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Yesterday evening I went along to ‘We need to talk about America’, a panel discussion event as part of the Sydney Writers’ Festival 2010. It’s not every day you get to hear prominent authors voice ideas and experiences so openly and frankly about the state of that nation, and it was also a chance for me to try some sketchnoting.

May of the topics about America that came up were the sort that a lot dinner party conversations eventually get around to: the disparity between its ideological view of freedom and democracy against the reality of corporatised government and the mishandling of Hurricane Katrina victims; comparing the Bush and Obama administration; is Obama doing enough; and so on.

Diverse backgrounds, common issues

What saved it from being any other dinner party conversation, though, was some brilliant and insightful one-liners and the mix of backgrounds and latest literary efforts of the speakers. Lionel Shriver (author of So Much for That, about America’s health care system) is born-and-bred American yet no longer lives in America, nor identifies herself as American. Raj Patel (author of The Value of Nothing) is Pakistani/Iranian and a citizen of America. Together with Josh Neufeld (A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge), Michael Otterman (American Torture), Reza Aslan (No god but God) and Anne Summers, the same searing consensus on the same issues was articulated from such disparate backgrounds.

Sketchnotes

Fresh from watching Visual Note-taking 101 from SXSW 2010 over on Slideshare, and inspired by Matt Balara, I thought I’d try some sketchnoting about what I was hearing. I knew if I just wrote notes, I’d never read them again. But capturing what was discussed as simple pictures and typographical vignettes was not only fun, but made the key quotes and themes more memorable to me.

I’ve included a few below (click for a larger size), and they’re all at Flickr. I could get used to this sketchnoting thing.

Meeting Josh Neufeld

It has to be said that Josh Neufeld is kind of a big deal. He’s not only a brilliant artist and publishing award-winning graphic novels, but he has stepped up to publish a non-fiction work A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge following the experiences of several Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans. Gutsy stuff.

I asked him about his process of drawing and illustration. I’m happy to say he’s definitely old skool, drawing manually (that’s, like, without a Wacom), scanning, then tidying up and adding colour in PhotoShop. Anyhoo, it was just inspiring talking to someone who draws so skillfully and compellingly as a full-time profession. Something I’d like to do one day.

The Government 2.0 Taskforce has announced a competition to design a banner for their website gov2.net.au. Judging from the comments on their announcement and call for entries, there’s a lot of huffing and puffing about not doing spec work. I think they’ve missed the point, and I also think this shows one of the honest truths about doing things the ‘web 2.0′ way.

The comments raise some worthy issues about spec work devaluing design as a commodity and the design industry itself. Some go so far as to comment that it’s offensive and degrading. There’s examples cited like:

“Do you ask your dentist, mechanic or accountant to do work for free on the off chance that the pride they have in their work may be acknowledged publicly? I doubt it.”

Now, I’m involved in writing proposals, quoting for work, and sharing ideas and concepts with potential clients, all to win business. That’s how it’s done. As Lisa Harvey over at Energetica (who it should be said is part of the Taskforce) says: “my team and I spend a lot of time with clients, preparing proposals and tenders, all of which contain our ideas, our expertise and a lot of other stuff that should be paid for. We win some, we lose some. It’s business.”

Perhaps some commenters aren’t grasping that different commodities and services (dentist, mechanic, designer) operate in different market set-ups. Dentists don’t write proposals to fix your teeth.

And maybe they’re also not seeing the spirit in which this competition is intended: collaboration and participation. Is it Nike or Microsoft running a competition with no prize? No. It’s government. Our government. Your government. For all the times that people like us wish we could contribute more to government and have a say… well, this is just one of those ways.

The whole ‘web 2.0′ zeitgeist has grown off the back of a lot of people contributing a lot of creativity, design, and content for nothing. And I’m sure those who argue for no-spec have done well by taking some of the contribution and used it for themselves.

This is all about give and take. Let’s not forget to give every now and then.