To Zoom is to change the level of detail.
Move changes where we are.
Zoom changes how closely we are looking.
This can be geographical:
Earth → Europe → United Kingdom → England → Coventry → Coventry Cathedral
or chronological:
millennium → century → decade → year → month → day → hour → minute → second
It can also be conceptual.
We might begin with:
music
then zoom in to:
rock music
then:
British rock
then:
The Beatles
then:
Paul McCartney
then:
one particular performance
Each level remains connected to the one above it, but the resolution changes.
Zooming in
Zooming in exposes detail.
Consider:
1965
That is useful if the year is all that matters.
But if we zoom in:
August 1965
and then:
15 August 1965
we reach the precise date of the Beatles’ Shea Stadium concert.
The more precise date creates more possible connections.
We can compare it with another event on the same day, examine where it sits within a tour schedule, or measure the interval between that concert and another one.
Zoom therefore increases resolution.
Zooming out
Zooming out does the opposite.
A precise fact can be placed within a wider context.
From:
Shea Stadium, 15 August 1965
we might zoom out to:
New York in the 1960s
then:
American popular culture
then:
post-war mass entertainment
The detail has not disappeared.
We have simply changed the scale at which we are considering it.
Zooming out is particularly useful when a connection seems trivial at close range.
Two events may look unrelated until placed within a wider period, movement, geography or system.
Relative scale
There is no single correct level of zoom.
“New York” may be extremely precise in a discussion of countries but very broad in a discussion of individual streets.
“1965” may be precise in a discussion spanning centuries but vague in a discussion of a concert tour.
Scale is therefore relative to the question being asked.
One of the skills of Linkology is choosing the most useful resolution.
Too far out and connections become vague.
Too far in and the larger pattern may disappear.
Zoom and COGS
Every COGS category can be zoomed.
Characters
humanity → musicians → rock musicians → The Beatles → Paul McCartney
Objects
transport → aircraft → passenger aircraft → Boeing 747 → one particular aircraft
Geography
Earth → Europe → Britain → England → London → Westminster → one building
Seconds
millennium → century → decade → year → month → day → hour → minute → second
This makes Zoom one of the most universal Linkology operations.