The benefits of scribing
Scribing is drawing and writing while people talk, to create a visual record of process, ideas, and key concepts in real time. It can be used at conferences, meetings, and other events. Participants can see their ideas as the conversation unfolds and takes shape — this creates a feedback loop between the group, the scribe, and the visual artifact itself (Bird, 2018).
Scribing is a “social art” created with and for a group of people (Bird, 2018).
In this post we will explore five key benefits of scribing, for your team, group, stakeholders, or organization.
A scribe is a professional listener and creative partner
When you engage a scribe to support your meeting, gathering, or session, you are partnering with an artist who will not only be able to document the discussion in a creative, visual way, but who is also a professional, “dedicated listener” (Weeks, 2019). A scribe is not there to judge what’s being said or offer advice necessarily, although we may provide commentary and input when it is valuable; instead, we actively listen and create a reflection of what we’re hearing and sensing. Scribes are highly skilled at identifying and reflecting the essence of what is being said, noticing patterns, and visualizing interdependencies and connections between concepts, ideas, and questions, all of which can support group learning and sensemaking. The illustrated reflection created by a scribe comes from outside the group’s shared, tacit knowledge.
Odds are, you are deeply involved in both the day-to-day realities and the long view of what you do. As an outsider and a curious, dedicated listener, a scribe is able to bring a fresh perspective and visually reflect back what they hear. Having a scribe present means you are able to focus on the people, purpose, and task at hand.
A scribe is also a creative partner. Creative thinking is especially important in times of crisis, to rise to the challenges we face and stay open to possibility. Our old ways of doing things, our existing solutions to problems we thought we understood, have shown themselves to lead us down a path of further destruction, greater complexity and unintended consequences, in environmental, social, and economic domains alike. Scribes are creative thinkers who are attentive to both content and group process, and can help others enter into inquiry and dialogue, to reach clarity, amplify key ideas, and take action from a more grounded place.
“Graphics reveal data.” — Edward R. Tufte, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
The difference that makes a difference*
A scribe is an insider-outsider: it is a role that requires us to be
“acutely tuned-in to the experiences and meaning systems of others — to indwell — and at the same time to be aware of how [our] own biases and preconceptions may be influencing what one is trying to understand” (Maykut & Morehouse, 1994, p. 123, as cited by Corbin Dwyer & Buckle, 2009).
This means we may understand things differently (sometimes very differently!) from the groups we work with. We bring an outside set of practices, expertise, assumptions, personal beliefs and experiences to our work, and the difference between how we understand what we hear and how the client group understands what they are discussing can be an incredibly value space of exploration. Of course, each individual in the group will also be creating their own individual meaning.
Beyond the question of whether others “like” what we are creating, at a technical or aesthetic level, it can also be valuable to consider whether we are “getting it right” in terms of the choices we are making on the page, what we include, how we represent concepts and ideas, and the connections between them. If we are not getting it right, what is missing? What is going on in that gap? What might be off about it? If we can inquire into this “space between,” we may find a very rich territory where we can discover, together with clients and collaborators, tacit understandings, invisible assumptions, and new insights.
For example, recently a client asked why I had organized a digital drawing the way I did. I explained that I used horizontal lines and colour to organize what I was hearing in layers. Orange to show the climate crisis; blue to show an alternative, sustainable pathway. This was not immediately obvious to some of the event organizers observing the graphics I had created, but in the conversation about it, we created shared meaning. The visual became a “place” for us to further our thinking together.
“Scribes serve as artistic aids in shared seeing and human navigation.” — Kelvy Bird, Generative Scribing: A Social Art for the 21st Century
Human beings communicate through stories
Storytelling is one of the oldest and most effective methods for communicating information and ideas, and creating meaning in groups. Stories provide us with a reflection of ourselves; they help us understand other people and their perspectives, and our place in our communities. Often when we listen to stories, images may come to mind.
Building on the traditions and benefits of oral and written storytelling, scribing invites us one step further into visual storytelling. Visual storytelling comes in many forms, from graphic novels and comics to photography and photographic essays, and may be made up solely of images or a mix of images and text. We know that visual information is processed more quickly than text. This study by van der Meer and van der Weel suggests that a combination of written text and visualizations (e.g. drawings, shapes, symbols) can help facilitate and optimize learning.
Additionally, as a participant, when a scribe is creating visuals, you are able to see your own ideas and the conversation as a whole come to life in real time. Your words may be transcribed in text or symbols, and in that moment you may see how they connect with what others are saying or where there may be gaps. In this way, visual storytelling is both deeply rooted in tradition and being used in innovative ways to bring people together with greater cooperation, empathy, listening, and imagination.
Visuals invite engagement
People often say they feel heard and acknowledged, and recognize the importance of their active participation as they watch their words being captured in a visual way. While this is important in face-to-face group settings, it’s especially necessary now that so many of us are working remotely. Whether you’re in a Zoom call with 10 people or 1,000, at times we may feel a bit lost among a grid of faces or black rectangles with names. Scribing can help bring us together and stay inspired across distance, and reduce feelings of isolation.
“A perceptual act is never isolated; it is only the most recent phase of a stream of innumerable similar acts, performed in the past and surviving in memory.” — Rudolf Arnheim, Visual Thinking
Memory and meaning
As conversations are documented visually, ideas and connections rise to the surface. Different textures and tonalities are invited in. Questions and insights take shape. Icons and symbols may be universally recognized and more easily understood, which aids in memory and retention. A significant percentage of our overall cognitive resources are dedicated to visual processing and we can take advantage of this natural capacity to communicate quickly and easily through images. That being said, visualization is not the only learning style or way of communicating that we should pay attention to — some people will prefer more structured written text, or audio, and physical or somatic practices that incorporating the body.
Encoding new learning into memory is greatly aided by visuals, and live drawings created in the moment by a scribe provide a unique way to invite participation and deeper engagement in this process. Human beings have a deeply rooted connection to symbols, as we do with stories, and scribing builds on this innate capacity.
References
Kelvy Bird (2018). Generative scribing: A social art for the 21st century. Cambridge, MA: Presencing Institute Press.
Corbin Dwyer, S., & L. Buckle, J. L. (2009). The space between: On being an insider-outsider in qualitative research. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690900800105
Anthony Weeks (2019). The hard and humbling work of listening. https://anthonyweeks.medium.com/the-hard-and-humbling-work-of-listening-385bfef4f31a
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Thank you to Sarah Ellis for researching and helping to draft this post during her internship with Pinkfish.
