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We are generating increasing amounts of information but are losing the ability to manage, to interpret and to act on relevant information.
Static disciplinary boundaries and institutional frameworks are now impediments to the development of the critical knowledge and creative approaches needed to solve complex problems.
The information explosion or "infoglut" is no more apparent than on the Internet where the Lycos Search Database reports over 35,000,000 independent web pages at the point of this writing.
Cross referencing and indexing help us to discover these links but these links are transient in the mind of the reader. The net result of this is that whilst technology and knowledge have increased tremendously in recent years, knowledge is still as difficult to access and assimilate as ever.
This problem is recognised. There is a web site on the Internet sponsored by IBM called Aqui (http://aqui.ibm.com) where links outside of the web pages are provided.
After all, the hypertext document is really a book or article in electronic form and therefore suffers from the same deficiencies. To learn a new subject using hypertext is not less of a nightmare.
The current trend is to design more intelligent rule based search engines to reduce the number of hits. But this "bulldozing" approach cannot change the underlying deficiencies in our management of knowledge today.
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InfoMap is an attempt to address the problems of managing information and knowledge. It is based on a multicentric approach to knowledge and information.
In InfoMap, anything that has a name is an object. An object can be a person, an organisation, a company, a department, a country, a concept, a system, a procedure, and so on.
Three basic relationships exist between objects, i.e. -
Link objects describe the different relationships between any two objects. This provides the 3rd dimension to the traditional 2 dimensional hierarchical representation of relationships between objects..
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As the diagram shows -
In InfoMap, an object can belong to multiple groups and have multiple members and associates i.e. it can be represented in multiple hierarchies, all without duplication.
Link objects in InfoMap describe the relationships between objects in the hierarchy, an enhancement over traditional hierarchical representations.
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This chart is based on the N-Square method developed by TRW for their NASA projects. The chart illustrates the following:-
The user can navigate through the system by selecting any visible object and making it his new centre of focus. By these means, InfoMap gives the user a more comprehensive access to the information available.
The user can also look at the information tree of any object in five directions - groups, members, associates, sources and targets. This view provides access to the total recorded knowledge on the object.
By documenting information in elemental form, they can be rearranged dynamically with minimal duplications
Quite often, the information must be sorted to make it more meaningful. InfoMap allows sort orders to be defined for each list.
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In the multicentric concept use by InfoMap, the hierarchy tree is extended to include linked objects as shown in the diagram below.
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The linked objects add another dimensions into the hierarchical trees and is essential for the mapping of information.
Select Model - The model selected by default when InfoMap is started is the last model viewed. A different model can be selected with this menu command.
Add Model - New models can be created with this menu command.
Unregistered copies of InfoMap will accomodate only 2 models and one of them must be the InfoMap model. Registered copies will hold an unlimited number of models. In a network environment, only the Administrator or Registered Owner can create new models.
Edit Model - This menu command allows the user to edit the name and description of the currently selected model and the name of its master object. The model code (which is also the name of the subdirectory for its database files), the model creation date and userID of the model owner may not be changed.
Register Model - Models from 3rd parties can be registered with this menu command. A sub-directory must first be created under the InfoMap directory (with the sub-directory name given in the 3rd party model documentation) and the database files copied into it. Unregistered models may be viewed, but not edited.
Delete Model - Unwanted models can be deleted with this menu command by the registered owner. If the model may be needed at a later time, a back-up copy should first be made before the model is deleted. The InfoMap model cannot be deleted.
Export Model - This menu command allows the user to export an Infomap database based on a cut-off date. You can export the complete model by just copying all the files in the model sub-directory.
Update Model - This menu command allows the user to import updated data from an external or foreign database. The import tables must be placed in a sub-directory named "Import" under the model's sub-directory.
There are 2 modes of updating data, one, where your machine is the server and the other, where it is the client. Where data is imported into a server, new objects appended to the existing database. Where data is imported into a client, existing records will be renumbered to make way for the incoming new records. In either case, object descriptions will be updated by the import.
Merge 2 Models - With this command, the objects in one model (source) can be combined with the objects of another model (destination). Where the object name is identical in the 2 models, the object description in the source model will overwrite the description in the destination model if from the same contributor, otherwise, both descriptions are preserved.?
View Unregistered Model - This menu command allows users to view objects in a model before registering it in InfoMap. No changes may be made to data in an unregistered model. You can also view models exported and models before importing them.
Clean Up Database - This menu command will remove orphan objects left in the relations and links database table. It will also delete records in the object descriptions table with no descriptions.
Pack Databases - This menu command will pack the database tables to remove slack spaces taken up by deleted records.
Update Secondary Indices - InfoMap creates and maintain the indices on its databases. This menu command will update the secondary indices of the database tables and must be run in the event the secondary indices become corrupted.
The Model Owner has all rights over the model and he can assign Editors, Contributors and Readers for his model.
Editors have write access to all information in the model and may also assign other Editors, Contributors and Readers. Users with security rights of Editors and above can assign object descriptions to another contributor other than himself.
Contributors can add new objects and new object descriptions to the model and edit those records, but not the contributions of other users.
Readers may view the information in the model but may not change or add to it. Read access to models are restricted to assigned Readers. If no Readers are assigned at all, access is open to all.
