Features of the DNE

The DNE is a feature-rich knowledge management tool, designed to improve the way you work with your digital information at every step.
Here are some of the features of the DNE.

The DNE is a powerful information management, knowledge management and modeling solution.

Multiple general-purpose and task-specific different desktops Save & recall any aspect of any desktop or any tool Same configuration (information and layout) open as on close Can save complete history All tools are configurable

It is set in a full-color, three dimensional environment.

Context-sensitive cursors indicate all possible actions in every area of the DNE: Every rightclick menu Every clickable object Every drag’n’drop object Every legal drop zone And much more All tools have fixed locations and fixed appearance – they look like what they are. All tools are laid out in a single interface – different windows do not cover each other up.

How we tweaked the tree with our unique filing "cabinet":

Open your tree structure at up to 12 branches at the same time, without overlap. Stop wasting time clicking up and down your folder structure to find the same files all the time. The cabinet remembers its state on close, and always opens to its last state. Save different displays for different tasks, and everything you need for any task is just a mouseclick away. Access a big picture overview that displays all relations for anything.

The "kNowledge Element" ("NE") is like a super-folder

A folder is just an item on a list, but an NE is a graphical object with many different functions. The NE has four main areas: History tracks your work history for the day. Affinity manages hyperlinks to any related NE. Contributions manage hyperlinks to NEs that either impact or are impacted by your active NE. The tile scroller accesses information stored in any format. Unlike a regular folder, NEs aren't tracked by pathways, so you can move an NE or change its relations or rename it without losing any links to anything.

Quickly go back to anything you were working on today.

Tracks all NEs activated in work session. Easily return to anything you were working on today, regardless of what application you happened to be working in.

Maintain user-determined meta-data on anything.

In addition to pre-set properties, you can add user-determined meta-data fields to anything. Fields are fully configurable – you add the meta-data you want to what you want. You can copy/paste fields configurations from anything to anything else. You can save a configuration template for use on many things. Fields can be built on the fly. Fields can be updated on the fly. Fields are searchable by fields content and title.

Add links to anything related.

Link anything to anything else: the NE supports many-to-many relations without direction, such as data models, topic maps or ontologies. Because knowledge can be useful in different contexts, you can maintain different sets of relations. Indicate graphically what the NE is for or how it is used in the map or model.

Map out relations between everything you know.

Link anything to anything else: the NE also supports many-to-many relations with direction [with direction = "from...to..."], such as process models and results chains. Because knowledge can be useful in different contexts, you can maintain different sets of relations and build multiple maps using all or some of the same NE. Indicate graphically what the NE is for or how it is used in the map or model.

Direct access from any map to all the information that supports it.

Fully user-determined order of information Open any piece of information, including files on your computer or anywhere your computer can access, passages contained within files, web pages, knowledge maps, snapshots of past configurations of the DNE, and email, all from the same place.

A "Tile" is like a super-file.

Like an NE but unlike a regular file, you can move a tile or change its relations or rename it without losing any links to anything. A tile can be a file, bigger than a file (a collection of files, a snapshot of a past state of the DNE), or smaller than a file (a section within a Microsoft® Office, Adobe® Acrobat® or multimedia file). Information can be resident anywhere your computer can access (hard drive, network, internet). You can add user-determined meta-data fields, as with the NE. Many-to-many relations with NEs.

Use our built-in media player.

Media player maintains a history of all multimedia tiles. Use our unique two-part scroller for pinpoint accuracy even when scrolling through large recordings. Recalls internal volume setting for every audio and video tile. Recalls image presentation size setting for every image and video tile.

Turn your multimedia recordings into information you can use.

