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- I use my own real-life experience as data for the historical-cognitive analysis. In the past four months, I recorded ideas of my thoughts and wrote many articles on Medium. These records and articles represent the long-term development of my thoughts.
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- I use Donald Schön’s Reflective approach to reflect on the development of my thoughts during the past four months.
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Knowledge Discovery Activity and Canvas
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Concept Discovery Activity and Canvas
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Life Discovery Activity and Canvas
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Opportunity Discovery Activity and Canvas
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Thematic Spirit
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Significant Insights Analysis
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Curativity Theory > Cognitive Container > Knowledge Curation
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Curativity Theory > Themes of Practice
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Life as Activity > Creative Life > Slow Cognition
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Mind as Play > Developing Tacit Knowledge
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Mind as Play > Themes of Practice
Developing Tacit Knowledge with Thematic Space Canvas
The above picture is designed for a possible book about Knowledge Discovery. The new book is titled
Knowledge Discovery: Developing Tacit Knowlege with Thematic Space Canvas.
In the past four months, I worked on the Slow Cognition project that aims to explore the historical-cognitive approach and the long-term development of thoughts. I used two strategies to conduct the project:
The primary project in the past four months is the Thematic Space project. Originally, I used the term “Thematic Space” to name an item for the Knowledge Curation model and canvas. Later, I developed a canvas for the concept of “Thematic Space”. This led to a series of canvases and a series of activities.
The notion of Thematic Spaces is part of a large knowledge enterprise that contains the following ideas:
In Jan 2022, I started the Slow Cognition project which is designed with the following ideas:
For Curativity Theory, the notion of Thematic Spaces is a new theoretical concept that is part of the Knowledge Curation framework. Also, Themes of Practice is a sub-theory of Curativity Theory, the notion of Thematic Spaces is also part of the Themes of Practice framework.
The notion of Slow Cognition refers to the long-term development of thoughts and the historical-cognitive method. The notion of Thematic Spaces is a great tool for turning the notion of Slow Cognition from a concept into a project.
My strategy to study Developing Tacit Knowledge is very simple. I focus on the long-term development of a theme. If we use Andy Blunden’s term, then the long-term development of a theme is the germ-cell of Slow Cognition.
A thematic space refers to a person’s ideas, activities, and practices around one particular theme. A theme can be an established theory such as “Activity Theory”; or a normal concept such as “Platform”, “Life”, etc; and an idea in the middle, such as “design thinking”, “UX”, etc.
I have written many articles about Thematic Space, Knowledge Discovery, and related canvases. I’d like to close the Slow Cognition project (Phase I) by editing these articles and turning them into a new book.
The Name
The name of the new book is
Knowledge Discovery: Developing Tacit Knowledge with Thematic Space Canvas
.
This name is a concept curation of three concepts. Each concept refers to a special meaning.
The above three concepts define the boundary of the new book. I am not going to deal with the complex debate about the concept of Tacit Knowledge.
The primary focus of the book is the Knowledge Discovery Activity and the Thematic Space Canvas/Knowledge Space Canvas. I also consider the process of developing these ideas as a case for the Slow Cognition project.
The Perspective
While my primary project is the Knowledge Curation project, my major theoretical interests are the following approaches:
I often adopt ideas from the above three approaches and related theories to the Knowledge Discovery project. For example, the Knowledge Discovery Activity is defined as the following diagram that represents the basic model of Activity Theory:
Subject — Mediating Tool — Object
.
I consider both “Developing Tacit Knowledge” and “Life Discovery” as Activities. From the perspective of Activity Theory, Thematic Space Canvas(/Knowledge Discovery Canvas) and Life Discovery Canvas are both Mediating Tools.
Moreover, what I found is that “Life Discovery” can be understood as a subcategory of “Developing Tacit Knowledge” if we consider the target of knowing about a person’s own life development. The process of discovering new insights for life development is a process of Developing Tacit Knowledge.
The Structure
I use the diagram below to design the structure of the new book
Knowledge Discovery: Developing Tacit Knowledge with Thematic Space Canvas.
