Canvases to collaborate - digitally

One of the many advantages of online gatherings are the means to contribute in real-time to the shared re-collection of the event - for example via chat or annotations on shared screens.

Within the last two months I observed everyone on a steep learning curve when it comes to interacting with digital canvases. It just takes a shared screen and the built-in annotation functionality of a video conferencing tool to collectively create an overall picture.

I enjoyed what we created as an introduction to Ecocycle Planning in the Virtual Liberating Structures Immersion Workshop:

Spectrograms have become my favorite method for enabling everyone to connect to the topic, see the whole and get a sense for the group:

But canvases are not only powerful to take the pulse and enable those present to co-sense and prepare for collective action - they are also great for organizing collective thinking in asynchronous online-collaboration.

Platforms like Miro or Mural have interesting templates and visual frameworks to organize collaboration with virtual whiteboards. Sometimes the interfaces lack the human touch. That’s why I am planning to - step by step - contribute my visual language to that arena, starting with Ecocycle Planning Canvas.

Download & have fun collaborating!