Easily create sound bites and video clips. Divide your clips into up to topics on the fly to index recordings by speaker, agenda item, topic, etc. Use our unique two-part scroller for pinpoint accuracy even when scrolling through large recordings Image, audio and video subdocumenting. Multiple save options (individual clip, all clips under one topic, complete multi-line recording session) Audio and video clips are links to passage in source tile, not copies, so you can create multiple clips without taxing memory resources. Details from images can be saved. Annotations (arrows, text, circles and boxes, etc.) can be added to images. Every multimedia subdocument clip permanently tracks its source file, so you never lose context.

Manage web browse results on the fly.

Maintain topic-specific browse history tracking. History can be paused, stopped and restarted at any time, so every history has only the browses that belong. Create up to nine topic-specific web page collections in any browse history. Topics can be created on the fly Add any web page to any topic with a single mouseclick. Multiple save options (single web page, single topic collection, multi-topic browse session). Saved topic collections are easy-to-use lists of hyperlinks. Optional saved previews for web pages

Put your information in the best order for you.

Reorder information visually, by drag’n’drop. Put your information the order you want (not limited to name/date/size/type, etc.). Copy or move tiles between up to five NEs at once. NEs do not overlap, so five lines open at once is not congested. Indicate particularly close relations (such as between multiple scanned pages from the same document) by stacking tiles.

Manage information that is smaller than a file.

A subdocument is a sentence, paragraph or page in a document, a set of cells in a spreadsheet, a slide in a slideshow, or an image detail, sound bite or video clip. The DNE manages all subdocuments as though they were bonafide files. Opening a subdocument opens the source file directly to the subdocumented passage. Subdocuments can be attached to any NE and located anywhere in your knowledge structure, regardless of where the source file may be. Subdocuments can be given any meta-data fields, just like any other tile.

Manage information that is larger than a file.

Save & recall functionality on almost every tool A configuration is a combination of NEs and tiles that you gather together for any purpose. Easily toggle between multiple tasks to facilitate multitasking Save a configuration for tasks performed periodically or seldom, and you won't waste time trying to remember where everything is. Most configurations are tiles and can be given searchable, user-determined meta-data fields.

Knowledge management should be about short-term access, not just long-term storage

Multiple desktops (“benches”) let you gather hyperlinks to NEs and tiles that you are using right now. Things put on bench stay there for as long as you want, and you can remove anything at any time. Putting anything on the bench just adds a link to it – nothing is moved, so when you delete it, nothing is lost. Save any bench and go back to it at any time in the future. Manage workflow by organizing what you need for different tasks on different benches. You have six.

Map what you know.

When you link any NE to any other (like links in a chain), you build a map. Maps can be displayed, showing up to 17 links in the chain. Maps are always context-sensitive, and display the impact relations for one NE at a time. Click any other NE and the map will redraw around the its new center. Because information can be useful in many contexts, any NE can be in any number of maps. For instance, you can create a more detailed map and a less detailed map of the same process (for use with different audiences) using exactly the same NEs. Display any combination of maps at the same time. Easily trace impact relations for any NE.

Turn any map into a printable poster.

DNE maps are “logical maps” - they track impact relations, but not physical relations like distance or particular direction. Any logical map can be converted to a physical map (which includes physical relations like distance and particular direction). Physical maps are generated automatically. You may have to tinker to make it look exactly as you'd like, but the DNE does most of the heavy lifting. Physical maps can be printed or saved as tiles.

Pick & Publish

Share any map, NE, tile. Tile includes fields NE includes fields, all tiles and their fields Map includes all NEs, all their fields, all tiles and their fields. Exclude any piece of sensitive information (including any combination of meta-data fields) from any publication Easy to change inclusions/exclusions allowing you to distribute different information to different audiences. Exported maps can be imported into any DNE or into DNE Maps, the resource-light, free map reader.

Our fully integrated search engine leverages everything we've talked about above.

Search on names or on meta-data fields. Find subdocuments and configurations. Limit by medium not by extension (e.g., treats all images as the same, regardless of file extension). Can put search results onto the bench, or link it to the active NE. Can open any tile directly from the engine. Navigate search results in the engine.