Constanza ROJAS-MOLINA, CY Cergy Paris Universite - CY Tech, France
Sketchnotes, a term coined by designer Mike Rohde, is a way of taking notes that combines text with visual elements. This visual form of notetaking has the advantage that it involves a stronger cognitive engagement than passive listening, in situations where information is being received, as attending a talk, a lecture, or reading. Sketchnotes has other advantages that make it a suitable for social media: these are done quickly, spontaneously, with accessible materials, colorful and with a visual content that seeks to attract the audience. Doing Sketchnotes is a creative practice that requires developing a visual personal language, receiving and reproducing information, which make is a great exercise when applied to science communication.
In this talk, we will present different examples of communication using Sketchnotes, where they are used as a medium to start a discussion with the audience in different aspects of mathematics and academia. We will discuss the use of Sketchnotes as part of the blog The RAGE of the Blackboard, a platform where the author interviews women mathematicians and discusses career in academia. We will also present the two Twitter drawing challenges #Noethember and #Mathyear, respectively created and co-created by the author. In the former, Sketchnotes are used to promote the life and work of German mathematician Emmy Noether, this allows us to make a reflection on the impressive work of Noether, at the same time raising awareness of the role of women in mathematics and the many obstacles they face. #Mathyear revolves around mathematics and its interactions, and it aims to show how mathematics permeates contemporary advances in science and technology. While these three examples have different aims and target audiences, they all have in common the exploratory use of Sketchnotes and drawing to communicate mathematics and a way to invite the audience to a discussion and the action of drawing. Mathematics, being an abstract discipline, could be considered a challenge from the point of view of visualization. However, we emphasize the visual aspect of mathematics and how doing Sketchnotes can be an excellent exercise in the effort to reveal the heavy visual component in mathematics.
Our goal is to make mathematics and the mathematical activity closer to the general audience. Using Sketchnotes we aim at making the mathematical activity attractive and most importantly, relatable. We hope this will ultimately contribute to the scientific literacy of the audience and to produce a positive shift in the public perception of mathematics.
Finally, the accessibility of materials and easy execution makes Sketchnotes an ideal tool to communicate abstract disciplines as mathematics as well as very applied ones, and has the potential to be extended to other settings, like classrooms.
Document 1 : Document 1