Supermodels

No-one that we know has an adequate conceptual model for how online works. This is partly because the new channel is contradictory, protean, ambiguous (and was built this way on purpose — it certainly wasn’t built as a marketing tool). It’s partly because no-one we know has had the time or inclination to do this.

Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.
Walt Whitman (1855 and/or 1881 – thus proving his point amply)

As an old colleague used to say, for brands, the internet’s “both a marketing channel, and a channel to market.” This has the effect of confusing people. We need conceptual models to keep our thinking clear and to the point, and to make sure that — in at least one part of the planning process — we aspire to a god-like perspective.

What are conceptual models? They aren’t accurate pictures or predictors of the world they describe. In fact, an accurate model would be of little use to us.

They are, instead, a mental framework that lets us simplify a complex, contradictory and ambiguous world. A means by which human minds can consider, weigh, judge, and plan.

We’re also interested in more active models – the kind that have inputs, processes, and outputs of predicted results.

There are different ways to express models.

• Diagrams, charts
• Algorithms, programmes
• Spreadheets
• UML
• Essays
• Flowcharts

What we’re looking for is a way that lets us think about things so that we can do something.

We are building models – that’s part of our IP. As soon as we have them, we’ll share them here, and invite people to use them, to criticise them, and to improve them. We’ll tag everything “model” to make material easy to find.

I’d love to hear from people who’d like to help, or share their own work.