On each change of focus, all other objects find their place in relation to the newly selected object, so that the user always has a complete view of the information related to the new current object. To view objects, select the [Objects|MultiCentric Object View] menu command.
The InfoMap multicentric object view screen is show below.
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The Object page contains all the available descriptions of the current object from various contributors. Select each contributor in turn to read all the descriptions.
The descriptions can be in Text or HTML format. Use the [Text] or [HTML] button to switch between the 2 views. A full screen ("kiosk") view of the description can be displayed with the [Full Screen View] button.
The Groups page shows the groups to which the current object belongs. A list of group objects will be displayed if the object belongs to more than one group.
Some group objects may be displayed with folders. These folders are the link objects which represent the different relationships linking the current object with the group object.
In the same manner, the Members, Associates, Sources and Targets pages show the objects which relate to the current object as member, associate, source and target objects. Also displayed are the link objects which describes each relationship.
The Links page shows the Group and Member objects and the Source and Target objects for which the current object serves as a Link object. Use the radio buttons provided on this page to switch views between the groups-members relationships and the source-target relationships linked by the current object.
The Parents and Children pages displays object oriented paradigm for defining class objects and inheritance.
The [Delete] button will delete the current object or its aliases.
The [Add] button is for adding new objects to the model database. The new object can be a "normal" object or a "class" object. If classes are assigned to the object, it will inherit the groups, members, associates, sources and targets of the class objects assigned.
An object can also be added directly into any of the lists of objects but if added in this manner, the new object can only be a "normal" object.
A [Select Current Object] button is also provided for the user to make another object the current object with any of the following methods:
The [Back], [Forward] and [History] buttons allows the user to back track through the objects viewed. The default history list depth is 25 objects. If you need more, you can use the [Options|History Depth] menu command to change it.
A form is provided which requires a source object and a destination object to be specified. The merge combines the 2 objects into the destination object. Where the descriptions of the 2 objects are from different contributors, they are preserved. A description of the source object will overwrite the description of the destination object if from the same contributor.
By default the source object is preserved in the database as an Alias of the destination object, but there is a button to override the setting and erase the source object.
To view the branches of any nodes on the tree, just double click it.
Before it can be used, the external editor program must be associated with the file extension. More than one editor may be associated with a file extension. You must define an editor for the "TXT" and the "HTM" extensions to use the external editors. Use the [Options|Viewers and Editors] command from the main menu.
The built-in editor has a pop-up menu that provides for the basic HTML formatting functions. Click anywhere on the document and the pop-up menu will appear.
To commence editing, select the [Edit Text] button. When done, selecting the same button, now renamed [Do_it!] will give the user the option whether or not to save changes made.
Text from an external file can be loaded directly into the object description, overwriting the existing contents of the field.
The object descriptions displayed in any of the tabbed pages can be edited in this way.
New descriptions of an existing object may be added with the [Add Object Description] button. On a network, only users with Contributors or higher levels of access can add new descriptions. Users with Editor or higher levels of access and add new descriptions and assign them to another contributor. In any event, each user is allowed only one description per object.
The [Working List] button allows the user to maintain a list of objects which may be assigned en bloc as Group, Member, Associate, Source, Target or Link objects. ("related object list"?)
A pop-up menu is provided for the management of these lists of related objects. A right click on any related object listed brings up the pop-up menu which offers the following options:
A form is provided which requires a source object and a destination object to be specified. The merge combines the 2 objects into the destination object. Where the descriptions of the 2 objects are from different contributors, they are preserved. A description of the source object will overwrite the description of the destination object if from the same contributor.
By default the source object is preserved in the database as an Alias of the destination object, but there is a button to override the setting and erase the source object.
If the import file is in HTML format, the document title will be extracted and used as the object name. The maximum HTML file size that can be imported is 32K.
Otherwise, each object description in the import file must be preceded by a line starting with "*Name*" (without the quotes) and followed by the object name. The object description should appear immediately below this line.
When importing objects with descriptions, a dialog box will appear for you to assign these objects directly to a group.
Several files can be imported in one operation.
Level 1 Object Name 1 Level 2 Object Name 2 Level 2 Object Name 3 Level 3 Object Name 4 Level 1 Object Name 5 Level 2 Object Name 6
Object names are imported as new objects unless they are an exact match of an existing object name in the database (case insensitive).
You can import the outlines as different hierarchies or even as link objects as provided in the menu options.
The objects for the search are specified by the user in the dialog box presented when the command is selected. The [Add List] button will bring up a form which enables the user to select the objects to be included in the search list. The [Add Object] button will allow you to browse the object list for selection.
The [Search] button will initialise the search and the list of objects (if any) which are common to the objects on the search list will be displayed. Clicking on an object in the common objects list will display its description.
Any number of objects can be added to the search list and new searches may be made by clearing the list.
The [mcView] button switches to a multicentric object view of the selected object for your answer list.
The user must specify the number of levels (or remoteness) to which the search is to extend. If many levels are defined, the search may take some time.
The result of the search is presented in a tree format starting with the first search object on one end and terminating with the second search object on the other.
This menu has several commands for system options to be set.
The Serial No, User Name, and Organisation must be entered exactly as provided in the registration details.