generate art spark
• to spark in the individual
• inspire people to create new art

One image many meanings

It’s easy to assume we know what an image means. However, as you can see in the descriptions above, the image was interpreted in many ways. You can never be sure how people are seeing things unless you ask. An individual’s interpretation of an image is based on his or her prior experience, the context in which they encounter the image, and their logic or feelings associated with the context. When we assemble groups of images the inability to interpret another’s meaning gets multiplied many times. The problem statement or question, groups of images, the beliefs and values of the group they are interacting with, and the organizational or professional orientation of the participant are all factors in determining meaning. Additionally, a skilled facilitator can often extract a deeper level of meaning from a respondent without imposing interpretation.

You can keep going, and search for the themes in how each of the most frequently selected images were used. While I won’t list all the meanings here, these are the images that were used by at least 25% of the tables.

How might Artrain use this?

For one thing, we can look at the visual characteristics of the images. If you look beyond the content, you can see most of them have strong diagonal elements in them. Several have strong diagonals against horizontals. Diagonal elements tend to give images energy. There is a feeling of space in many of them, in so far as they aren’t cramped looking, or overly full.

The photos of people are looking at you. You get a sense of their delight, you can see their eyes. When we look at the images from the set that were not used by any groups, we see that those photographs are taken from the point of view of looking over the person’s shoulder.

What images are being used by Artrain now?

Here are some of the images from Artrain’s website. Clicking on them will make them larger, but I think it is easier to see their basic visual patterns when they are small and you aren’t distracted by details. These photos feature some strong diagonals, particularly those of the train. Also notice the overall color quality, and how neutral the colors are compared to the photos the VizThink participants selected above.

When you look closer at the images on Artrain’s website, you will note that almost all of the people are shown from an over the shoulder point of view. There are no single-person close up shots like the ones that were so popular with our participants. These photos convey a sense of distance that is not consonant with the themes of connection, relationship and community expressed so strongly in the photos and narrative of the participants. You don’t get a sense of intimacy with the subjects. The photos convey coolness (rather than warmth) and distance.

Simply changing the types of photographs used on the website, as well as any brochures and other printed materials, will make a significant impact on the impressions people have of Artrain. Such a change would start the process of engaging potential sponsors.

What else do you see?

These were the things that jumped out at us. What else do you see? Are there other characteristics of the images used? What about the ones that weren’t used at all? What do you notice about the image descriptions? Any other insights for Artrain?

Next up: We’ll look at what the words tell us.

• Artrain’s Challenge
• VizThink Challege: Overview
• Description of the challenge on the VizThink wiki, complete with video of the session.
• from Jamie Nast, VizThink Re’VIZ’ited and Mindjet Map of the Month
• Mindjet February newsletter featuring Jamie Nast

To follow the progress of Artrain USA, sign up for their e-newsletter.

We didn’t have time to prepare, and there were two other facilitators and techniques working on the same problem. I worked with forty tables of participants, perhaps as many as 350 people. We were presented with a question, and had 30 minutes to respond.

Each table had the same 200 photographs and produced a collective image along with a written description. We have been looking at the data to see what kind of wisdom emerges from a large group of visual thinkers.

About the audience

Artrain wanted input on how to engage individual and corporate sponsors. This was an ideal audience to ask for this sort of feedback. The conference fees were significant enough to discourage those who were not totally committed to attend. The audience was composed of people who were already in visual thinking or were interested in the field. And their were representatives of major corporations there such as: Apple, IBM, Intuit, Microsoft, Wells Fargo.

Where the data comes from

We are looking at four sources of information.

1. Which individual images were selected across all groups.
2. Analysis of the content of the written descriptions.
3. The visual language in the structure of each table’s image.
4. The intersection of the words and images, and how they are used together.

Each one of these different data points can offer insight, as well as a big picture view emerging from the patterns running across all four of the information sources.

The question

In the VisualsSpeak process the question is one of the most critical elements. The question used for this experience was created in a few minutes on the spot. Artrain was curious about a particular need, and this question was asked across the three different techniques. This is what was used:

How can we visualize the power of the Artrain experience to engage individual and corporate sponsors?

This isn’t an ideal question structure for VisualsSpeak. People were able to produce a response, but the data we collected was affected by the way the experience was framed. It’s important to keep this in mind as we look at the results. We find we get more innovative thinking with a more open question.

Each individual brings their unique lens to the challenge of assembling photographs in response to a question. In this question, it opens with asking people to visualize. For some people asking them to visualize engages an analytical response (which kind of visualize, what do they mean by visualize?). It can shift the focus from the goal of the question to having the participants focus on what it means to respond. Normally, we just provide the visual tools, and the response is automatically visual .

In addition, there are assumptions built into this question such as the power of the Artrain experience. If I had been working with Artrain individually with more time, I would have questioned how they knew the power of the experience was the most important thing to convey. Particularly to a sponsor audience. As we will discuss later, we will look at the multiple audiences intersecting around Artrain. Each one with very different values . Moving forward it will be important to align the marketing messages with the particular target audiences, and they may differ across segments.

The other factor that may have impacted the quality of the data is there were over 20% international participants, some who did not speak English as a first language. For someone who is not a native English speaker, the way the question is worded may have been particularly confusing. I spoke with one person who was sitting at table with two people who were not native speakers, and they didn’t understand what we were asking. With an international audience, we need to be particularly sensitive to make the English as clear as possible.

