# Observation **Domain:** Epistemology / Science / Systems **Doc Type:** Concept Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition **Observation** is the directed selection and registration of aspects of a world, event, person, or system. It requires an observer, an instrument or perceptual capacity, a boundary of attention, and criteria determining what counts as relevant. Observation produces knowledge while also compressing reality. Instruments have resolution limits; categories foreground some properties and suppress others; and observed systems may change in response to being watched. ## Corpus Context The corpus treats observation as an intervention inside a [[wiki/Feedback Loops|feedback loop]], not a perfectly detached view. This becomes explicit in [[wiki/Second-Order Cybernetics|Second-Order Cybernetics]], where the observer must be included in the account of the system. ## See Also [[wiki/Non-Observation|Non-Observation]] · [[wiki/Continuous Observation|Continuous Observation]] · [[wiki/Knowledge Representation|Knowledge Representation]] · [[wiki/State Legibility|State Legibility]]