# Is explaining more like showing or more like building?—Agency in metaphors of explaining

## TL;DR

This paper explores how metaphors used to describe explaining may shape views of collaboration in knowledge transfer.

## Contribution

It reveals that common explaining metaphors lack co-construction and may promote top-down approaches.

## Key findings

- Explaining metaphors often omit collaboration between explainer and addressee.
- Such metaphors fail to represent the constructiveness and bidirectionality of explanation processes.
- The study warns these metaphors may reinforce non-co-constructive perspectives in AI and other fields.

## Abstract

Explanations play a crucial role in knowledge transfer and meaning-making and are often described as a co-constructive process in which multiple agents collaboratively shape understanding. However, the metaphors used to conceptualize explaining may influence how this process is framed. This study investigates the extent to which the co-constructive nature of explaining is represented in explaining metaphors. Using a systematic analysis of agency, we examined how these metaphors depict the explanation process and the roles of the agents involved. We established that explaining metaphors lack collaboration between explainer and addressee, constructiveness of the process, as well as bidirectionality and iterativeness. In light of current research on metaphorical framing, the study thus highlights the risk that such explaining metaphors may reinforce a non-co-constructive perspective on explaining and a top-down approach in the development of AI systems as well as other areas.