Trends, Networks, and Critical

Thinking in the 21st Century

Quarter 3 – Module 3:
Identifying Parts of a Whole
and Emerging Patterns in Trends

Lesson Identifying Parts of a Whole and

1 Emerging Patterns in Trends

It was the great Aristotle who first claimed that the whole is not equal to the sum
of the parts, and conversely, the sum of the parts is not equal to the whole. But the proponent of
the idea of atom, who is Democritus, somehow believed that the parts are of great significance
in understanding the essence of the whole. As a trend was born because of an idea of an
individual or groups of individuals, and these become prevalent, growing and evolving in the
course of time, it is but crucial for us to trace the movement of these growth, expansions and
evolutions of trends.

What is It

Identifying Parts of a Whole

Trends as they grow and evolve tend to influence or give birth to other trends and
become interconnected and interrelated. It was mentioned in the previous modules that
trends are formed from the combination of things. Thus, a trend has constituent parts of
portions that are interrelated. Their influence, as well as how the people adopt them,
makes the trend viable, especially the megatrends and gigatrends.

Take as example the Japanese animation (animé) trend that is associated with several
generations spanning decades. In retrospect, Urgel (2017) illustrated the popularity of anime
which was brought about by a number of developments such as the ones shown below.
 Manga (Japanese
Emergence of otaku Home video
Japanese pop music comics) and other
(enthusiasts) availability
adaptations

Artistic Widespread
experimentation and syndication
stylistic expansion

Information sharing
Movie Industry through the internet

Development of
Electronic subtitling Animé subcultures

Influences from Walt

Digital piracy
Disney films

Popularity of seiyuu Penetration of

(voice actors) international market

Animation technology Rise of Animation Cosplaying

English Dubbing
and innovation studios

Visual culture is another example that we experience today. It was developed from various
trends─ digital camera, smartphone, internet, Wi-Fi technology, social media, mobile apps,
computer, fashion, art, photography, to name a few. Internet memes, infographics, and
sharable videos seemed to be a microtrend only, but they eventually became a mainstay in
disseminating information. Even large news organizations and government websites use
them. This visual culture trend which can be considered a megatrend, has evolved further
with the advent of the internet. The smartphone and Wi-Fi access greatly helped the new form
of visual culture which is subscribed to by many social media users, if not all.

Remember that microtrends can become macrotrends if they affect more lives and societies.
Then, macrotrends can become a megatrend if it can affect a much larger group for a longer
period like a decade. Megatrends can become gigatrends if they have everlasting effects and
influences. Therefore, it is evident that the whole which comprises the large part is made
up of small things or parts. This can be visualize below:

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 This was once a
microtrend which
Smart began as an idea of
Televisions connecting small
groups of people
via local area
network (LAN) and
eventually evolved
into an inter-
World network (internet)
Cashless
Transactions Wide Productivity
Tools
which was popularly
known as the world-
Web wide- web. Now it
was a
gigatrend.

Smartphone was Same is true with Social

also once a Media. It was once a
Smartphones
microtrend but microtrend and currently is
then became a in between being a
megatrend and megatrend and gigatrend
currently is iPhone considering the scope of its
Android
already considered influence and effects
a gigatrend. to people’s lives.

Twitter
Mobile Apps
Productivity and Games
(Word, Excel etc)

Facebook
Social Instagram
Media

Games

My
Space

Identifying Emerging Patterns

By simply looking at the previous diagram, you will somehow have an idea on identifying
emerging patterns of a trend. Urgel (2017) defined pattern as a design, shape, form or
configuration that emerges from repetitious appearance of lines, curves, and behavior.
According to him, in the study of trends, repetitive behavior that gives rise to an emerging
pattern is the main interest.
In order to follow and observe if a pattern emerges out of various events and
phenomena, one should have the tools necessary to detect it. According to Rehn and Lindkvist
(2013), the tools that a trend spotter should find handy to use are categorized into
four activities which are as follows:
 1. Documentation means being able to record
your observations which you consider related
to any trend. The primary tools for
documentation, however simple, are
notebook and pen. Some opt to use note-taking
features or apps on a smartphone or tablet. The
camera has also become necessary in
providing visuals. Others bring a voice
recorder which is best for saving audio.
Whatever tool one uses, the important thing in
documentation is the ability to physically
keep information and data wherever and
whenever you may be.
Notebook and pen are basic in documentation.

2. Archive or Memory is used to easily retrieve any documentation you have kept. Notes
can be scanned or converted to a portable document format (PDF) while digital pictures can be
easily saved. Physical archiving can, of course, still be used. There are various digital
archiving systems that are available, too. Tagging and cross- indexing are helpful in labeling
files.

