Understanding and solving complex problems - SDGs, Violence, Learning

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I've been using the Internet to collect and share ideas since the mid 1990s.  I created the cMap at the left to show some of the Twitter conversations I follow, where I learn, share and connect with others.

This week in the #nt2t (New Teachers to Twitter) and #EngageMOOC (Engagement in a time of Polarization) chats, it was reinforced that unless you spend time in these groups, you won't build a comfort level and the learning that is available to you. I offered that "time" is measured in years, not in hours per day.

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Another group I've followed since 2012 is the #clmooc (connected learning).  As a result I have begun to follow blog articles of a few people I've met, such as Kevin Hodgson, a middle school teacher in Western Massachusetts.

At the right is a screen shot I took from an article Kevin posted this week, with an open invitation for readers to join the #NetNarr Alchemy Lab .

Keven writes "the first step is to play the invitation".   I did, and I hope you will, too.

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Just before reading Kevin's article I browsed my LinkedIn page and saw this article about the United Nation's Sustainable Global Development Goals.

I followed the link to this page, which describes some of the challenges we're facing to reach the 17 UN SDG goals by 2030.  The screen shot at the left shows the web site where these challenges are visualized. The first one is that too few people actually know about the SDGs.

Animation created by Intern

Now, if you look at the #clmooc home page, and view past articles I've written about #clmooc and #moocs, you'll see that I've been trying to nudge them to devote some of their creative projects to communicating ideas and strategies I've been creating since 1990s, via their own visualizations and social media networking.

If you look at my graphics you'll see #maps, used to focus attention on all places where help is needed and #visualizations showing that many types of support are needed, in EACH PLACE, for many years. Building and sustaining public will is essential to that and aligns with the goals and strategies for achieving the SGD goals, too.

Below is a cMap that includes several visualizations, that show a focus on place (maps), process, and the need to build and sustain public will. Many people need to help make this happen.

Planning needed - view cmap here

Visit this page and you can see how interns working with me in Chicago from 2005 to 2016 created visual interpretations of ideas I launched on blog posts and PDF presentations.  Then, visit the glesi.org page shown in the screen shot above.  You'll see that their first solution is "raise global awareness of the SDGs and solutions we already have".  Then they show examples of raising awareness.

If you follow #clmooc on Twitter or view the articles on the #clmooc home page, you'll see a constant encouragement to "hack" work started by one person to create something new. I did that with this school bus graphic, which was first created by Melvina Kurashige, who lives in Germany.  I also did it with the SDGs graphic shown above.

The school bus graphic is an invitation to others to "get on the bus" and create their own visualizations of problems and solutions. "Stay on" means that you need to do this over, and over, maybe for many years.

In many of the groups I follow (view the hashtag map), I'm connecting with educators, organizers of technology groups, youth program leaders and intermediaries who work with many organizations, which means that students in classrooms all over the world could be creating their own visual interpretations of what I and others are sharing, and communicating these to their world...every day!

View this Tweet - here

Imagine if students throughout the US and the world were creating strategy visualizations on a daily and weekly basis, drawing attention to a problem and showing paths to solutions. What if volunteers from different industries were helping them learn new ways to communicate ideas, or to build their skills? Or if they were following and learning from the same Twitter groups I follow? 

Maybe we'll see that in student efforts to reduce gun violence in America, which is represented in this Twitter post.

I've created hundreds of visualizations since the mid 1990s. You can view some on my Pinterest page and others can be found by doing a Google search for "tutor/mentor".  I've embedded graphics in more than 1000 blog articles since 2005 and in presentations on Scribd.com and Slideshare.

I hope these are starting points for the work others do to draw attention and build solutions to the problems we face in this world.  I hope some people will reach out to help me do these better, or to create their own interpretations.

There's much to be done.


12-3-2018 update - Here's an article titled "17 Sustainable Development Goals: Which one is the Most Important?" which asks some important questions and points to Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development" as most important.    click here

7-27-2020 update - Here's article titled "Five things business can do" to achieve Global Sustainable Development goals (SDGs).  click here