Components and Nodes
Components and nodes are basic elements that are used to store information. There are two locations where these elements can be stored:
- in the Information Tree (only components);
- in a Diagram (only nodes and relations).
In the Information Tree information is stored in the form of unique components. Every component has an icon (on the left), which indicates the type of the component. Different types of components have different features, for example, Folder or Statement components are containers, meaning that they can store other components inside them. For example, Folder is a container that can store almost any type of components. In contrast, Statement can store only Reference, Comment, Tag and File. Once you have some components in the Information Tree, you can use them as nodes in diagrams. Every node in a diagram has a link to component in tree. Single diagram cannot have multiple nodes that originate from the same component. However, different diagrams are allowed to have nodes that originate from the same component.
Creation Rules of Components
Text in components should be:
- unique;
- as simple as possible;
- non-divisible;
- independent (self-contained).
In standard text we have sentences that follow one after another in linear fashion. Let’s assume that someone wrote 10 sentences of meaningful information in the form of standard text. Let’s pick a random single sentence out of these 10 sentences and remove remaining 9. It is a likely that we will not be able to understand some of the information in that sentence, because some of needed information, stored in these 9 sentences, was removed.
As an example, let examine these 3 statements that follow one after another in linear manner:
A causes B. B causes C. Therefore, A is a likely candidate to cause C.
The first 2 statements are independent statements, because we can remove all other statements and still we will be able to fully understand them. In contrast, the third statement “Therefore, A is a likely candidate to cause C” is not independent statement. If we remove the first and the second statements, we will not be able to explain “Therefore” part of the statement, because we do not know why “A is a likely candidate to cause C”. We call this Information Fragility Problem. However, if we remove “Therefore” part of the statement, the remaining text will become independent, self-contained statement.
“A is a likely candidate to cause C” is independent, self-contained statement.
Another problem with the statement “A is a likely candidate to cause C” is that it could be simplified to: “A may cause C”. After this type of information processing, we can create a component Hypothesis (see Hypothesis below) that has a text “A may cause C”.
“A may cause C” is independent, self-contained and simplified Hypothesis.
It is a Hypothesis component, but not a Statement component, because we are not sure if A will cause C, and to confirm that we need to do an experiment. However, if it is confirmed to be true, than we can create a Statement component (see Statement below) with text “A causes C”.
Non-divisible means that if a single component can be divided into two or more components, there should be separate components.
Primitives
Primitives are components that does not contain enough information to be a statement. Good examples are:
- Object;
- Process;
- Class.
For example, text: “Vitamin E” should be used in Object component. It states nothing more than that Vitamin E Object exits. The same is with Process “Photosynthesis”. It states that this process exits without any additional information. In contrast, Statement component contains more information and can encompass multiple objects/processes. For example, “A causes B” has two objects “A” and “B” and single process – causes. Another type of statement, which is not primitive, is Characteristic (see Characteristic below), for example: “A is red”. It provides information about the object “A”, therefore it contains object “A” with some additional information – “is red”, and therefore is non-primitive component.
Some components can be statements or primitives. For example, components Diagram (see Diagram below) or Folder (see Folder below) can have text of the statement or primitive.
Below you can find examples of various types of nodes and components. Notice that different types of nodes can be identified by the specific color and shape. For example, Statement node is green has a rectangular shape (see 1. Statement below). In contrast, Object node is brown and has rounded corners (see 2. Object below).
Examples of various types of Components and Nodes
1. Statement
A statement is a general non-primitive component that can be expressed as a declarative sentence and conveys a particular meaning or intention. It has multiple subtypes, including Characteristic, Comparison, Hypothesis, Goal, Definition, and Conditional Statement. Each of these subtypes is also a type of statement, and can be called statement. The categorization into subtypes in the Information Tree and Diagrams provides the viewer with a better clue about the nature of the information being presented, without the need to read any text.
Prototype
(Environment*) A (State*) does something to B (State*)
Examples:
- A causes B
- In environment C, A, which color is red, causes B.
(*) optional
Statement In Diagram
Statement in Tree
Additional Information
Non-Primitive, Diagram, Container
2. Characteristic
Prototype
(Environment*) A is/was State
Examples:
- A is Red
- In environment B, A becomes Green.
(*) optional
Characteristic in Diagram
Characteristic in Tree
Additional Information
Non-Primitive, Container
3. Comparison
Prototypes
A (State*) is > or < than B (State*) (in something*), (in environment*)
Compared to B (State*), A (State*) is > or < (in something*), (in environment*)
Examples:
- A is taller than B
- A is better than B in C
- Compared to B, A is better in C
(*) optional
Comparison in Diagram
Comparison in Tree
Additional Information
Non-Primitive, Diagram
4. Problem
Problem in Diagram
Problem in Tree
Additional Information
Primitive, Non-Primitive, Diagram
6. Goal
Goal in Diagram
Goal in Tree
Additional Information
Non-Primitive, Diagram
8. Hypothesis
Hypothesis in Diagram
Hypothesis in Tree
Additional Information
Non-Primitive, Diagram
10. Definition
Definition in Diagram
Definition in Tree
Additional Information
Non-Primitive, Diagram
12. Question
Question in Diagram
Question in Tree
Additional Information
Non-Primitive, Diagram
14. Comment
Comment in Diagram
Comment in Tree
Primitive, Non-Primitive
16. Conditional Statement
Conditional Statement in Diagram
Conditional statement in Tree
Additional Information
Non-Primitive, Diagram
5. Object
Object in Diagram
Object in Tree
Additional Information
Primitive, Diagram
7. Process
Process In Diagram
Statement in Tree
Additional Information
Primitive, Diagram
9. Class
Class in Diagram
Class in Tree
Additional Information
Primitive
11. Diagram
Diagram in Diagram
Diagram in Tree
Additional Information
Primitive, Non-Primitive, Diagram
13. Folder
Folder in Diagram
Comparison in Tree
Additional Information
Primitive, Non-Primitive
15. Paragraph
Paragraph in Diagram
Paragraph in Tree
Additional Information
Non-Primitive, Diagram