How do we know we mean the same things when we use the same words? Through some course of action that helps tie enough threads of understanding together to convince genuine communication has been achieved. One thing that helps in this effort is having a common source of reference (e.g., a dictionary). I suspect that, as this project evolves, we'll find that a distributed, coordinated lexicon fits well within this project.
In fact, it is not necessary that all people and groups use terms in the same way. We just need to know how others mean to suggest with their terms. We can preserve polysemy -- which has many benefits -- while also providing a safety net to help catch us from fatal misunderstandings.
Ethan mentioned the need for a way to help ensure we are all using terms in consistent ways during yesterday's retro.
shonfeder
commented
3 years ago
How do we know we mean the same things when we use the same words? Through some course of action that helps tie enough threads of understanding together to convince genuine communication has been achieved. One thing that helps in this effort is having a common source of reference (e.g., a dictionary). I suspect that, as this project evolves, we'll find that a distributed, coordinated lexicon fits well within this project.
In fact, it is not necessary that all people and groups use terms in the same way. We just need to know how others mean to suggest with their terms. We can preserve polysemy -- which has many benefits -- while also providing a safety net to help catch us from fatal misunderstandings.
Ethan mentioned the need for a way to help ensure we are all using terms in consistent ways during yesterday's retro.