By Sonya Davidson
"I'm a little concerned about how art in school is viewed by our society these days," I say to Sunni Brown when I met her at a recent interview. I mention that recent school surveys have parents ranking order of importance of subjects and arts seem to fall on the wayside. "I know what you mean," she responds. "even I didn't grow up in an environment that was supportive of art, not because there was something wrong, but it just wasn't a priority. It wasn't a practical thing to study so they didn't see the application of art in other areas. It just wasn't encouraged."
This is how our conversation started when I was invited to meet with her recently at the Microsoft Canada office for the launch of the Surface 3 the latest tablet/laptop-in-one device - it totally made sense as she pulled out hers complete with notes, photos, quotes, and of course, doodles, all presented in one dandy presentation before my eyes.
Sunni Brown is named one of the world's "100 Most Creative People in Business" and one of the "!0 Most Creative People on Twitter" by Fast Company. She is the founder of a creative consultancy called SB Ink. She's also an international speaker, co-author of Gamestorming, author of The Doodle Revolution and the leader of a global campaign for visual literacy. Her position as Chief Infodoodler has her jetting around the world to speak in front of business leaders as well as media. Her work on visual literacy has been featured in the New York TImes, Oprah, Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, the BBC, Fast Company, and many more.
"I believe that people are whole learners." Said Brown. "We all have our nuances and complexities and we are not square pegs and that's what the Doodle Revolution is all about." Brown considers her mission a global campaign for literacy which taps into our native instinct. "Which is what we all do universally, but as kids, when we go to school, we're all taught art only in art class and not any further. It's not integrated into our other subjects and that's a problem."
What Brown does is re-teach us as adults to be able to get back to the basics and be allowed to freely show our mental models. To be able to share what's on our minds through doodle and through exercises in gaming helps expand our ability to not only learn but also to be innovative and creative.
"I spend a lot of time teaching adults how to use visual language and doodling in the workplace. And naturally, I encounter a lot of resistance, because it's considered to be anti-intellectual and counter to serious learning.
But I have a problem with that belief, because I know that doodling has a profound impact on the way that we can process information and the way that we can solve problems." Said Brown in her 2011 TED TALK.
As we continued to chat, Brown referenced directly to her Surface 3 and whispers "I seriously hope you get to try one out, not just for what you do but also for your teenager as he may find it pretty useful to integrate his learning in so many ways. We're finding more schools are getting kids into project based learning -- that is, kids are actually problem solving in group settings like you would do in an office environment so this device really supports that process by allowing them to share ideas, collaborate on assignments and mark in their thoughts."
It's of interest for sure as I'm currently playing around with a Surface 3 and a few features have piqued my interest. The flexibility of the device that is lightweight offers what I need in a tablet, like stream videos, (hello binge watching) while keeping me connected but combines the power of my laptop (yes, Intel processor!) to meet my work needs to get things done is of value. I'm also keen on trying out the "Pen" that offers the quick ability to jot down notes and doodle around ideas when I need to get something down fast. I am testing it out for a few weeks...and so will the kid.
The Microsoft Surface 3 is now available and currently includes a one year subscription to Office.