Concept Modeling
Concept modeling is what The New York Times described as “a process for getting to the bottom of things.”[1] Practical in its mission, concept modeling, founded by Winston J. Perez, is said to enable practitioners to discover and deepen their understanding of underlying concepts and how they interrelate with other concepts, and by extension, the abstract and physical worlds.
As a practical result, Perez states that concept modeling may lead to greater success in fields such as business, science, technology, art, music, and film by offering foundational knowledge and methodologies to perfect ideas, initiatives, products, services, arts, and entertainment.
Emergence of Concept-Oriented Fields of Study:[edit]
Concept modeling is one of many emerging fields of study aimed at concepts, ideas, and the relationships between pieces of information.
The pursuit of knowledge around concept—its utilization and application within various disciplines—continues to grow. A review of the various, relatively new concept-oriented books, articles, products, tools, and businesses may represent a rebirth of exploration of the nature of essence found in some of the work of ancient Greek philosophers. This growth is seen in the emergence of distinct concept-oriented fields of study that are influenced by their mandates—thus the overarching disciplines under which they are utilized—or their end game. The analysis of concept is found within various emerging practice areas, diagrams, or schema, is necessarily influenced by the very discipline or area it is purposed to work within—such as breaking out concepts or ideas within relational diagrams in computer programs. Thus the term concept modeling has also been applied to computer software design.
Separately, the use of conceptual models as found in system design is used for defining deeper constructs of logic behind a specific system in development. Additionally, concept models or concept cars have a well-known use in the development of future-oriented designs for automobiles. Other areas include the use or creation of schema as thinking aids, resulting in organizational diagrams, and process or product deconstructions as found in concept mapping. Many of the products or strategies are designed to visually capture design or process flow options and business processes delivered within documents and presentations.
In the digital era of film making, the term “concept modeling” has been applied to the design and development of digital assets, digital environments, digital scenes, and digital production sets as applied to movie making and visual effects (VFX) for movies such as Gravity, released in 2013 and winner of seven Academy Awards.
There is also the traditional study concept within philosophy. Yet a fundamental issue remains: The MIT Press summary page for the book A Study of Concepts, by Christopher Peacock states that “Philosophers from Hume, Kant, and Wittgenstein to the recent realists and antirealists have sought to answer the question, What are concepts? [2]
Additionally, the related pursuit of what is essence, is a question that stretches back to still-popular, ancient philosophers such as Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates Despite the fact that these new areas of study are practical in their application (to break down systems, or design computer programs, etc.), they all, directly or indirectly, point to philosophy: The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy suggests that “Our understanding and interaction with the world also involves concepts and our grasp of them. Our understanding that a given thing is a member of a given category is at least partly in virtue of our grasp of concepts, and so are our acts of categorizing. Such capacities involve our knowledge in an essential way, and thus such philosophical issues regarding our epistemic capacities are tied to issues about concepts and their nature.”[3]
Perhaps a fundamental question should be addressed: Why now? Why are these relatively new practice areas emerging? Perhaps the best way to answer those questions is in recognizing that influences in the development of concept-oriented disciplines are not singular, but plural.
One influence can be found in computer science and its advancement of flowcharting to assist programmers in writing computer code. By its nature, flowcharting bifurcates the function of words in a new way, adding a layer of process to a specific word’s definition. For example, by placing the word “INPUT” inside a symbol (like a rounded-corner, rectangular box), the word “input,” and its traditional definition, suddenly represents something else: the beginning of a process—a step in creating an operational software program, representing a specific computer code yet to be written.
The work of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth and their initial work on flowcharting, as contained in a presentation called "Process Charts: First Steps in Finding the One Best Way to do Work," which was given to members of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in 1921, represented the first major step in the development of flowcharting as a methodology or process.
Today, the needs in ever more complex products or services development require simplification—a way for creators to cope with extremely large volumes of information while maintaining their grasp of the whole or the bigger picture, yet still including minor elements or specific pieces of information. Working with concepts through schema, illustrations, or diagrams is a way to distinguish the purpose, nature, and function of one complex group of elements versus another (for example, the difference between a complex engine and dashboard for a modern car). Such elements can be separated and broken out within a one-page diagram.
Much of this translates into a visual way of thinking, as once promoted by German theorist Rudolf Arnheim. These emerging areas of study involve visual ways of thinking about ideas, processes, products, or services. Still, looking deeper, a fundamental ontological question remains, “as to whether concepts are Abstract Objects or Mental Representation.” Margolis, Eric; Laurence, Stephen, (2007)[4], In this way, all of it still points in the direction of philosophy and the nature of essence.
