Working definition. Sensemaking is the ongoing work of noticing signals, forming interpretations, testing them through action, and revising the story of what is happening.
Inherited meaning
Organisational theory developed sensemaking to explain how people act in ambiguous situations without waiting for complete knowledge. Meaning is not merely discovered; it is assembled socially through attention, language, memory, and feedback.
Meaning in the imagination economy
AI produces fluent explanations at the same moment it destabilises the categories used to judge them. The resulting scarcity is not information but shared orientation. Sensemaking becomes a civic capacity: communities need to compare interpretations before deciding which future they are already helping create.
What changes in practice
Collect anomalies before conclusions. Separate observation, interpretation, and implication. Put competing accounts beside one another and choose small actions that can reveal which account is more useful.