The “43 KM definitions” as Topicmap Demo

Finally, the promising think tool Deepamehta installs with a doubleclick on a simple XP machine, and so I can at last recommend to try it out and see why I am crazy about it, despite its quirks.

After you downloaded and installed the Release Candidate 2 4 you may import my example topicmap containing some Knowledge Management definitions from Ray Sims (via Jack) and then visually make sense of them: Compare them and position them and connect them and rearrange them. Here is a screenshot:

• Unlike the concept maps I know, this tool offers a comfortable way to view the description text (like viewing a filing card),
• unlike card-sorting, however, it also offers connector lines and much greater flexibility and better space utilization (like concept maps).

Do try it. Since it is Java based, you may just delete the entire folder and start anew if something should go wrong. So you probably won’t need the installation instructions (which are not yet translated). Here are the few things that are not straightforward:

• After you doubleclicked the run.bat file, a login prompt appears. Enter “root” and no password (just hit “return” twice);
• expand the dropdown list in the upper left to switch from DeepaMehta to root (yellow);
• right-click the beige background of the map and select Import Topic Map…,
• navigate to the downloaded zip file and select it;
• after a while, the activity in the black command prompt window should stop, and in the upper left corner on the topic map (possibly almost hidden by the “<” button) a new map icon should appear;
• doubleclick it and start exploring and rearranging.
• To draw a connector line, drag the mouse while holding the alt key;
• here is another screenshot to show how it will initially look like.

Don’t get confused by the rich other functionality beyond topic mapping. I think this open source program is most rewarding if you stick to the great concept mapping functions.

21 March 2008 | Knowledge management, Visualization | Comments