Why I write with pen and paper: infographic on Writing

I've tried to go digital for almost a year now. Although I do like programs like Evernote a lot, using them to hold every bit of information in store, there is something lacking. When I type away on my handy iPad mini, that's just what I do: typing data away, into mental oblivion. On the positive side: when a note, a reference, a URL,… is in Evernote, I can always find it – if I used my tags wisely. But on the negative side: I don't seem to have done anything actively with the information yet, it's not been processed yet. It might be just me, but apparently I'm not the only one who needs pen and paper to really think things through. Writing down notes on a piece of paper just activates those neurones better, stimulating me to make associations and assuring that I remember what I wrote down more easily than when I just jot it down in Evernote. Of course, there are good tools for mind mapping out there (I have Mindnode and iThougtsHD on the iPad), but writing 'old school' just has that edge to it…

Another thing that strikes me in this infographic is the importance of storytelling when you give a presentation. Any teacher could confirm this from his or her own experience, I guess. The most striking example I've seen lately is a presentation by sociologist Bronislaw Szerszynski, on the relation between tools, machines and human beings. Instead of delivering facts and figures, supporting hypotheses and suggesting their consequences, he narrated a myth of origin, supported by animation. Blending parts of Norse mythology with Genesis, philosophy and science fiction (my own interpretation), he suggested the original closeness of the bond between machines and humans, the tragic of machines and humans getting separated, what the end of the machines would mean for humanity,… Unfortunately the presentation was only in its test-phase, so I cannot link to it. We had a discussion afterwards, with differing opinions about the appropriateness of such a form of presentation in an academic setting. Maybe I would not take it as far as Bronislaw, but I believe you have to tell the story behind the bullets of your Power Point to really get your audience engaged in what you deem important enough to spend conference budget on…

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