update modelthing draft post and figs

1 files changed, 37 insertions, 38 deletions

diff --git a/posts/modelthing-background.md b/posts/modelthing-background.md
index 9234f70..ae79211 100644
--- a/posts/modelthing-background.md
+++ b/posts/modelthing-background.md
@@ -4,35 +4,21 @@ Date: 2020-06-28
 Tags: modelthing
 Status: draft
 
-This post describes the potential I see for collaborative infrastructure to
-agument group research and understanding of mathematical models. This type of
-model, consisting of symbolic equations than can be manupulated and computed by
-both humans and machines, have historically been surprisingly effective at
-describing the natural world. A prototype exploring some of these ideas is
-running at [modelthing.org](https://modelthing.org).
-
-After describing why this work is interesting and important to me personally, I
-will describe a vision of what augmentation systems might look like, describe
-some existing tools, then finally propose some specific tools to build and
-research questions to answer.
-
-Outline
-
-* personal backstory
-    => technologist essay
-    => my previous work
-* what would be better?
-* existing ecosystem
-    => latex, mathml
-    => modelica
-    => SBML
-* proposed system and research questions
-    => modelthing.org
-* reference list
+This post describes the potential for collaborative infrastructure to agument
+human research and understanding using mathematical models. These models,
+consisting of symbolic equations which are semantic and machine-readable, have
+historically been "unreasonably effective" at describing the natural world. A
+prototype exploring some of these ideas is running at
+[modelthing.org](https://modelthing.org).
+
+After describing why I am personally interested in this work, I will describe a
+vision of what augmentation systems might look like, describe some existing
+tools, then finally propose some specific tools to build and research questions
+to answer.
 
 ## Personal Backstory
 
-*Feel free to skip this section*
+*Feel free to skip this section...*
 
 Much of my university (undergraduate) time studying physics was spent exploring
 computational packages and computer algebra systems to automate math.  These
@@ -42,14 +28,27 @@ real-time data acquisition or simulation systems like LabView, ROOT, Geant4,
 and EPICS. I frequently used an online system called Hyperphysics to refresh my
 memory of basic physics and make quick calculations of things like Rayleigh
 scattering, and often wished I could contribute to and extend that website to
-more areas of math and physics.  In some cases these computational resources
+more areas of math and physics. In some cases these computational resources
 made it possible to skip over learning the underlying methods and math. A
 symptom of this was submitting problem set solutions typeset on a computer
 (with LaTeX), then failing to solve the same problems with pen and paper in
 exams.
 
+<center>
+<a href="http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/geoopt/refr.html">
+  <img src="/static/fig/hyperphysics_index_refraction.png" alt="hyperphysics screenshot" title="hyperphysics screenshot" height=500px">
+</a>
+<div class="content_caption">
+Example record in Hyperphysics, which has been ported from Hypercard to the web
+</div>
+</center>
+
 <div class="sidebar">
 <img src="/static/fig/sicm_cover.jpg" width="150px" alt="SICM book cover"><br>
+This isn't to say that computers as a pedagogical tool can replace
+human mentorship and interaction; the SICM course was also one of the most
+instructor-intensive and peer-interactive of any I took. And of course this
+learning format will not be best for everybody.
 </div>
 
 A particularly influential experience late in my education was taking a course
@@ -63,13 +62,6 @@ confusion or misunderstanding of the physics than computer science. I came to
 believe while teaching another human is the *best* way to demonstrate deep
 knowledge of a subject, teaching to a *computer* can be a pretty good start.
 
-<div class="sidebar">
-This isn't to say that computers as a pedagogical tool can replace
-human mentorship and interaction; the SICM course was also one of the most
-instructor-intensive and peer-interactive of any I took. And of course this
-learning format will not be best for everybody.
-</div>
-
 Some years later, I found myself at a junction in my career and looking for a
 larger project to dig in to. I think of myself as a narrative-motivated
 individual, and was struggling to make a connection between my specific skills
@@ -125,10 +117,15 @@ Some best practices:
   acceptable (and often desirable) for software tools.
 * **Scale up and down**
 
-examples of applying core goal:
--> "does veganism make sense"
--> COVID-19 modeling
--> understand equilibrium finances of large companies/institutions, for the people inside those institutions ("business model")
+Examples of applying core goal:
+
+* "earth systems" and ecosystems
+* robotic control systems
+* "does veganism make sense"
+* COVID-19 modeling
+* systems biology
+* understand equilibrium finances of large companies/institutions, for the
+  people inside those institutions (aka, "business model")
 
 ## Existing Ecosystem
 
@@ -151,6 +148,8 @@ Proposed system to build:
 * tooling/systems to combine and build large compound models from components
 * public wiki-like catalog to collect and edit models
 
+Research questions:
+
 Will mathematics continue to be "unreasonably effective" in the natural
 sciences as we try to understand larger and more complex systems?