“Designs on Knowledge” Project

This is a high level description of many of the family of features, systems, topics, interfaces, implementation, design and experimental concepts which make up the Designs on Knowledge (DOK) project.

  • From the perspective of the individual, Knowledge, Experience, Learning and Memory are not separable, but are richly interconnected aspects of life. DOK begins with the recognition that enormous potential exists in providing environments in which all three may simultaneously be captured, explored, experienced and integrated. 

  • DOK allows a person or a group to author journals, learning materials and collections of personal media. It provides interfaces and experiences to help deepen, connect, create and express what is authored.

  • While working with the system the author interactively grows an integrated network, connecting up the relationships between the concepts, knowledge, people, places and things. With each entry this network becomes an increasingly powerful and dynamic tool which can help the author explore and create with the connections between past and current entries. It also helps the author capture what is important to them in their current experience and learning.

  • Creating Entries: Recording our lives, knowledge, experience, thoughts, and personal media

    • Journal Entry Console

      • Types of entries, with support tools and interfaces

        • General Entry: Most commonly used for journal entries

          • Language: any kind of text, any language

          • dynamic interactions with personal knowledge base

          • Text and annotations analysis tools: Using natural language text, mark-up languages and combinations and any combination. Analysis tools can be used on imported text

          • System of prompts to help deepen, complete, brains-storm, expand, elaborate and connect entries

          • Qualitative and quantitative rankins

        • Special Entry Types

          • Media

            • Images

          • Meal and diet

          • Exercise

          • Sleep

          • World Events: dates and events from the outside

          • Media interactions: Reading sessions, Movie watching

          • Notes and annotations

          • Learning resources

            • Authored or imported

            • thought questions, trivia, QA format

            • vocabulary and term building support

          • Topics, themes, terms, concepts

          • People, places, things

    • Importing and integrating notes, class materials, annotations and outside material

      • Heterogenous text, web based material

      • Launching of web searches while working with notes

    • Media importation (images only in current version)

  • Animations, visualizations and experiences

    • Tile Stream

      • Creates an infinite number of video style animations based on connections between images and other entries.

      • Weaves together collections based on randomizable combinations of topics, themes, emotional characteristic

      • Hosts a game which allows viewers to make a educated guess of what themes tie together the collections

      • Users may activate the entries during the game or the video in order to add details or memories that may be stimulated

    • History Browser

    • Knowledge Context Animation

      • Zoom in and out of any individual and collection of entries. Randomly access any point context on the text or concept level, bore down into its parts, zoom out for large context, move back and forward through streams of ideas. Be quizzed and review answer material in original context

      • Expand the context to include entries and topics from related entries.

      • Generate an infinite number of subsets

      • Follow the history of an idea or topics through your entries

    • Multiple views of each entry or collection which highlight various changing levels vocabulary, learning resources and other embedded information.

    • Views of Entries

      • For each day, week, month

  • Prompts

    • System of though questions, probes, QA and other formats that assist with meeting journaling goals in terms of completeness, expandability and quality. Logs to track how well each entry has been elaborated; flags and scheduling options to help the user to come back and finish.

    • The tree of prompts

  • Knowledge Engineering

    • Each instance of DOK allows the user to build a unique semantically aware Personal Knowledge Network.

    • User creates

      • Topics, themes, concepts, terms

      • These are woven together by logical relationships

  • Analysis tools

    • Contextualization

    • Completeness

    • Semantic network building and knowledge engineering

  • Special Projects:

    • Journaling with personal image collections

    • PKML: Personal Knowledge Mark-up Language

    • Rational Emotive Evidential Journaling methods

    • World History Browser

    • Journaling with game interface design

    • Preparing DOK to allow the author to create Virtual Life, VR and Virtual World representations