D as Diagramming: Information as Light
From Metaphor to Diagram
This post is part of the D as Diagramming project which aims to explore diagrams and diagramming. what I really want to know is about the value of diagrams for turning tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge.
One of tricks of knowledge building is metaphor. Today I want to share an example of diagramming with metaphor.
The Ecological Physics Method
Last year, I wrote an article titled #SocialPxD — ReEngagement with Twitterville which Ecological Physics Method. I quoted the ecological psychologist James J. Gibson’s ideas from his book The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception (1979/2015) and translated them into the context of Twitter research. The Ecological Physics Method incorporates the following seven aspects: Ecological Environment, Ecological Mechanics, Ecological Invariant, Ecological Events, Ecological Perspective, Ecological Affordance, and Ecological Information into a unified whole framework.
Gibson didn’t use the term Ecological Physics Method, he only used the term Ecological Physics. After reading Gibson’s book, I realized he used a brand new method to build his theory. In order to summarize his method for cross-disciplinary application, I called the method the Ecological Physics Method.
The second aspect of the Ecological Physics Method is Ecological Mechanics which is really hard to understand for new readers.
How to translate them from natural environment to digital environment? My solution is inventing a metaphor.
Medium, Substance, and Surfaces
Gibson invented many terms for his theory, the core of them is a triad: Medium, Substance, and Surfaces. For simplifying the complex story, I draw the following diagram.
Gibson focused on the terrestrial environment for animals (including humans). Animals, plants, human, natural objects such as rock, sand, mud, clay, metal… These are Substances. Air and water are Medium because they afford locomotion to animate body and they are generally transparent, transmitting light. The medium is separated from the substances of the environment by Surfaces.
Why did Gibson use these new terms? Because he aimed to challenge the traditional views of perception and behavior. He said,
If we understand the notion of medium, I suggest, we come to an entirely new way of thinking about perception and behavior. The medium in which animals can move about (and in which objects can be moved about) is at the same time the medium for light, sound, and odor coming from sources in the environment. (p.13)
What Gibson developed is a theory called The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. If we pay attention to the subject “Visual Perception”, then we can understand why he focuses on Medium, Substance and Surfaces. The land is the ground which supports animals. Gibson highlighted the difference between radiant light and ambient light. While radiant light comes from a point source, ambient light comes to a point in the medium. Thus, the Surfaces become very important because they reflect lights and make ambient light available. Gibson’s ecological optics is complex, if you want to go deeper, check out Wikipedia and read his book.
Let’s move to the Surfaces which is the foundation of Gibson’s Ecological Mechanics because ecological events occur at the level of substances and the surfaces that separate them from the medium. From Gibson’s perspective, the change and force behind the change is different from other mechanics. He pointed out:
It has to do with what might be called ecological mechanics, which is rather different from either celestial mechanics on the one hand or particle mechanics on the other, including thermodynamics. … The terrestrial substratum is an absolute frame of reference for them, since it is itself never displaced or turned. The world does not move, not at this level of analysis. … At this level of analysis, the deformations and disruptions of a surface are not reduced to the motions of elementary particles of matter, either. (p.88)
Stream, Agents, and Interface
Now it’s time to go back to the Twitter world. Can we use Gibson’s triad? or can we make different versions of the triad? What’s the ecological mechanics of Twitterville?
The above diagram is my answer. I translated Gibson’s triad into new terms for the digital world.
Stream as Medium
Agents as Substances
Interface as Surfaces
There is no air in the digital world, but people are contained by a continuous and dynamic Stream of information-response activities. Like air, the Stream is not visible and it is transparent.
Agents are Twitter users. Agents can be a person, a team, a brand, a company, an organization, even a robot. Since one person might have multiple Twitter user accounts, it is not appropriate to use Person or People as Substances.
Interface is easy to understand. It separates the Stream and the Agents.
In fact, there is a most important key point for this translation. I use a metaphor to organize the whole thinking process.
Information as Light
I use “Information as Light” as a metaphor and build the new triad around it. There is no light in the digital world, but there is an essential thing called Information. Without light, there wouldn’t be any plants, animals, people and other forms of life on earth. Without information, the internet would be a hot and dry desert and Twitter would be a ghost town.
There is a small issue for this metaphor because Gibson also used “Information” for his theory. It is worth noting that Gibson used “Ecological Information” which is different to “Digital Information.”
Now we can describe the whole story of Ecological Mechanics of Twitterville. There are a group of agents within Twitterville, they continuously act on information-response within the stream. Agents send information to others and respond to information they received at interface.
Notice the above picture from Gibson’s book. The pair of Radiant light/Ambient light also fits the “Information as Light” metaphor. I use Radiant Information for one-to-many stream, and Ambient Information for many-to-one stream.
If you want to know more about Ecological Physics Method, you can read the original article.
Metaphors for Diagramming
Diagramming is not only about drawing, but also thinking. The diagramming activity always requires thinking about concepts.
For knowledge transfer, a good trick is adopting metaphors as a bridge. Gibson’s original ideas are all about natural environment. We all know there is a difference between natural environment and digital environment. At least, there is no Light in digital environment.
The metaphor of “Information as Light” solves the problem and creates a door for adopting Gibson’s Ecological Physics for digital environment.
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