Conceptual models: More than meets the eye

Compared to their computerized counterparts, diagramed conceptual models make their home on a slim piece of paper. However good conceptual models are a synthesis of a wide of range expertise, deep intellectual thought, and a large amount of debate to reach the consensus viewed on the page. The process of building conceptual models allows the creators a chance to identify, debate, and agree upon boundaries, major components, and externalities to their system of study, which are important intellectual exercises to instilling more intellectual heft than a piece of paper implies.