10  A New Model

This book sets a new mental model for approaching communication that takes these factors into account.

It’s more flexible and comprehensive, taking into consideration the technical (latex, js, py) and modal combinations (data viz, research papers, etc.) that other books view individually.

The first step is breaking down the barriers that

10.1 What is Systems thinking?

There are a handful properties that help us to understand whole systems. Namely, they have three properties:

10.2 1 — Emergent properties

  • Complex systems are more than the sum of their parts
  • i.e. They exhibit emergent properties that can’t be understood by investigating individual components in isolation.

10.3 2 — Fractal properties

  • The system exists at any level of organization.
  • Zooming out or in reveals the same interactions at work.

10.4 3 — Amplifying properties

  • Positive + negative feedback loops connect each level of organization.
  • Small changes in individual components compound with time and repetition, resulting in an large amplification of suppression of the effect.
  • (small) cause leads to a (large) effect

We’ll see these come up over and over throughout our synthesis of communication in STEM.

10.5 Communication as System

From the models

10.5.1 Feedback — Amplifications

Subtleties of communication can have consequential and wide-spread effects

10.6 Models of Communication

The way we understand a situation determines our response and engagement with it. In this boo I’ll introduce a model for understanding communication that I hope will help address some fundamental problems in communication that people in STEM face. The structure of this book is also based on a model, which I want to introduce here for two reasons. First, it’s perfectly in line with my understanding of communication, which we’ll see throughout the book. Second, it will help you understand why I’ve arranged the material in an unconventional way.

10.6.1 The Iceberg and the Pizza

In systems thinking, the Iceberg Model of Leadership is used to describe a way to understand how a situation is arranged.

Layer Description
Actions A visible activity, directly targeted when necessary to change. The symptom of all the underlying layers, not the cause.
Patterns Predictors that help to identify actions and point to underlying structures
Structure The habits and paradigms that arise as a natural consequence of our mental models
Mental Models The deep underlying subconscious ways in which we understand the world

Beginning with the observable, systems thinking digs deeper into the underlying concepts:

Layer Depth Level Description
Manner Shallow The Superficial & Practical Layer
Modes Visible The Shipping & Receiving Layer
Models Deep The Consequential & Mental Layer

10.7 Models → Modes → Manner

  1. Deep → The Basal & Mental Layer
  2. Source → The Shipping & Receiving Layer
  3. Shallow → The Artificial & Practical Layer

Depth Level: Deep – The Consequential & Mental Layer

  • The foundation (needs to be abstract because communication is itself the problem, it already getting things wrong just by being.)
  • Sets the stage for how we approach and understand everything else
  • Errors in this late result in deep and fundamental problems in the understanding of communication

Depth Level: Source – The Shipping & Receiving Layer

This is the channel which we use to both \(\dots\)

\(\dots\) Transmit information

  • Audible - Information transmitted by Sound waves
    • Voice
      • Speech/language
      • Sounds
  • Visual - Information transmitted by light
    • Static
    • Dynamic
  • Chemical
    • Aroma
    • Flavor
    • Pheromones
  • Physical
    • Position
    • Location
      • Dynamic </> Static Spectrum (i.e. Movement </> Still (in appearance))
      • Direction
        • In space time
      • Rate
        • Velocity, acceleration, momentum
      • Pattern
        • Predictable (Deterministic (still in appearance))
        • Probabilistic (random in appearance)
        • Unpredictable (Erratic (random))
      • Causation is not correlation action repetitive (random in appearance)

\(\dots\) Receive information

Known

  • Kind of arbitrary:
    • The “5” senses
    • The “6th” sense
    • space orientation

Unknown

  • What really is a sense anyways?
  • Problems in this layer are technical

Depth Level: Shallow — The Constructed & Practical Layer

  • Combining broad model and combinations of modes for a given piece of information to communicate
  • Immediate, situational, manifested, combinatorial.

Parameters

  • Formality
    • Colloquial </> Formal
  • Administrative
    • Official documentation
  • Object produced
    • Digital
    • Physical
  • Reproducibility
  • Durability
    • Ephemeral
  • Synchronisation
    • Live, synchronous
    • Recorded, preserved, asynchronous
  • Cultural
  • Appropriation
    • Clothes
  • Access
    • Open, closed, fees, equity
  • literalism - Interpretating words in their literal sense
  • Spectrum of meaning from imperative, declarative
    • Symbolic, emotional, feeling
  • Purposeful:
    • Defense (Irritant)
    • Manipulation (pollination)

Problems

Problems in this layer are diverse and varied

  • Situational: specific & idiosyncratic
  • Cultural: populations
  • Political:
  • Interference, competition, misinformation