A Metadesigner's Glossary
Some neologisms and definitions relevant to metadesign
| KEYWORD
| DEFINITION |
| Abductive thinking | A creatively interpretive mode of reasoning |
| Affordances | A useful word in describing how some designs work. |
| Agent | We use it philosophically |
| Alienation | Based on Karl Marx's theory of estrangement from the self (1844) |
| Allopoiesis | the process by which organizations produce something other than themselves |
| Answer-seeking question | A type of question (of secondary importance to designers?) |
| Apoptosis | The natural ability of cells to commit suicide when not needed |
| Attribution | We use this word in several important ways |
| Auspicious | Useful for describing creative, positive thinking |
| Auspicious reasoning | A less truth-based (more outcomes-oriented) way of thinking (download this article) |
| Autopoiesis | Literally means 'self-creation' (see also sympoiesis and apoptosis) |
| Bisociation | A term coined by Arthur Koestler |
| Bottom-up | Shows how grass-roots initiatives catalyse change |
| Business buzzwords | A list of useful descriptors used in industry |
| Care | Some preliminary notes on care in an economic context |
| Catalysis | A scientific term that can helpfully be applied to innovation / regeneration |
| Cellular logic | Notes and ideas on the systemic principles concerning cells |
| Climate Change Denial | How it works (and other related notes) |
| Comprehensiveness | An important feature of metadesign |
| Consciousness | The sense in which we apply it. (see also Organisational Consciousness) |
| Conservation | A term used in urban planning |
| Contagious optimism | Useful within a team context |
| Co-sustainment | A stronger alternative to 'sustainability' |
| Creative Democracy | Originally defined by John Dewey |
| Creative Ensemble | A non-solo opportunity-creating method |
| Creative Quartet | A Creative Ensemble in a team of 4 |
| Creativity | Have we misunderstood it since the Enlightenment? |
| Debate | Political method of polarising, then choosing options. |
| Design | Defined here for our purposes |
| Designing miracles | Part of a longer process of creative thinking |
| Eco-mimetics | The art of being inspired by Nature as a system |
| Emulsifier | A metaphor for inspiring better teamwork |
| Entrainment | The natural processes by which things find accord |
| Entredonneur | A neologism that may usefully balance the word 'entrepreneur' |
| Feedback | An important factor in making designing work better. |
| Finding your element | A term used by Sir Ken Robinson |
| Fractal | Useful for making large systems more coherent |
| Goodheart's Law | A maxim from economics |
| Holarchy | A way to understand complex systems |
| Intrinsic | Works in contradistinction with an attribute (Noun) |
| Intrinsic abundance | Another name for Fuller's 'constant relative abundance' |
| Invention paradigm | Re-thinking the genre & mindset of the inventor |
| Jeong | This Asian (e.g. Korean) word is difficult to translate into European languages |
| Keystone synergies | A term inspired by keystone species |
| Lýsingarháttur nútíðar. | Icelandic word loosely meaning 'grammar of now action' |
| The Lever | Some notes on this ancient idea |
| Levers for Change | A term coined by Donella Meadows |
| Languaging | Our name for a (cognitive) working style |
| Lemkinism | Our name for seeding change by inventing new words for certain important things |
| Manifold abundance | refers to our more complex model of innovation |
| Metabolism | links living systems with business and society |
| Metadesign | Always needs updating. |
| Metapurpose | Using purpose as a self-reflexive navigator |
| Negative Feedback | See feedback |
| Network Consciousness 1 & 2 | A useful concept inspired by Marvin Minsky |
| New Knowing | Our name for a (cognitive) working style |
| Ontology | See some notes on ontology |
| Optimism | See radical optimism and contagious optimism |
| Organisational Consciousness | Our own term (see Consciousness). |
| Outcome-seeking question | A type of question that invites more than theory. |
| Paradigm | Explains how the word evolved since Plato. |
| Paradigm change | A brief summary of our agenda |
| Positive Feedback | See feedback |
| Pragmatics | Deals with situated actions. |
| Pre-purpose | Latent opportunities may lurk in purposelessness |
| Pushing and Doing | Our name for a (cognitive) working style |
| Question-framing | Towards a new design grammar |
| Radical optimism | Seeks to create more opportunities |
| Relational design | A few notes towards a unified approach |
| Relational mathematics | Designing by focusing on relations, not things |
| Relevate (verb) | A term revived by quantum physicist David Bohm |
| Risk | - currently under development |
| Second Order systems | An interpretation of the idea of 'second order cybernetics' |
| Self-interest | Differentiating between common alternative meanings |
| Semiotics | Is important methodology for metadesigners |
| Serendipity | Is a concept that licenses optimistic action |
| Shubh-Labh | (Literally, 'auspicious profit') Indian term that moderates trading |
| Simple synergies | A loosely named (but handy) category of synergies. |
| Strategy | Some incomplete notes on this concept |
| Structural coupling | A term used by Maturana & Varela |
| Suboptimization | See richly inclusive mapping |
| Super-wicked problems | See also 'wicked problems' |
| Super-wicked solutions | Is just an idea |
| Sustainability | A dubious term that has lost almost all credibility |
| Sympoiesis | Uses co-creativity as a team bonding process |
| Synergy | in progress |
| Synergy-of-synergies | in progress |
| Systems Thinking | in progress |
| Team consciousness | in progress |
| Theory-practice 'opposition' | This misunderstanding urgently needs a radical remapping |
| Tetrahedron | A 3D form with special properties |
| Top-down | Discusses the declarative nature of hierarchal control |
| Trim-tab | A term used by Richard Buckminster Fuller |
| Ubuntu | An African word describing allegiances and relations. |
| Wicked problems | A term used to describe complex, capricious situations. |
| Wu wei | The taoist notion of knowing how/when to act |
Other sources
| WritingPAD GLOSSARY
| A useful resource for designers |
| Wikipedia | A share-alike dictionary |
| WordSpy | A dictionary of new words |
| Roget's online thesaurus | Helps you find words |
| Bucky Fuller's Keywords | Part of Paul Taylor's MAP website |
| Pseudodictionary | A (less serious) dictionary for new words |
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