Key ideas

Pros

• representationally neutral
• capture diagrams and drawings, as well as text
• different sizes affords different kinds of activities
• informal - better suited to quick sketches than highly finished ideas
• meta-informatic (can annotate other representations, including other post-its)
• rearrangable, position and reposition to convey meaning
• unique - can only be one place at one time
• shareable - many can interact with it

Cons

• size is static - can't zoom in, view from distance
• unique - can't have in two different places
• doesn't scale - too many people, etc
• hard to archive/publish result of post-it activity

• problem identification
• brainstorming
• prioritizing
• concept mapping
• action planning

Link to IBIS.

In choosing tools to support individual and collective intelligence, two choices:

• provide support for explicit group processes (representational guidance)
• OR light-weight tools that support multi-faceted interactions with emergent conventions

(ref Dwyer & Suthers, 2005Dwyer, N., & Suthers, D. D. (2005). {A study of the foundations of artifact-mediated collaboration}. Proceedings of the 2005 conference on Computer support for collaborative learning learning 2005: the next 10 years! - CSCL '05, 135--144. doi:10.3115/1149293.1149311 and Brignull et al., 2004Brignull, H., Izadi, S., Fitzpatrick, G., Rogers, Y., & Rodden, T. (2004). Collaboration Involving Large Displays: The introduction of a shared interactive surface to a communal space. In CSCW 2004.)

• Abrahamson, Davidian & Lippai, 2000Abrahamson, La., Davidian, A., & Lippai, A. (2000). Wireless calculator networks: Where they came from, why they work, and where they’re going. In 13th Annual International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics, Atlanta, GA. (classroom response systems)
• Anderson et al., 2005Anderson, R., Anderson, R., Hoyer, C., Prince, C., Su, J., Videon, F., & Wolfman, S. (2005). A study of diagrammatic ink in lecture. Computers \& Graphics, 29(4), 480--489. (student annotatable presentation systems)
• Bellin & Simone, 1997Bellin, D., & Simone, S. S. (1997). The CRC Card Book. 1997. Reading, MA. (CRC cards)

(from Straker, 1997Straker, D. (1997). Rapid problem-solving with Post-it Notes. Gower.)

Suppose a furniture company wants to brainstorm ways to improve its chair design. The question “how can we make a better chair?” is posed before the group.

• Each participant captures several ideas as words or sketches in their private space and then drags the few that are most appropriate onto the public space
• Alice notices some common themes (e.g. materials), so she clusters related items
• Bob uses a different (tan) color note to pose a question
• Cathy notices Bob’s question, drags it into her private space (thereby ensuring that no-one else is working on it), composes the “answer” note, attaches it to Bob’s question using a virtual paperclip, and moves the result back into the public space
• Derek compliments Ella’s idea by attaching a green sticker (sticker conventions were agreed-on beforehand); this idea already has a few green stickers, making it likely to be chosen as the final solution
• Frank notices the cluster of ideas related to materials and incites a discussion sub-group on that topic, by creating a new shared space and inviting some participants to brainstorm within the space
• George, who was absent during the session, logs in later and adds a few ideas of his own (perhaps triggering an automatic notification to other participants)