First Contact

This paper examines why original innovations often fail at the point of first contact — not because they lack clarity, but because they are too quickly translated into existing categories. It identifies key structural mechanisms of misreading (such as hermeneutic circularity, premature assimilation, and framework absorption) and develops a diagnostic taxonomy along with a practical communication protocol for introducing genuinely new categories. While developed through the case of Knowledge Quality (KQ), the patterns and methods apply broadly to innovation communication across domains. Originally published on Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20374548 (May 25, 2026). Copyright © 2026 Thomas R. Glueck. All rights reserved. This work is made publicly available for documentation, citation, and public disclosure purposes. No copyright or patent license is granted. No reproduction, redistribution, modification, adaptation, sublicensing, commercial use, or creation of derivative works is permitted without prior written permission, except for short quotations and references as permitted by applicable law and standard scholarly citation, review, or commentary practice.