This practicum is built on a single premise: everything is a graph. Your social network, your knowledge, and the AI tools you use are three overlapping graph layers — the Trinity Graph. Over 14 sessions across 7 weeks, you will build a living knowledge graph, reason through real problems using 14 reasoning modes (runes), and ship something that matters — with AI as your co-architect.
Projects are organized across three tiers: Inkwell Labs ventures (BackyardOne, Artiquity, Enginuity, Aurea Health, Ubiquity), community partners (local artists and causes in Nashville and LA), and team projects (student-originated ventures). All tiers use the Trinity Graph as their operating system.
Three graph layers structure the course arc: WHO (Social Graph, Weeks 1–2), WHAT (Knowledge Graph, Weeks 3–4), and WHAT IF (Generative Graph, Weeks 5–7).
Eight ventures from Clarksdale to Hollywood to Iceland. Co-founded theAudience with Ari Emmanuel and Sean Parker. Built DigiSynd (acquired by Disney, 2008). 25-year partnership with Rob Maigret building attribution and graph systems. Currently building Inkwell, Artiquity, Enginuity, and Ubiquity.
Contact via Brightspace messaging for assignment questions and submission issues.
Room 214 · Monday & Wednesday
Course intro · Graph theory foundations · Euler & Königsberg · The AT&T divestiture as graph editing · Social Organism thesis · Trinity Graph framework (Social, Knowledge, Generative) · IAM operating system · First contact with your VanderBot
Read: The Social Organism, Ch. 1 & 3
Chat → graph nodes · The 11 Inkwell Runes · Rune clusters (Truth & Reasoning, Build & Execute, Human & Wellness, Identity & Truth) · Omega Protocol 10-stage synthesis spiral · Kirk Progression · Building graph density through specificity
Read: The Social Organism, Ch. 3–4
Review Week 1 in VanderBot · What 56 students built · Inkwell Labs project showcase (BackyardOne, Artiquity, Enginuity, Block BMOS, Aurea Health, Ubiquity) · IAM & Volvox common foundation · Pod formation · Team assignment · Collaboration framework
WHO → WHAT transition · Entities, facts, triples · 100-Triple Challenge workshop · Neo4j & Cypher · Entity taxonomy (Actors, Assets, Events, Concepts, Constraints, Unknowns) · "What We Don't Know" four-quadrant analysis · Pod check-in
Read: AI Factory, Ch. 2–3
Entity linking · Ontologies · Cross-graph integration
Read: Survey of Knowledge Graph Embedding Models (Brightspace)
Where AI gets it wrong · Why grounded AI matters · Domain risk assessment
15-min architecture walkthrough · Progress demo · All pods present
In-class: Midterm Pitch Timer
RAG pipelines · Agent reasoning patterns · Context engineering
Read: RAG paper (Lewis et al.) + ReAct paper (Yao et al.) — both on Brightspace
Cross-graph traversal · Serendipity engine · Emergent outputs
Read: The Social Organism, Ch. 7
-ity vocabulary · Competitive differentiation · Investor framing
Read: AI Factory, Ch. 5 (network effects & data moats)
Unit economics · Graph compounding · Revenue modeling
Use: Osterwalder Business Model Canvas (template on Brightspace)
Infrastructure scaling · Constraints · Communicating to technical partners
Project delivery · Final rehearsal · Q&A prep
Community & Inkwell projects: Final deliverable submitted to partner
All pods: Rehearse 15-min Demo Day presentation
No new written assignments — focus on final demo
Live system demonstrations · External judges · All projects present · 15 minutes per pod
In-class: Demo Day Scoreboard
Two graded presentations anchor the course. Weekly assignments are due before the start of the next session. Submit all written work to Brightspace unless otherwise specified.
Full reading list and digital resources available on Brightspace. Trinity Graph API access and AI tool credits distributed Week 1.
Questions: contact Baxter Webb (TA) via Brightspace messaging.