Using this Dictionary in a course
This Dictionary is meant to be useful before it is complete. You do not need to read it front to back. Use it the way you would use a field guide: look up the thing in front of you, then follow the cross-links if the thing turns out to matter.
If you see an unfamiliar term
Start with the one-sentence definition. That is the floor: enough to keep reading, participate in class, or understand why the term is being used.
If the term matters for an assignment, keep going:
- Why it exists explains the problem the term was created to solve.
- What it actually does explains the mechanism, not the marketing.
- A working example shows the term in use.
- Teaching relevance connects the term to management, judgment, institutions, or classroom practice.
- Trade-offs is where the interesting part usually begins. Most vendor glossaries skip this section. This one tries not to.
Three kinds of entries
You will see small labels on the entries:
Glossary entries are compact definitions. Use them when you need a quick handle on a term.
Reference entries explain a technical or operating concept in the standard Dictionary form. These are the entries to cite when you need to show that you understand what a system or concept does.
Essay entries carry an argument. They name a pattern, take a position, or propose a way of thinking. These are the entries most useful for discussion, disagreement, and written response.
How to use the Dictionary for assignments
If you only need to use a term correctly, the one-sentence definition may be enough.
If you need to write about a term, read the trade-offs section before you quote the definition. The trade-offs usually tell you where the real management problem lives.
If you want to disagree with the Dictionary, start with an Essay entry. The best disagreement is not “I dislike this.” The best disagreement says: this distinction is wrong, this example does not prove the point, this trade-off is missing, or this framing would fail in a different institution.
AI use and written work
This course will not treat AI as either magic or cheating by default. The question is whether you used the tool with judgment and whether the submitted work is still yours in the meaningful sense.
Expect assignments to ask for process, not just polished output: notes, drafts, prompts, sources, revisions, short explanations of choices, or in-class follow-up. That is not surveillance. It is how we make thinking visible.
The Dictionary is skeptical of AI-detection theater. It is also skeptical of pretending that a fluent paragraph proves learning. The standard is higher and more interesting: can you explain, defend, revise, and own what you submit?
The point
The goal is not to memorize jargon. The goal is to build a working vocabulary for a technological shift that is already changing organizations, classrooms, markets, writing, and judgment.
Have fun with it. Serious work is allowed to have a little weather in it.