Documenting your hub
With documenting we mean capturing and sharing what happens in the hub: harvesting the atmosphere, the process, the outcomes. You can do that by taking pictures, creating a booklet, making drawings or a movie… From now on we will use the word harvesting because of this deeper meaning. In this chapter we describe the purpose of harvesting and we share some examples for inspiration.
If you or your co-hosts don't have the experience, time or energy to do this, consider tapping into the talents and skills of your hub participants.
Why harvesting?
1.Keep the memory alive- for participants
Part of the impact of a u.lab is the journey itself. By capturing the key-moments and learnings, you help create a collective memory for the participants.
2.Sharing the story- with others
Documentation helps people who did not participate understand what happened.
3.Shared understanding
Harvesting can become part of the learning and reflection cycle. To do documentation, you have to reflect on what happened and how it contributed to the outcomes. Building a shared, collective understanding will increase the impact of the process.
How to harvest
Here are some practical suggestions for documenting your hub experience. We invite you to use whatever attracts you, while taking the intention of your hub into consideration.
1.Consider it a mind-set, or a lens. In witnessing the story of your hub and its participants, you start to collect information from a broader perspective than your own. Carrying with you an awareness of the storytelling aspect of documentation keeps you alert to notice certain magical moments, specific quotes, meaningful scenes... You are attuned to the moments when change is in the air.
Your interior condition influences the way you witness and what you will see and notice. Be aware of that and take up this role with care and responsibility.
2.Start by formulating your purpose(s) for documenting. A clear purpose will help you to develop an approach and plan for your documentation process. It will guide your decision-making throughout. Think about what you want to capture, what you wish to communicate, and with whom.
3. Share tasks and responsibility. It might be too intense to combine hosting and harvesting at the same time. We advise you to involve your participants, who might love to step in and contribute or even lead the documentation-process.
4. Language. Something to consider before you start to collect your material is the language you will use. Using English will allow the global community to follow and learn from your hub-story. It might be more important, however, to be able to communicate within your local community by using your own language. Formulating your purpose for documentation will help guide your decision-making about language.
5. Organize yourself. Use for example Dropbox or Google Drive to collect maps and files.
What can you do? Some possibilities:
1. Take photos. Photos are a great way to illustrate parts of the process and bring back the spirit of specific moments. We have to be mindful about respect the privacy of participants: check before publishing on the web! Also be careful with what and when you record, for example people might be more sensitive to privacy during a mindfulness-exercises, or Social Presencing Theater.
2. Use apps. Examples are Paper53 to create a visual agenda, or Periscope to broadcast and harvest some parts of your process.
3. Invite a visual harvester to visually capture what happens in the meetings. The drawing can capture both the process and the content.
Sense-making by visual harvesting by Kelvy Bird:https://vimeo.com/187455409
4. Work with social media. Social media not only helpsyou to communicate, share information and gain feedback, it also contributes to the harvesting process. It can helpifyou create stories by 'storifying' what people tweet about their hub experience. Tip: Create your own hub-# (next to the #Ulab). You can find some hashtag-tips and best practice-advice here:http://www.pixeldesign.ie/news/article/hashtags-tips-and-best-practice-adviceYou can find more information about how to use Storify and make your own Twitter or FB-related account here:https://storify.com/
5. Create a blog. Here is an example of u.lab in Scotland. They captured their stories and shared them with the network through this blog: ulabscot.wordpress.com. The hosting team can write, and also invite participants to contribute, by sharing a personal experience, an insight or an idea/project that was born during u.lab.
6. Do interviews with participants asking about their experiences and insights. Doing interviews is valuable for the harvest, but it also helps the participants to become more aware of their insights. You can use your smartphone to record or use apps, like QuickVoice Pro (enables you to immediately make a digital version of the recording with a ready link).
7. Create movies. These do not need to be highly professional but again, just simple cellphone recordings of some moments, sharings or little interviews can be very valuable for your community or stakeholders.
8. Create your own storybook. Here is an example of the #UlabNB-magazine:https://issuu.com/brabanthub/docs/ulabnb_magazine_2015
This magazine (Uploaded by Issuu, designed by Photoshop) was never printed because a hard copy could never show its depth or layers. An e-magazine is only one of the possibilities to upload and share your harvest. It is time-consuming, yet might be worth the effort, depending on the impact you wish to create in your local community on the longer term.
9. Elegant stealing. Be gentle with yourself. Consider using what is already provided/created by u.lab and other hubs. For example Otto's articles from the Huffington Post, Kelvy's graphics, blog posts from #ulabscot, .... Don’t forget to ask permission first, if needed, and to credit the author/artist.
10. Co-create a weekly newsletter or digest. Another way to harvest, is to do it collectively each week. Ask participants to send you reflections on what they are experiencing. Moreover, reflect back on the journey so far and the road ahead to keep everyone on track, even if they miss a session. See example from Impact Hub Berlin