Knowledge links

The James Burke Institute has chosen TheBrain Technologies' Enterprise Knowledge Platform, BrainEKP, for its Knowledge Web Project. The Institute will use the solution to organize, visualize and share a web of people, technologies and ideas throughout history for public education and collaboration, according to a recent announcement from TheBrain.

Founded by James Burke, author, host and narrator of the television series "Connections," the Institute encourages the innovative use of education technology. On its Web site, the Institute describes the Knowledge Web as "an activity, rather than a Web site—an expedition in time, space and technology to map the interior landscape of human thought and experience."

"Watch the news, and every day you see proof that the world is increasingly interlinked," says Burke. "Nowhere is too far away to matter. More than ever, we need to understand how other people and events across the world affect the way we live. Technologies like TheBrain are essential to help us do this."

The Institute will use TheBrain's mind-mapping technologies for their flexibility and scalability to represent the vast interconnections that exist between historical and scientific knowledge, Burke says.

According to the news release, the Knowledge Web will be an interactive space on the Web where students, teachers and other knowledge seekers can explore information in a way that allows an almost infinite number of paths of exploration. Visitors can click through thousands of interconnected "nodes" and "thoughts" that link together people, places, things or events.