When you are finished, the Vee Diagram will look like the one in Figure 35.

Figure 35. Finished Vee Diagram

When you have finished entering this information you can readjust the concepts to the Vee by opening the Vee Diagram Maker and clicking on the oval that says "Align Vee Concepts to Vee Graphic."

Note: If the concepts you have entered are too large for the "V" that was scaled originally, you can change the shape of the "V" so that it is wider or thinner depending on your preferences. To change the shape of the "V" double click on the "V" at any point. You should see a number of small boxes on the "V" at various locations. Click on one of those boxes and continue to hold down the mouse button as you drag the box to a new location. You will see that the shape and size of the "V" will also change to your desired specifications.

You can also alter the size of the category boxes by clicking on the category box until it is highlighted with small boxes in the corners. You can realign the size of the boxes by clicking on the little box in the corner and dragging it to a new position to change the size of the box, or hold down the shift key while dragging the little box to change the shape of the box.

If you wish to move the V-diagram to another location on the page, simply click once on the "V" and drag it to the desired location. Only the black "V" will move. In order to align the concepts to the new position of the "V", you have to click on "Align Concepts to Vee graphic" in the Vee diagram Maker Box. Some of these changes have been made to the sample Vee diagram pictured. If your diagram does not look exactly like the one pictured, do not worry. Take some time to play around with the features. The style of the Vee is simply a matter of preference.

Now that you have been led through the most simple type of Vee that you can construct, there are a few features which allow you to customize the cateogories you choose to use in the Vee diagram. In the example Vee that we constructed, we did not have any use for the categories: Philosophy, Theory, Event, and Records. Instead of writing "NONE" for these categoires, we could have eliminated them from the Vee before we began filling in the concepts. In order to eliminate those cateogires which you do not wish to use, click on the boxes that contain the unwanted categories and hit delete. For example, we would want to delete the following categories in our sample map: Events, Records, Philosophy, Transformation and Theory. Click on these five boxes and then hit delete. (Remember, to highlight more than one box at the same time you must hold down the shift key while clicking on the boxes you wish to remove.) Your diagram will look like the one below (Figure 36):

Figure 36. Vee Diagram with deleted concepts.

Since we do not want spaces in our Vee diagram, we will want to rearrange the concepts. In the Vee diagram Maker box, click on the oval that says "Align Concepts to Vee graphic." If you have deleted any concepts, the computer will ask you if you wish to remove these concepts or add them in at this time (Figure 37). Since we are interested in removing them, click the oval that says "Remove them."

Figure 37. Dialog box to create or remove concepts

The concepts will realign to the "V" and your diagram should now look like the one in Figure 38.

Figure 38. Finished Vee map with realigned concepts.

You have now completed the Vee Diagram. If you wish to see those categories which are currently being displayed on your Vee diagram, click on the "Load Existing Vee categories" oval in the Vee Diagram Maker Dialog box.

If at any point, you wish to return to the original categories that are presented when the Vee Diagram Maker box is opened, click on the "Use Default Categories" and the original categories will appear in the Dialog box.

Please note: This tutorial (and the activities it refers to) are primarily intended for participants of the Virtual Canyon project. If you are not a Virtual Canyon participant, these activities may still be relevant to you if you are studying Marine Science. If you are not studying Marine Science, you should try them anyway. If you would like custom activities built into LifeMap for your project, please let us know.

Choose "New LifeMap File" from the "File" menu. You will see the window shown below.

Figure 39: Save dialog box

Enter a name for your file and click "Save".

Select "Open Virtual Canyon Teacher Activity" from the "Special" menu. This tutorial will only step through this one activity. The others are very similar.

Figure 40: Special menu

You will see the following window. It gives you a very short introduction to concept mapping. Click "Go to Teacher Activity Worksheet".

Figure 41: Virtual Canyon Activity Sheet Instructions

You will see a form for entering concepts like the one below. In this tutorial, we have intentionally used non-Marine Science concepts as examples. You should enter concepts which have to do with Marine Science. Once you have entered your concepts, click "Create Initial Concepts".

Figure 42: Virtual Canyon Teacher Worksheet

You will now see the information below. Once you have read it, click in the close box in the upper left hand corner of the window.

Figure 43: More Virtual Canyon Activity Instructions

Now you are ready to finish your concept map. First, you will need to create some linking words. Your map currently looks like the figure below.

Figure 44: VC Worksheet Output

Think about which concept is most important and put that at the top of the map. To move concepts around, just click once on the concept and drag it to where you want it. Since tutorial is about trees, we'll put that concept at the top.

The next figure shows how the concepts have been rearranged.

Figure 45: VC Output rearranged

Now you need to create some linking words. Linking words consist of a word or a short phrase which describes the relationship between two concepts. For this tutorial, you should now choose "Create Multiple Concepts" from the "Concepts" menu. (There are other ways to create your linkwords. You can try the general tutorial to see some of these.)

Figure 46: MultiConceptMaker window

Make sure that the bottom radio button reads "Make Basic LinkWords". If it doesn't, click it and it will. Once you have entered in your link words, click "Create Multiple Concepts". Your map will then look like the following.

Figure 47: VC Worksheet output with Linking Words

Rearrange the link words so that the map looks like the figure below.

Figure 48: VC worksheet output with linking words rearranged

Now it is time to link up your concepts and link words. Start by selecting a concept. To do this, just click once on it so that it looks like this.

Figure 49: A concept selected

Now select "Create a Link" from the "Links" menu. Double click on the concept you want the link to go to. When you do this, it will look like the following.

Figure 50: Two concepts with one link

Repeat the link creation process until the map looks like the following. (There are several other ways to create links, but just do it this way for now.)

Figure 51: VC output with links

If you want to stop now, you can. You have a complete concept map. If you want to put your map into the classic style, you need to cut the arrowheads for all links that end in a linking word. To do this, select just the arrowhead, and then choose "Cut" from the "Edit" menu. When you do this your map will look like this. (You will get a dialog box for each arrowhead asking if you want to get rid of the arrowhead permenantly or temporarily. If you choose Temporarily, the arrowhead will reappear the next time the link is redrawn.)

Figure 52: VC output with links and some arrowheads removed

Now you are done. Unless you want to add more concepts, linking words, and links.

One last note while we are here. You will notice that in this tutorial you created two linking words between "Trees" and "Rain". We had you do this to illustrate two ideas. First, there are almost always more than one way to link any two concepts. The linking word you choose depends upon what you are trying to communicate. Second, not all propositions form grammatically correct sentences. ("Proposition" is the term we use to describe the basic unit of a concept map: two concepts connected by a linking word.) For instance, we could have created the following.