The above “Network — Container — Platform” triad is a model of the Ecological Practice Approach. I use it to understand the “Flow — Story — Model” triad which was born from the Knowledge Discovery project.
There are six movements between these three states and each movement refers to a specific type of Attachance.
For the Knowledge Discovery Project, each article refers to a piece. The list of articles I published on Medium is a Flow. The Model refers to the Thematic Space Canvas/Knowledge Discovery Canvas. The Story refers to some examples I used for articles about the canvas.
The new book is designed with the following five parts:
The Number
Some numbers about the possible book:
Part 1: The Activity
Part 1 offers some background about the perspective of Activity Theory and other theoretical resources. Developing Tacit Knowledge is more about the Dynamics of the thematic space. From the perspective of Activity Theory, I consider Developing Tacit Knowledge as an Activity.
Where is the Developing Tacit Knowledge activity? The diagram below highlights a light blue area around the boundary between the inner space and the outer space. That means the activity is a cross-boundary activity.
According to Kaptelinin and Nardi (2006), there are five basic principles of Activity Theory:
We can apply these five principles to discuss the Developing Tacit Knowledge activity. Moreover, Knowledge Discovery Activity, Life Discovery Activity, and Concept Discovery Activity are part of the family of Developing Tacit Knowledge.
Chapter 1: The Diagramming as Practice Framework (15 min read)
This article introduces the Model of Knowledge Curation which is a significant context of the Thematic Space Project.
Chapter 2: The Dynamics of Tacit Knowledge (17 min read)
Chapter 3: The Art of Continuous Discovery (18 min read)
This chapter shares the development of the Activity U project (phase II) which is considered an example of Knowledge Discovery. The Activity U project (phase I) is an example of Knowledge Curation.
Chapter 4: The Second-order Activity
Original article:
CALL for LIFE: Oliver Ding @ 2021 and Second-order Activity
— 13 min read
Chapter 5: The Mediating Instrument Perspective
Original articles: 1.
Diagramming as Practice (Part 3A)
—
16 min read, 2.
Diagramming as Practice (Part 3B)
— 20 min read
Part 2: The Model
Part 2 introduces the Knowledge Discovery Canvas which was originally called Thematic Space Canvas. Originally, I used the term “Conceptual Spaces” for the Model of Knowledge Curation and its canvas. The term is inspired by Peter Gardenfors’ 2004 book
Conceptual Space: The Geometry of Thought
. However, I roughly use it to describe large cognitive containers for curating similar theoretical approaches together.
Later, I used Thematic Space to replace Conceptual Space for my projects. This led to the Thematic Space Canvas and its applications such as Knowledge Discovery Canvas.
For the model of knowledge curation, the notion of Thematic Spaces is both objective and subjective. An important feature of Thematic Spaces is connecting objective theoretical resources and subjective work experience. From the perspective of Curativity Theory, building and developing a Thematic Space means the Objective — Subjective knowledge curation.
The Knowledge Discovery Canvas is designed with the THEORY — PRACTICE dimension and the END — MEANS dimension. I also consider the ENTER — EXIT dimension and the INDIVIDUAL — COLLECTIVE dimension. The canvas also has two nested squares which divide the thematic space into two sub-spaces: INNER space and OUTER space. For Developing Tacit Knowledge, the inner space is all about personal knowing activities while the outer space is related to social interactions.
Based on the above settings, I generated a series of mapping between OUTER space and INNER space:
- Approaches — Tastes
- Concepts — Notions
- Events — Projects
- Domains — Works
- Perspectives — Views
- Frameworks — Insights
- Methods — Guides
- Heuristics — Skills
Moreover, I used “Flow, Story, Model” as a metaphor to describe the whole process of the Knowledge Discovery Activity. In fact, I designed the other two canvases for the project.
The about diagram puts Thematic Space in the context of life development with a simple metaphor: Flow, Film, and Floor Plan.
- 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
I use “continuous flow” as a metaphor to describe Life and Experience. This metaphor is inspired by William James’ metaphor “Stream of Thought”. The Story refers to the level of social-communicative context. At this level, a person could tell his journey of developing tacit knowledge with others. I use Film as a metaphor for this layer.
