Hello, I'm James Tolley. I'm the founder of Shared Reality and I wanted to show you how to view an argument map using the example, True or False: The Moon Landing was a Hoax.
There is some information on the Internet saying that the moon landings didn't really happen. I don't know if you were aware of that but if you're curious, I think you'll be able to find it pretty easily. So, since this is a meaningful disagreement which seems to exist in society, I made a Shared Reality argument map about it in order to invite a productive conversation on the topic. The evidence I've found seems to me to be pretty conclusive, even from just the little evidence I've put together here. (I was the author here... you can see my name, "James," and a link to my Shared Reality account page, on the nodes under the "i" information icons.)
But, until we get some strong evidence which contradicts my evidence, I think it's pretty clear that we can all trust that it really happened. So, that's my perspective and I just wanted to use this as an example to show you what I see and - as with all these argument maps - I'm inviting in countering perspectives so we can have a productive conversation on this topic. I may be wrong, of course. I'm just sharing what I see at this point. But, I could easily change my mind if I were given a good reason to do so.
So, here is the frame where the argument map exists and we can enlarge it to take up the entire screen by clicking the expand icon in the lower right corner of the map frame. We can drag the map around inside its frame. These are all nodes. This is the claim node on top. This is a "con" or an objection node here. And, I'm the author of that. I haven't added any parts or any reasons yet. The reasons would obviously support the "pro" side that the moon landing was, in fact, a hoax. The "con" side undermines the credibility of the idea that the moon landing was a hoax. We can see the number of children on the "con" side and the total number of descendants on the "con" side. And, we can see the total number of children and descendants for "parts" and for reasons or the "pro" side.
We can collapse all the children of a node, or expand them, by clicking the icon in the bottom left corner of the node. And, we can - by clicking the expand icons in the lower left of the nodes - get into the details of any branch of reasoning or evidence that the map contains. We can only make one branch active at any given time. That feature was added to help provide clarity when nodes overlap one another. It's just easy to keep track of what is highlighted - what is the current topic - while everything else around it is low-lighted.
This specific piece of evidence - that the dust thrown upwards by the wheels of the moon rover was recorded to have moved along a specific trajectory, which is consistent with the amount of gravity and lack of atmosphere on the moon. So, that's probably pretty conclusive information unless you have an incredible sound stage somewhere where gravity is different than it is on Earth and there's also no atmosphere to interfere with the trajectory of the dust particles being throw into the air by the wheels of the rover. Reasonably speaking, it would be incredibly unlikely pretty much impossible - for anyone to fake that.
If you click on the link icon towards the bottom left of a node, a link to that specific node will be copied to the clipboard so you can paste it when sharing in emails or on social media.
In the lower right corner of the node is an icon with a link to suggest improvements to the node. Clicking on that icon will take you to the site's contact form. Some information will already be filled in, about the node in question. You can use that contact form to send us information about the node, suggestions or corrections, or offers of assistance. This is a collaborative conversation really between anybody who feels like they're a thought leader on this topic. So, we encourage participation between people especially if they disagree with what's happening in the argument map.
Here's a link to the evidence to this node. It links to the peer-reviewed paper which contains this information.
Each node can have reasons (on the "pro" side) and objections (on the "con" side) and parts (which are neutral child nodes, for splitting complicated ideas into their parts so each part can be addressed and assessed on its own merits). In that way, we get a tree structure which grows in areas of contention and stops growing in areas of universal consensus. We will be able to actually see the areas where there's universal consensus. Even this small feature represents a kind of information which the public does not have access to right now. And, we certainly don't have access to a single document where all sides are brought together to compare notes, challenge and check each other's work, their evidence, etc. So, this represents a new kind of information to help the public make sense of the competing narratives they are currently presented with on a daily basis. Shared Reality invites everyone to engage in a single conversation, and anyone who's interested in this topic can have one place to go to to see all of the strongest rebuttals, and counter rebuttals around the ideas they care about.
Evidence is linked to each node. We can see the evidence URLs pop up in a title when the mouse hovers over them. These links will open in new tabs or windows. These links provide the user the ability to do their own research. Shared Reality isn't here to spoon-feed you answers. It's here to present you with all of the strongest arguments on both sides so that you can make up your own mind, and have productive conversations with the people in your life - the kind of conversations which can help to create a shared reality. There are "part" child nodes to the node which represents the video which attempts to, and claims to, debunk this study. According to this video there are several good reasons to question the results of the study. You can see some of the parts which represent the specific arguments they use to try to debunk the study. And, you can see the "cons" which undermine or contradict the credibility of the study itself, which is represented by the parent node to these "cons" and "parts". You can investigate to your heart's content, drag it around, open and close the nodes... you can explore the arguments that have been added. And, if you have things to add yourself, you're more than welcome to add them. Just get in touch with us and we'll give you an account.
There will be more videos, similar to this one, explaining how to edit argument maps, and even how to create your own.
Thank you so much. If you have any feedback, just let us know. We'd be happy to walk you through the process some more and help you get involved.