Advanced Features -- Ex

Goal

In this session, you will explore how to exploit the graph structure of the data managed by the Networker. You will see how to save time by not having to add metadata when you already have what you need, just by looking at the relations by type. You will also see that considering relations as topics opens the door to forensic and investigative analysis, preservation of the organizational memory, multiple levels of comments. This has not be as intimating as it seems, and the Networker is designed to make it easy to gain access to that level.

Indexes

Main features

Alphabetical Index

Clicking on the ABC.. button in the toolbar displays an alphabetic list of existing topics, where the topics are alphabetically sorted under each initial letter.

Each item in the list is a link to the corresponding topic page. Click again on the ABC.. button to hide the index.

Discover Menu

List of all topics

A list of all topics is also available. Each item in the list is a link to the corresponding topic page.

List of all relations

Clicking on Relations in the options of the Discover menu displays a list of all relation types currently in use. Each item in the list contains two links: clicking on the pen 🖊shows the topic representing the role in a relationship, and clicking on the role itself will show all relations that are using this role.

It is possible to change globally the name of the role in a relation, and all relations using this role will automatically change. Let's change the role Borough of into Subdivision of. Click on the pen 🖊near Borough of. The topic page for Borough of appears. Click on the name Borough of on top of the page. The Name Edit panel is displayed. Click again on the name Borough of, which is now editable. Replace Borough with Subdivision, so that the entire expression now read Subdivision of. Click on the blue box marked Subdivision of ✓. Move your cursor below 🔒 Close.

Warning: There is no "Undo" feature. If you made a change that you didn't want, the only way to undo it is to make the reverse change. For example, you can change back "Subdivision of" into "Borough of". But if other topics were related with "Subdivision of" before you made that change, they will all change to "Borough of".

Return to the list of Relations in the Discover menu.  If Borough of still appears as a relation type, refresh the browser: Subdivision of has replaced Borough of. Click on Subdivision of. The relations listed now read: Brooklyn . Subdivision of . New York City and Manhattan . Subdivision of . New York City. All the relations using this role have been updated and are now using the new name.

Clicking on the name of the role will display all instances of relations that connect topics with this role. Each line contains three links,

When you will start accumulating valuable data, you will use this feature often, because it provides lists of terms that are meaningful. For example, if you create a relation between people and the places where they work, with a role such as "works for", this is where you will find the list of people as well as the list of companies. You won't have to declare that every person belongs to the category Person nor workplaces to the category Company, because you already know by looking at the lists of topics connected with the works for relation type that the topic on the left has to be a person, and the topic on the right has to be a workplace.

Please change back "Subdivision of" into "Borough of" using the same method (click on the pen to the right of "Subdivision of").

Advanced Features

List of broader terms (>)

The tab containing the symbol > contains all categories currently present. They can be high-level either categories or subcategories. They are presented on the same level, in alphabetic order.

Scopes

The tab Scopes contain the list of the scopes in use. We should have one, "State", that was created during the initial session.

A scope is also a topic, and, like a role, can be edited and its name can be changed globally. For example, you can change the scope State to US State using the same procedure than for changing a role in a relation: click on State, modify the name to US State, confirm and close. Once a scope has changed, all names that use that scope are affected.

Search for New York, and you will see that the name New York is now in the scope US State.

Languages and Kinds

The menu options Languages and Kinds allow you to see all languages and kinds of names currently in use. Clicking on each name provides the list of all topic names using this value.

Search for New York City. Enter the name "Nueva York" as a new name by clicking on the left box near "Names". Then edit the name "Nueva York" by clicking on the pen icon on that line. Click on the world icon below Scope. Enter Spanish as a language. Press Enter on that line. Below, click on the button "Nueva York Spanish". If you want the language names to be displayed in your topic pages, click on Settings, and check "Language". Click Settings to close the Settings panel.

Web Links

Web links are listed by topic, sorted according to the topic name. Clicking on a web link opens the corresponding web page. Clicking on the bookmark allows you to edit the web link.

Notes

Notes are listed by topic, sorted according to the topic name. It is possible to search throughout all notes using the page search included in browsers, usually with Ctrl-F or Cmd-F. You can edit any note by clicking on the note.

Click on Save Changes to save your changes. Click on the x icon on the left of the note to leave without saving.

The modified notes are visible only after refreshing the page.

Topics describing relations

In Settings ⚙, enable Relations as Topics by checking the corresponding box. When done, click again on Settings to close the Settings panel.

