Plan

1. We process information linearly. This is a fundamental fact. (Aside: example of polyphonic music and the Glenn Gould radio program). Symbol processing in home sapiens is serial and cannot manage either parallel or non-linear presentation. Particularly textual symbol processing. This is not only related to the methods by which humans obtain sensory input but derives from the very structure or high level information processing in the brain. This is manifested very clearly in language.
2. thus even where information is presented non-linearly, or more commonly in parallel, we still create our own linear thread as we progress through it. A concrete example is given by the internet or by encylcopedias. Though both examples present a web of information rather than an explicit linear narrative the human mind cannot branch multiply in any literal sense. Thus as I progress through a website or an encylcopedia though I may branch I then leave the original line of investigation – perhaps to return later.
3. Given this fact that we can only read along one dimension at once we see the great challenge or all analytical writing, namely to present in single-dimensional linear form, that which is always multidimensional and non-linear.
4. Thus we are presented with a dilemma. Much knowledge and information is multi-faceted, approachable from many different angles simultaneously, yet if it is to be understood and processed by humans it must be presented serially, that is to say linearly along a single path. Now I do not suggest that we can overcome these inherent limitations but I do suggest that we can approach knowledge storage and categorization in such a way as to impose the minimal limits on the possible methods of presentation.

The Metaphor

We can imagine the building blocks, the factlets, as pearls, little pearls of knowledge. We can then imagine the creation of an expository line, or narrative if we allow ourselves to abuse terminology, as the stringing of these pearls onto the thread – the thread of narrative – which when complete provides a ‘necklace’ of exposition (NB: though we should avoid seeing any cyclical structure in analogy with the circular necklace as it is more usual for a exposition to resemble an interval with a beginning and end and a direction of progression).

Other Items

The multiple classification problem. Analogies and examples:

Is there a standard data format for taxonomies/classification systems. Should include a specification of text encoding (like LDIF but for taxonomies). If there is I would guess there will be open source implementations (and if not won’t be that hard to write one’s own).

Requirements:

1. Type of taxonmy:
   1. Enumerations (flat)
   2. Tree (single parent)
   3. Lattice (multiple parent)
2. Identifiers. Support for at least 10 million possible elements in taxonomy. Optional: Identifiers should be portable across systems (i.e. you can plug different taxonomies together without recoding identifiers). This means probably want a GUID based id system). Required: basic int32 or int64 based identifiers.

Found So Far

1. DELTA http://biodiversity.uno.edu/delta/. Seem to be primarily for standard tree taxonomies for animals and plants.

Written Myself

Two taxonomy systems with gui editors and serialization to xml. One in C# and the other in java. Major issue is non-stdness.