Re: Topic maps and ordinary people

Simon,
I would like to propose interpreting stages of understanding in terms 
of user's knowledge of the virtues/vices of two approaches to 
relating things in our search and re-search as we stumble toward 
knowledge. The two approaches I have in mind are formal 
(structured/classified) and informal (unstructured/associative). 
Starting with informal approaches, and moving in the formal 
direction, relevant behaviors include:

* naming documents, including colon-type or slash-type naming conventions;
* putting documents in piles (e.g., documents on a desktop, or a 
computer desktop)
tagging objects;
* tagging a document (this used to be possible in MS Word, but I 
can't find it in my latest version.)
grouping tags (by association);
* tagging a group of documents with the same tag;
* putting a group of documents into a "folder" with a name;
* creating a group of tags (which are associated with a disparate set 
of documents);
* defining tags in terms of the kind of document they are used to 
identify (classificatory or associative)
* naming a group of tags;
* defining tag group names (associative or classificatory)
* tagging words (relating words semantically) .... this is the stage 
I'm working on with the Wordsmyth personal thesaurus for tagging 
associations among words that are part of someone's personal 
background or personal interest.
* defining semantic relations among word meanings (associative or 
classificatory)

And then ...
* finding things that are named by related words

And finally ...
* constructing topic maps

I think the best use case for Topic Maps would be to hide most of 
these activities and wrap them into a smooth path from naming 
documents to finding them by association among the words used in the 
document title.

Just a thought.

By the way, I'm subscribed to the list with a different email address 
and can't send it to the list from here. If you deem it appropriate, 
could you forward to the list?
Thanks
Bob


>Patrick and all
>
>Thanks for all these fascinating replies... :-)
>You certainly make some very apt points.
>
>On 17 June 2011 13:32, Patrick Durusau 
><<mailto:patrick-Q/[email protected]>patrick-Q/[email protected]> wrote:
>
>I suspect part of the problem is that we have been searching for 
>*the* convincing explanation, as opposed to finding any number of 
>convincing explanations for people in different circumstances.
>
>
>I was originally (and still am) thinking along slightly different 
>lines. I fully recognise that there is no one "the" convincing 
>explanation. But rather than dividing the space between people in 
>different circumstances, I'm suggesting treating the issue as one of 
>education, and indeed personal development in conceptual 
>sophistication. One comes across these kinds of challenges in 
>teaching mathematics, or (closer to home) programming, very often.
>
>What I am asking, then, is more or less this: does TM provide a more 
>fruitful approach (than other technologies) to devising a *set of 
>stages* of understanding, each of which can be mastered and which 
>has some reasonable motivation for people generally -- that is the 
>kind of approach that I think could have a better chance of getting 
>somewhere.
>
>Could there be such a set of stages acting as a ladder? Contemporary 
>school mathematics has been taught for maybe 300 years, so they have 
>quite some lead, but could part of the TM community be up to doing 
>this much quicker, perhaps with the help of .... .... ... topic maps?
>
>Best wishes
>
>Simon
>
>--
>Simon Grant
>+44 7710031657
><http://www.simongrant.org/home.html>http://www.simongrant.org/home.html
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>topicmapmail mailing list
>topicmapmail-Zo64W7twoUFWk0Htik3J/[email protected]
>http://www.infoloom.com/mailman/listinfo/topicmapmail


-- 
*  The best dictionary and integrated thesaurus on the web: 
http://www.wordsmyth.net
* 119 S. Cayuga Street, Ithaca, NY - (607) 272-2190
* "To imagine a language is to imagine a form of life." "Whereof one 
cannot speak, thereof one must remain silent".  (LW)  "Philosophers 
have only interpreted the world. The point, however, is to change 
it." (KM) "Without knowing the force of words, it is impossible to 
know men." (Confucius)