Concept modeling as a separate, distinct field of study maintains its focus on basic questions such as the nature of ideas, concepts, and essence—how the abstract world functions, in the hopes of making better, more accurate, practical developmental decisions, even in using other concept-oriented tools. In some ways, concept modeling involves a deeper emerging marriage of more philosophical questions with the practical execution found in other concept-oriented fields of study. It also suggests a logical conclusion applicable to all of these areas: In his book, Perez states that “Concept is a basic component of every subject, so why not teach it as a separate discipline?”[5]
Other emerging, concept-related disciplines include:
• Concept map or concept mapping, as its name suggests, focuses on “diagrams that depicts suggested relationships between concepts,” or the creation or layout of concepts in a nonliteral (or nongeographical) map, as a means “to organize and structure knowledge.” [6]
• Conceptual models are oriented toward the representation of systems. Each model is dependent on the system that is the target of study, which is then developed as a group of concepts representing that system. Since most things can be viewed as systems, the applications of these models are diverse and growing, from models on business processes and software systems to exploration of relationship inherent in any system such as data or information systems. [7]
In comparison, concept modeling is not system-oriented per se, but essence-oriented. The starting point for a conceptual model is a system; the starting point for concept modeling is concept itself—its nature and function in the abstract world. Yet since conceptual models continue to grow in their application, one can find the potential for overlap.
• Topic Maps “…were originally developed in the late 1990s as a way to represent back-of-the-book index structures so that multiple indexes from different sources could be merged.” (see Topic Maps) Soon, developers saw the potential for broader applications in representing any topic, representing knowledge with specific topics, and representing relationships between topics. In many ways, these are similar to concept maps and mind maps.
• Mind Maps are used to organize information within a diagram that expresses it visually— one emphasis being relationships between elements or pieces of information and their relationship to the whole. On its page, Mind Mapping Basics, Simpleapp.com suggest how these maps are designed: “Major ideas are connected directly to the central concept, and other ideas branch out from those major ideas.”[8]
All of these emerging disciplines center on capturing pieces of information and their relationship to other bits of information in a visual and complete, yet snapshot, way. It is the interesting blend of the bigger picture view with the practical details that make actionable items (like writing a specific line of computer code) possible. In that two-ends of the spectrum approach, these various schema, diagrams, illustrations, and concept models are extremely useful, and thus they are growing in popularity and use.
By comparison to other fields of study, the concept models created through concept modeling are not often the end product but rather a first step delving into exploring, discovering, analyzing, and capturing the abstract essence of a target of inquiry, with or without the use of schema or diagrams.
In this emerging area of understanding concept, Immanuel Kant’s prescient prediction may just be coming true: “We will therefore pursue the pure concepts into their first seed and predisposition in human understanding, where they lie ready, until with the opportunity of experience are finally developed and exhibited in their clarity by the very same understanding, liberated from the empirical conditions attached to them.”[9]
Application of Concept Modeling in Business, Technology, and Film[edit]
Application in business[edit]
In a 2013 interview[10] on NewsChannel 8 in Washington, D.C., (now part of WJLA-TV) anchor Morris Jones led a discussion with Perez on the practical applications of concept modeling in businesses (one example: Starbucks and coffee aroma in stores), and technology (Sony’s Walkman versus Apple’s iPod), commenting that it is about “helping your business succeed.” As another example, concept modeling applications in business investing was featured at LD Micro Main Event, 2019, with Perez as speaker at their arrival/welcoming sessions.
Application in entertainment[edit]
A 2017 Deadline.com article titled “If Bugs Bunny Met Immanuel Kant, It Would Be In Winston Perez’s New Book On ‘Concept’”[11] highlighted the use of concept modeling for the deconstruction of movie studio intellectual property in the form of Bugs Bunny. Deadline.com, which is a breaking-news source for the entertainment industry, revealed how the famous animated movie character could be analyzed using Perez’s approach. The concept modeling work captured the character’s surprising relationship to the concept of fear and the character’s use of attitude to overcome fear—offering a way for the character to successfully connect to young children and adults alike.
Concept modeling has been featured at Digital Hollywood, “Hollywood Magic: Perfecting Content, Concept and Concept Modeling”[12] with Perez as speaker.
Application in technology and film[edit]
In a 2010 article titled “Enough With the Elevator Pitch, What’s the Concept?,”[13] The New York Times explained the success of the concept-based technological innovation known as the coffee sleeve. Now ubiquitous, it was a step into the future missed by paper coffee cup manufacturers, which meant a significant financial opportunity lost. The piece featured an interview with Perez, who explained that the introduction of the paper sleeve (invented and patented by an outsider, Jay Sorensen in 1991[14]) replaced the foldout cup holder. That holder—what The New York Times called an “earlike protuberance”—[15] basically mimicked the form, but only part of the function, of a ceramic coffee handle. The older cup holder was apparently developed without consideration of the deeper concept that defined its essence: technology designed to keep the hand cool while letting the coffee cup remain hot. The article went on to discuss a concept-based deconstruction of the movie The Shawshank Redemption, as detailed by Perez.
