Exploring the Relationship Between Knowledge and Fiction (Part 1: A Review of Past Experience)

 

This is the first post in a “Knowledge and Fiction Series”.

Part 1: A Review of Past Experience

Over the years, I have explored the interplay between knowledge and fiction from several angles. I am glad my blog and other unpublished notes allow me to easily revisit these themes before I dive in again with fresh insights.

Around 2008-2009, I was reading a lot of  didactic fiction and business novels: Didactic fiction involves using storytelling to convey practical lessons in a way that engages the reader and encourages critical thinking rather than following a prescriptive path. I wrote one full novel in this genre. It was called “Learning Log”, with a subtitle that read “A Knowledge Management Novel”. I wrote an accompanying White Paper, “Integrating Didactic Fiction in Structured Training."  The format was an experimental TiddlyWiki, my favorite Personal Knowledge Management tool. Here are some related blog posts showing a clear concentration around the same timeframe.

• Fiction with a Mission (2008)
• Didactic... in a Good Way (2009)
• Didactic Fiction (2009)
• The End (June 2009)

I have also explored storytelling as a method for knowledge sharing, which revolves around using narrative as a tool for organizational learning. A lot has been written about that, but my own interest in it was accelerated with Steve Denning's book, The Springboard: How Storytelling Ignites Action in Knowledge-Era Organizations (2001) and later his business novel, Squirrel, Inc: A Fable of Leadership Through Storytelling (2004).  This second book aligned even more with my interest in didactic fiction.  Here are a couple of blog posts along those lines:

• The Springboard (2017)
• KM Chats (2011)

As an educator, I have dabbled in the use of fictional case studies for teaching. This involved crafting imaginary scenarios to deepen the reader or student’s understanding of a situation and sharpen critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Perhaps it is a subcategory of storytelling for knowledge sharing.  I mostly remember the  hand-drawn picture of a country I had named Kamala (nothing to do with politics) but I found much more in my files.  I found a small note attached to the case study itself that reads “GREATEST CRAZY IDEA” and then “Filed under Things that flopped” (see photos below). 

Now that I reread the few pages I kept, it seems it was my first ambitious effort to combine teaching or some form of knowledge transfer with fiction. And yet, I was not teaching or doing Knowledge Management work at the time. I would call that a fascinating creative flop because I still believe in what I was trying to do. I am not sure I even tried to sell it to my supervisor at the time. I was just having fun. This was, however, related to another recurring theme in my work: Technology. It was Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) then and it is Artificial Intelligence (AI) now.  There is a date on the document that accompanies the map, so I know that is where my brain was in 2006. 

Documentation of some crazy, perhaps creative, early work (2006 and 2009). The fact that I bothered to keep these paper copies in sleeves in a binder full of "important" documents suggests I was proud of those efforts and wanted to be reminded of the fun I had working on them. 

For teaching purposes, it is better to rely on case studies based on real “stories”.  I learned a lot about that in my NASA years.  Still, short fictional scenarios can be useful. In the context of my KM class at George Mason University in the Fall of 2024, I experimented with short fictional scenarios created with the help of generative AI and experienced some of the pitfalls of using AI for more creative work.

And then, on and off during my career in international development, I explored the fiction of international development, which is all about examining development themes through a narrative lens. This deserves a lot more attention because of the depth of issues that could be explored.  The theme that re-emerges today in the context of my current fiction work revolves around the telling of the story: “Whose story is it?  Whose experience?  Whose knowledge?  Who is telling the story?”  This last question is critical because as I start putting down some initial words for the novel, I need to settle on a Point of View (POV).  Here is a 2009 blog post related to the Fiction of Development.

Next, I will write about how my approach is evolving and my current and near-future focus.

Facing the Blank Page

In the previous post, I bravely announced that my big project for 2025 was a fiction writing journey. Like many aspiring writers, I've been wrestling with those familiar voices of self-doubt: "No one cares about what you write." "You should probably start with short stories and see if you can get those published first." "Do you know how many people actually make money from books?" "Nobody reads books nowadays." These aren't just random fears – they're the voices of perfectionism and imposter syndrome that can plague any creative endeavor.

During my journey reconnecting with French through YouTube this year, I discovered something useful. There's this fascinating philosophy professor and author, Fabrice Midal, who wears striking yellow outfits, including yellow glasses. His bold fashion choices aren't just eccentric – they're a testament to his philosophy of authentic self-expression. One of his books is titled "Foutez-vous la paix!" (in French).

While it loosely translates to "Give yourself a break!" in English, the French version carries more weight, especially in first person: "Je vais me foutre la paix!" The English translation feels tepid in comparison. In French, you can really let that sentence land by emphasizing "FOUTRE" – that initial "F" sound seems to physically expel those nagging doubts about rejection letters and critical voices.

