[xtm-wg] Fwd: Concept maps

[Murray Altheim <altheim@eng.sun.com>]

FYI. Another one of these...

 "We have looked at everything we can find that is similar, or
  designed for the purpose of knowledge management, and we find
  concept mapping to be light-years ahead," said Barry Brosch, a
  senior consultant with Cincom.

Either they need to look harder, or we need better publicity.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Concept maps
Date: Sun, 4 Mar 2001 07:56:29 -0800

Date: 20-02-01
Source: Associated Press
Subject: Software may start a new page on the Web

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Since Johann Gutenberg invented the printing
press nearly six centuries ago, people have been organizing
information page by page.  Even in age of the Internet,
information is still organized on Web pages.

That perplexed researchers at the University of West Florida's
Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, which works to make
computers more useful and user-friendly.

"Why should we organize it as pages? There's no reason," said
associate director Alberto Canas. "It's just that we're used to
it."

Canas heads a team that took a learning tool called concept
mapping, developed with paper and pencil in the 1970s, and turned
it into a pageless method of browsing Web sites.

It will not replace Web browsers, but any existing browser can be
used to view concept map, or Cmap, sites, Canas said.

"If you can do something about helping humans better exploit the
sort of information ghetto on the Web, you've got lots of
customers," institute director Ken Ford said. "They all know that
their browser's no good because when you ask them which button
they click most, they all say the back arrow."

The patented software is written in the Java computer language and
runs on a variety of operating systems including Windows, Mac and
variations of Unix.

Government agencies, schools, students and others using the
software for nonprofit purposes can download it free from the
institute's Web site.

The software is not yet available for commercial use, though the
institute is considering licensing it and has been approached by
private companies.

One of them is Cincinnati-based Cincom Inc., which is seeking
licensing rights for software it designs for manufacturers.

"We have looked at everything we can find that is similar, or
designed for the purpose of knowledge management, and we find
concept mapping to be light-years ahead," said Barry Brosch, a
senior consultant with Cincom.

A Cmap is just what the name implies - a graphic representation of
a subject that shows how it is linked to related topics and
subtopics.

Geoffrey Briggs, director of the Center for Mars Exploration at
NASA's Ames Research Center in California, is among the first
users. He created a Mars concept map on the Internet.

"Mars" appears in a red box at the top with lines connecting it to
related concepts including "Search for Evidence of Life,"
"Exploration Strategy," and even "Science Fiction." Clicking on
concept box icons can open additional maps or provide links to
appropriate Web sites.

"That's a powerful means, from my perspective, of communicating
information and giving people an immediate grasp of the subject,"
Briggs said.

He also wants to use Cmaps to brainstorm the selection of Mars
landing sites. Scientists each could do a concept map on a
preferred site and then discuss, compare and criticize each
other's ideas by computer.

The software was developed as part of a broader $6 million
federally funded project that includes the creation of related
tools for NASA and the Navy, which plans to use concept maps for
on-the-job training aboard ships.

The software also has advanced the original purpose of Cmaps, said
Joseph Novak, who developed the idea about 25 years ago while at
Cornell University, where he is a professor emeritus of education
and biology.

It has been used to help education researchers present large
amounts of data in a concise and cogent way, and for course
planning and knowledge-sharing. Students are also assessed by
having them build Cmaps.

Other concept-mapping software is available commercially,
including Inspiration by Inspiration Software Inc., Decision
Explorer by Banaxia Software Ltd., MindManager by Mindjet and
VisiMap by CoCo Systems Ltd.

The institute's version has the advantage of being free for
nonprofit uses - schools all over globe have used it - and its
features include a method for easy access to other Web sources,
said Novak, a senior research scientist at West Florida.

"All the fundamental assumptions that underlie concept-mapping
have been embedded in the ways in which the software works," Novak
said. "It facilitates building them the way they ought to be
built."

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