A game to fill out "knowledge trees"

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openworld
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A game to fill out "knowledge trees"

Post by openworld » Fri Mar 03, 2017 6:23 am

Very glad to be back in Livecode Land!

I'm working on an UI for an open source game for peer learners.

The aim of the game will be to generate mind map-style "knowledge trees" on any topic of interest. As players enter a learning landscape, an avatar will ask players a small set of overview questions about their given topic, prompting players to start filling out a knowledge tree on that topic.

Are there code snippets that could help generate (vertically rising) mind map containing the information input in response to the questions?

Although I've combed a number of sources, I haven't yet found a Livecode stack or other app that generates a mind map diagram as answers are input.

Each knowledge tree in a learning landscape would be visible, at first, as an almost transparent gray graphic. Each knowledge tree would have a trunk that forks into three main branches (one branch for "heart" questions, another for "head" questions, and the final for "hands" questions). The right and left main branches would slant off from the central one at a 30 degree angle.

Each of the three main branches in turn would sprout three sub-branches. For example, as offshoots of the Heart main branch, the sub-branches would contain answers to questions such as:

- what attracts you to this topic?
- what aspects do you feel unsure yet curious about?
- what puts you off about it?

Users would be challenged to briefly answer a total of nine standard questions – three for the Heart (feeling) branch, three for the Head (imagining) branch, and three for the Hands (doing) branch. Wherever they chose to answer, a leaf would appear. Other players would be able, by hovering on any leaf, to see a popup hint containing the brief answer.

If other players wished to add a different short answer in response to any of the standard questions, it would appear also appear as a leaf on the branch containing that question. Ideally, players would have the option to add "twigs" – also in standard three branch pattern – to any sub-branches where they wished to add leaves with more in-depth responses.

As the number of leaves on a branch grew, the saturation would increase for the trunk and for the specific branch/sub-branch path where leaves were sprouting. This would help players quickly scan a forest of knowledge trees on topics of interest, and see which specific trees were coming alive. (The others would remain as near-transparent forms, until players started to fill them in.)

Participants would accrue points as peer learners and subject matter experts gave feedback via popup slider bars to all or part of a given knowledge tree. The color saturations of the related leaves, twigs, and branches would brighten or fade accordingly.

What do you think? Appreciate any advice or help – I'd like to see whether a basic version of this can be launched as a proof of concept, and then potentially offered as a free resource for new peer learning and lifelong learning initiatives.

Best,

Mark Frazier
Openworld

openworld
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Re: A game to fill out "knowledge trees"

Post by openworld » Sat Mar 04, 2017 12:31 am

Calmrr3,

Just discovered your project on Vimeo to create fractal-like tree structures in Livecode.

Would it be possible to share some of the scripting you used to generate the branching behavior?

For the Learning Landscape prototype, I'd love to see a simple tree-like mind map created wherever a user wants to drag and drop a seed in a landscape.

Appreciate any help!

Best,

Mark
CirclesGeneratingBranches-CallumRitchie.png
CirclesGeneratingBranches-CallumRitchie.png (39.02 KiB) Viewed 15145 times

capellan
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Re: A game to fill out "knowledge trees"

Post by capellan » Wed Mar 15, 2017 10:11 am

Hi Mark,

Check this stack. This is just a starting point to build upon with help
of more experienced developers in this platform. I think that "Behaviors"
could be key to achieve your project.

By the way, I stitched this together while working on other things
(and it certainly looks like it). Use Option-Click on the START node
to delete all connected branches and nodes. :oops:

This stack still needs code for these features:
1) code for deleting (or just folding) connected branches
2) code to manage custom properties that hold data (including ids from connected branches)
3) code for scaling and rotating complete branches
4) code for moving nodes (while keeping branches connected)
5) code for customizing appearance of nodes, branches and connectors
6) code for repositioning nodes and branches to avoid overlap.

Did I left anything out?

