Replying to LO24594 --
Ana Neves said <ana.neves@pt.unisys.com> on Thu, 11 May 2000
08:22:22 -0500
"The child learns their meaning by herself! I guess, he hears the word
and does not separate it from its context (a thing that we, adults,
usually do for convinience purposes). In later occurences of the same word
he recalls the prior attributed meaning and checks its consistency."
Ana, good morning:
I agree that we, as adults, frequently and inadvertently remove
observations from their context and thereby potentially confuse the
meaning of a current event. This disconnect would account for our
difficulty in attempting a consistence check for similar observations some
time in the future. The relationship between behavior and context is
vague.
"There usually is nobody in an organization telling people how to behave,
how to feel the organization's spirit, how to pursue the organization's
vision. However, we want them to know it."
As you also suggested, meaning comes from within each individual.
Restating your point - meaning, itself, can't be shown or demonstrated.
It's the product of observation and context. And... it's also the basis
upon which current (and future) action depends. Action based on confusion
or inconsistency isn't the aim.
Context 'happens', just like objects and actions, and yet we give little
attention to describing and less to understanding context. And why is
that? Is it too difficult to do? Do we not recognize the importance of
context to meaning? As I think of the hundreds of metrics businesses
typically focus upon, I'd be hard pressed to find a set of commonly used
"contextual" metrics.
Creating a set of domain-related contextual metrics would be an
interesting way to start. I worry about a 'tight' set of metrics, but the
development process may give some clues. Story telling comes to mind.
I think you're pointing to a fundamental dilemma of LO's.
Best Regards,
Terry Priebe
Decision Support Associates (DeSA)
http://www.de-sa.com
mailto:insight@de-sa.com
--"Terry Priebe" <insight@DCA.NET>
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