The Prismatic Perspective
The Perspective Glossary
A growing reference for the language we use to explore perspectives, question assumptions, and investigate what we might be missing.
These concise explanations are starting points, not substitutes for full articles. Some terms have established meanings; others describe how we use them within this project.
Perspective
Meaning: A person’s viewpoint or understanding of a situation, influenced by their position, experiences, available information, and other circumstances.
Example: A patient, nurse, and hospital administrator may describe the same process differently.
Important distinction: A perspective is not necessarily an objective account of every relevant fact.
Observation
Meaning: Something noticed, directly experienced, measured, or recorded, before an explanation is attached to it.
Example: “The payment machine was unavailable” is an observation if you witnessed it.
Important distinction: Observations can still be incomplete or mistaken; describe what was actually seen.
Interpretation
Meaning: The meaning or explanation we assign to information or an experience.
Example: “They do not care about patients” is an interpretation of a frustrating event.
Important distinction: The interpretation may be plausible without being established as fact.
Assumption
Meaning: A proposition treated as true without having been fully checked in the situation at hand.
Example: Assuming every visitor owns a smartphone when planning app-only parking.
Important distinction: An assumption can be useful for planning, but should be examined when the stakes are high.
Perspective-taking
Meaning: The intentional effort to understand how another person may view or experience a situation.
Example: Asking how a visitor with limited digital access experiences a new payment process.
Important distinction: Understanding someone’s viewpoint does not require agreement or excuse harmful conduct.
Cognitive bias
Meaning: A recurring pattern in judgment or information processing that can systematically influence what we notice, remember, or conclude.
Example: Giving greater attention to accounts that support an existing explanation.
Important distinction: Bias is not limited to people we disagree with; recognizing it does not prove a conclusion false.
Friction point
Meaning: A part of an interaction, process, or system where people encounter difficulty, delay, confusion, resistance, or conflict.
Example: A patient cannot complete parking payment because the required app will not open.
Important distinction: Within this project, this is a practical term for identifying where to investigate; not a diagnosis of the cause.
Unintended consequence
Meaning: A result of a decision or intervention that was not among the outcomes it was designed to achieve.
Example: A parking-payment change intended to simplify operations also makes access harder for some visitors.
Important distinction: The unintended outcome may be beneficial, harmful, or mixed; its presence and causes should be investigated.
Prismatic
Meaning: Relating to a prism, including its ability to refract or separate light into colors.
In this project: A metaphor for exploring an issue from different perspectives to reveal distinctions and possibilities we may otherwise miss.
Distinction: The metaphor does not suggest every interpretation is equally accurate.
Prismatic perspective
Meaning: An approach developed for The Prismatic Perspective that gathers and examines different viewpoints, compares what they reveal, distinguishes observations from interpretations, and explores possibilities for greater understanding or improvement.
Example: Considering patient, staff, and administrator experiences together before investigating a hospital process.
Important distinction: This is an evolving project framework, not an established scientific test or a claim that every viewpoint is equally supported.
Working glossary · Updated October 18, 2026. Definitions and examples may be refined as the project develops.