Have a nice week! :D

Al
01.PNG
02.PNG

MarkStack2.zip

openworld
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Re: A game to fill out "knowledge trees"

Post by openworld » Wed Mar 15, 2017 11:39 pm

Al,

This is so wonderful!!! I'm grateful beyond words for your kindness and great help. Livecode has an amazing community and I'm thankful as well as to Richard, Bernd and many others here for all of the insights and encouragement over the years.

The steps you've outlined sound exactly what's needed. I've made some progress in drafting the "learning landscape" interface. In a new "TreeGenerator" stack that I'll be uploading in the next message, a number of the button objects contain popup hints (on mouseover) with the kinds of questions that can be asked, as a preview of the kind of future prompts that will encourage learners to fill out and share knowledge trees on topics of their interest.

Will deeply appreciate any feedback and progress to come! I'd love to see the prototype evolve with actual examples of knowledge trees that can help students and others (including me) become more proficient in Livecode.

Best,

Mark

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Re: A game to fill out "knowledge trees"

Post by openworld » Wed Mar 15, 2017 11:48 pm

Here is an image file of the draft Knowledge Tree creator landscape mentioned in the previous message (will try uploading a .zip file of the stack next)
Attachments
KnowledgeTreeCreatorUIMCF031517.jpg

openworld
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Re: A game to fill out "knowledge trees"

Post by openworld » Thu Mar 16, 2017 4:14 am

Al and all,

Here's a stack that holds key questions that can be asked in a learning landscape on any topic. Hovering over buttons on the trail, in this version, reveals each of the questions.

In a working version, I hope users will be able to put their responses into popup text fields as they find questions they are ready to answer.

The questions along the learning trail follow a heart->head->hands pattern.

Each question that does prompt a short response will generate a leaf on a corresponding branch of the knowledge tree at the left. (In cases where a user wishes to make a detailed response, they could do so in a full version by creating outliner-style multilevel content. Outliner-style text inputs automatically would generate sub-branches or twigs with their own leaves in the knowledge tree.)

Other travelers in the learning landscape will have the option to fill in some or all of an existing knowledge tree. They also can be offered options to create and share knowledge trees of their own on new topics.

Double clicking on a given knowledge tree, in the working version, will let the learner zoom in and see a closeup view of answers on any branch or twig. Tabbed filters also could allow one to toggle views and compare how other people whom one admires have filled out a tree or branch on a specific topic.

Ultimately, the aim of the learning landscape game will be to let players tag and save any specific branches or leaves, and re-combine them to create new hybrid knowledge trees. Creators of valued branches and leaves would earn points to the degree that were included in other knowledge trees with action-ready pledges.

Does this sound workable? Will look forward to comments and ideas on next steps!

Best,

Mark
Attachments
KnowledgeTreeCreator-LearningLandscape-March162017.livecode.zip
(255.89 KiB) Downloaded 411 times

mattmaier
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Re: A game to fill out "knowledge trees"

Post by mattmaier » Thu Mar 16, 2017 4:16 am

Hey Mark, I've built an app that lets users construct graph-based models of projects. There are algorithms to display the graph visually in a few different ways.

It's very specific to my domain, but it's open source, and I'm happy to answer questions on it. There might be something in there you can use.

github.howstr.com

capellan
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Re: A game to fill out "knowledge trees"

Post by capellan » Thu Mar 16, 2017 4:36 am

Hi Mark,

Now I see what you mean. I like the idea of building first a Knowledge Landscape of LiveCode. After completed, this Livecode Knowledge Tree will be a really useful tool for learners.

After we built this first knowledge tree, I would like to see a knowledge tree about "How to create and use a mind map"

openworld
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Re: A game to fill out "knowledge trees"

Post by openworld » Thu Mar 16, 2017 6:05 pm

Many thanks to all for the insights and help!

Al, agree on the value of filling out a prototype with resources that can help spread LiveCode skills.

Attached is an update of the proposed interface. It shows how various knowledge trees on a given topic could be navigated. Double clicking on a tree could "load" its contents onto the active learning trail.

Thanks to the fractal "heart-head-hands" nature of each main knowledge tree, any of its sub-branches and twigs could appear as trees along the relevant branches of the learning trail.

