Topic 1 Systems Map
System map: border and Migratory birds
The discussion of the last week, give me a lot of different ways to think about the topic what is the Border. We made a general one in class, and I made one for our topic which is the Migratory bird.
after I dug deeper for migratory birds, I got shacked about t over 40% of birds are already gone. Think about covid 19 took away part of our people, and we feel really bad already, how about we lost 40 % of us? That’s the reason why I wanna explore more about Extinction. First of all, I will use the shocking number to bring out my topic and thoughts, and make a picture of how birds dying affect our society.
Things I have learned from the system map are,
1, a system map helps us find out more ideas directly related to the topic.
2, a system map helps for group work, to separate each part of team members.
3, a system map helps out to find a metaphor behind the topic and gives people a bright, and clear picture of the topic.
That is pretty much what I have got learned from the last class. also, those links below are a part of the references that I am going to use for my project.
https://www.fws.gov/program/migratory-birds
Exploring The Underground Network of Trees – The Nervous System of the Forest
System Map: Kinship | Grafting
Things I’ve learned:
1. I think “domestication” (which is the key word of my concept map), naturally leans the map toward a human perspective.
2. When constructing a concept map, it is better to have a precise term in order to advance the research.
3. the relationships between two keywords, are rarely one-way connections. Often have mutual effects on both sides.
System Thinking
- Which system (type of stakeholder) that Easterbrook identified did you find your own understanding of GMOs most aligned with? Why? What are some of the stakes for these stakeholders?
- “A system of scientists doing research” I found my own understanding of GMOs most aligned because doing research is the main and the most absolute first step into doing anything. Many scientists and researchers have to thoroughly test and analyze any plant’s reaction to GMOs and as well any human reaction.
- Can you Identify 3 stakeholders (groups or phenomenon) with different perspectives, and then describe the system (the stakes) from which they are operating?
- 1 Stakeholder of the Botanical Gardens could be ” A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist”. People who study plants for Gardens have to research which plants can be planted together, the temperature and the “food” that each plant needs.
- The 2nd Stakeholder could be a system that prepares for drastic changes. For instance, Covid-19 completely changed how people work. It had caused many to lose their jobs, so the system could be used to aid the Garden for loss of revenue.
- the 3rd Stakeholder could be a system of charity. People who give funding to the Gardens help in landscaping and maintenance.
Bark: Systems Map
Below is a systems map for my topic, Bark.
For my concept map, I focused on the different stakeholders for bark and each stakeholder’s use for bark. From the concept map, I’ve learned that bark has many uses for any different stakeholders that operate in a system of survival. From the feedback loop below, we see how regenerative bark is, which is why it works for the survival of many different stakeholders.
Skin:System Maps
White creating this map, I had to think more broadly about the skin itself, rather than the basic definition of taxidermy. Taxidermy is specifically used for animals only, which made me also think about a dead human body being “stuffed” with fluid for a funeral. It would be a human”taxidermy”.
While adding to the flow chart, I realized how deeper skin really is, between animals and humans who share similar traits. Humans and animal skin have both been used to make clothing or weapons. According to ‘skybound.com‘ it state “One of the earliest accounts of wearing human skin, in 440 BCE the Greek historian Herodotus wrote about the ancient Scythians and their tendency to scalp their victims. The Scythians would sew together their human scalps to make cloaks. This was the ultimate form of boasting and wasn’t for practicality so much as it was to show off how many people they had killed.” Humans have always used this method of skinning an animal and using it as rugs or clothing to boast of their kill or wealth. They also hang up the head in their homes to represent the number or the “greatest” kill they had made.
Human and animal skin can share different textures. The pattern of an animal and the pigmentation of a human can change to adapt to the environment.
https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVPVaEnkA=/?share_link_id=249068453514
Wearing Human Skin Throughout History – Skybound Entertainment
Systems Map DMZ
Things I learned:
I learned that the more I thought through the various outcomes DMZs cause/create the more complicated the web would become. It was very disorganized at first, so creating subgrouping and combining certain outcomes helped me clarify the topic and see areas of opportunity to explore.
I also liked the spiraling nature of the causal loop. Wars lead to DMZs which in turn lead to fewer wars then fewer DMZs etc. Very cool and simple visual to have!
Colonial Organisms: Systems Maps
I was finding it difficult to create a concept map of colonial organisms, because I think that my understanding of the definition of a colonial organism is still quite tenuous. I decided to start out with a boundary map to see if I could solidify my understanding a bit more.
As I continued working, I realized that though coming up with a definition of a colonial organism seems like it should be straight forward, but it wasn’t. Perhaps the complexity I was running into is because human understanding of all organisms exist within the implied context biology taxonomy. I have learned that colonial organisms are animals, but I kept wondering “what is an animal?”. The individual zooids that make up colonial organisms seems like pretty simplistic animals, so how are they different from moss, or bacteria?
I started to build out a biology taxonomy digram, but quickly learned that once you get to the phylum classifications, the tree expands a lot. I’m not sure that documenting all of the known phylum classifications will help me understand colonial organisms any better, so I stopped at the kingdom level, and discovered that animals are in fact separate from bacteria. This was a helpful discovery because one thing I wondered in my early research was why humans weren’t classified as colonial organisms, since we have bacteria in our body, could they be zooids? Apparently the answer is no, bacteria in our bodies are not classified as zooids, and therefore we are not colonial organisms.
Links to miro boards:
- boundary map: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVPVNaV40=/
- biology taxonomy: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVPVSZHYs=/
- concept map: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVPWOgdo0=/
System mapping kinship&quilting
What am I discover:
By making these two system maps, I gained more organized thought about quilting. Especially when I made the iceberg map, I keep asking myself “why” question so that I could think deeper about the reason that women who are in poor family do quilting. The system map could also help me to think about something that I overlooked and help me to explore more details of my guide project. For example, except considering why women doing quilting, men also have their reasons of doing quilting in some cases. I need to do more research on that one.