Figure 53: Extended Proposition

This makes sense as a sentence, but it is not necessarily the best choice for a concept map because the second proposition in the chain,

Figure 54: Dangling Dependent Proposition

does not make sense standing on its own. Also, "Grow" is a verb, and concepts are usually nouns or noun phrases.

The bottom line is that you need to be creative when building concept maps. You may be able to get all of your ideas into one big map, but you may also need to create several linked maps.

Okay, now that you have done the tutorial, please go back and do a concept map on Marine Science. You can email this map to Robert Abrams at bob@robertabrams.net, and you can call 212-369-6323 if you have questions.

It is possible to make a rough analogy between the physical world and the world of concept maps. In the physical world, the basic building blocks of matter are atoms. Atoms can be built up into larger structures, such as molecules. Atoms can also be broken down into their component parts, such as electrons and protons. In concept maps, the equivalent of the atom is the proposition. Propositions can be built up into larger structures, such as chunks and complete maps. Propositions can also be broken down into their component parts, such as concepts (and linking words) and links. Prior to version 4.0, LifeMap worked mostly at the "sub-atomic" level of concept mapping. You could manipulate concepts, linking words, and links, but you could not manipulate propositions as such.

This tutorial introduces you to a new set of features which works directly on propositions. These new features will give you a new level of power, both in creating concept maps, and in analysing concept maps. This tutorial will teach you how to create a proposition database, how to input propositions into the database, how to output propositions from the database to a concept map, and how to extract propositions from a concept map (which can then be inputed into a proposition database).

Figure 55: Diagram of main Proposition related features.

All of the Proposition level features can be found in a menu called "Database" (Figure 56).

Figure 56. The Database menu.

To start, choose "Create Proposition Database File..." A dialog box will appear in which you can name your new Proposition Database file. The letters "PD-" will automatically be added to the start of whatever name you enter.

Figure 57: Save Proposition Database dialog box

You will then see a window which looks like Figure 58.

Figure 58: Proposition Database window

You have now created a Proposition Database. You are now ready to add some propositions to the database.

If the Proposition Database you created in the previous step is open, you are ready to go. If you closed the Proposition Database, choose "Open Proposition Database" from the "Database" menu.

The Proposition Database stores concept map data as a series of independent propositions. Each proposition must have two concepts connected by a linking word for the program to work. You should usually avoid leaving any of the three elements of the proposition blank, unless you want placeholders inserted when you generate concept maps. The database also stores three attributes for each proposition. These may be left blank if desired.

The Propositions window has two buttons on it. One creates a new proposition. The other cuts the proposition you are currently viewing.

Figure 59. The Propositions window.

To create a new proposition, click "New Proposition" and then enter in the elements and attributes of your proposition.

You can create propositions one at a time, but if you are trying to build a large database, you may not want to do it that way. Instead, try opening "Open Input Window..." from the Database menu. You will see the Input window shown in Figure 60.

Figure 60. The Input window.

The Input window allows you to enter proposition information in the BasicTriple format. The BasicTriple format looks like this:

StartConcept,LinkingWord,EndConcept

In other words, you need three items separated by commas. The attribute information will be assigned to all of the propositions you create when you click "Add Propositions to Database".

To create a concept map, choose "Open Output Window..." from the Database Menu. You will see the Output window that is shown in Figure 61.

Figure 61. The Output window.

If you want a concept map that uses all of the propositions contained in the Proposition Database, leave all three attribute options unchecked. If you want to restrict the concept map you produce, enter some information into the attribute fields, and then check the appropriate attribute check button(s). For instance, the settings shown in Figure 61 would produce a concept map using only those propositions whose theme has been defined as "Marine".

When you click "Output to NetData format and create concept map", your map will be produced. It will look like a jumbled mess, but it will all be there. It will look like a mess because the Proposition Database doesn't contain position information for the concepts. The concept map you have created from the database is data you can explore. One good way to start this exploration is to choose "View Current Map in Standard Hierarchy" from the Special menu. This will allow you to choose a concept that you want placed at the top of the map. All of the other concepts will be positioned based upon their relationship to that chosen concept.

You should keep in mind that the exact look of the outputed concept map depends upon several other parts of LifeMap. Specifically, the Outputed information is sent to the NetData Utility, which processes it, and sends it on to the PropositionMaker. The PropositionMaker then calls upon ConceptMaker and LinkMaker to create the actual concept map.

At a minimum, you need to make sure that you have set PropositionMaker and ConceptMaker correctly. We recommend that PropositionMaker be set so that it reads as shown in Figure 62: "Use Arrowheads" and "Create new linkword even if it already exists" and the direction arrow should point down. You can play with the other two options, but LifeMap will automatically make sure that the direction arrow is pointing down. If it were pointing up, all of your propositions would go in the wrong direction.

The main thing to set in ConceptMaker is the style of text you want newly created concepts to have.

Figure 62. PropositionMaker with recommended settings for use with the Output window.

To generate a list of the propositions contained in any concept map, choose "Create Proposition Report" from the "Database" menu.

For the purpose of demonstrating this feature, we have created the following concept map.

Figure 63: Rather random concept map

After a few moments, the report window will open with the following information.

Figure 64: Proposition Report

This report is generated according to several rules.

First, propositions must start with a concept. A concept is defined (for the purpose of this report) as any concept object which has a border of any size (i.e. not 0), or which has a fancy border associated with it. Thus, a linking word is defined as any concept object which has no border, and which has no associated fancy border.

Second, the report analyses drawn links only. A set of links is counted as a proposition if the destination concept of the first link matches with the origin concept of the second link. It doesn't matter whether the second and third concept objects in the proposition are concepts or linking words (i.e. whether they have a border or not). The presence or absence of arrowheads also does not affect the report.

Third, once the report has found all of the valid propositions, it checks the complete list of links against the list of propositions. Any links which are not contained in the list of propositions are reported as proposition fragments.

If you wish, you can now copy the list of propositions generated in the above report, and paste them into the Input Window in order to add the propositions (extracted from your concept map) into a proposition database (either the one you started with or a different database).

To create a collaborative concept map, have each person in your group generate their own map first. They can do this either by creating a map directly, or they can type up a list of propositions.

Next, enter each list of propositions into one proposition database. Make sure that you set the attributes in the Input Window so that you can distinguish between the different authors.

Finally, use the Output Window to generate a composite concept map.

If you start doing a lot of collaborative concept mapping, you will probably want more polished and flexible output options. Contact us and we will see what we can do.

LifeMap supports multiple Proposition Database files, but you can only have one of these files active at a time. To switch from one Proposition Database file to another, just choose "Open Proposition Database".

