Collaborative sensemaking? The Institute for Human & Machine Cognition
at The University of West Florida (IHMC UWF) says:
* "Collaboration tools tend to fall within one of two large
categories: synchronous or asynchronous. Synchronous tools allow
the concurrent collaboration of two or more users. In terms of
concept map construction, a synchronous tool would allow two or
more users to simultaneously edit the same concept map. CMapTools
currently does not support synchronous collaboration. In an
asynchronous model of collaboration, users are not expected to be
imultaneously on-line, directly interacting with each other, or
concurrently constructing a concept map. CMapTools supports
asynchronous collaboration by providing features that (a) enable a
group of people to collaborate on the constructions of a set of
concept maps, (b) allow users to share ideas, make comments and
criticize each others' maps, and (c) enable a group of users to
collaborate by sharing propositions while each builds his/her own
concept map of a domain, without being able to see each others'
maps - the sharing is done at the proposition level.
* The Discussion Threads module supports (a) and (b) above, while (c)
is achieved through the Knowledge Soups. Both modules are described
below." http://cmap.coginst.uwf.edu/docs/soup.html
* "Another characteristic of concept maps is that the concepts are
represented in a hierarchical fashion with the most inclusive, most
general concepts at the top of the map and the more specific, less
general concepts arranged hierarchically below. The hierarchical
structure for a particular domain of knowledge also depends on the
context in which that knowledge is being applied or considered.
Therefore, it is best to construct concept maps with reference to
some particular question we seek to answer or some situation or
event that we are trying to understand through the organization of
knowledge in the form of a concept map. "
* "Another important characteristic of concept maps is the inclusion
of "cross-links." These are relationships (propositions) between
concepts in different domains of the concept map. Cross-links help
us to see how some domains of knowledge represented on the map are
related to each other.In the creation of new knowledge, cross-links
often represent creative leaps on the part of the knowledge
producer. There are two features of concept maps that are important
in the facilitation of creative thinking: the hierarchical
structure that is represented in a good map and the ability to
search for and characterize cross-links.A final features that may
be added to concept maps are specific examples of events or objects
that help to clarify the meaning of a given concept."
http://cmap.coginst.uwf.edu/info/
* Linking Maps to other maps: Concept maps can be linked to other
concept maps to create a whole set of maps to navigate through.
* Adding Images, Movies, and Text resources: Concepts in a map can be
populated with serveral different files from you local computer and
not just Concept Maps. These files are copied to the server so
anyone can access them while viewing the map (even if your machine
is turned off). These resources can be many different file types.
http://cmap.coginst.uwf.edu/docs/advanced.html
* The IHMC Concept Map Toolkit is written using Java technologies.
Download CmapTools to Construct Concept Maps:
http://cmap.coginst.uwf.edu/download/cmapForm.html
* Interesting references for
EOE
http://cmap.coginst.uwf.edu/refs.html
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