Instructor discussion questions

Chapter 3 Discussion Questions

  1. Chapter 3 argues that delegation turns memory into a design problem. What kinds of cartographic knowledge do experts often keep tacit, and what happens when that knowledge is not externalized for an LLM-assisted workflow?
  2. Retrieval is described as editorial recall rather than neutral storage. How does deciding what an LLM should retrieve resemble familiar cartographic acts such as generalization, classification, legend design, or choosing an inset?
  3. Chunking shapes what ideas travel together. How might different chunking strategies privilege certain design values, conventions, risks, or examples over others?
  4. The chapter treats strategic forgetting as maintenance. What should a cartographic memory system deliberately forget, narrow, or retire over time, and who should be responsible for making those decisions?
  5. RAG can improve consistency and traceability, but consistency does not guarantee quality. How can instructors or teams teach students to critique the memory source itself rather than only the final map output?