The menu item "Set Proposition Window to Standard Style" was added because in LifeMap Version 3.9.8.4, the output process would fail at a point which left the Proposition Window in the Palette style. We are quite confident that this problem has been fixed, but we have left the menu item in just in case.

PropositionMaker currently can not handle concepts with the special characters in them (comma, semi-colon, colon, return, and underscore). PropositionMaker used to return an error when these characters were used. PropositionMaker has been modified so that it replaces these special characters (they are special because LifeMap uses them in data handling) with their equivalents. Thus, if you use these special characters in a Proposition Database, the result may be a little unexpected (for instance "×" is substituted for returns), but it will work. You can always replace the substituted characters for the special characters by opening up the concepts in ConceptMaker and changing them.

This tutorial focusses on several features found under the "Special" menu. The "Special" menu is organized into seven sections. The first three sections are all multimedia related. The fourth section contains an analysis feature. The fifth and sixth sections contain features which are either usable but still in development (such as ConversationMaker and the NetData Utility), or older features which are still usable but have been deemphasized (such as ChainMaker and the Puzzler). The seventh section contains activities which are discussed in a different tutorial.

Figure 65: Special menu

Create a new concept map called "Multimedia Tutorial".

Choose "New LifeMap File" from the "File" menu. You will see the following dialog box.

Figure 66: Save LifeMap file dialog box

Now create the following little concept map about birds.

Figure 67: Multimedia starter concept map

The concept map, as it stands, is a perfectly clear little concept map about birds. It has nice clean lines. It doesn't need anything else. The features described in this tutorial will give you the power to take any simple, clear concept map and gunk it up with lots of flashy formatting that carries no meaning whatsoever. So don't say we didn't warn you.

The first multimedia element we are going to add to this map is a still picture. You can place a pict, a gif, or a jpeg file into any Fancy Border. We are going to add a fancy border to the concept "Birds".

Double click on "Birds". ConceptMaker will open and you will see something like the figure below.

Figure 68: ConceptMaker window

Click once on the "pict" button (the one with the little picture of the Earth on it). This will place a picture of sorts in the sample border graphic (the one diagonally down from the words "Border Size:". When you click "Redraw", a fancy border of a rectangular shape will be created (the size of this fancy border relative to the concept it is attached to is determined by the numbers in the "FB Margins:" field - which are x,y displacements from the topleft and bottomright corners of the concept). Alternatively, click the "Fancy Borders" button and then choose a shape for your fancy border. (If you want to get rid of the fancy border, click the "Fancy Borders" button or the pict button - maybe both - until you see the sample borders graphic as a rectangle with no picture in it.)

When you have gotten ConceptMaker to look like the figure below, click "Redraw".

Figure 69: Another view of ConceptMaker

Your map will now look like the following.

Figure 70: Concept Map with one fancy border

Now drag the box around "Birds" so that it is just above "Birds". After you have dragged the box, drag "Birds" a little. Your map will look like this.

Figure 71: Concept Map with fancy border moved a little

The above dragging was for the sole purpose of demonstrating that if you drag a fancy border, this changes the position of the fancy border relative to its concept. If you drag a concept that has a fancy border, LifeMap automatically repositions the fancy border so that it maintains the same relative position.

Okay, now we are ready to go bird watching. Select the fancy border. Choose "Place Picture in Fancy Border..." from the "Special" menu. Find the gif file called "pinesiskin.gif" and click "Open". The dialog box will look something like the one below.

Figure 72: Select a Picture dialog box

Now your map looks like this.

By the way, this drawing of a Pine Siskin is by Larry McQueen. We are using it courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, one of the premier avian research and education groups. You can find out more about birds from their web site at http://www.ornith.cornell.edu/ or you can call them at 607-254-BIRD.

Figure 73: Concept Map with picture of a bird

Adding still pictures to a concept can be useful, but sometimes only a moving picture tells the whole story. We are going to use a quicktime movie to help explain why Dinosaurs did not do the Waltz.

Select the concept "Waltz". Choose "Add a Movie to a Concept..." from the "Special" menu. Find the quicktime file called "Waltz4.mov". (It may have been sent to you stuffed, in which case you will have to unstuff it first.) Click "Open". The dialog box you will see is shown below.

Figure 74: Quicktime Movie selection dialog box

To play any movies you embedded in this concept map, choose "Play Movies" from the "Special" menu.

After you have chosen "Play Movies" your map will look like the figure below. Click on the buttons in the controller bar (at the bottom of the movie) to play the movie.

Figure 75: Concept Map with picture and movie of "Dancing Man"

Well, okay, you still don't know for certain whether Dinosaurs could Waltz, but you do have a sense of what the leader's part of the Progressive step in the American Waltz looks like.

When you are done looking at the movies, select "Remove Movies" from the "Special" menu. This option just removes the movies from the screen. It does not remove the movies from the concepts. If you want to remove the movies from the concepts, hold down the Option key while selecting "Remove Movies" from the "Special" menu. You will then get some dialog boxes asking you if you really want to disembed the movies.

The next multimedia feature this tutorial will cover is nested maps. First, select the concept "Waltz".

Figure 76: Concept Map with Waltz selected

Next, select "Open NestMaker..." from the "Special" menu. Set up the NestMaker window so that it looks like the example below.

Figure 77: NestMaker window

Click "Create Nested Map". Your map will now look something like this.

Figure 78: Concept Map after NestMaker has done its thing

Drag the "Waltz" concept that has appeared in the upper left corner to just below the original "Waltz".

For the purposes of this tutorial, delete the original "Waltz", and make a link from "probably didn't know how to" to the new "Waltz", so that your map looks like this.

Figure 79: Same as figure above, only rearranged a little

You can tell that there is a connection between the concept "Waltz" and a nested map becase "Waltz" has a drop shadow on the bottom and right sides of the concept. In the Lingo of LifeMap, you would say that there is a Pathway between "Waltz" and the nested map, and that a PathPointer is stored in the concept "Waltz".

To travel along the Pathway, you have two options. You can select "Waltz" and choose "Open PathMaker..." from the "Special" menu, and then double-click on the PathPointer that is shown. Alternatively, you can choose "Browse Tool" from the "Edit" Menu. The cursor will change to a pointing hand. Clicking and holding on a concept with a drop shadow, you will see a pop-up menu such as the one below. It will list all of the PathPointers stored in that concept. Choosing an item from the pop-up menu will take you to that card.

