Sean Kollak

Definition of explanation

As Twick.it calls itself an explain engine – you will expect a convincing answer to the question: “What is an explanation?” I say: An explanation enlightens the listener. It clarifies something by stating the relevant facts. Logical, consistent, sensible – and straight to the point. On the other hand an explanation is interpretation of information directed towards a certain person or group. It relies on context, understanding and existing knowledge of the addressee. Thus every explanation is subject to discussion.

Synonyms for explanation

There are several synonyms for the word explanation: Account, description, reason, justification, rationalization, vindication, clarification, elucidation, explication, definition, enlightenment and so on. This list indicates that facts are central to an explanation. In order to explain something I require secure knowledge – and I have to argue my conclusions coherently. I have to reason. Unfortunately this is where objectivity ends.

Whom am I explaining what?

It makes a difference whether I explain a topic such as The Beatles to a friend in the pub or to a student of music history. Addressee and context profoundly influence the content of explanations. As you never know who is reading your explanation on Twick.it I suggest: Don’t presume any pre-existing knowledge. Formulate your Twick in a manner that helps somebody who has never heard of the Fab Four.

What is my intention?

Communication is always a social act – even if performed using a neutral platform such as the explain engine. With my explanation I (unconsciously) try to persuade the listener (or reader) of my point of view. Perhaps I want to make an impression with my knowledge or I might be biased. Every explanation is driven by individual intention. I need to reflect my intention – otherwise I cannot explain in an objective way. Looking at the Beatles example I have to ask myself: Am I explaining what my childhood heroes mean to me as a fan or do I prefer Heavy Metal and dislike the old stuff?

Reason don’t rate

“The Beatles are the best most popular most successful band in the world.” These statements are not explanations – only opinions. They do not offer any comparable or measurable facts such as dates or statistics. Moreover every personal valuation such as “best” or “bad” requires comparison or understanding of the general context. Therefore valuations, comparatives and superlatives should be handled with care when explaining.

The Five Ws: Who? What? When? Where? Why?

In classical media the Five Ws “Who? What? When? Where? Why?” have established themselves as standard for objective documentation. If you answer these five questions you will have covered a great amount of the relevant facts. This also works when you write a Twick. For example you can ask yourself: Who was a member of the Beatles? What kind of music did they produce? Where did they come from? When (during which time) did they record and perform music? Why did they become so successful? Of course not all questions can be answered in 140 characters. So you have to focus on the most important – and choose a good link that offers additional information.

A good explanation:

• Is constructed on secure information
• Is sensible and coherent
• Makes the questioner more clever

By the way: You find an interessting discussion about the nature of explanation at CommonCraft.

What does Wikipedia say?

The first sentence concerning explanation in Wikipedia reads: “An explanation is a set of statements constructed to describe a set of facts which clarifies the causes, context and consequences of those facts.” In short: Statements which describe facts which clarify themselves. Even though the content of this sentence is correct I guess that only very few people can make sense of it. (It certainly took me a long time to understand it.) For a good explanation it is not enough to arrange a couple of keywords, construct a long sentence and sound scientific.

Get to the point

In my opinion an explanation should not be too abstract nor too scientific, neither too general nor too specific, not too difficult to comprehend and not unnecessarily complex. In a nutshell: Avoid all superfluous information, specialist terms and get to the point. Focus on the main topic, be objective and make it as easy for your listener as possible.

Especially abstract concepts such as love, scientific terms such as fluidity and stars such as Jimi Hendrix are difficult to be defined in 140 characters. That’s the reason we developed the explain engine. It makes use of the stair-principle: Somebody starts – and the next person can build on this foundation and try to formulate a better explanation while the crowd guarantees a fairly objective assessment.

Tags: definitions, explanations, information theory