The Taxonomy

A shared vocabulary for describing technology.

Each category is a question people ask about a technology, and its elements are the answers. Choose a category, then an element, to see its icon and what it means. New to the terms? Read the concepts.

Manifestation

Elements 11

How do people encounter what this system produces?

The form this system's output takes when it reaches the world — a screen or sign, a price, a notification, a gate opening, a spoken reply. How people meet the output, distinct from the output data itself.

About this category

Manifestation

How do people encounter what this system produces?

Datachain

Answer: Some outputs stay inside other systems and never reach people. Answer it when people meet the output.
Icon shape: The system itself: why it exists, who is involved, what it does, and the points where it meets the world.

Variables

Description Optional

An automatic charge or paymentThe output is money moving without you acting — a toll deducted as you drive through a gantry, a fare charged as you tap out, a fine issued, a payout released. Often the least visible encounter: you learn about it from a statement afterwards.

A chatbot or voice replyThe output arrives as a conversational answer — a chatbot message, a voice assistant's response, an automated phone agent. You encounter the system by talking with it, and it should be clear you are not talking to a person.

A dynamic price or feeThe output shows up as what something costs — a road toll that rises with congestion, surge pricing for a ride, a parking rate that changes by demand, a personalized offer. You may never see the system itself, only the price it set.

What you see in an app or feedThe output is the ordering itself — which posts, products, results, or prices appear first, and which you never see. There is no moment of encounter to notice; the system shapes the surface you were already looking at.

A gate, barrier, or machineThe output is something moving — a turnstile that opens or stays shut, a boom gate, a delivery robot, a door lock. The physical motion is how you encounter the decision; the command that triggers it is the system's output data.

A mobile notificationThe output reaches you on your own device — a push notification, text message, email, or in-app alert. The system finds you rather than waiting for you to look; whether you can turn it off is an Access and Rights question.

A person acting on itThe output reaches you through a human — an officer who stops you after an alert, a case worker who follows a recommendation, a doctor reading a risk score. You meet a person, but a system shaped what they do; your right to know and contest that still applies.

A printed ticket or letterThe output arrives on paper — a parking ticket, a queue number, a boarding pass, a decision letter in the mail. The system's work reaches you through a physical document, sometimes days after it ran.

A screen or signThe output appears on a display in the place — a variable message sign over a road, a departure board, a kiosk screen, a dashboard readout. You encounter the system by reading what it shows.

A signal or light changeThe output changes what the environment tells you — a traffic light that adapts to flow, street lighting that brightens when people pass, a status light turning red. Subtle enough that most people never realize a system decided it.

A spoken announcementThe output is played aloud in the place — a public-address announcement, a synthesized voice at a crossing or platform, an audible alarm. Reaches everyone present, including people who never looked at a screen.

What you see in an app or feed

The output is the ordering itself — which posts, products, results, or prices appear first, and which you never see. There is no moment of encounter to notice; the system shapes the surface you were already looking at.

Variables

Description Optional