Figure 80: Pop-up PathWays menu in Browse mode

That card now looks like that shown below. It contains the concept (or concepts) you had selected from the original map, plus a new concept which is the title you had given to the original map. In this case, the title was called "Birds", and this concept contains a PathPointer back to the original map.

Figure 81: View of new concept map created by NestMaker

Now, suppose that you wanted to create a nested map in which you could see the original map in the background. This would be most effectively done in a true three dimensional concept mapping program. LifeMap can't do true 3D concept maps at the moment (although we are thinking about attempting it). However, it can do the next best thing.

The next best thing is a cluster icon.

First, select the entire original map, or the portion of the map you want included in the cluster icon. So, try selecting concepts such as shown below.

Figure 82: Concept Map with some concepts selected

Next, select "Create Cluster Icon..." from the "Special" menu.

You will see the dialog box shown below. Please note that if you enter a name of a concept that already exists, the cluster icon will be attached to that existing concept. If the existing concept already has a picture embedded in a fancy border, the cluster icon will replace the picture. If the concept does not already exist, a new concept will be created and the cluster icon will be attached to that new concept.

Figure 83: Cluster Icon dialog box

When you drag the concept "Characteristics of Birds" to the middle of the page, your map will look like this.

Figure 84: Concept map showing Cluster Icon

Now, select both the concept and the fancy border, and choose "Vanilla Cut" from the "Edit" menu. You can also choose "Cut" with the option key held down, but you can't use the key combination Command-Option-X. Alternatively, you can Copy the concept "Characteristics of Birds" and its cluster icon, go to the next card (you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard, or the arrow buttons in LifeMap's main control window, or the options under the "Go" menu.), and then choose "Paste" from the "Edit" menu. Then go back to the original card (the words card and page can be used interchangeably to refer to the multiple maps that can be stored in a single LifeMap concept map file), select "Characteristics of Birds" and its cluster icon there and delete them any way you please.

So, by now you are probably asking yourself, "Why are there two 'Cut' items in the 'Edit' menu?" This is a good question, and even I didn't realize that they were needed until I wrote this user manual. "Cut" does more than just cut whatever you have selected. "Cut" figures out what kind of objects you have selected, and then performs a number of operations depending upon the type of object. For instance, suppose that you select a single concept that is linked to some other concepts. However, you do not select the linklines and arrowheads that connect it to those other concepts. "Cut" looks at the object and says "Ah ha! My carbon based peripheral wants to cut a concept. Are there links drawn to or from this concept? Yes, there are. I will cut these graphic elements first, and then I will cut the concept. That way, the map stays clean (no dangling linklines). If the carbon based peripheral decides to paste the concept back, the important part, the concept, is intact. The other graphic elements will get redrawn based upon the information stored in the concept anyway." There's a lot more to it than that, and "Cut" doesn't really muse about what it is going to do, but you get the idea.

Sometimes, one feature can get in the way of another. Kind of like building an airport runway directly across an automobile highway. You could take a lot of effort and build a tunnel for the highway under the runway (perhaps only to find that you have just cut through a water main), or you can do the simple thing and build a separate feature.

That is what "Vanilla Cut" is. It just cuts whatever object is selected. It doesn't do anything but cut the object. For some things in LifeMap, this would produce ragged results, and possibly errors, but for some tasks, such as moving a concept and its cluster icon from one place to another, "Vanilla Cut" does the job perfectly.

Now we will add one final multimedia element, a splash of color. We will add the color to the concept "Waltz" for no good reason other than it doesn't really belong in a concept map about Birds. Making "Waltz" red will emphasize this.

Double click on "Waltz" to open it up in ConceptMaker.

Figure 85: ConceptMaker window

You will notice that there is a rather unassuming button directly to the right of the "Redraw" button. This button has a grey square with a white hole in the middle. Click the Grey Square button.

When the following dialog box comes up, click "Colors". (You can also try "Patterns" if you like since it works basically the same way.)

Figure 86: Colors or Patterns dialog box

Now click "Border".

Figure 87: Apply Colors dialog box

In the next window, click on any color tile. We suggest a nice bright red to make "Waltz" stand out. Make sure that "for Black pixels" is set since we are still using the all black pattern.

Figure 88: Color Selector Window

Finally just for fun, change the shape of the fancy border to a star, change both the horizontal and vertical border sizes to 5, and set the FB margins to 60,70. ConceptMaker should now look like this.

Figure 89: Concept Maker window showing star shaped fancy border

Click "Redraw".

Now, to see the full effect of your first totally bell-and-whistled, multimedia concept map, choose "Play Movies" from the "Special" menu. You may have to add the waltz movie back into the "Waltz" concept since the original "Waltz" concept with the movie in it probably got deleted back in the NestMaker step. In the figure below, we have copied the "Characteristics of Birds" cluster icon back into the map, just to show all of the features in one map.

Figure 90: Multimedia concept map in all its glory (or as much glory as is fit to print)

When you have determined the general themes that you would like to assign to your concepts, open Edit Themes located under the Concepts Menu. You will see the Edit Themes Box on your screen (Figure 91).

Figure 91. Edit Themes Box

Type in the themes that you would like to use. When you have finished entering in themes, close the Edit Themes box by clicking on the small box in the upper left hand corner of the Edit Themes Box.

In order to assign themes to the concepts you have entered on the diagram, select the concepts you want to assign a theme to. When the concept or concepts have been highlighted with four small boxes in the corners, click on the "Assign theme to Concept" under the Concepts box (Figure 92).

Figure 92. Dialog Box to Select a Theme

The Themes dialog box will appear and ask you to select the theme that you wish to assign to the selected concept. The third option, "Remove Theme" allows you to remove a previously established theme from a selected concept.

Once you have assigned themes to the concepts you wish to, you can activate the themes by selecting the "Activate Themes" item under the "Concepts" menu. (Figure 93) Choose the theme you wish to activate and click "OK"

Figure 93. Dialog Box to Activate a Theme

The computer will then remind you to use the black pixels to set the theme color (Figure 94.)

Figure 94. Reminder box

Click on "OK" You will then see a color chart that will allow you to assign a color to the theme you wish to activate. Click on the color square of the color that you wish to assign to the theme you are going to activate. You will see the dots surrounding the word "Done" become the color you have chosen. When you are finished selecting a color, click on the word "Done". All of the concepts that you have selected for a particular theme will now be color-blocked with the color that corresponds to the chosen theme.

Figure 95. LifeMap's Apple Menu.

takes you to the opening screen.

takes you to information about subscribing, copyright, and so on.

hides the main control window, and shows it when it is hidden.

shows and hides a small floating window which displays the name and number of the current card. This feature is useful mostly for concept map files with more than one concept map in the same file.

