information, but not the overall structure and the implications of that structure. In fact, many educational systems teach students to grasp the particulars instead of a system instead of an overall vision of the system itself. In Florida, the FCAT standardized tests in elementary and high school emphasizing memorization instead of critical thinking and many educational systems function similarly. Higher education systems often speak of critical thinking, which refers to the analysis of particular data and then the process of connecting that data to larger systems for further evaluation.

 

Like education, journalism stories also sometimes emphasize discrete information rather than the implications of that information. The prevalence of news stories on crimes are a good example of this—they focus on the particulars of a single crime instead of relating that crime to overall crime trends, governmental changes, and social systems that may relate to the particulars of a crime. News blogs were able to easily grow in popularity because they are not constrained by the same time constraints of traditional media, and so they can more easily connect stories to larger trends and implications.

 

 

10/14/2006

For connecting data to the systems in which that data operates and the other systems the data relates to, visualization has proven particularly useful. Seemingly traditional formats, like outlines and graphs are good ways to illustrate individual systems and their connections. Video Game Design Pro does not show the connections of a particular game to the video game industry as a whole—a daunting task—but it does show how an individual game breaks down into components and how those components connect within the larger system of the game. The business plan section, though, does ask the users to make the larger connections to the game industry and it does explain how to do so.