Graphical representation of the web of knowledge. Analyzing the local hierarchies and the global network of connections in a specialized encyclopedia.
- Autores: Daniele Besomi
- Localización: Electronic lexicography in the 21st century: thinking outside the paper : proceedings of the eLex 2013 conference, 17-19 October 2013, Tallinn, Estonia / coord. por Iztok Kosem, Jelena Kallas, Polona Gantar, Simon Krek, Margit Langemets, Maria Tuulik, 2013, págs. 435-451
- Idioma: inglés
- Enlaces
-
Resumen
Encyclopedias were originally intended to present knowledge in an organized way. Historically, this was often attempted by means of graphical metaphors, but strangely enough the advent of IT and the Internet seems to have hindered, rather than boosted, the original aspiration. This paper presents a tool that aims to visually place encyclopedic entries in their context. It takes the form of a working sample of a specialized "En-cycle-pedia" concerned with the theories of economic cycles and crises, addressed to a learned readership. Its main feature is the representation of its articles as nodes of a directed graph, dynamically centred around the article under examination, linked by structural relationships representing different kinds of connections between articles (e.g., analytical or methodological), internal cross-references, and bibliographical references. The graph is customizable, as typologies of links and articles to be included can be selected by the user. Besides illustrating the relational structure of the encyclopedic contents, the graph also acts as a navigation tool. Moreover, users can experiment by editing both articles and the system of links, thereby turning the encyclopedia into an active analytical tool that permits the reader to compare different interpretations and their implications and premises.
