metaphors, similes and analogy
from Rigney 2001
"Metaphor is a mode of thought wherein we interpret one domain of experience through the language of another."
"Simile is more literal than metaphor, asserting not that A is B, but only that A is like B in certain implied respects."
"Analogy goes one step beyond simile, specifying ways in which A and B are alike. We develop an analogy when we begin to explicate the points of resemblance that metaphor and simile only hint at."
use of metaphors
Metaphors are very useful if the audience has some other domain of knowledge that can be called upon to jumpstart the understanding.
If the audience is aware of features that define the metaphorical system and can use those features as cues in a new domain.
In the process of learning about complex systems, such as networks of faculty, the metaphors that we are using are primarily from biological systems that the reader would associate with complex networks, even though they don't really understand how complex networks function. Thus to link a thought to ants, food webs, spatial neighborhoods of farmers, and others, is limited to the metaphor. We can't rely on any further understanding of the system to help create meaning about faculty networks.
machine vs. living system metaphors
We often use machine metaphors to describe how living systems work. For example, the heart is like a pump. If you know how pumps work (with flow, stroke volumes, back pressure, valves, etc.) this can be a useful start.
Not surprisingly these can be oversimplifications. For example, using a thermostat metaphor to describe how humans regulate their temperature (too hot, turn on cooling). Humans cool using at least 5 mechanisms with overlapping time scales (skin flushing, blood flow, sweating, ventilation, behavior). These overlapping rate scales (some faster and some slower) provide a highly resilient control mechanism for keeping us within a workable range of temperature.
It is fashionable to use living system metaphors to describe industry, such as an eco-industrial park or survival of the fittest. These metaphors can be very dangerous unless you really understand the underlying system (ecosystem or evolution).
How we acquire metaphors
exposure to a range of systems that generate patterns
regonize patterns as being the result of some processes that we are familiar with
pattern may be the process in action (oscillation of a pendulum) or it may be the trace left by a process (debris line at high tide mark)
there are probably many shapes and patterns that you might have seen but didn't realize the complex mechanisms that caused them
offset of plant stems
spiral in a sunflower seed
streams in a drainage basin
distribution of airport hubs across the US
patches of weeds in your yard
irruption of catepillars
water changing from smooth to turbulent flow as you increase the flow out of the faucet
the grain of wood around a knot
clumps of grass in a marsh and little ponds in the marsh
the way flies dance around each other in a shaft of light