Lesson 13
What Your Map Leaves Out
Every map draws a line round what it counts. Check where the work, the costs and the side effects go once they cross that line.
Every map has an edge
After months of the buried bedroom chair, your household agrees a new rule: nothing gets left on the chair. A week later, seven clear evenings in a row. The chair has never looked better.
Every map, measure or plan draws a line round what it counts: these things, these people, this period. The choices about where that line goes are called boundary judgements, and checking them on purpose is boundary critique. A count of the chair measures the chair. Whether it measures the laundry problem depends on what happens beyond the edge of the count.