A while back I was a part of a panel with Dan Roam, author of The Back of the Napkin and one of his big points during the session was the use of visuals in politics. This was in the middle of the healthcare debate and he wondered why no one, Obama, Republicans, members of congress, etc. were using visuals to make their cases. I agreed whole-heartedly. Glenn Beck seems to make it work, why not put visuals and whiteboards to work for serious policy discussions?
Today I saw that the White House has started what it calls the White House Whiteboard, which looks to be a forthcoming of series of videos using a whiteboard to explain policy. In the first video, Austin Goolsby, the new Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, uses the whiteboard to explain the difference between the competing tax plans. He doesn't actually draw on the whiteboard, but the the drawings are hand-made and it has the desired effect. I think Dan would agree that this is a step in the right direction.
Please note that my intention with this post is not political. I'm simply pointing to a use of visual thinking in government.
The whiteboard he used on election night 2000 (not the one above) is now a part of the Smithsonian.
Tim Russert has been a staple of our Sunday mornings for years. He is someone for which I had a great deal of respect. Not only was he very, very good at his job, but it was obvious that he loved it and looked forward to it everyday. His enthusiasm was infectious. May we all be so lucky.
CBS is starting to integrate whiteboard-based explantions into the news. We first heard about it being used on the show Sunday Morning, where I imagine the lighter content seemed more appropriate. Thanks to Ron for the pointer to this video.
Just recently, the same team of Josh Landis and Mitch Butler were paired with Katie Couric on the Evening News to explain the superdelegates. You can see the video on this post.
It will be interesting to watch how the mainstream media reacts to these presentations. The New York Times published an article today called "Dumb or Just Fun?" and started the article with this paragraph:
Critics who regularly bemoan the dumbing down of television news would most likely have been enraged by the sight, on a recent weekday, of animated characters on an evening newscast explaining the political power wielded by superdelegates.
Dumb or Just Fun? Those are the only two choices? What about effective? What about innovative?
Personally I'm happy to see CBS experimenting with the whiteboard-based style. Of course we wonder if Common Craft was an inspiration, but we're not going to assume anything. If anything we're excited to see the format take shape.
We're believers that we all (including the evening news) need better explanations and more levity. Josh Landis and Mitch Butler, whose speaking style reminds me a bit of "Troy McClure" from the Simpsons, are raising the visibility of simple-yet-powerful explanations.
Nancy White pointed us to this awesome video. From what I gather, it's a music video for the band Field Music. Impressive. Maybe one day I'll have such mad skillz with the sharpie.
