Paul C. Thistle, Langley Centennial Museum & National Exhibition Centre (retired)
PROPOSAL TYPE
Working Group
Seeking
- Seeking General Feedback and Interest
- Seeking Specific Expertise
RELATED TOPICS
- Labor and Economy
- Reflections on the Field
- Social Justice
ABSTRACT
Three major surveys 10 years apart of working Canadians with ‘knowledge worker’ characteristics similar to public historians found stress levels had increased and life satisfaction declined among the full-time employed. A recent informal survey of ‘gig’ workers on the trend to outsource many full-time permanent positions into short-term contracts found fully 61.8% of respondents report negative impacts on their mental and physical health. The conclusion: our field “essentially . . . is alienating 90% of the incoming, highly qualified workforce and ultimately forcing many young professionals out of the field.” In light of the above findings, public historians need to ‘repair work’ in our industry.
This proposes a ‘brainwriting’ exercise.
DESCRIPTION
• “Brainwriting” method is a more effective alternative to ‘brainstorming’ that encourages a uniform participation within a group by avoiding aggressive talkers’ domination. It involves silent writing of ideas. . . driving inspiration from other members in a cyclical way. It is efficient: 6 people per group generate up to 108 ideas in 30 minutes.
• worksheet on Problem Statement handed out to each participant in groups of 6 [NOTE: proposer seeks digital alternative vs. analogue platform.]
• participants are given 5 minutes to write down their first 3 ideas working in silence.
• the sheet then is passed on to the participant on the right . . . The process is repeated and each participant is free to get inspired from the ideas he/she reads on the sheet written by his/her neighbour & contribute to them by integrating or completing them, or decide to ignore them & add other new idea(s).
• The process goes on until each of the worksheets has been worked on by each participant.
• The next step is a preliminary screening of the ideas that have been gathered where exact duplicates are deleted, and a team evaluation perhaps using the Nominal Group Technique or Prioritisation Matrices to select 1 to 3 ideas the group can identify as priorities.
• Once complete, a plenary session led by the proposer will obtain a report from each 6-person group.
• Finally, the plenary group will discuss the group priorities identified & decide on future steps to initiate the process of solving the Problem Statement in the public history field.
References Cited:
Collections on Contract. 2020. “Unsupported, Uninsured, Unsustainable: The effect of contracting on young professionals.” posted February 20, 2020, updated December 11, 2020 9:58 p.m. at https://collectionsoncontract.com/2020/02/20/unsupported-uninsured-unsustainable-the-effect-of-contracting-on-young-professionals/ (accessed 31 May 2021).
Duxbury, Linda and Higgins, Christopher. 2012a. Revisiting Work-Life Issues in Canada: The 2012 National Study on Balancing Work and Caregiving in Canada. Ottawa: Carleton University and the University of Western Ontario (URL available via Google).
Duxbury, Linda and Higgins, Christopher. 2012b. Key Findings. Revisiting Work-Life Issues in Canada: The 2012 National Study on Balancing Work and Caregiving in Canada. Ottawa: Carleton University & the University of Western Ontario (URL available via Google).
Thistle, “Does public history work itself require Repair?” History@Work
If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to pass along someone’s contact information confidentially, please get in contact directly: Paul C. Thistle, Langley Centennial Museum & National Exhibition Centre (retired), [email protected]
ALL FEEDBACK AND OFFERS OF ASSISTANCE SHOULD BE SUBMITTED BY JULY 1, 2021. If you have general ideas or feedback to share, please feel free to use the comments feature below.
This is such an important topic, Paul. I’m glad you’ve raised the topic here.
I’ve run workshops in the past using a similar technique, but asking participants to write on whiteboards/chart paper instead of pieces of paper. I needed to increase the time with each rotation, in order to allow participants to read and reflect on the existing comments.
While I note that next steps will be discussed as a group, the publication of that final summary report of the findings seems an obvious next step. In my mind, that’s the missing piece in this proposal: the activity is clearly defined, until the final stage. How will you ensure that important conversation doesn’t start and end in that room?
Bronwyn:
Glad to hear others use this type of approach. Thanks for your input.
My problem with writing on whiteboards is that–if we are successful–it is up to me to enter too much data. I have been on that end of the dirty stick much to often. It’s a tough go to interpret hand writing. Failing an electronic format where each participant keyboards their own ideas, after such a session, I would want to collect handwritten papers rather than attempting to rush at copying all the ideas off whiteboards before the next session in that space. So, if at all possible, I still prefer an electronic solution.
I pray someone will have one to offer to us.
Bronwyn:
Forgot to say, I will be publishing the results in preparation for workshoping the document & group planning for next steps.
I wonder if any of the Canadian programs in Public History, Museum Studies, Archives, etc. have data or perspectives to contribute?
As well, I agree that this could be published for those that train graduates and for students examining their career options.
Michelle:
Thanks for your interest.
I have been riding this hobby horse since 1990–31 years now. I have 61 blog posts on a wide variety of issues since 2012 at https://solvetasksaturation.wordpress.com/ . I try to promote the analysis as widely as possible in the museum & NCPH public history listservs that I hope public history instructors follow. I have done several museum conference presentations including 4 different professional organisation brainstorming sessions [on flip charts 🙁 ]. I have not been successful in posting in archival venues since I was a member of the archives society executive in Manitoba back in the 1980s & 1990s–due mainly to my own on-the-job task saturation & time poverty since retirement dealing with family & friends end of life & church board matters. Sigh. 🙂 So, this is my most recent attempt to broaden the audience for the above issues. Stay tuned.
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