When Short Help is on, short explanations of buttons and menu items appear when they are clicked on or chosen. This feature is not implemented for all features.

tells you to look at the tutorials in this manual.

tells you to look at the Common Ground version of this manual.

shows how to contact us for technical support.

brings you to a short description of the philosophy behind concept mapping. If you want more information about concept mapping, please check out the Meaningful Learning Research Group's web site at http://www2.ucsc.edu/mlrg/

tells you to look at our web server.

Random tip: Ever wondered how you can easily access the Apple Menu Items folder so that you can put things in it? Just make an alias of the Apple Menu Items folder and then put the alias inside the Apple Menu Items folder.

Figure 96. File Menu.

creates a new file in which you can construct concept maps and vee diagrams.

opens files which can be used with LifeMap. Note: Projects, Files, and Documents refer to the same thing.

closes the project of the topmost window. Note: floating windows do not count as the topmost window, unless there are no regular windows open.

closes the topmost window without closing the entire project.

saves all open projects to disk. Note: LifeMap saves changes every time you move to a new card, and when you quit. LifeMap also has an auto-save feature that can be accessed in the Preferences window (See Edit menu for details).

copies all concepts and links of the current concept map and saves a new file. Use this feature if you want to create a record of what your concept map looked like at various stages of creation.

LifeMap files created with older versions, such as LifeMap 3.8g and LifeMap Lite 1.0 and earlier need to be converted to the new format. If you attempt to open such older files with "Open Existing LifeMap file..." you will get an error message, in which case, cancel, convert the older file, and then open up the converted copy.

prints the entire current card. If the card is larger than one printer page, the printout will be tiled. Use this item to print out concept maps.

allows you to select some text and print it out. The print engine supports a variety of formatting commands. WYSIWIG formatting is ignored.

opens a section of "The Exporter" which makes constructing print jobs with formatting commands easier. (Well, actually, The Exporter isn't being distributed at the moment. It was useful when LifeMap was a module of ECCE!, but it isn't of much use now. So in other words, if it sounds like something you could use, contact us, but otherwise, don't worry about it.)

exports the entire current card to a PICT file. You could use this option to save a copy of a concept map that you would then import into a word processor.

This item saves whatever you have copied to the clipboard as a PICT file.

creates a text file with any text you have selected.

this item exports your concept map as a JPEG file, generates some MacPERL script and an HTML file. It also generates extra instructions which tell you how to modify the text. When you are done, you have files which you can mount on a mac based web server (such as WebStar) to use as a cgi-based clickable web map. The beauty of this item is that it calculates where all your concepts are located, and generates the MacPERL code needed.

this item does the same as the above item, except that the script that tells the web server what to do when someone clicks the web map is generated in the code format needed for use on UNIX servers. We know it works on the server we use. Since the script generated does not require the use of a cgi, you can use it even on servers that do not allow customized cgis due to security reasons.

allows you to decompress Stuffed files from within LifeMap. The Stuffit Engine must be installed for this to work. Well, it should work, but to be honest, we haven't used it in a while. We do most of our compression with Stuffit Deluxe and Magic Menu. Stuffit Deluxe (from Aladdin Systems) is a very useful product, and anyway, these days Netscape and other browsers come with some version of Unstuffit, so this feature may be redundant for you.

does the same job as "Install..." but works on one file at a time and opens the file after it has been UnStuffed.

closes all open windows and quits LifeMap.

Figure 97. Edit Menu.

cuts whatever has been selected and places it on the clipboard. This script identifies what kind of object is being cut, and responds accordingly.

copies whatever has been selected and places it on the clipboard.

pastes whatever is on the clipboard.

selects everything. What is selected depends on what tool is active. For instance, if the text tool is active, all of the text in the currently selected field will be selected. If the concept tool is selected, all concepts, lines and other graphic elements of the current concept map will be selected.

restores the current card to the last version saved to disk. This command is undoable, so use it with caution.

this item just cuts whatever is selected. It makes no attempt to identify what kind of object is being cut. This item is recommended when you are trying to cut a concept and its cluster icon at the same time. Otherwise, you should mostly use "Cut".

LifeMap uses a variety of tools as it types text, draws graphics, and so on. Usually, it will default back to the concept selector tool (the standard upward pointing black arrow). However, sometimes it does not. If you find that you can't select concepts (the tool will probably look like a pointing hand), simply select this item.

this tool sets the cursor to the Browse tool. The Browse tool was the primary tool in the Library section of ECCE!. In contrast, in LifeMap, the concept tool is the primary tool (the standard upward pointing arrow). The main reason you would need to switch to the Browse tool in LifeMap is if you had a concept map with nested concept maps, and wanted to have a menu of nested maps pop-up at the concepts in which they have been nested.

allows you to change the Auto-save frequency (a move is the creation of a new concept, or the redrawing of links), determine when clicking in the Preview window hides or shows that window after it scrolls the concept map, determine whether changes to the Fancy Border offsets (the position of the Fancy Border relative to the concept it is attached to) are automatically permanent, or whether to give you a choice of permanent or temporary, and whether the "Create a Link..." menu item uses the default settings (1 point line with an arrowhead), uses the current LinkMaker settings, or uses Destination Border Sensitive Linking. You can also set whether the opening screen waits for the user's click.

Figure 98. LifeMap Preferences Window

this allows you to set the default size, both angle and length for all arrowheads, except those that have been defined as a custom size. When you change the defaults, the size of already drawn arrowheads will change when they are redrawn. "Fast Arrowheads" draws all arrowheads at the center of their destination concepts. This is a way to speed LifeMap up while editing.

Figure 99: Arrowhead Defaults window

this lets you select when links will be redrawn. "Allow Fudge" means that links will not be redrawn if concepts have been moved a number of pixels less than the number specified, but will be redrawn if concepts have been moved a number of pixels greater than the number specified. You should consider selecting "Allow Fudge" if you find that links are redrawn by accident when you really wanted to open the concept in ConceptMaker. "Fast Arrowheads" speeds up the drawing process. "Redraw all now" selects all concepts and redraws their links.

Figure 100: Redraw Defaults window

allows you to set up a backdrop behind the current mapping window you are working in, so that you can not see the other items that are open in the finder. This feature is mainly for those who do not wish to see the other applications that are in the finder while they are trying to create a concept map. To set a backdrop, chose "Set Backdrop" under the "Edits Menu." You will see a dialog box that asks you which color backdrop you would prefer (Figure 101). Click on either the color black or white.

Figure 101. Backdrop dialog box

The backdrop that you have chosen will now appear.