This feature opens a new dimension in what you can do, enabling you to treat every relation as a plain, regular topic. As a result, the relation itself can be related to another topic. For example, let's consider that two persons are related through marriage. We may want to say that their wedding took place on a given date, at a given location. Another person may want to comment on how their marriage is going. And someone else may disapprove that comment.

Let's see how this works.

Create a topic called Susan: Click +New Topic, type Susan. Press Enter

Declare that Susan is married with Jeff. On Susan's page, click on ⇄ Connect. Click in  Role and type Married with. Press Enter. Click in the line:  Related Topic. Type Jeff, press Enter, and click in the blue box below to accept. The relation Married with Jeff is now displayed in the Connect panel on Susan's page.

Click on the pencil on the right of the Connect button. A new button, Topic, should appear on the second line of the relation Married with.

If you don't see this button, review your settings and make sure that the box Relations as Topics is checked.

Click on this button. The topic name, set automatically, is (Susan . Married with . Jeff). On this page, click on ⇄ Connect, In Role, enter Since. In Related Topic, enter July 11, 2018.

While still on the page (Susan . married with . Jeff), let's mention that the wedding occurred in Philadelphia. Click on ⇄ Connect, enter Wedding was inRole, and Philadelphia in Related Topic.

Now, let's talk about the fact that Joan disapproved of that union. Since we are starting from this page, let's say "disapproved by Joan". Click on ⇄ Connect,  enter disapproved by in Role and Joan in Related Topic.

Create a relation to express that Joan is a friend of Jeff: Click on Joan. Click on ⇄ Connect, enter friend with in Role and Jeff in Related Topic.

List of topics describing relations

Each time a relation is created, a topic expressing the relation is automatically created in the background. These topics are not listed in the list of all topics, nor are findable through the search box, because this feature is not expected to be used in most cases, and that would create too much information. They are available in a distinct list, available in the Discover panel.

Click on Discover. Click on Relations as Topics. This list contains the relations that exist so far. It gets automatically augmented each time a new relation is created. Each line shows a relation expressed as a topic. Clicking on either one will display the page for the selected topic expressing a relation. The convention adopted to represent relations is a parenthesized expression with three components: the topic at the origin of the relation, the role expressed by the relation, the topic at the destination of the relation. The role is separated from the origin and destination topics by a centered dot: · . As previously mentioned, the hierarchical relations are indicated by a greater than > sign.

For example, the topic expressing the relation Susan married with Jeff is listed as : (Susan · married with · Jeff).

As the topics expressing relations are regular topics, they can in turn also be used as origins or destinations in other topics as well. An example of such a case is when we stated that Susan is married with Jeff since July 11, 2018. Susan married with Jeff is a topic that is related to another topic July 11, 2018 by the relation type Since. Therefore, the notation is

((Susan · married with · Jeff) · Since · July 11, 2018).

You may wonder why go to the trouble of expressing relationships rather than just recording this as a note. Everything that has a given value will automatically be connected to other information using the same topic. For example, if other events happened on July 18, 2018, they will all be listed there. Therefore, organizing information in such a graph can provide meaningful insights between things that get connected.

The possibility of nesting at different levels can be illustrated with an example. When we learned that Joan disapproved the marriage between Susan and Jeff, one person, Tom, was not surprised. He always knew it. Let's record this information. In the list of topics describing relations, find the line containing: ((Susan · married with · Jeff) · disapproved by · Joan). Click on this line. On the topic page that opens, click on ⇄Connect. Enter not surprising to in Role and Tom in Related Topic.

If you are trying to enter "Tom" and you see that instead "Tom Hanks" is entered, click the Autofill button and set it to Off. When Autofill is off, the Networker will stop attempting to fill in the value and will let you enter exactly what you want.

If there is no Text box on the page, click on Settings and check the box Text.

Click on Text. Enter the text: "Tom knows Joan since she was young and they discussed often about Susan and Jeff dating and then getting married. Joan was not thrilled."

The decision on whether to use free text to document a fact, or to express it as a relation between topics will depend on the situations. Because the graph is a flexible structure, you will at any time be able to refine the way your data content is organized. You do not have to have everything figured out before you start, as in the case in more traditional information systems, such as databases or spreadsheets.

If you refresh, from the Discover menu, the list of Relations as Topics, you will find a new item:

((( Susan · married with · Jeff) · disapproved by · Joan) · not surprising to · Tom)

This session shows several unique features available with the Networker.