Looking around for Order: Stigmergy
>
The universe has been unfolding for between 12 and 14 billion years, and in that time a good deal of order has emerged. Once established, order - such as a spiral - can, then become a model, a sample even, for further order - we need not ever begin from "scratch" in such an orderly ecology.
At the same time, however, we can begin from scratch - the simple interruption of one order that allows another to emerge. This principle of playing with already existing order is known as stigmergy, and can be a useful principle for collectively composing with wikis, quickly assembling technical documents on an as-needed basis, and much more. Instead of staring at a blank screen, trying to "produce" something out of nowhere, grab a template or a model and begin to play with and alter it. Troll for tropes, ape archetypes.
Definitional Write-Through:
Begin with this definition of stigmergy and remix it until you understand it. What might be some sources of stigmergy for your rhetorical process?
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.