3. Analysis is the stage where examination and combination happen. Looking for patterns
on prospective trends can be achieved through these methods: brainstorming,
grouping, and crafting combinations. In brainstorming, you decide which from your data is
important and which can be discarded. Here, you can confirm emerging patterns like events
becoming more frequent and things following a cycle. In grouping, you create headings where
observations and data can fall under several categories. In crafting combinations, you begin to
link one thing to another and think what could happen if these are taken step further, more like
imagining or generating new ideas. The above diagram presenting the evolutionary aspect of
a trend is an example for this analysis.

4. Presentation is representing your findings for easy understanding as a way of analysis.

You can represent your findings through, among others, a mood board and a storyboard. A mood
board is a collage of images, text, and object samples. This is used to capture your intuition
and stimulate creative discussions about trends. A storyboard presents a narrative of possible
scenarios. It functions to connect trends to a timeline and to different contexts, something that
can enable you and others to see interesting new things. A slideshow is also another option.
Sometimes, new trends are labeled with new names or terms in the hope of
popularizing a phenomenon. Again, the sample diagram presented above is an example of
this consisting of the linkages of the influences of the root trend to the development of new
trends within the link plus the explanatory analysis.

Identifying emerging patterns can be used to introduce to individuals,

organizations, and communities change, improvement, transformation and new
opportunities.
Once patterns are identified, trends are given rational explanations for their
emergence or existence and are provided with a better understanding of their cultural origins.

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Differentiating Relationships between Causes and Consequences

A cause refers to an agent that brings about a result or a consequence. A consequence

is always traceable to a cause which can be a person, thing, principle, motive, act, or event.
There is no cause without a consequence and vice versa. (Urgel,
2017)
Let us try to look at some of the popular fashion trends among the teenagers these
days ranging from hairstyles, clothing, and music preferences to mention a few. Clearly a
number of them, if one will try to observe, were patterned from a dominant and prevailing
trend. To date, Korean fashion trends is quite widespread in the country. In fact, you can
watch from the news almost every beginning of the year in a certain portion of those news
about the fashion trend for the year. In other words, these news in the media somehow sets these
so – called fashion trends which will then be the baseline of fashion sales of the business sectors
in the market. People then especially the young and those who wanted to “fit in” to these
popularized trends would eventually patronize them. For almost a number of years already,
Korean culture became popular in the country especially among the young. With this, if we
will look around us, it resulted to the establishments of Korean restaurants, Korean mini marts
which boosted the small – scale entrepreneurship business. In terms of travel, Korea became
one of the popular lists for Filipino tourists.
This cause and consequential aspect of a trend does not only cover the example
mentioned above, in fact, it covers all types of trends in all categories such as in ideologies,
politics, beliefs, lifestyle, social life and many others. One simply need to identify the
emerging patterns and look at the causal and consequential relations of these patterns in
order to understand these trends.
The string of events characterizing a trend can exemplify the cause- consequence
relationship where one event may lead to another and so on. A cause brings about one or
more consequences which may be either positive or negative. Whatever the results of a
cause, the events that are noted in each result will help produce a picture of a trend which is
studied to be adopted in many life applications. The relationship between cause and consequence
is salient to strategic thinking and analysis.

What’s More
Directions: Answer the following questions:

1. What do you think are the parts that gave way to selfie phenomenon? Explain each part
briefly.
2. Why is it useful to identify emerging patterns in looking for a trend? Cite two examples
and explain your answer concisely.
3. How will you face the new challenges brought about by global and emerging trends
in the 21st century? Please support your answer.

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 What I Have Learned

A. Directions: Apply what you have learned from this module. Dr. Lorenzo is a Sociologist
who is invited to deliver a short message about the emerging patterns of trends to the Senior
High School HUMSS students of Luakan National High School. He asked you to be his lecture
assistant for the talk. On your way to the event, Dr. Lorenzo informed you that he forgot
to bring his notes. While he was delivering his lecture, he asked you to give him cues for
the sequence of the topics. Help Doctor Lorenzo by filling in the missing words to complete his
lecture. Choose your answers from the words in the box below.
analysis memory archive
pattern Aristotle
presentation documentation
similar
fads trends longer period

