Beyond the Matrix: becoming other wise

Links to documents on the new challenges of knowledge organization and cognitive engagement

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Summary

An early study on this site that continues to attract a surprising number of visitors is:

Matrix Organization and Organizational Networks (Annex II of: Next Step in Inter-organizational Relationships) 1971

What follows are pointers to various explorations of the challenges and opportunities that seem to lie "beyond the matrix". Although presented chronologically, to some extent as one learning pathway or "story" through selected themes and documents on this site, this "linear" organization is in fact progressively called into question here -- as with the implied "matrix" of this checklist.

Organization of the themes of human activity in matrix terms has since been systematically developed and applied:

Functional Classification in an Integrative Matrix of Human Preoccupations, 1982

In contrast to such hierarchically ordered information, the theme of networks and networking is treated in an extensive range of documents:

Tensegrity in particular offers an interesting way of ordering networks that balances challenge and harmony and transcends duality and polarization -- whether in social organization or the organization of knowledge (including the larger set of documents on this site: Distinguishing Emergent Conceptual Polarities: experimental ordering of a collection of research papers, 2004). Documents focusing specifically on these questions include:

Tensing networks in this way is a means of responding to some of the weaknesses of dysfunctional network organization, as discussed in the following:

Of particular importance is the need to shift the focus from "static" to "dynamic" modes of organization, from "structure" to "process", in order to relate seemingly incompatible conditions::

This dynamic focus offers insights into a range of preoccupations, especially when understood in terms of cycles:

This highlights the importance of benefitting from the neglected insights of Eastern cultures (in addition to those of the West), especially in the light of the value of metaphors to comprehension of more complex patterns and alternative modes of understanding:

One challenge is to be able to benefit from other tools and forms of knowledge presentation in order to comprehend such complexity:

An obvious shift beyond the matrix is to a sphere-based geometry, notably implicit in tensegrity organization:

The shift beyond the matrix also calls for attention to the potential of other geometries and the alternative configurations they offer of "higher order":

Any patterning of "higher order" can be explored in terms of the quest for the "pattern that connects" and the new questions it implies:

This exploration of "higher orders" can also be associated with Eastern metaphors and other media:

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Beyond the Matrix: becoming other wise

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Summary