A button (shown here in blue) could allow a learner to compare knowledge trees from different creators on a given topic of interest.

Having each of these chosen trees, in turn, fill out the active learning trail would let a learner see commonalities, gaps, and differences in approaches to the topic.

I'll next try to upload a .zip file of a stack with buttons and popup hints relating to the above.

Will very much welcome your thoughts!

Best,

Mark

PS Matt, your app for diagramming workflows is intriguing! In each Knowledge Tree/Learning Trail, there is a "Strategy" branch in which a sequence of steps can be laid out for learners to reach the ideal they are seeking. Having visual maps of these steps would be wonderful. I've wondered how Livecode chatbots might help prompt learners to generate visual workflows of their strategies – perhaps using some of the tools at https://sites.google.com/a/pgcps.org/li ... -resources . Apps are appearing that may be of interest in converting text to diagrams, and vice versa... look forward to exploring more with you on this!
Attachments
LoadingKnowledgeTreesOntoTrails-021617-JPG.jpg

openworld
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Re: A game to fill out "knowledge trees"

Post by openworld » Thu Mar 16, 2017 6:34 pm

My updated UI stack on "Importing Knowledge Trees into Learning Trails" is >1 MB. I can't find a way to compress it enough to upload on the forum. Is there another option for sharing? Will be glad to share via email or any other means.

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Re: A game to fill out "knowledge trees"

Post by FourthWorld » Thu Mar 16, 2017 7:25 pm

Many people use FTP, Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, OneCloud, Nextcloud (my personal favorite), or other services to share files here. If none of those work for you I can donate an FTP account for you to use from one of my domains.
Richard Gaskin
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openworld
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Re: A game to fill out "knowledge trees"

Post by openworld » Thu Mar 16, 2017 10:07 pm

Al, Richard and all,

I've just uploaded to Google Drive an updated stack for the Knowledge Tree/Learning Trails interface. Almost all of the UI elements now have popup hints indicating what they can do in the future. The stack is available to anyone via the following link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6UPv7 ... sp=sharing

Richard, thanks for the link to NextCloud! I ran into some issues that are described in a Knowledge Tree format (visual attached). Hope a working Knowledge Tree in Livecode on this will be open for inputs soon!

Best,

Mark
Attachments
Setting up NextCloud (draft KnowledgeTree).png
Last edited by openworld on Thu Mar 16, 2017 10:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

openworld
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Re: A game to fill out "knowledge trees"

Post by openworld » Thu Mar 16, 2017 10:32 pm

All,

Here are links to the structured text files with information contained in the Knowledge Tree mindmap posted in the previous message ...

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6UPv ... EV4LVJXajg (this outline uses standard indented spacing, in a .txt file)

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6UPv ... U9Xa3BfS0U (this has outliner tags, in an .opml file)

Alejandro, as and when you may have time, it will be great to see if the structured text can be used to generate branches and twigs using the Livecode script you shared yesterday.

Look forward to whatever may sprout in Knowledge Trees!

Best,

Mark

capellan
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Re: A game to fill out "knowledge trees"

Post by capellan » Thu Mar 16, 2017 11:43 pm

I was looking for a hierarchical data tree to create a working model of Mark's idea
and found this really interesting tree model (patented by Xerox):
http://ocsigen.org/js_of_ocaml/files/hy ... index.html

There are many, many ways to visualize and interact with hierarchical data. :shock:

capellan
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Re: A game to fill out "knowledge trees"

Post by capellan » Fri Mar 17, 2017 12:26 am

Hi Mark,

I downloaded the files that you posted in Google Drive. Thanks for posting these files! :D
The file with the extension .opml could be more useful if it have more information like
<parentNodes>, <childNodes>, <nodeName>, <nodeID> and <nodeData>

After I discover why LiveCode is crashing (while clicking some overlapping nodes) will
continue with code for generating these graphs from text files.

EDIT: I think that the true source of problems is that part of the code that position the nodes at different angles.
After I complete some pending work, I will continue. :D

Al

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