Wednesday, May 23, 2012

cooperation versus self-interest

As part of my summer independent course work at OCADU I'm working through several texts on systems/visual thinking and attempting to "diagram" or visualize complex ideas. The point is not to  simplify the complex problems of today but to actually embrace and "explode" their complexity in order to better comprehend dynamic relationships between phenomena and to share one's thinking synoptically (through images) as opposed to linear prose. In order to expand on this I'm using the contents of a book by Yochai Benkler, The Penguin and the Leviathan. It is a very well-considered and  wonderful bit of linear prose on "how cooperation triumphs over self-interest."



This is the classic wave motion diagram -- enlarge it -- that I've used to visualize cooperation    ( as I understood it's expression in the book). I want there to be sense of motion (action) and to depict "resonance" when two or more ideas/egos collide. From the perspective of collaboration and cooperation, you get a much wider view of the world around you.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Visualizing crowds vs experts




















click on image to enlarge