Hello. This is Kevin Haddock
to announce the introduction of N-Angulator,
hereafter called NA.
NA allows you, the user, to supply
the meaning to your data
in a concise, efficient way.
How does it work?
Your files are stored on your hard disk
in what technically is called
a hierarchical file system.
What this means is that
the root of the directory tree can be
not only files, or what we call leaves,
but also other folders/branches
that themselves contain other files, leaves,
and/or branches.
This structure is supposed to
make it easy to locate your data,
but as anyone knows who has worked with this
single-dimensional file system
for any length of time,
it can get quite frustrating
when your file would fit equally well
on more than one branch of the tree.
What are you to do?
Create multiple copies everywhere
it might appropriately fit.
What if the file was something
people would occasionally modify,
like a spreadsheet or a computer source file?
You would have to hunt it down in every place
and apply those changes everywhere by hand.
Also, let's say not only did you want
to put the file in multiple places,
but it was also more appropriate
to give it different names?
Plus, let's say in different areas
of the tree, there were files
with the same name
that had totally different content?
Then updating all the different instances
of the file you need
would become more and more of a nightmare.
In addition, wouldn't it be great
if we could all speed up
the actual searching for a particular file
by selecting multiple branches in the tree
and simply asking the computer
to tell us which branches under those
contain the same file and which do not?
This would be especially great
if it were instantaneous.
Well, believe it or not, this is what NA
brings to the table.
In fact, this is how NA got its name.
Your data is located by a process
very similar to the triangulation
used to locate radio signals,
only we are not limited
to just two or three angles,
but instead, many dozens can be used,
this makes NA appear to be
what is known in computer lingo
as an n-dimensional sparse array.
If that sounds complex, don't worry.
It will become clear when you see it
in operation in a couple of minutes.
To start out, here we see the NA main screen.
There are two vital aspects of mastering NA.
First is the actual mechanics
of using the program,
which should be second nature
for most anyone familiar with
either a Windows or Unix/apple file system.
We have the same operations
as one might do with Windows Explorer
or any number of other file tools,
but what we also do
that generally they do not
is place a leaf on a branch,
then cruise around adding links to that leaf
on a multitude of other branches,
which could include creating, renaming,
or restructuring more branches on the fly
as needed. Plus, when we find ourselves
hunting for that file,
we can incrementally select
a stack of branches
while seeking what the latter branches
have in common with the earlier ones,
to make putting one's finger on exactly
the item they're looking for a snap.
Secondly, you have the actual art
of organizing your data,
and NA doesn't really put
any limitations on this,
other than the underlying limitations
of the file system.
Let's get started, shall we?
Right-clicking the mouse button here
will bring up what we call
a branch navigation menu,
because it allows you
to move around the tree
or commence a new angle.
We have chosen to organize our data
with a hopper to put new items in,
and the initial branches representing
who, what, where, why, and how.
We right-click on the root
and select 0hopper,
and that branch is added to the display.
If we middle-click on the branch,
we get what is called
the branch command menu,
which gives us many options,
not the least of which
is to create a leaf here.
Remember this item as we progress,
because it will become important.
Next we pick what we know is a leaf item,
due to the fact that it does not have
a trailing slash.
Now, when we right-click on it,
notice the navigation menu is limited to
the two items: New Angle
and the leaf name itself.
If we want to view or edit that leaf item,
we can select that item.
Now that we have selected a leaf,
let's middle-click on it
to bring up what we call
the leaf command menu.
This shows us a bunch of standard options
one might do in a typical file tool
like Microsoft Explorer.
Since we want to do what they cannot do,
let's right-click the leaf
and select New Angle.
Notice that another slash has appeared
below the displayed path of the leaf.
Right-click on it, and you will see
the root branch navigation menu appears again,
but now 0hopper entry has a line
both above and below it.
Items in between these two lines
are called members,
and items below them are called others.
What this is saying is that
the previously selected angle,
which can be a single leaf
as in this instance,
or can be all of the leaves
under a particular branch
chosen to navigate new angle from,
shares content with the items
under the member area of the menu,
but items in the others area do not.
Since the first angle is 0hopper,
of course it shares content with itself,
and so it appears in members.
Now let's click the middle button
on the root branch, and see what
the branch command menu has to say.
Notice that the entry that used to say
Create a New Leaf now says Add a Link.
This is because we have already selected
a leaf, and now we want to add links
to it rather than create a new one.
If you go back to the root
and reselect 0hopper,
that option will revert back again.
So let's add a link under person.
We right-click the root,
select person, and let's add a link.
Notice the bottom area (called the minibuffer)
gives us the proposed name of the link,
and we choose to accept it by hitting enter,
or edit it to taste first.
Now let's go back up to
the end of the prior angle,
select New Angle again,
and then click the resultant /,
and see what are members
and what are others.
Notice that the 0hopper and person
are members.
NA knows you added content to the person,
so it moves to members.
Now let's add some more links
and perhaps a few subdirectories
for this item.
Notice how we can even eliminate
the file name extension.
It will still know how to display the item
as it actually analyzes the file
to determine its type.
This greatly cleans up your metadata
and makes it more human.
Now let's pick a branch
from one of the menus.
For instance, let's look and see
where any events broadcast were done from.
We select event, broadcast, then New Angle,
and we can see California is in members.
Now we can also do New Angle
and select person,
and we can see who did them.
Another thing we can do is pick a leaf
and quickly display
all angles or links for it,
or if we are willing to wait a little longer,
have NA construct all the display items
with Edit All Angles,
so we can manipulate them
just as if we had entered
or selected them by hand.
There are many more tools in NA
to handle sets of leaves
such as scanned pages of a book,
promoting /, demoting nodes,
and so forth.
Thanks for watching.
[captions by sachac]