CONCEPT MAPS AS HYPERMEDIA COMPONENTS

Concept mapping has a history of use in many disciplines as a formal o r semi-formal diagramming technique. Concept maps have an abstract str ucture as typed hypergraphs, and computer support for concept mapping can associate visual attributes with node types to provide an attracti ve and consistent appearance. Computer support can also provide intera ctive interfaces allowing arbitrary actions to be associated with node s such as hypermedia links to other maps and documents. This article d escribes a general concept mapping system that is open architecture fo r integration with other systems, scriptable to support arbitrary inte ractions and computations, and cutomizable to emulate many styles of m ap. The system supports collaborative development of concept maps acro ss local area and wide area networks, and integrates with World-Wide W eb in both client helper and server gateway roles. A number of applica tions are illustrated ranging through education, artificial intelligen ce, active documents, hypermedia indexing and concurrent engineering. It is proposed that concept maps be regarded as basic components of an y hypermedia system, complementing text and images with formal and sem i-formal active diagrams. (C) 1995 Academic Press Limited