Knowledge organization facilities

Strategic Correspondences: computer-aided insight scaffolding (Part #3)

[Parts: First | Prev | Next | Last | All] [Links: To-K | From-K | From-Kx | Refs ]

(a) Clustering

Consider a simple situation represented by two concentric circles displayed on a computer screen. By clicking on the centre circle, the user is able to type in a topic category (or browse through a category list and select one). As the simplest example, if the user selected 'day', this would result in the outer circle being subdivided by seven radials, with a day of the week (Monday, Tuesday, etc) presented in each of them. Clicking on any one of these could then result in relevant information being displayed. (Note 'category' is used here in the loose manner in which it is now used on the World Wide Web as a 'basket' or 'bucket' for subjects, topics or concepts).

Now consider a more sophisticated variant using information from cultures that group days in other ways. Selecting 'day' would then result in a subdivision of the outer circle into the number of such different systems (say 3, 5, 7, 10 and 28-day groupings, namely 5 alternative categories in all). Selecting one of these (which would then be highlighted in a contrasting colour) could then result in the addition of a third concentric circle,subdivided according to the number of items characteristic of that system, with each subdivision named accordingly. The user could select any one of the other categories in the second circle, and have the corresponding sub-categories displayed in the third.

To complete the information, a tabular list outside the concentric display could indicate the name of the category cluster associated with each circle as a whole. For example: 0-circle = day; 1-circle = week, etc. Clicking on 'week' in this list could offer the possibility of selecting 'month' as a broader category. This could be used to trigger the display of a concentric circle of 12 months. Continuing the process, clicking on 'year' in the tabular list could result in a display of centuries, or other historical or geological eras.

(b) Subdivision

Similar facilities could be offered for category subdivision. Related possibilities include the ability to click on a particular circle subdivision and have displayed in a popup checklist the narrower subcategories into which that category is subdivided. The user could then choose to have these added as a concentric circle in the display. Alternatively they might be displayed permanently in the subdivision instead of in a popup -- with the possibility of collapsing that display whenever required (as is done in many text outliners).

(c) Reconfiguration

At any time the user has the possibility of selecting any displayed category and moving ('dragging') it to the centre of the circle (or to the top of the tabular list) and reinitiating the display from a new anchor point.

Of special conceptual interest are those situations in which broader or more integrative categories are absent. In this case the central circle is necessarily empty. The next circle may then contain whatever is considered a complete system of categories. It may be a user preference as to whether the major subject categories used by libraries (such as in the UDC system) are distributed in a circle of 9 or 10 subdivisions around an empty central circle, or whether the empty centre is satisfactorily named by 'generalities' or 'organization of knowledge'. It is worth noting that in a number of Eastern epistemologies, the emptiness of the central circle is of prime significance.

The previous paragraph highlights the possibility of offering the user the ability to subdivide categories. Thus a decision might be made to split the fourth of a set of 8 categories, making a set of nine. Or it might be decided to join the fourth and the seventh, making a set of 7. If these correspond to operations on officially recognized systems of categories, the user presumably also needs the facility to be able to revert to the official version, even if such experimental reconfigurations are saved and used for an extended period of time.

(d) Rotating the display

The centro-symmetric display provides structural emphasis to integration. It can however be difficult to read if the information has to be presented radially. Of great interest therefore is the possibility of redesigning the usual scrolling facility in order to rotate the circles as much as is required.

This suggests a further use of such a display to browse and locate a subject or other item in very long lists. Some computer menus already respond to this challenge by presenting the letters of the alphabet in a list so that one may be selected as the entry point to a browseable list. In a circular display, such letters could be presented around a circle. Clicking on one could result in a second circle being displayed. In this circle the items would however be positioned according to the second letter -- possibly with only the first item presented in each subdivision of the circle. Further clicking could result in the display of further circles based on third and fourth letters.

At some point the user could choose to browse the contents of a particular subdivision. Whether in a popup or by using the subdivision as a window on a list of items that are moved past it. The whole procedure amounts to 'dialling a subject', with the advantage that a sense of context is maintained.

(e) Access functions

As the previous paragraphs suggest, such software could be used for very simple purposes. It provides an alternative to linear approaches to long browse lists or multi-level category hierarchies. It remains to be discovered who would find this approach preferable, if only as an option, and under what circumstances.

Having used the software to configure a pattern of categories, the question remains as to what else might be offered. Selecting a particular category, the user could then be offered a menu of possibilities. These might include:

• display of text (including address information);
• display of iconography or graphics;
• hyperlink to another location, possibly on the World Wide Web
• execution of some computer program.

The information might be supplied as part of a proprietary package (such as an encyclopedia), an institutional database, or developed by the user. In particular the user might be free to supply, and or amend text.

[Parts: First | Prev | Next | Last | All] [Links: To-K | From-K | From-Kx | Refs ]