User:Vir/sandbox/knowledge structures

Knowledge Structures: Overview

This outline organizes some thoughts about various ways to develop basic knowledge structures which include various points of view (and qualities) in hopefully somewhat conceptually balanced (within and across structure elements), theoretically explicit, and useful ways.

At this time, I believe it could be helpful to start using this basic knowledge structure: the French Wikipedia main page top level category headings, one translated and edited version of which is the top level categories on this knowledge tree: Wikipedia:Version_1.0_Editorial_Team/Core_topics/Tree. At the same time as applying the above, theoretical and applied work and play can proceed in investigating useful knowledge structures, which might or might not impact English Wikipedia top level categories in general.

The outline below will be expanded and refined gradually. Links to pages on the various topics below will be added over time.

Outline

(rough draft)

• 1. Preliminaries
• 2. List of basic categories
• 3. Types of basic knowledge structures
• 4. Multi-dimensional structures
• 5. Dynamics
• 6. Applied examples -- some top level circle-based multi-dimensioal topic trees

Detailed outline

• 1. Preliminaries
  • bias (POV) in basic categories; need multiple categories and structures of categories for multiple points of view
  • types of variables (binary, categorical, variable; qualitative/quantitative)
  • summary of types of structures

• 2. List of basic categories (again, rough draft)
  • time (history)
  • space (geography)
  • time - space (cosmology)
  • large - small (macro / micro in physics, biology, geology, sociology etc, e.g., ecosystem/flock, earth/island, country/community -- note that Earth, a combined macro category (among many other things), is a top level propaedia category)
  • energy - matter
  • life - inorganic world (biology / physics)
  • subjectivity - objectivity (for example, humanities & social sciences / sciences)
    • related: mind - body; knowledge (or ideas) - experience
  • material - immaterial; or physical - mental
    • related: to above but distinct
  • human and nonhuman worlds (humanities & social sciences / sciences) - obviously related to just above
    • related: (lived experience vs. various studies & knowledge realms)
    • also related: society/social (macro human) - nature/natural worlds; social sciences - natural sciences
    • also related: aware - unaware (also, conscious or sentient - insentient)
  • practical - abstract (for instance, technology & science; applied math & academic math; similar to applied / theoretical -- this is quite distinct from physical - mental, as there can be practical thinking)
  • value - value neutral - (for instance, aesthetics & morality / instrumentality)
  • emotive - nonemotive
  • play - work (or leisure - work)

• 3. Types of basic knowledge structures
  • Tables: 2 by 2 up to n x n tables
  • Grids and Matrixes
  • Trees and networks
  • Circles
  • 3D: spiral and spheres

• 4. Multi-dimensional structures
  • combining some of the above elements in 2-D & 3-D structures (and theoretically, N-space, but perhaps not in this dicussion)

• 5. Dynamics
  • feedback
  • development and decay

• 6. Applied examples -- some top level circle-based multi-dimensioal topic trees