For a number of
years, we've been working with Data Driven Synthesis
as a means of rapidly generating Data
Networks/Graphs and the Knowledge Constructs (e.g.
Library Catalogs, Indexes, Taxonomies,
Visualizations, etc.) that help humans make easier
& better sense of them (If interested, see
NOUNZ).
Like many other Graph representations, we use
"triples" or "triplets" to help represent Semantic
Relationships, where descriptive Predicates are used
as the binding between Subject Nodes and Object
Nodes.
To date, we've only
treated Subjects and Objects as "Nodes" but we've
always known that we can (and have planned to)
implement and treat Predicates as a special type of
"implicit" Node, as well. (Time didn’t' allow us to
get to doing so, until now.) We believe that doing
so grants users of Graphs certain benefits. We've
identified three (3)…
#1: The first and obvious advantage is that
users can now enter a Graph from any
Edge/Predicate as easily as they can enter from
any Node, and start to traverse the Graph based on
that point of entry.
#2: The second advantage of treating Predicates
as Nodes is that a Predicate can now be used as an
"Index" or "Pointer" that allows users to quickly
find all Nodes which are tied to said Predicate
(or any Predicates that match certain traits). In
other words, it's a way of asking the Graph to
quickly identify all Nodes that are connected to a
specific Edge/Link/Predicate (or any of a common
set of Predicate traits). This means that, in
addition to being able to ask "Node-oriented"
questions of the Graph, you can now also ask
"Predicate/Edge-oriented" questions of the Graph,
as well. This leads to even more complex
scenarios of being able to ask questions of, both,
Nodes and Edges.
#3: The third advantage (based on the second)
is that traversal of a Graph can be even quicker,
leading to even shorter paths, because instead of
only traversing a Graph from Node-to-Node-to-Node,
through Nodes, users can now traverse from any
Edge/Predicate to any other Edge/Predicate,
through Edges/Predicates.
My question to
the Community: Aside
from the above three, do you see any other
benefits that we're missing?
