Canonical definitions

Post-Social Glossary

A reference point for the original concepts and recurring terms used across Post-Social.

Memory Continuity
The effective survival of understanding and the accurate transfer of meaning through time. Read the primary essay
Human Archive
The people who carry the stories, context, relationships, feelings and perspectives that make records understandable. Read the primary essay
Memory Pyramid
A framework moving from key, to story and identity, to perspective, and finally to meaning. Read the primary essay
Key & Data Centre Model
A photograph or record acts as a key; the human mind is the data centre containing the understanding it unlocks. Read the primary essay
Discovery Problem
The failure that occurs when preserved records cannot be reliably found, recognised or understood later. Read the primary essay
Assumption Problem
The loss created when everyone assumes somebody else will preserve the story, context or access needed later. Read the primary essay
Perspective Principle
No single memory is complete; multiple viewpoints create richer understanding and stronger continuity. Read the primary essay
Archive Obesity
The accumulation of more preserved material than people can organise, interpret or meaningfully revisit. Read the primary essay
Semantic Starvation
A condition in which records survive but the names, relationships, stories and context required to understand them do not. Read the primary essay
SMAK
Source, Method, Assessment and Knowledge: a framework for deciding when a conclusion has earned the right to become knowledge. Read the primary essay
Born Digital
Post-Social writing from a generation that has never known a world before continuous internet access and social technology. Read the primary essay
Post-Social
Life and culture beyond the assumptions, incentives and continuous feeds of conventional social media. Read the primary essay