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3.8
Mapping Complexity
Submitted by Jack Byrd, Jr.
Complicated issues can overwhelm a discussion group. Discussants can feel daunted by the complexity of a topic or they can rush to a conclusion without fully exploring its complexity. Both approaches fail to constructively engage the topic. This activity introduces tools for mapping complexity.
Learning Goal
Successfully employ visualization tools to help discussion groups organize, structure, and discuss complex issues.
Instructions
Set Up: Prepare for the Activity
Select a scenario from the collection of What IF…Scenarios or create your own based on a topic that is relevant for your group.
Share the scenario as a handout or shared document.
Share the Fishbone Diagram as a handout or create copies of the file for each group and share electronically.
Organize participants into small groups (4-6 ppl).
Begin by introducing the learning goals of this activity.
Step One: Review the Scenario (5 min)
As a full group, invite a participant to read the scenario aloud while others read along. It may be helpful to share the scenario on an overhead screen if meeting in-person or use the share screen function if meeting virtually. Participants may also want to read quietly and have a copy to refer to details later in the activity.
After reviewing the scenario, ask if there are any questions.
Step Two: Discuss the Scenario in Small Groups (10 min)
In small groups, explore the following prompts. Identify one participant in each group to be the discussion facilitator and record notes on a whiteboard, flipchart, or shared document that can be viewed by everyone in the group.
Discussion Prompts:
What is the key issue, concern, or dimension of this scenario? What’s at stake?
What are the primary dimensions of this topic that we should consider?
Who are the stakeholders in this scenario? Who is affected? Who are the decision makers? Helpers? Influencers?
What are the benefits of the proposed policy or course of action? Costs? Trade-offs?
What is making us feel uneasy or uncomfortable? What is giving us pause? What unintended consequences should we anticipate?
Step Three: Fill in the Fishbone Diagram (20 min)
Provide each group with an empty Fishbone Diagram. Ask each group’s facilitator along with the other members of their group to fill in the diagram using the group’s discussion of key dimensions and concerns. For example:
In the head of the fish (light pink shape on the right), place a 1-3 word description of the primary issue or topic being discussed.
Then identify the major dimensions of the issue (approx. 4-6 items). Place these in the boxes that form the body of the fish (green, orange, and pink boxes on the top and bottom).
Then identify specific or more detailed aspects of each dimension. These form the bones of the fish (white boxes below each colored box).
Step Four: Review and Discuss the Diagram (10 min)
Once their fishbone diagram is completed, ask each group to use it to identify contrasting and competing dimensions of the topic. Prompts:
When we look at this diagram, how does it help us to see the tension of the scenario?
Which part of this diagram seems most prominent or concerning?
Now that we are examining the scenario with this visual tool, what are we seeing differently? What could we add to this diagram?
Step Five (optional): Share Diagrams with the Full Group (5 min)
If time permits, invite each small group to share their completed diagrams on the board or a wall and ask participants to walk around the room to review the diagrams. If meeting virtually, review them one at a time on a shared screen with the full group.
Step Six: Debrief as a Full Group (10 min)
What are the major dimensions and contrasts within your small group diagrams?
What are some common themes across the small groups? Which dimensions stood out most to you?
Where do you see the most contrast? Are there any outlier topics?
Now that you have a sense of all the diagrams, what’s missing?
How does visualizing and organizing dimensions of this topic help us to better explore it together as a group?
TIME
55
min
MODULE
Critical Collaboration
This activity is more involved or complicated than a beginner activity. This activity is for groups that have established trust or experience with discussion.
This activity can be easily modified for asynchronous learning. See Sample Asynchronous Certificate Program Design to illustrate sample sequencing.
This activity is suitable for professional or more formal learning environments.
This activity can be used to support facilitation skills. See Sample Facilitation Certificate Program Design to illustrate sample sequencing.
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0 Comments
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:39:23 AM
Activity 5.4 uses the fun method of role playing and builds on other activities to help participants develop questions and practice gathering information to collaborate effectively with communities as partners. This activity involves working together in small groups and as a large group. It also includes multiple additional resources for participants to continue learning methods and skills to build community partnerships.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:39:00 AM
Activity 1.8 provides a very useful survey to gather information on and help support participants' different discussion styles and needs, exploring various areas like preferences for group size, ways of participating in discussions, any fears relating to discussions, etc.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:34:46 AM
Activity 5.8 further explores direct democracy by proposing the idea of "legislative juries" to improve the current initiative process through collaboration and deliberation. This activity uses role playing to have participants practice deliberation as part of a mock legislative jury to craft ballot initiatives on a given issue.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:27:35 AM
Activity 5.7 uses a fun and tactile activity like building LEGOs to explore the effects of coming together to colloborate and discuss, while also participating together in another physical activity.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:22:49 AM
Activity 5.6 uses memes and futuristic zombie scenarios to develop ways to change people's minds, while exploring various aspects of the methods used to change minds, like assumptions behind ideas, sticking to the facts versus stretching the truth, appealing to emotions etc.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:16:44 AM
Activity 5.5 uses a fun and visual/craft activity to help participants explore the many different types of knowledge, how they are valued, and the role/importance of each type of knowledge in their own lives.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:11:54 AM
Activity 5.3 gives participants to use writing, drawing, and/or speaking to share and discuss the various communities they belong to and/or feel excluded from, the various aspects that define community, as well as the practices of inclusion or exclusion and power distribution in these communities.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:07:26 AM
Activity 5.2 introduces four categories of stakeholders and multiple prompts to help participants work together in small and large groups to create comprehensive list of stakeholders, including those who are marginalized or not as obvious, for a given issue.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:04:00 AM
Activity 5.1 uses gamification by having participants play the Civics Topics Sweet Sixteen Competition to identify their issues they are passionate about both as individuals and as a group.
YD
December 3, 2022 at 2:01:34 AM
Activity 4.9 uses both lighthearted and serious characters, topics, and dialogue to help participants practice viewing an issue from the perspective of multiple people/characters and explain their thought processes and rationale for the choices they think these people will make in a given situation.