The Squishy Mud of Warm Data — Where Senses Find Senses

Warm Data is not an artifact.

The processes of Warm Data do not produce artifacts.

Information: the gathering of senses through differences that make differences in the Warm Data processes are alive. By that I mean that the way in which the senses are sensing, and the information is forming is not grabbable. Nor should they be. This is a source of frustration for some, and a relief to others. Either way it is just how it is.

When I think of a hot cup of tea I am comforted. I do not “sense” the digits of how much water, sugar, or milk proteins I have ingested. I am more likely to be transported to a soft chair, a writing tablet, or the company of a good friend. Likewise, nothing is only as it appears. My education was not actually about getting an education, it was learning how to be in the classroom as preparation for the workplace. It was developing an identity in the culture and society. It was discovering a sense of humor, or shame, or charisma. The artifacts of education are diplomas, but the sensemaking is much, much, much deeper. Even the smell of a milk carton can bring the loneliness of third grade.

The way that sense is made is not explicit. The way that sensemaking is often communicated is. This may very well prove to be the most significant obstacle in the current explosion of sensemaking attempts.

I try to remember the devil of second order cybernetics. Observe the observer. When I do, I am of course…