Knowledge Maps

The association areas of each NE list the contribution and affinity relations of the NE. In the Maps room, you can see not only the direct contributions to and by the active NE, but can also track the indirect impact of any NE. All of these direct an indirect relations create a "knowledge map" - a visual representation of where your NE fits in the context of all your knowledge. The active NE takes center stage on the map, which then tracks all the impact relations, both forward and backward, in which the active NE is involved. This allows you, at a glance, to assess the implications and importance of each NE. The lines on the map track the series of information relations that link NEs that are indirectly related.

Each object on the map is an NE, which means that the map displays the relationships that the active NE has to other NEs. Usually, for any NE that is activated in Maps, NEs that contain information on a more general topic than that contained in the specific active NE but that is related to the contents of the active NE will stand to the left of the active NE ("animal" is more general than "dog"). Information on a topic that is more particular than the topic of the specific active NE stand to the right ("collie" is more particular than "dog"). In any NE the contribution wings track the contribution relations in which the NE stands. The knowledge map for an NE simply tracks these same relations farther.

You can create very precise knowledge maps with lots of detail, to be shared with friends, colleagues or the world, or you can simply link NEs together when they are related, managing your information visually to make your own life easier.

Maps built in the DNE can be used in DNE Maps, the free maps reader from Dekstrus. Because DNE Maps is free and simple to use, maps built in the DNE can be used by nearly anybody. You can use them to share knowledge with friends, colleagues or the world. For instance, you can share holiday photos with your family by building a map that traces out your vacation city by city, and then attaching your photos (including meta-data identifying people, places, times and trivia) to the NE for the appropriate city. Your family will be able to look at all your photos in DNE Maps, and know exactly what they're looking at.

The example above tracks two levels of contributions by relations and three levels of contributes to relations. A knowledge map can track up to eight levels of contributions by and eight levels of contributions to.

Unlike in an object model, an NE does not play a designated role in a knowledge map, so you cannot add a representative graphic.

The DNE manages affinities as well as contributions, and the Maps room will display an affinity map that differs from its contributions map. The affinity map shows all the affinities for an NE, not only the NEs that turn up in the active NE's affinity area, but also those in whose affinity area the active NE shows up.