Figure 102. Concepts Menu

opens ConceptMaker so that you can create a new concept. Note: to edit a concept, double click on the concept you want to edit. Also note that LifeMap treats concepts and linking words as the same kind of object, in contrast to CMAP which treats them as different kinds of objects.

Figure 103: ConceptMaker window

Font popup menus - Select some text in the editing field. Use the menus to set a type style.

Concept Database - brings up a window in which you can choose a concept. The selected concept will replace whatever is currently in the text editing field.

Border Size - controls the horizontal and vertical components of the concept border box.

Fancy Borders buttons - selects a shape for a fancy border.

FB Margins - controls the size of the fancy border relative to the size of the concept. It should be entered in the form Xtopleft,Ytopleft,Xbottomright,Ybottomright. If one number is entered, all four values will use that number, it two numbers are entered, they will be repeated for the bottomright margin. Negative numbers are valid under some circumstances.

Pict button - use this to select a rectangular fancy border, or to go back to the regular rectangle.

Width = Auto - selects whether concepts are created based upon the width of the largest line, or using a fixed width.

Grey Square - allows patterns and colors to be assigned to text, fill, and borders of concepts.

Basic Concept/Basic Linkword - a convenient way to change the settings.

New - creates new concept. If ConceptMaker was opened to edit a concept and New is clicked, a new concept will be created leaving the original concept untouched.

Redraw - Primarily used to redraw concepts after editing. Can also be used to insert one concept's text into another by opening up one concept, manually selecting a different concept, and clicking Redraw.

Whichever of the New or Redraw buttons is shown as the default can be activated by hitting the Enter key (but not the Return Key), but only when the cursor is in the text editing field.

Close me on New - sets whether ConceptMaker will close or stay open after New or Redraw has been clicked.

opens MultiConceptMaker so that you can create several concepts all at once. If you have a large number of concepts you know you will need, and you don't need to give each one a different font etc, this is the fastest way to produce concepts. Has options for whether concepts will be created if they already exist, how to handle returns in concepts, and what format the concepts should be created in. The three options are Basic Concepts, Basic Linkwords, and Case-Sensitive Borders. When Case-Sensitive Borders is selected, if the first character of a line is lower case, that line will become a basic linkword, and otherwise that line will become a basic concept.

Figure 104: MultiConceptMaker window

PropositionMaker can now create new concepts as well as linking words. This feature was developed because we observed that elementary school student participants in the Virtual Canyon project could make concept maps with a series of valid propositions, but they tended to string the propositions together to create larger structures which were invalid. The new capability of PropositionMaker allows students to learn how to create propositions before they worry about creating entire maps.

To save time, you can load a series of propositions into the bottom field, and then use the Create Propositions button to create them all at once. You can type your propositions directly into the bottom field, but you need to ensure that they are written in the form:

---

Origin Concept

LinkWord

Destination Concept

opens the Vee Diagram Maker Dialog Box which allows you to create the basic Vee template and create/delete categories for the Vee diagram.

creates a special concept map topology used to show the multiple meanings that can be attached to a single object.

Figure 105: Y-Diagram Maker window

opens the ConceptSpreader window. Clicking "Spread Concepts" will spread any selected concepts by the horizontal and vertical spread factors. Spread factors can be negative. "Remove Overlap" moves concepts until they do not overlap. You can choose to enlarge the page size if concepts would go off of the current page, or you can let concepts bunch up on the edges of the page.

Figure 106. ConceptSpreader Window.

Select concepts that you want to reposition. Choose this item. When the list is locked, double-clicking a line will allow you to set absolute or relative coordinates for the concept. Relative coordinates are relative to the previous concept in the list. Selecting a line and clicking "Set Anchor Point" will prevent the concept from being moved when concepts are repositioned. Clicking "Set Anchor Point" when an anchored concept is selected will make it free. Select concepts in the map and then click "Add" to add them to the list. Finally, click "Reposition Concepts" to move the concepts to their new positions. ConceptGrouper repositions concepts to the Absolute coordinates when Absolute is hilighted, and to Relative coordinates when the button says Relative.

Figure 107. ConceptGrouper Window.

This feature allows you to resize a number of concepts to the same dimensions. This feature is most useful if you have a number of different sized concepts that you would like to scale to equal sizes. In order to use this feature, select all of the concepts that you would like to scale to size by shift-clicking on each concept. After the concepts have been selected, choose the "Adjust Size of Selected Concepts" listed under the "Concepts" menu. Enter the desired width of the concept box. The numbers entered are in pixels (approximately 72 pixels equals 1 inch.) Click OK. The computer will then ask you for the desired height of the concept box. Enter this number and click "OK". All of the concepts that you had previously selected will now be redrawn according to the specifications you entered.

Concepts can have special properties which are called Draw-Specials. A concept can be an HBAR, or a VBAR. Select one or more concepts. Choose "Assign Draw-Special to Concept..." under the Concepts menu. You will be given a list of available Draw-Special options.

HBAR is short for Horizontal Bar. A concept which has been turned into an HBAR will do two special tricks when it is redrawn. First, all links from that concept will be drawn as vertical straight lines. Second, the width of the concept will automatically adjust so that it starts at the left most link line, and ends at the right most link line.

VBAR is short for Vertical Bar. A concept which has been turned into a VBAR will respond similarly to an HBAR, except that link lines from a VBAR will be horizontal straight lines, and the height of the concept will automatically adjust so that it starts at the top most link line, and ends at the bottom most link line.

To remove a Draw-Special, follow the same procedure as for creating them: select a concept, choose "Assign Draw-Special to Concept...", and then choose "Remove Draw Special" from the list.

Are you the sort of person who just can't fit all of your ideas into a short pithy phrase? Well, this is a feature you might put to good use. You can add scroll bars to concepts, thus allowing a reader of the map to read long tomes (though you have to be in Browse mode for this to work). Simply select one or more concepts, and choose "Add/Remove Scroll Bar from Concept" from the Concepts menu. This is a toggle option, so if a selected concept has a scroll bar, the menu item will remove it, and if it does not have one, it will add one.

allows you to enter in the themes that you wish assign to the concepts in either the Concept Map or the Vee Diagram.

Figure 108. Edit Themes Dialog Box

allows you to assign themes to concepts that have previously been entered.

Figure 109. Assign Theme to Concept

this tool allows you to decide which themes you wish to activate and will also allow you to assign a color to each of the themes you wish to activate.