What about fear? "Je vais la FOUTRE dehors" (I'm going to throw it out) et je vais me FOUTRE la paix. Even emphasizing the "P" of "paix" works – it's like pushing away those persistent doubts that try to derail our creative ambitions.

Now, whenever those familiar doubts creep into my thoughts – whether about writing, professional projects, or any creative pursuit – I return to my new mantra: "Je vais me foutre la paix." It's become more than just a phrase; it's a permission slip to create without the burden of perfectionism.

PS:  I wrote this post a few days ago.  It's now January 1st and I've typed the first 1,000 words.  The journey has started.  I am on my way. 

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Related and Recently Read: "Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure," by Maggie Jackson (2023).
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Coming Next: A series on Knowledge and Fiction.

Already in 2025 Mode: Setting My Sights on Fiction

I know it's not 2025 yet, but I've been in 2025 mode for weeks.

Yes, there are still things to do in 2024 and loose ends to tie up, but I love planning the next year—and sometimes even the next decade. As I edge closer to 60, it’s not just the next year or even the next decade that has my attention. I’m thinking about the next 30 to 35 years. What will life be like between 2025 and 2065?

It’s natural to approach that horizon with mixed feelings. Fear and anxiety still creep in occasionally, but I’m choosing to approach the future with positive energy and optimism.

But I digress, as I always do. I have a lot of projects planned for 2025, though I won’t go into all of them now. Perhaps someday I’ll write more about how I approach project identification, selection, planning, and monitoring. (No, I don’t apply a full PMP framework to my personal or professional projects!)

The main point: My big project for 2025 is a fiction-writing journey.

This project started in mid-2024, but I haven’t consolidated anything yet. I just know I have enough in my head and in notes to turn this into a reality—as long as I block time on my calendar to write. I don’t believe in waiting for inspiration to strike. Writing takes discipline to complete a first draft and even more to edit the work into shape.

Unlike previous fiction-writing efforts, I plan to write about this journey while it’s still in progress. I won’t reveal much about the plot or characters but will likely explore the key themes here on the blog.  There is enough alignment between the themes of the fiction and the themes of my non-fiction work to generate content that is coherent.

This project will be somewhere between speculative fiction and fictional memoir, with the action set in 2065. It’s a new challenge, but one that connects deeply with my long-standing interests and allows me to take on (or play with) the role of "futurist". 

More to come as I dive in—here’s to a creative and productive 2025.

Image generated by ChatGPT based on the blog post as prompt and minor adjustment.
The manual typewriter is an interesting AI touch and by the time I write "The End" on the last page of the manuscript, my hair might indeed be all gray. 

Taking Concept Mapping and Potentially Knowledge Graphs to Another Level

I can't pretend that I'm able to keep up with technology developments associated with AI but almost every week there is something that gets my attention. Today it's research from Meta into LLMs based on concepts rather than individual tokens.  

Large Concept Models: Language Modeling in a Sentence Representation Space, December 15, 2024. 

Link:  https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.08821

In the past year, I adjusted my mapping method to match what the technology could handle in terms of knowledge graphs, moving from multiple words and sometimes sentences to individual words, and paying much more attention to the connecting words. Now it is quite possible that the technology will evolve to mimic how we think and I can return to mapping in sentences rather than individual words. 

"In practice, a concept would often correspond to a sentence in a text document, or an equivalent speech utterance. We posit that a sentence is an appropriate unit to achieve language independence, in opposition to single words. This is in sharp contrast to current LLMs techniques which are heavily English centric and token based."

We don't think in individual words.  We think in combinations of words that express concepts. This assumes that concepts aren't individual words but rather snippets of sentences.  This is going back to the way I mapped conversations at NASA, using snippets rather than individual concepts.  This actually makes much more sense to me and always has. 

This research looks a language modeling in a sentence representation space.  I jumped the gun and immediately connected that to knowledge graphs and the challenges I've encountered trying to connect the dots around knowledge graphs and concept mapping. I'll have to dissect this and figure out if I'm totally off base. There may be subtle and not to subtle differences between concept mapping and concept or knowledge modeling that I am not grasping.

The "conceptual" approach described in the paper has potential implications for knowledge graphs:

• It could enhance semantic understanding:  By focusing on concepts rather than individual tokens, large concept models can better capture and represent the relationships and hierarchies in knowledge graphs.
• It could advance reasoning capabilities:  By operating at the level of concepts, large concept models could potentially perform more sophisticated reasoning based on the interconnected data in knowledge graphs, enhancing decision-making processes and inferencing. 
• It could also improve traceability and our understanding of how the models operate. Conceptual representation would be easier to follow just like a concept map made of sentences is much easier to follow than a concept map made up of words and connecting sentences. 

I'm sure there is more to it but that's as much as I can grasp right now.