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:

  1. unique;
  2. as simple as possible;
  3. non-divisible;
  4. 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