Figure 110. Activating Themes

Figure 111. Links Menu

creates one link from the concept that was selected first, to the concept that is selected after you choose this item. The kind of link this produces can be controlled from the LifeMap Preferences window.

creates one or more links which all originate from a central concept. To use this item, select two or more concepts. Select "Create Multiple Links...". You will see a dialog box which asks you to designate which concept is the origin concept (the concept from which the new links will originate).

is the same as above, except that the links will all go to one concept.

creates a link between two existing concepts and creates a link word between them. Select two concepts. Choose "Link 2 with LinkWord...". You will see the window below.

Figure 112. The Link 2 with LinkWord window.

Type a link word in the middle field. Select which direction you want the link to go. Click Insert LinkWord and Create Links.

To use this, select an origin concept, or select the line between two concepts. Choose this item. The origin concept will be placed in the first field. A list of concepts to which this concept is linked appears in the Active Links field. To edit a link, double click on it in the Active Links field. Then set the characteristics of the link. Then click "Update". You will see the characteristics update in the Active Links field. To remove a link, option-double-click on it in the Active Links field. To restore a link, option-double-click on it in the Eliminated Links field. To create a new link, select one or more concepts, and then click "Add". Repeat the above steps to update their characteristics. When you are done, click "Redraw". This saves the new link information and redraws the concept map. Until you click "Redraw", you can close the LinkMaker window and none of the links will have been changed.

"Editing Links" provides you with many features for customizing the links you wish to create. To customize a link that has already been created, click on the link you wish to customize and open the "LinkMaker Box" from the Links Menu. (Figures 113 and 114 respectively.)

Figure 113. LinkMaker Box

Figure 114. Links Menu

There are many features that you can use to customize your links. The first feature allows you to remove or add an arrowhead to the linkline. To do this, click on the small circle next to the word "arrow." The picture beneath the word arrow, is an example of the link that you are creating. If your link currently does not have an arrow and you would like to add one to it, also click on the small box next to the word "arrow." You should see an arrow appear on the sample concept line below the word. You can also select the size of the arrowhead that you would like. To do this, select "Set Arrowhead Defaults" under the "Edit" Menu. You can also set individual arrowheads to a custom size and angle with the "Set Angle" button.

There are also a number of features that you can choose pertaining to the linkline. For one, you can choose not to have a linkline at all, by clicking on the small circle next to the word "line." If you choose to have a line and do not have one at the moment, you can also click on the circle next to the word "line." If you choose to have a linkline connecting the concepts, you can also change the width of the line by clicking on either the up or down arrow under the words "line size" or by selecting the size of the line you which in the box underneath "line size." (Actually, you can't not have a linkline. The above means that you can have a straight line or you can have a curved linkline.)

Another feature allows you to change the color and/or the pattern of the linkline. If you would only like to change the color and/or pattern of a particular line, first click on that particular linkline. When it is highlighted, you should see two small boxes at either endpoint of the line. Then proceed with the directions below.

To change the color and/or pattern of the link, click on the multi-colored set of boxes that appear above the world "patterns." You will then be asked if you would like to customize your linkline for a pattern or a color (Figure 115).

Figure 115. Edit Colors and/or Patterns box

If you wish to customize for a particular pattern, click on the word pattern. The pattern box will appear (Figure 116). Click on the square of the pattern that you would like to use and then click on "DONE."

Figure 116. Pattern Box

If you do not wish to add a color, then click on the word "UPDATE" in the LinkMaker box ) and then click on the "REDRAW" oval. The changes you have made should be entered onto the map.

If you wish to change the color of the linkline, click on the color oval when the computer asks you whether you would like to change the color or the pattern. Click on the oval that says "COLOR." The color selection box will appear (Figure 117). Using the color selection box, you can change the color for both white pixels and the black pixels. If the circle next to the words "Black Pixels" is darkened, you can select the colors for the black pixels, by clicking on the color square of your choice. To change the color of the white pixels, click on the small white circle next to the words "White Pixels" and then click on the color square of your choice. You will see the color choices you have made surrounding the word "Done" near the bottom of the box. When you are finished making your selections, click on the word "DONE". Once again, click on the "UPDATE" oval in the LinkMaker Box and then click on "REDRAW" The changes you have made will now be applied to the correct link.

Figure 117. Color Selection Box

Figure 118. Views Menu

opens a scalable window which shows a reduced view of the current concept map. This is useful for getting an overview of a large map. Clicking once in the preview window will scroll the concept map to the point you clicked.

Select a concept. Choose this item. The top field of the Follow All Links window shows you the name or ID of the card, the name of the window, and the name of the project to which the selected concept belongs. The Links field lists all concepts the selected concept is linked to. The Paths field lists all cards, concepts, or documents to which the selected concept contains PathPointers. Clicking on the first field will bring that window to the top. Double-clicking on a line in the Links field will select that concept. Double-clicking on a line in the Paths field will bring the card to which the line points to the top.

Figure 119. Follow All Links Window.

displays an alphabetical list of all of the concepts in the current concept map. Double clicking on a concept in the list will scroll the map to that concept and select it. Clicking on the map name will bring the map to the front of your screen.

Figure 120. List All Concepts Window.

records the positions of the concepts in the current concept map.

Figure 121. Save Position Set Window.

allows you to choose a position set you have saved. When you select one, such as in the window below, the positions of the concepts will be restored to their positions when you saved the position set.

Figure 122. Read Position Set Window.

creates a new concept map in the current (i.e. topmost) concept map. If you create such a new map, you will need to use the card navigation menu items under the "Go" menu to get to and from the multiple concept maps in the same file.

gives the current card of the current LifeMap file a name. This is not strictly necessary, but it is a nice touch, especially if you are constructing nested maps which you intend others to browse.

allows you to change the size of your concept map. Change the measurements in the "Total Page" fields. Then, click "Update Map Size". When you are done, click "Cancel". "Set Defaults" stores the current settings as default values. "Use Defaults" replaces the current values with the stored defaults. If "Show Page Breaks" is hilighted, special divider lines will be drawn at the horizontal and vertical intervals specified in the "Printer Page" fields. Unfortunately, LifeMap has no way of knowing what size paper you are using to print on, but the Page Breaks will show you where one page of the specified size stops and the next begins. This makes it easier to avoid printing half of one concept on one page and half on another. You may need to experiment a little to find the right Printer Page size. Concept maps can be as small as 1 inch by 1 inch, and as large as 34 feet by 34 feet.

Figure 123. Set Map Size Window.

Figure 124. Style Menu

is a menu that allows you to change the font of any concepts you have selected without having to open them up in ConceptMaker. This will change the entire text of the selected concepts to that font. To use concepts with more than one font in each, you must use ConceptMaker. This menu does not automatically resize concepts, so you may have to resize them by hand.

performs the same function as the "Font" menu, but for text sizes.

performs the same function as the "Font" menu, but for text styles.

performs the same function as the "Font" menu, but for text alignment.

performs the same function as the "Font" menu, but for border sizes. The BorderSize menu may also be used with elements other than concepts, such as fancy borders.

