Situational Note-taking: The idea of “Thematic Matrix +”

Oliver Ding

Published in

Curativity Center

10 min readNov 20, 2023

Blend the Knowledge Discovery Canvas with other ideas

Last evening I made the above note. What did I actually do?

I made a diagram blending.

Knowledge Discovery Canvas + The “Flow — Story — Model” schema

The double-square diagram represents the Knowledge Discovery Canvas. See the diagram below.

“A” stands for “Analysis” while “S” stands for “Synthesis”. “A” and “S” come from the “Flow — Story — Model” schema. See the diagram below.

Why did I do it yesterday?

Background

I recently worked on a project about the concept of Mindset. You can find more details in the following articles:

In these articles, I used the Knowledge Discovery Canvas to discuss four types of actors and test the Mental Tuning framework. For example, you can find some examples below in Psychological Knowledge Engagement and Robert Kegan’s Knowledge Enterprise (59 min read).

These articles were based on the diagram below.

The above diagram uses the “Universal Reference” diagram, the “Kinds of Actors” framework, and a sub-framework of “Ecological Formism” to explore a thematic network around “Mindset”.

I didn’t incorporate the Knowledge Discovery Canvas into the above diagram about Mindset. However, I found its four AREAs match the four types of actors.

Theoretical Psychologists — The THEORY thematic space
Empirical Psychologists — The END thematic space
Intervenors — The MEANS thematic space
Actors — The PRACTICE thematic space

These four types of knowledge creators have different perspectives and behavioral patterns because they have different construal levels, practical interests, points of observation, methodological preferences, and expressive conventions (or language habits).

Since the four thematic spaces correspond to four types of roles, moving between these thematic spaces means moving between four social spaces.

This is a perfect example of Social Moves (Mental Moves).

Yesterday morning

The day before yesterday (Nov 17, 2023), I published Psychological Knowledge Engagement and Robert Kegan’s Knowledge Enterprise (59 min read).

Yesterday morning, I discussed some ideas related to the article with a friend of mine in our email conversation about the concept of Mindset. I sent the diagram below to him.

What did I say about the above diagram in the email?

This diagram combines “AAI”, “Knowledge Engagement”, and “Four Areas of Knowledge Discovery” together. I also define four types of “Mindsets of Knowledge Engagement”:
- Knowing-for-all (Theoretical Psychologists’ Mindset)
- Knowing-for-fact (Empirical Psychologists’ Mindset)
- Knowing-for-us (Intervenors’ Mindset)
- Knowing-for-me (Actors’ Mindset)
Each type of Mindset is associated with the following aspects of behavior patterns:
- Tacit knowledge
- Construal levels
- Practical interests
- Points of observation
- Methodological preferences
- Expressive conventions (or language habits)
The Life Domains of Knowledge Engagement refers to Activity (Knowledge). This links to the AAI framework which is formed by two types of analysis:
- First-order Analysis: Activity (How do people do things)
- Second-order Analysis: Knowledge (How do people engage with knowledge for their Activities/Work)
The Life Experiences of Knowledge Engagement refers to Create/Curate. This links to the Knowledge Engagement framework (v4).
- Create: Making concrete things to represent abstract knowledge
- Curate: Organize pieces of knowledge-related experience into a meaningful mental element
Moreover, if we connect the Model of Knowledge Engagement with the Creative Life Curation framework, then the “Curate” action echoes “Subjectification / Experience 1” while the “Create” action echoes “Objectification / Experience 2”.

So, my mental focus was the Four Thematic Spaces about Knowledge Engagement.

Yesterday evening

I made the note below.

I just connected the “Flow—Story—Model” schema to the four thematic spaces of knowledge engagement.

“A” and “S” come from the “Flow — Story — Model” schema. “A” stands for “Analysis” while “S” stands for “Synthesis”.

If we only consider “Analysis” and “Synthesis” as two ways of thinking, then we could get the following patterns:

Theoretical Psychologists — The THEORY thematic space — only “Analysis 2”
Empirical Psychologists — The END thematic space — “Synthesis 1” > “Analysis 1”
Intervenors — The MEANS thematic space —“Synthesis 1” > “Analysis 1” > “Synthesis 2”
Actors — The PRACTICE thematic space — only “Synthesis 1”

In Thematic Space: Flow, Film, and Floor Plan, I developed a model to understand the context of tacit knowledge. The model uses three metaphors to represent three levels of knowing in everyday life.

Experience > Flow > Life as a continuous flow
Story > Film > Project as a film with a prominent theme
Model > Floor Plan > Thematic space as a floor plan

From the Experience layer to the Story layer, the key is Similarity/Difference. It means we are very sensitive to new things in our immediate experience. Many people can generate insights by perceiving Differences, but a few people can perceive Similarities and find new insights.

If we can find Differences from Similarities, then we can find some new structures of stories. It could lead to innovation.

From the Story layer to the Model layer, the key is Variant/Invariant. Since a model is an abstraction of an insightful story, the Model maker has to separate invariants and variants from Stories.

I used “Analysis” and “Synthesis” to discuss the transformation between the Story layer and the Model layer.

“Analysis”: separate invariants and variants from Stories, move to the Model layer
“Synthesis”: combine invariants and variants together and return to the Story layer

The new node uses “S+A” and “S+A+S”. It means different processes.

“Synthesis 1”: only stay on the Experience layer
“Analysis 1”: move from the Story layer to the Model layer
“Synthesis 2”: move from the Model layer to the Story layer
“Analysis 2”: move from the Model 1 layer to the Model 2 layer

Theoretical Psychologists — The THEORY thematic space — only “Analysis 2”, what does it mean?

