

The IdeaFarm (tm) Operations Knowledge Tree

First time visitors: Welcome. Click "white" above to display black on white. IDEAFARM.COM requires a mouse and full size display. Use your mouse to "hover" over each item above. You are two clicks away from the table of contents. Please read the following four minute, two page orientation. Or, click and I will read it to you in a 10 minute "show and tell" video.

IDEAFARM.COM uses a fundamentally new form of writing, the "knowledge tree". You are viewing the page for the "root branch" (level 1) of a simple knowledge tree. Each sentence in a knowledge tree is referred to as a "branch". The root branch of the knowledge tree that you are viewing is "The IdeaFarm (tm) Operations Knowledge Tree". Eight branches grow upward from that root branch; those eight branches comprise level 2 and appear as the italicized first sentence of each of the eight paragraphs that you are viewing. Each of those level 2 branches has branches growing upward; those level 3 branches appear as the subsequent, non-italicized sentences in each paragraph.

Appearances can be deceiving! In conventional writing, sentences are grouped into paragraphs, with details presented as footnotes. In a knowledge tree, sentences ("branches") grow upward from a single root branch, and there is no limit to the number of levels. Sentences in conventional writing are intended to be read sequentially from beginning to end. Knowledge trees are not intended to be read sequentially; the reader normally does lots of clicking to climb around to explore. (Many branches (sentences) are clickable; clicking on a sentence climbs up into more detail.) By arranging sentences into a tree, rather than a linear sequence, an IdeaFarm (tm) Knowlege Tree can be used to present information and argument in a more orderly way while making it easier for readers to quickly comprehend content at whatever level of detail is of interest.

A conventional essay with footnotes is a four level knowledge tree. The essay title is the root branch (level 1). The topic sentences of the paragraphs comprise level 2. The other sentences comprise level 3 and the footnotes comprise level 4. Such an essay, presented as a knowledge tree, would merely change the way that footnote content is viewed. But there is no limit to the number of levels in a knowledge tree (and there are no footnotes). The art of writing knowledge trees involves organizing the content so that the root page presents a "bird's eye view", with many or all sentences clickable for the reader who wants more detail. Reading a many-level knowledge tree is like viewing Google Maps and using the wheel on your mouse to select the desired level of detail, from a view of an entire continent to a view of only a few streets.

IdeaFarm (tm) Knowledge Trees introduce a simple change in technique that fundamentally changes the experience of both writing and reading!

Use your mouse to hover over each of the sentences on this page. All but one of the italicized first sentences are clickable. The level 3 branch "Click here!" at the end is also clickable. Each clickable branch (sentence) ends with a small green vertical line, which becomes red once that branch is clicked.

Writing is a tool for thinking as well as for communicating. IdeaFarm (tm) Knowledge Tree writing emancipates the thinker from the straightjacket of linear writing!

Interested? Click here!