learning gardens: storytelling opportunities

Learning Gardens: Storytelling Opportunities

© 2012, TopicQuests This work is Licensed under a

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Jack Park Knowledge Federation Conference Dubrovnik, Croatia October, 2012

A Narrative Arc

A necessarily staccato sketch of this arc follows

“Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.”

–Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

A Scenario—Discoveries in Disparate Conversations?

Discovery?

Joe is in Medical School studying to be a doctor

Joe is preparing for a test on Bacterial Infections

A Scenario—1

Immune Response

Bacterial Infection

Macrophage

Free Radical

Reactive Oxygen

macrophages use free radicals to

kill bacteria

Bookmark page with these tags

Annotate page with this idea Use garden condo tools to

record discoveries

A Scenario—2

Sarah lives a healthy lifestyle

Sarah read that free radicals can cause cancer

A Scenario—3

Antioxidant

Free Radical

Bookmark page with these tags

antioxidants kill

free radicals

Annotate page with this idea Use garden condo tools to

record discoveries

A Scenario—4

Ben is a cancer patient with recurring bacterial infections

Ben visits a garden condo to research bacterial infections

A Scenario—5

Note: Ben is modeled after the author; while the author made the same discovery, it occurred by different means. Still, this scenario supports the case that important discoveries are available through federation of individual acts.

Ben makes a discovery

What’s this all about?

Ben becomes curious about free radicals—a new concept to him

A Scenario—6

Free Radical

macrophages use free radicals to

kill bacteria

antioxidants kill

free radicals

antioxidants kill

free radicals

macrophages use free radicals to

kill bacteria

Ben adds a new Connection between

the two ideas

Use garden condo tools to record discoveries

Must Avoid

A Scenario—7

Ben makes a decision Sounds like I should not take any more antioxidant pills!

Olivia is a Medical Doctor interested in immune system subjects

A Scenario—8

antioxidants kill

free radicals

macrophages use free radicals to

kill bacteria

Need to restate this information

“Must Avoid” doesn’t really

convey a proper sense of reality

Must Avoid

A Scenario—9

Olivia visits the garden

antioxidants kill

free radicals

Contraindicates

macrophages use free radicals to

kill bacteria

Bacterial Infection Antioxidants

Because

Create a new set of representations by connecting the two core concepts and

explaining the connection

Olivia gets bonus points for justifying her assertion.

Use garden condo tools to record discoveries

A Scenario—10

Contraindicates Bacterial Infection Antioxidants

A Scenario—11

A Challenge is posed to the primary

assertion

“Compromised host” as a new concept to be represented in the

knowledge base

Use garden condo tools to record discoveries

A Scenario—12 Structured conversation responds

antioxidants kill

free radicals

Contraindicates

macrophages use free radicals to

kill bacteria

Bacterial Infection Antioxidants

Because

Appropriate For

Compromised Host

Use garden condo tools to record discoveries

A Scenario—13 Co-created resource in the garden

From the perspective of complexity theory, emergence arises from complex systems that create new properties from “autonomous unities coming together into larger, more powerful unities”*

Complex Systems Shared Stories Collaboration in the Garden

* [2]

The emergence we seek is that of insight into the nature of and solutions to complex problems

Great Law of the Iroquois

"In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation...”

19

“…We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.” –Albert Einstein

Upon this gifted age, in its dark hour, Rains from the sky a meteoric shower Of facts . . . they lie unquestioned, uncombined. Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill Is daily spun; but there exists no loom To weave it into fabric – Edna St. Vincent Millay

A Strategy

Learning, Improving Requires Feedback

ordered gardens

wild borders

ordered gardens

wild borders

Structured but emergent networks of claims and arguments

Informally expressed claims and arguments,

awaiting ‘proper linkage’

Source: Simon Buckingham Shum

Towards a cultivated ecosystem…

Triple Learning Loop

[1], Page 23

Knowledge Gardening Behaviors

• Stages of Basic Research Behaviors

– Forage Filter Analyze Synthesize

• At each stage

– Capture results

– Dialogue where appropriate

• Narrative, Story emerges through dialogue

An Approach: Role-playing Games

• Massive, multi-player online role playing games – One kind of gardening – Quests

• Well posed issues – Learning contexts

– Guilds • Apprenticeships in the modern age of complex problem

solving

– Game mechanics • Motivation • Augmented trust and social collaboration • Social learning

Life in a Guild – Using role-playing

game mechanics for collaboration on quests

– Guild results are federated and posted for public use

– All aspects of a topic are covered by virtue of many guilds working on the same quest

– Stories created by a Documenter/Scribe Roleplayer

27

Garden Workflow Big Picture

Encyclopedia

Workbench World of

Information Sources

•Collect and curate information resources •Transfer them to a Workbench

•Annotate, Tag, Connect ideas at the Workbench •Create summary topics in the Encyclopedia •Organize Workbench resources in Topic Map

Topic Map

Completed Representation

antioxidants kill

free radicals

Contraindicates

macrophages use free radicals to

kill bacteria

Bacterial Infection Antioxidants

Because

Appropriate For

Compromised Host

Let us co-create our future

About Me

Built airplane

Undergrad study: aero eng.

Built windmills/Solar homes

Built wind/solar sensors

AI to analyze data

Collective intelligence

Knowledge gardens

Life in a Waterfall

References

• [1] FEDERAL HEALTH FUTURES SUMMIT LEADERSHIP LEARNING for TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE. September 10-11, 2012 Washington DC Metro Region

• [2] Olen Gunnlaugson (2011). A Complexity Perspective on Presencing. Complicity, Vol 9, No 1 (2012). Online at: http://ejournals.library.