{"id":4818,"date":"2014-07-06T22:55:44","date_gmt":"2014-07-07T03:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rockylouproductions.com\/blog_wp\/?p=4818"},"modified":"2014-07-07T07:19:04","modified_gmt":"2014-07-07T12:19:04","slug":"learning-to-share","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rockylouproductions.com\/blog_wp\/2014\/07\/06\/learning-to-share\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharing to Learn – Learning to Share"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reposted from a June 24, 2014 3M-DS106 Salon Blog Post. \u00a0All proprietary information\u00a0has been\u00a0deleted from this public version.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Internal 3M Spark Post to R&D Community:<\/p>\n

\"Rochelle<\/a><\/p>\n

Sharing to Learn – Learning to Share <\/i><\/b>
\nPosted by 3M-DS106 Salon Patroness Rochelle Lockridge<\/a><\/p>\n

The @3mds106salon continued our June topic discussion on data visualization. \u00a0Having a bit of fun I showed up and shared a chart I’d made for the children’s story \u201cGoldilocks and The Three Bears<\/a>\u201d. The chart was harder to make than I expected. \u00a0Receiving feedback and hearing what others would have done provided a tremendous amount of learning directly relevant to my job. \u00a0Check out the original & revised version as well as an animated GIF heat map by @Justin. \u00a0Play is good!<\/i><\/p>\n

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Today’s 3M-DS106 Salon was visited by 4 of us: \u00a0Rochelle,\u00a0Justin,\u00a0Tony \u00a0&\u00a0Sharon<\/p>\n

We continued our discussion on data visualization which was our topic of focus for June. \u00a0(See list of links below.) As the patroness\/host of the 3M-DS106 Salon I had been pondering how I could more effectively bring the digital storytelling aspect into our group. (After all, that’s what the DS stands for.\u00a0\":))\"\u00a0I knew from my experiences with the external DS106 that I had learned a tremendous amount of very relevant digital literacy skills by\u00a0playing and having fun with the DS106 community<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0But it’s a tough sell these days to get people to play here at 3M. \u00a0We feel play is a waste of time. \u00a0That we should be\u00a0doing something more productive\u00a0<\/em>with our time.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0“Anthropologist Gregory Bateson believed that the fixation on making everything productive and rational cuts us off from the world of the spontaneous that is home to real knowledge..Play isn’t a character defect; it’s the builder of character, developing persistence, competence, mastery and social skills that take us beyond perceived limitations.” [<\/em>Source<\/em><\/a>]<\/em>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

I am here to report that my supposedly non-productive activity (even I was questioning it.) of creating a data visualization for\u00a0Goldilocks and The Three Bears<\/em>\u00a0was not a waste of time -for me or today’s Salon attendees. \u00a0Sure I learned more about struggling with Excel and formatting a slide that was informative and attractive. (See my process below.) When\u00a0I shared it with my colleagues I learned even more<\/strong>\u00a0as they easily shared their suggestions on how to improve my slide by limiting the amount of text, making things more visually simple so that at a glance a viewer can get most of the information and changing from a solid fill to an image fill on my bars. \u00a0However, it wasn’t until the rest of\u00a0the group started to share how they would visualize the data and story that a deeper layer of learning emerged<\/strong>. \u00a0I got it that DS106 and the 3M-DS106 version we’ve been building isn’t just about creating digital artifacts and sharing them with others, it is also about the\u00a0learning that occurs when others share with us<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

When I heard how Sharon might adjust the bar chart, how Tony would display the data as a color coded cross table, and\u00a0Justin’s idea for a heat map and an animated GIF, Well I was blown away. \u00a0Wow. \u00a0This is where the power is. \u00a0I was “playing” to learn more about a subject I was interested in – In this case data visualization and effective Power Point slides. I bravely shared what I had made with the group. Because of the relationships we have been building there was a comfort to continue sharing thoughts and suggestions with one another. I learned how they would do things differently than me, and knew \u00a0that I would use that knowledge the next time I had a 3M project that required data visualization. \u00a0I also walked away today with a deeper understanding of why I created the 3M-DS106 Salon; why I continue to do the assignment preparation work; why I hold meetings every Tuesday; \u00a0and why I attempt to write a summary post following our gatherings.\u00a0 I am promoting a safe place for others to learn to share and their sharing is helping us learn more \u00a0together. \u00a0It’s all good for 3M.<\/p>\n

Amenity\/Hospitality Ratings for The Three Bears Cottage<\/strong><\/p>\n

What I assumed to be a slam dunk creating a chart in no time at all, turned out, when I actually set down to make it, \u00a0to be quite a bit more difficult than I had imagined. \u00a0I had several variables and labels:<\/p>\n