It means Theoretical Psychologists only use Model 1 as their raw material to develop Model 2. They are far from the Experience layer.

Empirical Psychologists — The END thematic space — “Synthesis 1” > “Analysis 1”, what does mean?

It means Empirical Psychologists move from the Experiences layer to the Model 1 Layer directly. They don’t need to return to the Story layer.

Intervenors — The MEANS thematic space — “Synthesis 2” > “Analysis 1” > “Synthesis 1”, what does mean?

It means Intervenors have to take two actions: 1) move from the Model layer to the Story layer, and 2) move from the Story layer to the Experience layer.

Is this note right?

What do you think?

It is an initial rough idea.

The good sign is that I am going to blend the Knowledge Discovery Canvas and the “Flow—Story—Model” schema together in a new way.

Last Night

After dinner, I reflected on the series of articles about the concept of Mindset and made the diagram below.

I sent the above diagram to a friend of mine with the following message:

In the past two months, I worked on a project about the Concept of Mindset. This is part of the “Territory of Concepts” project.

I defined four types of thematic spaces for knowledge engagement.

Theoretical Development -> Setting the Term
Empirical Research -> Bounding the Case
Intervention and Curation -> Capturing the Theme
Life Reflection -> Weaving the Mind

The term “Bounding the Case” was inspired by your papers. Thank you very much!

See the attached diagram.

Oliver

p.s. I will edit a new collection of my articles about Concepts.

Grasping the Concept

The Territory of Concepts and Concept Dynamics

Part 1: The Territory of Concepts
Now I use the Four Types of Thematic Sapces to define the “Territory” of Concepts and collect my recent articles about this theme.

Part 2: Concept Dynamics

My articles about the Concept Dynamics framework and my own stories of developing several theoretical concepts.

Part 3: Beyond Common Concept

My articles about the Concept-fit framework and related ideas for developing products.

The idea of “Psychological Knowledge Engagement” will be the next project.

Thematic Matrix +

The above idea is part of my recent mental focus “Creative Diagramming”.

From Oct 5 to Nov 12, wrote several articles about Knowledge Discovery Canvas and Creative Diagramming.

The Landscape of Creative Life Theory (v2, 2023) — Oct 5, 2023
Situational Note-taking: The Thematic Matrix Canvas and Meaning Discovery Canvas — Oct 25, 2023
Projectivity as Cultural Attachance — Oct 30, 2023
[Creative Diagramming] Graphic Space Affordances, Thematic Space, and Possible Paths — Oct 31, 2023
Creative Life Curation: Discover Thematic Spaces of Creative Life — Nov 2, 2023

The Knowledge Discovery Canvas is based on a meta-canvas called Thematic Matrix Canvas.

The above canvas was originally called Thematic Space Canvas.

Since Thematic Spaces became a primary theoretical concept, I renamed the canvas Thematic Matrix Canvas.

It is a meta-canvas for Developing Tacit Knowledge.

It led to the following canvases:

The Knowledge Discovery Canvas
The Spark Space Canvas
The Statue Space Canvas
The Life Discovery Canvas
The Optimal Context Canvas
The Lifesystem Development Canvas

You can find more details in A Meta-canvas for Developing Tacit Knowledge.

In 2022, my mental focus was the 16 blocks of Knowledge Discovery Canvas and Thematic Matrix Canvas, especially the connections between Inner Space and Outer Space for Developing Tacit Knowledge. You can find more details in Mapping Thematic Spaces #2 — The “Activity” Thematic Space.

In 2022, the Knowledge Discovery Canvas was developed to support individuals’ activities of Developing Tacit Knowledge. You can find more details in the book (draft) titled Knowledge Discovery: Developing Tacit Knowledge with Thematic Space Canvas.

In recent articles, my mental focus is not the 16 blocks, but the white space around the 16 blocks, and four thematic spaces behind the four areas. You can find more details in [Creative Diagramming] Graphic Space Affordances, Thematic Space, and Possible Paths and Creative Life Curation: Discover Thematic Spaces of Creative Life.

Nov 20, 2023

A better version of the “Grasping the Concept” diagram is here. The names of 16 blocks are removed from the diagram. So we can focus on the Four Areas of the canvas and the Four Thematic Spaces.

Moreover, we can explore more thematic spaces around the Knowledge Discovery Canvas. For example, I recently discovered 8 thematic spaces around the Knowledge Discovery Canvas. See the newest case below. For a real case study, we could place more thematic spaces around the canvas.

Moreover, we could explore connections between these thematic spaces and the strategy behind mental moves. For example, the diagram below is based on the above diagram.

What does it mean?

It means there is a new layer of using Knowledge Discovery Canvas and the family of Thematic Matrix Canvases. This layer is not only about one individual canvas but also about a network of canvases and connections between thematic spaces.

On Jan 18, 2023, I used the “Activity” thematic space and the “Project” thematic space to discuss the connection between the two thematic spaces. You can find more details in Thematic Space: The Project Engagement Toolkit for Creators.

However, the “Activity — Project” connection is based on particular thematic spaces. It is about the network of primary themes.

If we consider thematic spaces around the 16 blocks as secondary thematic spaces. Then, we could see a large network of thematic spaces with multiple types of connections:

Primary theme 1 > Primary theme 2 > Primary theme 3 > …
Secondary theme 1> Secondary theme 2 > Secondary theme 3 > …
Primary theme 1 > Secondary theme 1 > Secondary theme 2 > Primary theme 2 >…

The new network is more flexible than the 2022 version.

I’d like to call it “Thematic Matrix +”.