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Oliver Ding

Oliver Ding

Founder of CALL (Creative Action Learning Lab), information architect, knowledge curator.

Developmental Theme and the Genesis of the Concept System

The GO Theory platform now has a named ecology for theme inquiries, a concept that describes how themes become concept systems, and a methodology for building such concepts without falling into linear extraction

Spatial Heuristics: Four Views of Knowledge Ecology

To understand any Knowledge Ecology—whether it is a personal theoretical enterprise or a collective scientific tradition—we need to look at it through Four Views.

Weave the Theme: When Themes of Practice Meet Project Engagement (Part B)

This article is part of the Revisiting-and-Rebuilding Thematic Engagement series. Part B presents Part 3 and Part 4 of the article.

Weave the Theme: When Themes of Practice Meet Project Engagement (Part A)

In the Weave-the-Theory model, models and themes sit on the creativity line. That line is the main thread of the article. I read the theme–model line as the principle of Themes of Practice at work. But the article is not only a narrative.

Spatial Heuristics: The Art of Alignment

It is a story of how alignment operated across three different levels: from the simple sorting of data, to the strategic alignment of meta-frameworks, and finally, to a spatial illusion of structural alignment that I had to carefully unpack and reject.

Weave the Theme: The Typology of Theme and Beyond

This article does not propose a final typology of theme. It gathers the attempts I have made over several years to classify themes, sets out the detail of each, and asks what distinguishes them.

Cognitive Hydrology: Revisiting and Rebuilding the Thematic Engagement Toolkit

This article revisits this journey and the Thematic Engagement Toolkit and rebuild it. By using the Weave-the-Theory Model, the concept of "Thematic Engagement" was developed with relevant principles, models, and themes.

Cognitive Hydrology: The Weave-the-Theme Framework (v1.0, 2026)

A theme does not evolve in a vacuum; it must be interwoven with the concrete conditions of action. I am pleased to introduce the Weave-the-Theme Framework, a 4×4 diagram that serves as the operational core of the T-only Model.

Cognitive Hydrology: The Experience-Narrative-Framework-Ecology Schema

The creation of the Experience-Narrative-Framework-Ecology Schema marks a significant milestone, moving Cognitive Hydrology toward v2.0.

Activity Analysis Network #26: Developmental Strategy, Weave, and Possibility

This issue covers the first half of October. It records the completion of the Developmental Strategy book, the second round of the Chinese lecture series Activity Analysis and Intervention, and a new framework that came out of a conversation with an old friend.