Challenge

Little has been written on how to develop a process based on the logic and method of Rosetta Stone Language SenseMaker. I remember being intrigued and increasingly excited by how it might possible be useful. But the details of how to do this, even after attending the course, were murky. Diving in over the past two years has been a fun and insightful but not terribly efficient way of learning how it works and what is needed to make it work. So I’ve been developing a short ‘here’s what you need to think about’ set of headlines when I discuss and design with organisations. So far, my experience is that a good design boils down to three elements that need careful thought. And in fact, thinking this through might be a good way to assess if Sensemaker makes sense in the first place. Challenge 1. Open and evaluative question framework. I’ve likened developing a signification framework to sumi-e that asks of the artist to strip the object down to a few Language Learning Software essential brushstrokes ‘to capture its soul’. Getting to the minimum set of question options means letting go of one’s survey mentality and linear correlation thinking. Two other issues are important:?Who’s in the room? All my applications of SenseMaker are meant to be useful to a range of organisations. So far, limited time and money means I haven’t been able to design a framework collectively with the intended audience. So this means solid pre-testing and then fieldtesting with them to get feedback. ?A really tricky issue when used for evaluation, as compared to more open-ended research, is the tendency to frame questions too blatantly as evaluative. For example, in eastern Africa, one organisation I’m working with wanted to ask ‘what made you feel hopeful or discouraged about X programme’. I got up at 0400 this morning to make a breakfast meeting in London with Max Boisot for some intellectual stimulus and our normal sparring match. As a result of this and road closures in London for the Chinese New Year I only just made the plane to Atlanta by Chicago with a few minutes to spare. I felt I deserved the second gin and tonic in consequence, but as a result I did Spanish Learning Software not have much concentration left for work.