[[2022-08-09]]

• part of a series on [[tools for thought]].

• today: [[scaling synthesis]] presented by [[rob haisfield]]

  • [[synthesis]] defined as particular form of [[sensemaking]] where "inputs are practical, scientific or scholarly theories and output is a coherent intellectual whole greater than the sum of its parts"
    • [[daniel kahneman]]
  • subjectively, the feeling where "everything comes together"
  • the [[framing problem]]

• [[synthesis]] is hard with people who don’t share context with you.

  • looking into tools to create [[shared context]].
  • [[ryan singer]] [[shape up]]: synthesis only occurs when you can cover a breadth of topics quickly.
  • increasing [[information density]]
  • [[francis miller]]
    • #push [[organizing knowledge]] as a paper that starts with a one page representation of itself.
      • https://www.francismiller.com/organising_knowledge_paper.pdf
  • [[compression facilitates synthesis]]

• key findings / suggestions stemming from the research

  • [[find or create shared context]]
    • [[how do you scale and distribute synthesis]]
  • [[design mechanisms to quickly bring people up to speed]]
    • [[interactive intent modeling]]
    • [[filters]] as in [[roam research]]
    • lowering the barrier to add structure to notes
      • people often defer structure to later
      • even autosuggest is context switching
      • [[formality considered harmful]]
  • [[incremental formalization]]
    • [[twemex]]
    • [[thread helper]]
    • [[roamgames]]
  • [[search as a primitive]]
    • queries with composition
  • (…)
    • [[tummling]]
  • #push [[boundary object]]
    • [[joel chan]] a powerful concept that influences my thinking is "boundary object” - some artifact/structure that is just structured enough to facilitate coordination and collaboration across social worlds, but not so restrictive that it stifles local variation and thinking that is different in each world. https://scalar.usc.edu/works/boundary-objects-guide/index

• Q ([[boris mann]]): how to make these tools and processes accessible to less technical / non expert users?

  • [[rob haisfield]]: [[smart defaults]]

• Q ([[robert haisfield]]):

  • [[roles of synthesis]], how could they be divided?
    • curator
    • connector
    • educator
    • researcher
    • new knowledge provider / creator
    • debater / contrarian
    • mediator
    • ([[bono’s hats]])