Song, dance, rituals and more, use metaphors to connect ways of thinking that range from abstract to tangible. Flows of cultural knowledge through different times and places, inform and reinforce protocols necessary for maintaining healthy relationships between peoples and countries. Such protocols may be understood as Treaties, or agreements people make to live well together.
Animations made from conversations between people can bring together different responses to the same phenomenon. These animations may be thought about as 'collective animations', made by groups of people to reflect their different minds at work, that may provide a more holistic view. Collective animations may evolve, like the conversations that sustain them, but expanding as new data and stories open up new meanings, ideas, and questions for further investigation.
Collective animations can evolve as iterations that change to reflect new scientific data and new insights into ancient stories from cultural knowledge. An early example of collective animation is Oceanic Living Data.
Three animations have been made from this collective process, with knowledge shared about the Southern Ocean: Ocean dance (v05), Ocean Dance (v6) , Mystery Bay Ocean Dance