A better question for the VisualsSpeak process might have been:

How can Artrain engage sponsors?

This is not to say this data is not valuable, or that the question is not right for Artrain. The organization is not at the beginning of this process. They have been working on their challenges for quite some time. And it may have given them exactly what they needed from David Sibbet’s graphic facilitation group and Jamie Nast’s mind mapping group.

Added perspective

This is a big complex data set. We invited one of our colleagues to help us interpret what we are seeing. He has a unique skill set that is particularly helpful with this challenge.

René-Marc Mangin is a communications and management consultant with over 20 years of experience working on ill-structured or wicked problems.

Dr. Mangin brings a multi-disciplinary background in biological and social sciences to VisualsSpeak. His background includes bachelor’s degrees in anthropology, biology and cultural anthropology, an MBA with emphasis on marketing and strategy implementation, and a multi-disciplinary doctorate that evolved from research in neuroscience to a dissertation on the application of soft systems methodology to ill-structured and wicked problems. His doctoral training included systems science, discourse and conversation analysis, cultural anthropology and public administration.

Dr. Mangin has studied learning theory and sensory-based information processing for the past 15 years. He is an associate with Michael Grinder and Associates, a leading firm specializing in nonverbal communication.

Next up

We’ll look at which images were used most frequently. This can help Artrain identify characteristics they should look for in the images they use for their website, brochure, and other materials.

• Artrain’s Challenge
• Description of the challenge on the VizThink wiki, complete with video of the session.
• from Jamie Nast, VizThink Re’VIZ’ited and Mindjet Map of the Month
• Mindjet February newsletter featuring Jamie Nast

To follow the progress of Artrain USA, sign up for their e-newsletter.

“Artrain USA is America’s Hometown Art Museum. A nonprofit organization, its mission is to enrich lives and build communities through the arts. As an art museum housed in vintage rail cars and traveling via the nation’s railways, Artrain USA brings world class art exhibitions and art education programs to communities and their residents. Artrain USA delivers exceptional opportunities for learning, growth and art appreciation while encouraging the development of local cultural programs and organizations.”

Artrain visited the town I live in. I was very impressed with the quality of art, the way they had installed it in the train, and how the staff engaged us when we were visiting. So I was particularly thrilled when I discovered Artrain was the organization I would be working with for the VizThink Challenge.

A Changing Environment for the Train

With changes in the rail system, Artrain will no longer be able to be pulled around to the various places in the country. Big changes are in store as the organization shifts to delivering services on a set of high tech truck trailers.

Tom Crawford the CEO of VizThink introduced the Artrain team. Debra Polish, the executive director prepared a compelling presentation about the work of Artrain. She was joined by Annie Castellano from Switch, which is the company designing the new trucks. One of the board members, Brian Tolle also joined her to help us better understand the opportunities and challenges Artrain faces in this transition. The challenge they put forth:

• How do we visualize the power of the Artrain experience to engage individual and corporate sponsorship?

There is a 20 minute video of the presentation on the Artrain challenge on the VizThink wiki. They also have an information page where there are more specific details about the transition.

VizThink Challenge

Where do we come in? Tom Crawford challenged three of the VizThink facilitators to participate in a live session.

Session Description: Often, it’s not about the tools we use, but the process we go through to come up with visual thinking solutions. This segment is designed to show just that, and we’ve got three great people to help us with that including Jamie Nast, Christine Martell, and David Sibbet. We’re going to put these three leaders on the spot by bringing them up on stage and presenting them with a real world communications problem. They’ll have never seen it before and have no time to prepare. Their job, with your help, will be to come up with a visual thinking solution, and we’ll look at how they approach it and what they come up with. However, they won’t be in it alone. Each of the tables in the audience will work on the problem too. This segment promises to be a fascinating look into the similarities and differences between visual thinking approaches.

Jamie Nast took six people, and with her breakout session co-facilitator Susie Watson, worked on creating a mind map with Mindjet software. David Sibbet took 12 people, and worked with his facilitation team to come up with a series of graphic murals. You can see a video of the overview of our results on the wiki.

VisualsSpeak’s part

There were almost 400 people at the conference. The other sessions took around 24 people. We had the rest. There were 42 table groups in the room. We gave each group a VisualsSpeak ImageSet containing the same 200 images. They had 30 minutes to select images individually, tell each other the story of the images they selected, then come up with an image together. All in response to the question, how do we visualize the power of the Artrain experience to engage individual and corporate sponsorship?

The VisualsSpeak Data

Each group had a sheet of paper to write a summary of what their table discovered. We numbered the tables, and took photographs of each group image. Two of the tables quickly described their images in the short reporting time each group had in the big session. While the individual stories can be interesting, the real value in the data is in the collective. The patterns across the entire data set is where the deep wisdom lies.

The Data Analysis

What are we looking at? There is information in several places:

• the written reports individually
• the themes across the written reports
• the patterns of how the images are constructed
• the patterns of which images were used

We are pouring through the raw data, and there is some fascinating and insightful things we are seeing already. The next challenge will be how to translate what we are seeing into reports that will be useful to the Artrain team as they move forward. Stay tuned, more to come as the process continues.