# persona (outward)

a self-model made to be read by others rather than to control the thing, so it is maintained against their window and not the system's own.

- Computed level: L20 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: psychology

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [self-model](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-self-model.reflexive), [self](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-self.personal), [model](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-model.representation), [make](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-make.verb), [read](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-read.information), [others](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-others.distinct-entities), [control](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-control.ability), [maintenance](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-maintenance.upkeep), [against](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-against.opposition), [window](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-window.range), [system](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-system.organized), [rather](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-rather.comparative)

**Through:** A second self-model is built for external readers and kept acceptable to their window, so its upkeep answers to the audience's acceptance range instead of to the system it nominally describes.

**Novel properties:**
- audience-facing self-model
- externally anchored upkeep
- steering-free representation

## Examples
- A resume describes a career as a planned ascent that the person who lived it experienced as a series of accidents. *(workplace)*
- A restaurant's dining room stays polished while the kitchen runs on shortcuts the menu never mentions. *(business)*
- A social media profile is updated for its audience on days its owner cannot get out of bed. *(culture)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-persona.outward*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-persona.outward.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*