I use Floor Plan as a metaphor for the Model layer because it refers to three connected notions:
- Floor Plan: a cognitive representation of the structure of a house
- House: a physical place that contains a family
- Home: a social place that contains life activities of a family
Now we can translate this metaphor to discuss Thematic Space:
- Floor Plan > Thematic Space: a cognitive representation of the structure of Tacit Knowing Space.
- House > Physical Environments: computer, website, physical whiteboard, etc. These physical environments are places that contain the Canvas of Thematic Space and a person’s Tacit Knowing Activities.
- Home > Social Environments: conversations, meetings, workshops, family, school, company, etc. These social environments are places that contain a person’s Tacit Knowing Activities.
The whole package offers a systematic model for understanding the Knowledge Discovery Activity with a set of instruments. Part 2 collects articles about the canvas and related ideas.
Chapter 6: The Notion of Thematic Space (11 min read)
Chapter 7: A Meta-canvas for Developing Tacit Knowledge (12 min read)
Chapter 8: The Objective — Subjective Knowledge Curation
Original article:
Mapping Thematic Spaces #1: OS Card and Mapping Clues
— 12 min read
Chapter 9: The Spatial Structure of Thematic Space Canvas
Original article:
The Life Discovery Canvas (v1.0) — Part 2: Spatial Structure
— 15 min read
Chapter 10: Sparks In, Statue Out
Original articles: 1.
Thematic Space: Sparks In, Statue Out
— 14 min read, 2.
Slow Cognition: The Spark Space Canvas
— 9 min read, 3.
Slow Cognition: Three Canvases for Developing Tacit Knowledge
— 12 min read
Chapter 11: Flow, Film, and Floor Plan
Original articles: 1.
Thematic Space: Flow, Film, and Floor Plan
— 11 min read, 2.
Thematic Space: Project as Story
— 15 min read, 3.
Thematic Space: Place as Container
— 13 min read
Part 3: The Story
The Knowledge Discovery Canvas is a window onto the world and the mind.
As a window onto the world, I use 16 terms to define 16 blocks for the Knowledge Discovery Activity. This is a typology for meta-cognition.
As a window onto the mind, I wrote a series of articles to offer more details for each term with additional typologies. I also used my own experience as cases for these articles.
These articles can be considered Stories of my own journey of knowledge discovery and knowledge curation.
Chapter 12: The “Concepts — Notions” Mapping (15 min read)
- Tool: a typology of concepts
- Story: three stories of Concept Curation
Chapter 13: The “Approaches — Tastes” Mapping (14 min read)
- Tool: Niches of Analysis, the Context of Epistemic Development, the “PIN” strategy
- Story: Bonnie Nardi’s choices and boundary knowledge work
Chapter 14: The “Perspectives — Views” Mapping (12 min read)
- Tool: the Mind as Play metaphor and framework, a typology of Perspectives
- Story: The Curated Mind
Chapter 15: The “Frameworks — Insights” Mapping (18 min read)
- Tool: the HERO U framework, a typology of Frameworks
- Story: six stories of making and using frameworks
Chapter 16: The “Events — Projects” Mapping (10 min read)
- Tool: Cultural Projection Analysis
- Story: 9/11 Curator and Curation for Memorial
Chapter 17: The Domains — Works Mapping (18 min read)
- Tool: Social Systems Model of Creativity, the Epistemology of Domain, the Themes of Practice framework
- Story: the Thematic Space project
Chapter 18: The “Heuristics — Skills” Mapping (22 min read)
- Tool: a typology of Heuristics
- Story: three stories about making “Deep Analogy”
Chapter 19: The “Methods — Guides” Mapping (21 min read)
- Tool: a typology of Methods, the NICE way
- Story: four stories of making and using the Creative Action Analysis method
I also wrote some articles about some tools and strategies. You can find them here:
The Concept Dynamics Framework
(14 min read),
The HERO U Canvas
(10 min read),
The “Double Theme” Strategy
(14 min read),
The “Middleware” Strategy
(12 min read),
The “Trilogy” Strategy for Knowledge Creators
(9 min read).
