Tessa Berg
Rich Pictures: collaborative communication through icons
Berg, Tessa; Pooley, Rob
Authors
Rob Pooley
Abstract
A visual language of pictures, such as the rich picture used in the Soft System Methodology, offers a way of global communication that far exceeds the limitations of text and speech. Simple graphics can be rapidly communicated, processed and transmitted within a large and culturally diverse constituency. This paper looks at the benefits and interpretative risks when using rich pictures for system understanding. The aim of this paper is twofold: firstly to report upon an observation of a large scale collaborative diagramming workshop and compare the resulting pictures with a previous workshop study. Secondly, to develop further ongoing research which suggests rich picture construction can be aided by providing an icon legend. This paper compares 2 rich picture workshops: the diagramming workshop at the Open University eSTEeM Diagramming Colloquium in March 2012 and a workshop held in Heriot Watt University in February 2012. The comparative results are set against the ongoing empirically grounded rich picture research within Heriot-Watt University in Scotland. Preliminary results suggest there are a set of distinguishable icons and shapes that are generic across all rich pictures regardless of domain. Further analysis of the early results suggests a natural intrinsic grammar is manifested within rich pictures in terms of relationships, icons, context and connectors.
Citation
Berg, T., & Pooley, R. (2013). Rich Pictures: collaborative communication through icons. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 26(4), 361-376. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11213-012-9238-8
| Journal Article Type | Article |
|---|---|
| Online Publication Date | Jul 19, 2012 |
| Publication Date | 2013-08 |
| Deposit Date | Sep 25, 2014 |
| Print ISSN | 1094-429X |
| Electronic ISSN | 1573-9295 |
| Publisher | BMC |
| Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 361-376 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1007/s11213-012-9238-8 |
| Keywords | Rich picture; Visual communication; Language; Icon; Workshop; |
| Public URL | http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/7212 |