Noticing 101
By
Does noticing matter? Of course it does. Lawyers notice for a living:
the displeasure of the judge, the anxiety of a witness, the
significance of a precedent. Doctors do too. House is top
doc because he notices first and best. Crime solving depends upon
noticing the faintest clues, with or without the use of an electron
microscope.
As a culture, we talk a lot about the importance of
reading. Literacy is a particularly big deal in Canada (where I am at
the moment). I’ve been corresponding with Michael Johnson about an organization devoted to encouraging parents to read with their child.
This is well and good. But
reading is really just a way of devoting ourselves to what other people
have noticed. And in a culture that is moving at break neck speed from
the passive mode to the active mode, surely it is time to "get behind"
noticing as much as we have reading. (When you notice, you are driven
to read, but the reverse is not also true.)
I have another motive for caring about noticing. My
nephew has taken up football. Now this is fine. Personally I believe
football saved my life. I was raised in a home with a strict ceremonial
regime, and the discovery that I could strap on pads and just run into
people came as the happiest revelation of my young
life. I loved football. But we all know I think that football can turn
a young man to thoughtlessness and so Pam and I resolved to take Andrew
shopping for shoes.
Shoes? Yes, the plan is to take Andrew to a mall, to give him 30 bucks and have him join us in the food court with a pair of shoes he has just bought. The plan is to have him describe these shoes, with perfect clarity, using not a word more than he has to, not a detail less than is necessary We are not going to look till he’s done. Then we’ll see.
Now, God kows what he is going to find for 30 bucks and if there is something inherently ludicrous about an 11 year old buying shoes, well, that’s ok. This is the first rule of noticing. It’s ok to look silly. You are going to look silly. Noticing sometimes makes us look conspicuous and if we are not prepared to pay this small price for noticing, well, too bad. The game is over before it starts.
The idea is help Andrew to see details, and to talk about them. The more he does, the better he will get at it. What’s odd is that we are a culture devoted to self improvement of every kind. That airport book store is bursting with books about how to be happier, smarter, thinner, richer, and more successful. But no one has written a book on noticing. Maybe Andrew will.
References
7 Comments
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:35 am
Are you familiar with "Outside Lies Magic" by John Stilgoe? That's about as close as I can think of a book on noticing.
I suppose Nicholson Baker's "The Mezzanine" would be a literary book on noticing with a decidedly offbeat neurotic bent to it, and not something you'd have a child read…
October 3rd, 2006 at 8:22 am
Marketers should be good noticers. The other profession who live or die by what they notice, sometimes literally, are spies. There is a nice scene in a restaurant in the movie, "Spy Game", where an old pro (played by Robert Redford) instructs a neophyte (Brad Pitt) in noticing. One hopes the CIA still do this stuff . . .
October 3rd, 2006 at 9:14 am
I'd also suggest Alan Fletcher's The Art of Looking Sideways.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:24 pm
Adam, thanks for the Stilgoe ref, will check out and thanks for reminding me of the Baker's reference which I loved reading years ago and then forgot about. Best, Grant
Peter, thanks, and there is a show on American TV called Psych that features noticing in a big way. Thanks. Best, Grant
Tom, thanks, ordering it now. Best, Grant
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:35 pm
We've asked students in our design research class to either do flickr or blogger stuff at least once a week – to practice noticing something and then telling a story about it. This separate from any formal design research/user research activities they may be engaged in, but just to sharpen skills in noticing (the word we used, actually), as well as reflecting and storytelling it.
http://www.portigal.com/blog/design-research-class-student-blogs-and-flickr-accounts/ has more about what they've been doing.
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:40 pm
Steve, Good idea and another way to address the "notes and queries" idea for the field of ethnography. Narayan (sp?) appears particularly gifted. His "stop in progress" was especially good. Thanks, Grant
November 7th, 2006 at 4:38 pm
Steve Dennning writes about Noticing and Storytelling
http://www.stevedenning.com
March newsletter; Getting People's Attention