Part 4: The Flow
I also use the Thematic Space to reflect on some of my themes. These reflection reports represent my experience. I decide to put these articles under the section of Flow.
Originally, I used “Mapping Thematic Spaces” as a tag for these articles. Now I consider the tag as a special type of activity that refers to using the concept of Thematic Space or the Thematic Space Canvas to reflect on the long-term development of thoughts on a particular theme.
Chapter 20: The “Activity” Thematic Space (16 min read)
A case study based on the experience of Developing Tacit Knowledge about Activity Theory.
Chapter 21: The “Platform” Thematic Space (16 min read)
A 91-minute talk leads to a reflection
Chapter 22: A “Strategy-as-Curation” Weekend (19 min read)
One Theme One Weekend…A new Mandala diagram about Life Strategy for Indie Creators…A temporal slice of a thematic space.
Chapter 23: The “Strategy” thematic space (22 min read)
Strategic Thinking, Strategic Discourse, Strategic Acting, and Strategic Awareness
Chapter 24: The “Center” Thematic Space (18 min read)
How to start a thematic space from scratch?
Chapter 25: The “Relevance” Thematic Space (18 min read)
When should you update a thematic space?
Chapter 26: The “Life” Thematic Space (35 min read)
Where is the starting point of the process of theorizing something?
Chapter 27: How to record a spark (8 min read)
If you can remember it, you don’t have to record it.
Chapter 28: Some Sparks for the “Infoniche” thematic space (14 min read)
Information, Places, and Actions.
Chapter 29: The Project Engagement Toolkit for Creators (12 min read)
An Example of “Toolkit as Knowledge Statue” and possible connections between two thematic spaces.
Chapter 30: The Connected Hub and “Service Thinking” (14 min read)
A Connected Hub is a special thematic space that connects other two or more thematic spaces together.
Chapter 31: The First Thematic Spirit (13 min read)
Using Thematic Space Canvas to Develop a new canvas about Concept Development.
Part 5: The Insight
Originally, the notion of “Significant Insights” is developed for the Life Discovery Project. Since the project is part of the family of Developing Tacit Knowledge, I’d like to adopt it for Knowledge Discovery Activity and other types of activities of Discovery.
The Life Discovery project adopts the notion of “Actions — Activity” from Activity Theory and considers the following three types of actions for the Life Discovery Activity.
- Exploration: detach from the Produce status and attach to the Play status
- Detection: pay attention to cues from experiences and environments
- Recognition: identify significant insights
I also highlight the following three types of significant insights:
- Detecting Potential Contradictions
- Exploring Potential Themes
- Detecting Potential Opportunities
These ideas can be applied to the Knowledge Discovery Activity too. Part 5 collects the following related articles. I also added some articles about modeling, diagramming, and building knowledge enterprise to Part 5 in order to answer a question about how to use significant insights.
Chapter 32: The “Discovery as Development” Principle (11 min read)
Though this article discusses the Life Discovery Activity, the core ideas of the article are also related to Knowledge Discovery Activity.
Chapter 33: “Points of Observation” and “Significant Insights” (8 min read)
A Typology of Perspectives and “changes in Points of Observation in Thematic Space.”
Chapter 34: Significant Insights Analysis (6 min read)
Who is the significant other behind a significant insight? and other issues.
Chapter 35: Modeling A Knowledge Project
Original article:
Modeling A Developmental Project
— 8 min read. Also see a real case:[
The Activity U Project (2020–2022)
](app.milanote.com/1NA6pL1Osz4…).
Chapter 36: Knowledge Building and Academic Creativity (11 min read)
Diagramming for Academic Creativity.
Chapter 37: How to Grow A Knowledge Enterprise (16 min read)
A model of Building Knowledge Enterprise Activity and The Path of Creative Life.
I am also working on building a new website for the Platform Ecology project. You can save the following links:
- PlatformEcology.org
- Twitter: @PlatformEcology
- Linkedin: @PlatformEcology
You are most welcome to connect via the following social platforms:
Linkedin:
[
](www.linkedin.com/in/oliverdi…)
Twitter:
[
Polywork: www.polywork.com/oliverding
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