Dear Friends,<\/p>\n
Nine of us attending Elevate Engagement happily took on the task of paying close attention to what was said and documenting the emerging themes. We were participant observers, meaning that we were not on the outside looking in, but on the inside, reflecting back to the whole group what we all were learning. Of course, what seemed important was influenced by our own values\/life experiences, by listening carefully for the deeply-felt truths of the speakers, by sensing the energy of the room, and also by our recent deep dive into the JTM report on the principles of civic communications. <\/p>\n
As the conference proceeded, we documented the nuggets of insight that we heard in a shared document, clustering them as we went. It was interesting (and informed our sense of the themes) to see how often we captured the same \u201cchunks,” which we also saw pop up on the Twitter feed. The shared document that contains the clustered chunks is over 20 pages long, so what I have produced here is a summary in outline form (https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/lrhetb8), with several illustrative quotes sprinkled throughout. If you\u2019d like to see the full document, which also contains photos of some of August\u2019s playdoh creations, go here: https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/kxtdolk<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure that there are still some great nuggets in that longer doc that I didn\u2019t do justice to in this summary, so if you see some ideas that aren\u2019t represented, we should add them. Let me know.<\/p>\n
This outline (https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/kxtdolk) is not the final analysis, by any means. Some \u201cdata\u201d still hasn’t been integrated, such as the full list of open space sessions topics, observations from any OS sessions that did not have one of our team present (especially on Sunday), the Pro Action Caf\u00e9, the postcards, and probably some other items I can\u2019t think of right now. (We were able, however, to fold in the harvest that Nitya did in her amazing graphic recording posters). It would also be great to take a closer look at what showed up most loudly in Twitter.<\/p>\n
At this moment, I don\u2019t know exactly what the next steps \u2013 if any \u2013 will be to do a \u201cchecks and balances\u201d process that would incorporate more of that data, to get validation of the themes and identify what else is missing. The hosting and developmental evaluation team will be discussing that over the next few weeks, I\u2019m sure. Be in touch if you want an update.<\/p>\n
That said, my understanding of what is going to happen on Sunday morning is that you all will be looking at conference artifacts, including these notes, but also the other material that was generated and do a collective theming process. While I am so sorry to miss that (being now in Phoenix for my niece\u2019s wedding), I am very excited that it\u2019s going to happen. It will be a great way to do some of that checks and balances I just mentioned (\u201ctriangulation\u201d in eval speak). I am so eager to see how your themes compare to\/inform\/deepen\/shift what we have in these notes.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019d like to learn more about the process that our group of nine used, there are documents describing our method and the developmental eval. approach, in the Resources section of Gather. Also, feel free to contact me if you have questions or would like to talk more about developmental evaluation, or other ways to infuse the asking of critical questions into our work. <\/p>\n
I know I said it so many times over the last couple of days, but I just need to put it in writing here, too: Thank you deeply to the U of O Journalism students and their incredible mentor Lori for joining me on this adventure: Alex Powers, August Frank, Emily Olson, Mark Kellman, Matt Gatie, Payton Bruni, Sydney Padgett, and Lori Shontz.<\/p>\n
With love and appreciation,<\/p>\n
Yve,
\nDevelopmental Evaluator with Journalism That Matters
\n~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\nYve Susskind, Ph.D.
\nPraxis Associates, LLC.
\nPlanning, Facilitation, Research and Evaluation
\nfor Education, Governmental and Non-Profit Organizations<\/p>\n
10515 SW 110th St.
\nVashon, WA 98070
\n(206) 304-0015<\/p>\n
Yve@PraxisAssociates.com
\nwww.PraxisAssociates.com
\nwww.linkedin.com\/in\/YveSusskind<\/p>\n
Please go here for the actual Themes document: https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1_Vc_-Zt5p6vnu5eh4tcIazpo4mpNFbVKbu4SUhhX1vY\/edit?usp=sharing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Friends, Nine of us attending Elevate Engagement happily took on the task of paying close attention to what was said and documenting the emerging themes. We were participant observers, meaning that we were not on the outside looking in, … Continue reading