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Published online 9 March 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/458135a
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Web usage data outline map of knowledge
Analysis offers fresh perspective on role of humanities and social sciences.
When users click from one page to another while looking through online scientific journals, they generate a chain of connections between things they think belong together. Now a billion such 'clickstream events' have been analysed by researchers to map these connections on a grand scale.
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I would love to get a printed copy of this map. I tried to follow the link, (J. Bollen et al. PLoS ONE 4, e4803; 2009), but it led to an error page. Please supply the info needed to obtain a copy. Thank you.
Here is a link for the PLoS One article: http://is.gd/mIQH
For those of us looking for the connections between the humanities and the natural sciences, is it possible to generate a 3D volume visualization of Fig. 5, so the overlapped linkages in the center can be resolved? Also, are there black-colored nodes, and what do these represent?
Hi Bruce, we are in the processing of launching an interactive service based on similar maps that allow users to zoom/highlight parts of the map to better resolve dense areas such as those associated with the humanities and social sciences. The service will also allow users to rank journals according to several metrics among their neighbors in the map. This service will be available from the MESUR web site. The gray or black-colored nodes are those for which we could not retrieve a classification. Thanks for your comment. If you have more questions, don't hesitate to contact me at jbollen@lanl.gov. Regards, Johan.
Excellent and very interesting visualization, but how could this king of knowledge mapping be used to support interdisciplinary research. I would be grateful if you tell me where to find some actual applications. Please contact me at luisgutierrez@peoplepc.com. Thanks, Luis
The map in the article is based on mathematical analysis. It represents a visualization of mathematical analysis of empirical data. Still there are other types of knowledge maps that are based on other mapping methodologies. 10 Pillars of Knowledge: Map of Human Knowledge is an ongoing scientific R&D project. It is based on a theoretical analysis as well as on an empirical qualitative study. The 10 Pillars knowledge map is on the web at: www.success.co.il/knowledge/index.html. It is interesting to compare between these two maps, analyze their theoretical foundations, and discuss their potential implications to shape the structure of human knowledge and the logical relations among the main fields. Chaim Zins, chaim.zins@gmail.com
Alas, I was unlucky too to enlarge the map