Application in sports history[edit]
Another practical-use case study is encapsulated in the podcast The Obvious Isn’t … In Baseball,[16] hosted by Perez. As of March 2021 he was getting close to publishing a book tied to the podcast: The Obvious Isn’t … in Baseball: Why Baseball Comes from the USA. Not Europe. The author uses concept modeling to deconstruct baseball through, first, the development of a concept model on the sport, and, second, the application of the concept model in examining currently accepted notions about the origins of baseball. Perez’s analysis provides evidence that baseball came from the United States, contrary to what baseball historians presently claim.
History[edit]
The core of concept modeling resulted from a eureka moment on February 6, 1989. The moment is recounted by Perez in his book Concerning the Nature and Structure of Concept,[17] which was released in 2020. It was a semifinalist in the BookLife Prize[18] and was awarded Best Visionary Book by Book Publicists of Southern California. It was described in a review from BlueInk Review[19] in February 2021 as providing “a theoretical treatment of Concept Modeling, defining the key terms, introducing neologisms, and laying out the discipline’s principles.”
Some of concept modeling had as its source a how-to book on newspaper publishing and marketing written by Perez in 1987 as part of a specialized University of Maryland, University College program.
References[edit]
- ↑ Cieply, Michael, “Enough with the Pitch. What’s the Concept?,” The New York Times, December 26, 2010, Section BU, Page 5
- ↑ MITPress, Christopher Peacock, A Study of Concepts, Book Summary Page, (Retrieved June 6, 2021) https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/study-concepts
- ↑ Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP), Concepts, (Retrieved June 6, 2021) https://iep.utm.edu/concepts/
- ↑ Margolis, Eric; Laurence, Stephen (2007). "The Ontology of Concepts—Abstract Objects or Mental Representations?". Nous. 41 (4): 561–593. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.188.9995. doi:10.1111/j.1468- 0068.2007.00663.x.
- ↑ Winston J. Perez, Concerning the Nature and Structure of Concept, first edition, Los Angeles, Simmons Shutter House Publishing, 2020, p.48
- ↑ Joseph D. Novak & Alberto J. Cañas (2006). "The Theory Underlying Concept Maps and How To Construct and Use Them", Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. Accessed 24 Nov 2008.
- ↑ Mylopoulus, J. "Conceptual modeling and Telos1". In Loucopoulos, P.; Zicari, R (eds.). Conceptual Modeling, Databases, and Case An integrated view of information systems development. New York: Wiley. pp. 49–68. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.83.3647.
- ↑ SimpleApps, (Simple Engima, Inc.), 2021, Mind Mapping Basics, (Retrieved June 6, 2021), https://simplemind.eu/how-to-mind-map/basics/,
- ↑ Kant, Immanuel (1999), page, 203, pp. A66-67/B91-92 Critique of Pure Reason (The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant). Translated and edited by Paul Guyer and Allen W. Wood. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-5216-5729-7.
- ↑ Jones, Morris, NewsChannel 8, Washington D.C. (2013) Concept Modeling and Perfecting Your Idea for Success, interview with Winston J. Perez
- ↑ Deadline Hollywood, “If Bugs Bunny Met Immanuel Kant, It Would Be In Winston Perez’s New Book On ‘Concept’, by Michael Cieply, Deadline.com, (November 30, 2017)
- ↑ Digital Hollywood, Hollywood Magic: Perfecting Content, Concept and Concept Modeling, speakers Winston Perez, Charles Segars, and Nick Reed
- ↑ Cieply, Michael (2010), The New York Times
- ↑ Smithsonian Magazine, “How the Coffee Sleeve was Invented” By Colleen Connolly, Smithsonianmag.com, August 16, 2013
- ↑ Cieply, Michael (2010) The New York Times
- ↑ Perez, Winston J, October 30, 2019, “The Obvious Isn’t … in Baseball”, Part 1, Audio Podcast, The Obvious Isn’t, Podbean, Retrieved Mar 3, 2021
- ↑ Perez, Winston J., Concerning the Nature and Structure of Concept, (© 2017), Simmons Shutterhouse Publishing, Released 2020
- ↑ BookLife Prize (Publishers Weekly), https://booklife.com/project/concerning-the-nature-and-structure-of-concept-39122
- ↑ BlueInk Review, Feb. 2021, https://booklife.com/project/concerning-the-nature-and-structure-of-concept-39122
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