Theft at the Public Till
from one level of understanding to another. A map depicts the route through information, be it a geographic locale or a philosophic treatise. A map pro- vides people with the means to share in the perceptions of others. It is a pattern made understandable; it is a rigorous, accountable form that follows implicit principles, rules, and measures. You can map ideas and concepts as well as physical places. Maps enable us to exchange information, whether about Paris or build- ing codes. Maps are virtually synonymous with reference information in that we use them to direct or influence the course we follow in life. The principles of photosynthesis are reference information or maps to a botanist but not to someone who doesn't own a plant. A TV program guide is refer- ence information only to someone who watches television. Maps are the metaphoric means by which we can understand and act upon information from outside sources. A map by definition must perform, whether it is a multimillion dollar, four-color production of the National Weather Service or two cans of beer on a counter showing the relationship of a friend's new house to his old one. The new framework I am suggesting is actually old - the framework of architecture. (My thanks to my brother Jeff's friend Betsy Horan for sug- gesting this approach.) For an architect must address a whole and be familiar with all the pieces. Modern buildings are complex like our lives. Yet we hire an architect not because of the details of their engineering but because we like the plans -- we like the model we can see - and the price is within budget. Architecture is goal focused - what will please the client. Details and subsys- tems are subsumed beneath the goal. This model I believe can cure much of what is wrong with government today. We've had the engineering model for too long -- and sad experience showed what happens when the engineers meet up with raw marketing. We might consider the architect sketching a prospective building. An architect works with materials to produce an intended object and discovers that the materials resist, more or less, his attempts to impose his intentions upon them. In this process, the architect's intentions evolve. Design moves inevitably produce some unintended effects, which the architect may see
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