The iSquare Protocol

The iSquare protocol is the data-gathering technique that we have developed and used to generate the existing corpus of iSquares. It is informed by the methodological literature on the draw-and-write technique and specifically an awareness of the ideal constraints to apply during data-gathering. With this protocol, researchers and educators can take advantage of a proven strategy for arts-informed, visual research into the concept of information. Importantly, the use of the protocol establishes social scientific reliability, that is, consistency across different implementations of the research design. Widespread use of the protocol will enable a more rapid accumulation of insights about the visual dimension of information and support collaboration.  The main elements of the protocol pertain to ethics;  setting and timing; instructional script; paper; iSquare size; front and back sides; drawing instrument; and (optional) incentives. The protocol concerns data collection only and leaves researchers free to analyze the iSquares as they wish.