The authors first developed the content of this appendix to support a workshop delivered at a professional library conference 10 years ago. Libraries are a familiar architectural and functional form and layout for people. For this reason, we have retained the practice exercises we developed for the workshop participants. The reader should translate these exercises to represent their interests.

This appendix describes a six-step methodology for defining and analyzing the syntax of any knowledge place. This method also aligns with basic good practice applied research. The six steps are:

The first step is to select a space for analysis and to define your analytical goal. What are you trying to achieve and what are you trying to learn about this space? The second step focuses on describing the functional purpose of the space – what is the space designed to do? When was it designed, and how did we think about work and relationships at that time? Step 3 involves creating a working blueprint of the space as a foundation for applying the spatial syntax metrics. In Step 4, we apply the spatial syntax metrics and describe the space as a justified graph. Now that we understand what kinds of interactions are likely to occur in the space; Step 5 provides an opportunity to observe what is happening in the space. What kinds of social interactions, knowledge sharing, learning, or collaboration are happening in this space? In Step 6, we step back and analyze how space is affecting the production and consumption of knowledge. Finally, in Step 7, we bring the analysis back to the original research goal and draw our conclusions and recommendations.