KnowledgeWeb Project
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The KnowledgeWeb Project is a learning web site about knowledge envisioned and supervised by James Burke and the James Burke Institute for Innovation in Education. It is a non-profit, all volunteer project.
The mission of the site is to present knowledge in a highly interconnected, holistic way. The goal is not only to inform about the scientists, artists, innovators and explorers of history but also to find the connections between them and impact they have had on modern life. Initially the Knowledge Web will have 2300 entries linked over 19,000 ways. Later it will grow to include a theoretically unlimited amount of information. In later phases data visualization technologies will allow users visual interaction with the contents of the site. The project is looking for volunteers (volunteers@k-web.org).
The project is similar to the Wikipedia in the sense that the goal is a massive collection of knowledge, but:
- KnowlegeWeb is designed to be an interactive teaching tool as well as a reference tool
- One of the functions of the KnowledgeWeb allows a user to build, save and share his or her own James Burke's Connections show using a sort of "bread crumbs" feature which Wikipedia doesn't have.
- there are some sophisticated knowledge visualization tools in Knowledge Web: for example, users will be able to fly-into nested spheres, which combine time and space into a navigable construct.
- Eventually users will be able to visit interactive virtual reality recreations of historical people and places.
- Burke and the KnowledgeWeb have a focus on the connections between people - who met whom, who worked for whom, who was friends with whom.
- Because the K-Web will be used in schools, users will be able to choose whether to see only vetted, or other content as well.
