Module Two: Information Design Theory

Sense-Making: An Information Design Theory

Definition

"Sense-making is the process of creating situational awareness and understanding in situations of high complexity or uncertainty in order to make decisions" (Goldenmap, p. 4).

Sense-Making Applied

As I read the theories of Information Design, it became clear to me, that I have used sense-making. My first blog post uses an illustration of two pictures and asks the question “which picture?” As I explored the theory of sense-making, I recalled this question from my blog post, but in my mind thought the question I posted was, “which picture makes sense?” This process illustrates part of the sense-making theory. I processed interpretations of the theory, correlated them back to my blog post information design experiences, recalled the question I asked to illustrate effective use of information, and then made and unmade my own sense of the methodology I employed.

What is Sense-Making?

TIME   SPACE   MOVEMENT   GAP

Sense-making is a theory and methodology focusing on metadesign which provides the framework for making use of information to make sense. “Information is made and unmade in communication-intrapersonal, interpersonal, social, organizational, national, and global” (Jacbson, p. 41). Effective information design must address the varying ways information is processed, assimilated, constructed, and processed through time and space relationships. Sense-making relates to the concepts of time, space, movement, and gap which are the “in-between spaces between order and chaos, structure and individual, culture and person, self 1 and self 2, and so on” (Jacobson, p. 45).

Pro

·      Sense-making is a collaborative process that capitalizes on a multitude of perspectives facilitating group thinking and broad awareness’s.

·       Sense-making embraces chaos and removes it as a threat to information design. The focus is on order and chaos as a collective design tool that facilitates definition of both aspects. This view brings prominence to information design providing a gateway to new and innovative avenues for individual and collective approaches to information design assimilation.

Con

·       Continued sense-making can “stifle innovation and change as it creates a strong sense of identity within organizations and groups” (Herbert, p. 8). Sense-making allows for information sharing; as information is interpreted, becoming less chaotic and clearer, people form new contexts and associations which ingrains the new sense they derived and ties it to back to defined affiliations. This process closes off new assimilation's to change and forces integration of logic and sense to conform to old patterns.

·       Sense-making focuses on group actions and is less concerned with individual assimilation's. Individual thoughts and logic tests are less important than group collaborations framing sense-making as an individual starting point to facilitate more complex methodologies.

Applications

The seven properties of sense-making can be used to create effective communication to facilitate information assimilation.

1. Identity-the who, what, and how

2. Retrospection-what is noticed and interrupts attention

3. Enacting-understanding and organizing experiences

4. Social-narratives retained and shared

5. Ongoing-observation and reaction

6. Cue Extraction-decisions of relevancy

7. Plausibility-reality versus accuracy

Interpretation of blog information requires the seven properties (above) as people interpret and attempt to make sense of communicated information. Users of information need to assimilate the communicated message to arrive at a clear understanding to facilitate sense-making of the blog content. Blogs that analyze these seven properties, to ensure each component is fully developed, facilitate the information user and effectively fulfill an information design message.

References

Golden Map. Sensemaking. http://en.goldenmap.com/sensemaking#

Herbert, Karen S. Sensemaking. (2008). EDP 382L Cognition and Behavior: The University of Texas at Austin. Web. Feb. 1 2012. > http://www.edb.utexas.edu/robinson/Sensemaking%20Chapter_files/

Sensemaking%20Chapter.htm<

Jacobson, Robert. Information Design. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2000.