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Apply Visual Thinking to Your Organization |
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Using Affinity Mapping to Facilitate Meetings |
Visual thinking
is the practice of using pictures to solve problems, think through
ideas and communicate clearly. Learning how to successfully incorporate
visual thinking techniques into your organization can greatly improve
your
overall productivity.
Click here to view VizTips: Visual Thinking School
Affinity Mapping
is a primary visual thinking facilitation method that is used to
organize large amounts of information and ideas into logical groups.
Using this technique correctly can help generate open communication,
streamline
organizational processes, increase meeting productivity and foster team
alignment.
The Basics of Affinity Mapping
Step # 1
Plan a 30 to 60 minute working session with participants, and choose a
room where you can apply sticky notes to a wall, flipchart or
whiteboard.
Step # 2
Explain the problem / question / brainstorming topic you wish to discuss with participants.
Step # 3
Ask participants to write one idea on each sticky note and post all of
their sticky notes on a wall. It may help to have each person state
what is written for others to hear.
Step # 4
Work as a group to organize the notes according to themes - stack
duplicates on top of each other. Avoid the tendency to consolidate
groups too much as this can lead to loss of meaning.
Step # 5
Once consensus has been reached on the groupings, use a different colored sticky note to name each group.
Step # 6
Discuss how you will use the results of your affinity mapping.
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Supporting Links: |
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Communication Nation Blog by Dave Gray
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Visualization Affinity Maps by Roxanne O'Connell
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Usablity Net
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Information & Design
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xBlog: Visual Thinking Blog
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The Microsoft HealthVault Ecosystem |
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Connecting Health Communities |
Microsoft recently launched a new health application platform that
allows consumers to better manage and control their health information.
The platform known as
Microsoft Health Vault,
is designed to help patients collect, store, and share health
information that would otherwise reside in disparate systems, and
transfer the information between a variety of providers' health
services and
systems.
Microsoft enlisted the expertise of
XPLANE to visually communicate what HealthVault is to potential solution providers and users.
XPLANE created a
value proposition map
showing the interactions of an integrated ecosystem where consumers,
pharmacies, hospitals, healthcare providers, employers, devices and
other resources are all connected. XPLANE visually represented
HealthVault
as a data platform that allows multiple applications to work with a
person's health data to improve health management.
Click here to view HealthVault XPLANATiON pdf
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We are extremely proud and honored to be awarded a bronze medal at
Malofiej, especially given it's our first time entering the prestigious
competition.  |
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Aric Wood, president & CEO, XPLANE
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XPLANE Wins Bronze Medal at Malofiej 16
Click here to view National City XPLANATiON pdf
On March 14, XPLANE was awarded a bronze medal at the 16th Malofiej
International Infographics Awards. Known as the most important and
respected infographic contest in the world, Malofiej is dedicated to
selecting the best print and
interactive pieces on an annual basis.
XPLANE's winning infographic was created for National City and explains
the company's home loan process, along with details on what to expect
and what pitfalls to avoid. A total of
156 medals were awarded out of 1,300 entries; this marked XPLANE's first time entering an infographic into the competition.
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Supporting Links: |
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SND Update: New York Times Wins Top Prize |
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Malofiej 16 Flickr |
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Infographics News Blogspot |
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Best Information Graphics |
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