Key concepts for understanding how knodules distinguish and connect meanings:
That's it. beingmeta developed knodules as a lightweight representation scheme which is simple, rooted in natural language, and computationally useful for search and browsing. beingmeta is developing tools to help users semi-automatically create knodules and for linking knodules to one another to allow search and browsing over larger collections.
Open-source tools are being actively developed by beingmeta to allow the use of knodules from a range of programming languages, including Javascript, Python, Perl, PHP, and Java. Knodules are also used by beingmeta's WebEchoes social browsing site and the new sBooks platform. We are actively developing tools and services to help individuals and communities create high-quality effective knodules for their content or problem domains.
Microformats for describing knodules make it easy to author or embed knodules in various contexts. The three core microformats are for plaintext, embedded HTML, and XML.
The plaintext microformat is a simple text format for describing knodules. Described in detail here, the plaintext microformat looks like this:
The html microformat defines attributes which can embed knodule information as attributes in HTML content. This microformat is detailed here and looks like:
<p dterm="Pallas Athena" synonyms="Athena" genls="greek goddess" drules="Athena&Zeus" roles="mother.Ulysses"> Athena was the greek goddess known for wisdom and as the mother of Ulysses. </p>If you're being strict, you can use attributes defined in the http://knodules.net/ namespace, but most knodule tools work even if you use raw attributes (though they might not validate against your chosen DTDs).
Of course, we have to have an xml microformat, which is described in detail here. The XML microformat looks like this:
<dterm dterm="Ken's dog Rufus" domain="example.knodules.net"> <synonym>Rufus</synonym> <synonym>RUFUS!</synonym> <genl>dog:animal</genl> <genl>deceased</genl> <genl>friend</genl> <role role="guardian">Ken Haase</role> <gloss lang="en">Rufus was among my best friend for many years across many nations and organizations. He is missed. </gloss> </dterm>which should be relatively self explanatory. Note that this explicitly indicates the 'domain' (which is a unique ID) for the knodule. The XML format also provides for the specification of information in attributes as well as embedded elements. The designated namespace for the XML microformat is also http://knodules.net/ and we will eventually have a formal DTD and schema.