Information Design and Sense-Making c/o Dervin

'Information Design: Something New, Something Old

... I want in this chapter to challenge the central idea that information design is a new idea. Reducing the issues briefly to a polarity, it is useful to start by considering two ways to conceptualize information. One way, implicit in the above assumptions, is that information is something that describes an ordered reality and has some knowable, or at least idealized, isomorphic relationship to that reality (i.e., it represents in an identical way the form and content of reality). In short, information instructs us, this assumption says, about the nature of the world we live in: its history, its future, its functioning, our place in it, our possible
actions, and the potential consequences of those actions.' p.35.

[My emphasis.]

Brenda Dervin. Chaos, Order, and Sense-Making: A Proposed Theory for Information Design (chapter 3) In R. Jacobson (Ed.), Information Design (pp. 35-57). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press

Previously: Information design: Tufte & Raskin 

Hodges' model: An architectonic sense-making tool

"Translation by architectonic map is a sense-making tool inspired by Peirce's use of the term, architectonic, to describe the systematic form of a body of knowledge. Theorists create a structure around which their approach to understanding human conduct is built. Familiarity with the overall structure facilitates generalized discourse among those interested in the framework. An architectonic map identifies all the major components of a scientific text or canon, including its assumptions, concepts, propositions, and theories, and the paths connecting these components. Mapping architectonics is an intersemiotic (across two different types of sign systems) translation process when the translation product is a diagram, and an intralingual process when the product is a narrative." p.111. (My emphasis)

"Models employ symbols (terms and their meanings), but also have an iconic function (a design meant to represent a object or process in important ways) and an indexical function (notation indicating and pointing to persons, processes, relationships, organizations)." p.112. 

Individual
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      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

|

Group

person concepts critical thinking	person maps framework
languages dialogue - narrative shared understanding social worlds* anthropology	organisations communities of practice professions, scope of practice *translation here too: policy, power, status ...

Forte, J. A. (2009). Interactionist Practice: A Signs, Symbols, and Social Worlds Approach. Humboldt Journal of Social Relations, 32(1), 86–122. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23263237

The conjunction of reality and simulation?

 "Models are approximations of reality, constructed by scientists to address specific questions of natural phenomena using the language of mathematics. Mathematical equations allow the practitioner to decide the level of abstraction needed to tackle a given problem, thus transcending the 'billiard ball' approach." p.198.

 

INDIVIDUAL
  |

     INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

|

GROUP

"In practice, simulations are often limited by a dynamic range problem, meaning that one runs out of computing power to simulate behavior at all scales. The discretization of mathematical equations in order to program them into a computer introduces subtleties such as numerical dissipation - an artificial side effect of differential equation calculations that does not arise from physics. It is also likely that one needs different numerical methods to simulate behavior on different scales, and a single method may be insufficient for all spatial scales. Perhaps the advent of AI will allow us to overcome some of these limitations, but for now emulations remain an aspiration." p.199.  "

"Generally, examining the microscopic components of a complex system in order to understand how macroscopic behaviour emerges falls short - think biology and economics. Implicitly, this brute-force approach suggests that one may study complex systems without having a scientific question in mind, and if enough computing power is deployed then insight naturally emerges. The billion-euro Human Brain Project is a spectacular example of the limitations of such an approach. Essentially, their  simulations have failed to replace laboratory experiments. As has been noted by climate scientist Isaac Held, there is a tension between simulation and understanding.  We simulate in order to mimic as much of an observed phenomenon as possible. But we achieve understanding by using idealized models to capture the essence of the phenomenon. By design, idealized models necessarily employ assumptions." p.198.

Heng, K., Approximating Reality, American Scientist - Special Issue: Scientific Modelling, July-August 2023. 111:4,198-199.

Safety first: Hard hats must be worn^

- this is a construction site.


INDIVIDUAL
|

 INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

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GROUP

This may be another distraction? Before I examine and explain Hodges' model as a generic conceptual framework, model of care, (implicit theory?) . . . I need to explain, provide an account for the model's construction.

Image: 

https://www.safetysign.com/products/5467/danger-hard-hats-must-be-worn-sign

^Safety boots, high viz vests ...