ROTA FORTUNAE

Join the TERA collective’s experimental approach to collecting and organizing by mapping the artifacts yourself. This page introduces a twist: rather than selecting the artifacts yourself, they are randomly generated. We have called it rota fortunae–after the Medieval wheel of fortune that symbolized the capriciousness of fate. In this case, fate rests in the hands of the website’s algorithm. To randomly generate artifacts approximates how we usually encounter things in the world. We assimilate some things easily into existing categories; others are harder to grasp.

Examine the 10 artifacts that fate has selected. At any point, you can click on the artifact icon to open its description in a new window. Select your pathway from the set of blanks modeled on those TERA created. On the next page, move each artifact into position. You can add short labels within the pathway and make notes about your process and system of organization in the accompanying text box. Your pathway can then be downloaded as a PDF or printed.

What we think is shaped by how we think. These digital pathways are a thought experiment and a starting point for further discussion. Join us by querying as you collect, building and dismantling systems of thought.