RE: [xtm-wg] Fwd: Concept maps

["Mason, James David (MXM) " <mxm@y12.doe.gov>]

Murray:

This is almost identical to the blurb that appeared in the Knoxville paper
about a month ago. Looks like somebody has a good PR department

Jim Mason
(late at night in Austin)

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Murray Altheim [SMTP:altheim@eng.sun.com]
> Sent:	Sunday, March 04, 2001 01:23 p.m.
> To:	XTM Authoring Group
> Subject:	[xtm-wg] Fwd: Concept maps
> 
> 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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