RHY.5:10 - Architectural Rationale

Rhythmic representation choice concerns the relation among the subject, convention and operation. The carrier can be a page, voice, gesture, recording or data structure. That is why a catalogue organized only by medium is insufficient: a voiced syllable can support several different interpretation rules.

The method specializes notational design through domain choices. It does not prescribe inventing a new notation whenever an established practice already supplies the needed operation.

The representation can distribute its information across coordinated actions: a voice gives the phrase while a gesture maintains the reference. Adding every distinction to the spoken vocabulary can impose more reading and coordination work than retaining that combination. Conversely, transferring only the words can remove the gesture on which interpretation depended. Choose between these constructions by the intended operation and the user’s preparation.