Good morning HUMSS students, teachers and visitors, as the great (1)
once said, “the whole is not equal to the sum of the part,” we are all but part
of an enormous whole. However, even if we cannot comprehensively understand the whole as a
whole, we can still somehow have grasp of it through its parts. Just like the human sciences
where someday you will all venture in your college – Psychology who ventures into
understanding the human behavior and mental process, Sociology who studies the human
person as how he relates to others in his society, Political science which look at us, humans
as persons who are capable of transforming societies into something bigger and better
through leadership and sustenance in upholding the greater good. All these are already
considered as (2) since they have already been part of our existence which are
unlike (3)
which are only short – lived and don’t really lasts unless their impact become
larger and extensive like a dot which eventually becomes a line and tend to be so influential.
You are HUMSS students, and with that I am confident that one day, those simple
(4) you do whenever you start a project based on your unique ideas and
concepts will someday become an (5) which will be looked into and searched by
your constituents, who knows, 10 years or 20 years from now, and that simple things you started
will eventually become a gigatrend in decades to come. See what happened to Facebook? It was
just a simple programming project back in
2004, but look at it now? I would guess that more than 90 percent of you, if not all, do
have Facebook accounts.
When you start to look back at how it all began, you would realize the
significance of that (6) in all forms as long they are recorded. One should just
need to carefully see the (7) by looking at the repetitious

appearances and linkages that these trends developed and evolved into.
And guess what, what I am actually delivering to you right now at this very moment

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is very necessary. A good trendspotter requires the talent of (8)
which is needed to come up with holistic perspective in spotting the emergence of trends.
Finally, (9) should also be done which, of course, is an important means to capture
your intuition and stimulate creative discussions about trends which can be done using
slide decks, diagrams, flow charts or other (10) means.

B. ADVERTISEMENT-HUNTING

Nowadays, the average person encounters more than a hundred

advertisements a day, be it in the form of TV and radio commercials, billboards, online
promotions, and print ads, among many others. From all the advertisements you encounter,
which one caught your attention? Why? Looking at the root of it, what was the underlying
cause of the promotion? What does it target? Whom does it target? How does it convey message
to target clientele? Is the promoted product a trend or a fad? Considering these questions, you
can answer by choosing any one of the activities listed below which you prefer most.

1. slogan- making
2. songwriting
3. poster-making (traditional
4. digital poster-making
5. concept mapping
6. poetry-making
7. collage-making
8. design a brochure or newsletter
9. essay writing
10. making graphic organizers
11. making comics strip

What I Can Do

Directions: To further establish your understanding in identifying parts of a whole and

emerging patterns in trends, do any one of the activities listed below which you prefer most.

A. You are an environmentalist. You were doing research about the

environmental issues and trends in your area. Your friend, a local
newsmagazine editor, offered you a chance to publish your findings through a feature
article. You have to submit a draft of your article to your editor- friend, who allotted
three pages of the magazine for your feature. You must include in your article
emerging environment-related patterns that you have observed and a projected
scenario based on each trend you have identified. Your article will be evaluated based
on the rubric given at the last part of this module.

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 B. You are a history teacher, and you have been invited to join a one-day outreach
program for grade 6 pupils. You are tasked to give a lecture on the historical trends
of colonialism and neocolonialism in Southeast Asia. You are tasked to prepare either
a slideshow or a one-page summary handout of your lecture. Your work should describe
or demonstrate colonialism through its characteristics, elements, and consequences,
especially in the former colonies. You should also illustrate neocolonialism as it is
observed today. The usage of graphics and images for the slideshow
presentation is recommended. You will submit your output for evaluation. It will be
evaluated based on the rubric given at the last part of this module.

Assessment

A. Directions: Supply the missing letters to complete each word.

1. _ O_ UM_N_ A__ O_ - being able to record observations which one can

consider to any trend

2. M ___R Y - being able to easily retrieve any

documentation one has kept
3. A_ _L_ S_ S - stage where examination and combination happen
4. _ AT__ R_ - a design, shape, form or configuration that emerges
from repetitious appearance of line, curves, and
behavior.
5. PR_ S__ _A_I_N - representing findings for easy understanding as a way of
analysis
6. _ OO_ B_A_ D -used to capture intuition and stimulate creative
discussions about trends
7. S_ O_ Y B_ A_ D - presents a narrative of possible scenarios
8. M E__ TR_N d - can affect a much larger group for a longer period
like a decade
9. G__ ATRE__ - h ave ever-lasting effects and influences
10. M A _ R _ T _ E N D - a ffect more lives and societies

B. Directions: The following are statements about identifying parts of a whole and
emerging patterns in trends. Write TRUE if the sentence is correct, write FALSE
otherwise.

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 11. Interviews and friendly-group discussions (FGD) are ways to catch emerging patterns.
12. Identifying emerging patterns can be used to introduce individuals,
organizations and communities change, improvement, transformation, and new
opportunities.
13. New trends are labeled with new names or terms in the hope of popularizing a
phenomenon.
14. The tools that a trendspotter should find handy to use are categorized into four
activities such as documentation, archive or memory, analysis and
representation.
15. Tagging and cross-indexing are helpful in labeling files.
Additional Activities

Directions: Illustrate on sheets of paper scenes pertaining to four activities that a trend
spotter should find handy to use.