A boxology is a representation of an organized structure as a
graph of labeled nodes ("
boxes
A box (plural: boxes) is a container used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or very large (like a shipping box for furniture), and can ...
") and connections between them (as
line
Line most often refers to:
* Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity
* Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system
Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to:
Arts ...
s or
arrows). The concept is useful because many problems in systems design are reducible to modular "black boxes" and connections or flow channels between them. The term is somewhat tongue-in-cheek and refers to the generic nature of diagrams containing labelled nodes and (sometimes directed) paths between them.
The archetypical example of a boxology is a corporate
"org chart", which describes lines of control through the corporation. Other boxologies include programming
flow charts,
[
Terence Horgan; Terry Horgan; John Tienson]
"Connectionism and the Philosophy of Psychology"
1996.
p. 22.
quote: "In terms of familiar flow-chart analyses ("boxology,", as Cummins (1983) puts it), one adds a lower sublevel by adding more interconnected boxes ... either between existing boxes or within them."
system-level
circuit diagrams for designing large complex circuits, and even economic models.
Feynman diagrams are useful because they reduce the complicated
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
of
quantum mechanics to a simple boxology of particle interactions.
Depending on application, the boxes are optional; for example, the global
carbon cycle is modeled as a boxology, but many figures explaining the model include only labels and directed connections.
References
Diagrams