TALAMANA · THE AI LITERACY MAP FOR ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN · The Brief · AGE 11—15 · FACTUAL · DURABLE

The right word does real work

A vague word lets the reader guess, and an exact word chooses for them.

The idea

"Nice" tells your reader you approve. It does not say what you approve of. A nice room could be bright, or quiet, or big, or cosy, and your reader has to guess which one you meant. An exact word chooses for them. Say "airy" and they picture light and space. Say "snug" and they picture a low ceiling and a warm corner. The two words are close, and the two rooms are different. A stock of exact words is a tool, not decoration. You will use it on a drawing, in a letter, and in a brief to a machine.

Why it matters

A machine that reads your words cannot ask what you meant. It takes the word you gave it. A vague word lets it guess.

See it in the studio

Two students describe the same verandah. One says "nice and open." The other says "a deep, shaded verandah, open on three sides, its floor one step above the garden." Only the second could be drawn by someone who was never there.

Watch for this

Words that sound like praise but describe nothing: nice, good, cool, modern. If a word could be said about almost any room, it is not describing this one.

Try it

Write down five "nice" things in your school. Replace each "nice" with a word that says what kind of nice. Swap lists with a friend and see whether they can picture what you meant.

Prove it

Take two words that are nearly the same — "narrow" and "tight", or "bright" and "glaring" — and explain to someone what different room each one makes you picture.

How it works

Your English class calls the exact meaning of a word its denotation, and the feeling it carries its connotation. "Narrow" and "tight" point at the same measurement and carry different feelings. Later on this map, briefing a machine comes down to the same thing: choosing words that carry the right measurement and the right feeling at once.

What this idea builds on

What this idea opens up

Sources

Open this idea on the map · The complete map · Logika · RBDS AI Lab, India · revised every edition.

Age grows from 11 at the centre to 22 at the edge, and six sectors show the learning strands. Tab into the map and the arrow keys step from idea to idea, following the links where there is one. Enter opens the idea under the cursor, and E reads out its links and the reason recorded on each. Press slash for Search, question mark for the full key list, and Escape to leave. Open Ideas for the complete readable list, including what each idea builds on and what it opens up.

LOGIKA · RBDS AI LAB INDIA
ON-RAMP · AGE 11 · FIRST ENCOUNTERS, NOT GATES — IDEAS · — DEPENDENCIES
DONE
OPENS NEXT
SOLID — STANDS ON