Figure 125. Special Menu Window

Select a Fancy Border. Choose this item. A dialog box will appear which will allow you to select a PICT, JPEG, or GIF file. The chosen graphics file will then be inserted into the Fancy Border.

Select a Fancy Border. Choose this item. The Fancy Border will then go into rotate mode. Click and drag on one of the handles to rotate it. You can not rotate fancy borders with pictures in them.

allows you to move a concept, line or other graphic element up or down in the graphic depth order. LifeMap generally places graphic elements where you would want them, but if you want something different, you can use this menu. NOTE: this is a temporary property: it is not saved when the map redraws, so it is usually best to use this feature at the very end of concept map creation.

allow you to attach Quicktime movies to concepts and play them. See the multimedia tutorial for more on these items.

allows you to select concepts, link lines, and other objects and have the computer speak their names in one of three voices. This feature may have real uses, but it was added mostly because we thought it was cool.

Select a concept. Choose this item. PathMaker will open and the selected concept (the Origin Concept in the Figure below) will be placed in the top field. The second field contains the card name or ID, the window name, and the project name in which that concept is located. Clicking on this field brings this window to the top. You have two ways of adding a PathPointer to the list. Clicking "to Old Map" will create a PathPointer for the current card (the one just below the PathMaker window). For instance, if you wanted to create a Pointer to an existing concept map, bring that map to the top, and THEN click "to Old Map". This button also creates PathPointers for non-concept map sections of LifeMap. "to New Map" creates a new concept map, and then creates a PathPointer to it. "to Document" allows you to select a non-LifeMap document and create a PathPointer to it. "Save Updated Paths" stores the list of Active Paths in the selected concept, and removes any Paths in the Eliminated Paths field. It adds a drop shadow to the selected concept so that you know which concepts contain PathPointers. When the Active Paths field is locked, double clicking on a line will take you to that card. When the Active Paths field is unlocked, you can cut, copy, paste, and otherwise edit PathPointers by hand. To move a PathPointer from the Active to the Eliminated Paths field, option-double-click on the line. Option-double-clicking in the Eliminated Paths field will move that PathPointer back to the Active Paths field.

Figure 126. PathMaker Window.

Select some concepts and other map elements. Choose this item. Enter a name for your cluster icon. A new concept will be created with a cluster icon attached. The cluster icon will contain an image (stored in the concept's fancy border) of the map elements that you had selected before choosing this item. See "Vanilla Cut" under the "Edit" menu for considerations regarding cutting concepts and cluster icons at the same time. The cluster icon feature was created based upon suggestions made in Kaveh Farrokh's work on three dimensional concept maps.

select some concepts. Click "Create Nested Map" A new map in the same file will be created with the selected concepts. A new concept will be created in each map marking where the map goes to, along with a pathpointer to that effect stored in the new concept.

can be used to explore what a given concept map will look like if a different concept is placed at the top of the map. Choose this item. In the dialog box that appears, choose the concept you want at the top, and click "Okay".

Figure 127: Hierarchy dialog box

You can position your main concept at the top or bottom of the map, and can have the concepts aligned left or center.

Figure 128: More Hierarchy dialog boxes

This feature can import an Eudora Pro 3.0 Mailbox, store the messages in a database, parse the header and message blocks to figure out who sent the messages and when. It can then create a series of "Constructed Conversation" reports to help people participating in a listserv see the structure of their conversation. One of the reports creates a concept map which can then be used to reference the database and produce subset reports based upon concepts selected.

Figure 129. ConversationMaker window.

This feature was written for CCTD's internal purposes, so if you find you need to use this feature, make sure to contact us so that you can help us finetune it to your needs.

The "Sort Cards Ascending Numeric" and "Insert Message Numbers" items are used with the constructed conversation databases.

opens the ChainMaker window. Any concepts which were selected when this item is chosen will be added to the list. The "New Concept..." button will add a word to the list, marked either as a Concept, LinkWord, or BreakPoint, depending on which radio button is selected. Very Important: the BreakPoints in ChainMaker are NOT the same as the BreakPoints in LinkMaker and BreakPointSetter. ChainMaker BreakPoints are transparent concepts which are used to create non-straight lines. This is an older feature which has been superseded by the LinkMaker BreakPoints, where a single line can be non-straight. The list can be edited by hand by deselecting the "List is Locked" button. You can select additional concepts in your map, and click "Add" to add them to the list. You can produce new concepts for concepts which already exist by adding ",NEW" at the end of a line in the list. When the list is locked, you can change the concept/linkword status of a word by changing the radio buttons and then double-clicking the word in the list. When you are done creating concepts, click "Create Chain". This will create new concepts as needed, and then create a chain of links. All links to a LinkWord will end without an arrowhead. All links to a Concept will end with an arrowhead.

Figure 130. ChainMaker Window.

can be used to convert concept maps to and from the NetData format. Can be used to send and retrieve concept maps in netdata format directly from the World Wide Web. This later feature requires Marionet to work. Marionet can be purchased separately. If you would like to be able to send concept maps directly over the web, please contact us.

opens the file "Concept Database" for editing. The concepts entered in the Concept Database will be accessible from ConceptMaker.

Figure 131: Concept Database editing window

The Puzzler used to be a feature which reminded you how long you had been working at specified intervals. She now waits for you to call her before she comes to ask you a question. The Puzzler started out life as a humorous copy protection system. It is recommended that in order to avoid carpel tunnel syndrome, a repetitive motion injury often contracted by people who type a lot, you take 15 minutes break doing something that rests your hands every two hours or so. Consult your doctor or physical trainer to find out what kind of work pattern is best for you.

These items open a series of activities for use with the Virtual Canyon project. Similar activities could be created for other projects. See the tutorial above for more information.

Figure 132. Go Menu.

This item and the next 4 were primarily useful in the Library section of ECCE!. They are only useful in LifeMap if you have created more than one concept map in the same file. LifeMap operates on the stack of index cards metaphor. If you are familiar with HyperCard, a LifeMap window, like a HyperCard stack, contains a series of cards. Unlike HyperCard, a LifeMap project can contain more than one window. This item takes you to the first card in the topmost window.

takes you to the previous card in the topmost window.

takes you to the next card in the topmost window.

takes you to the last card in the topmost window.

quickly flips through all of the cards in the topmost window until you click the mouse or until it reaches the card you started from.

LifeMap maintains a list of the cards you have visited. This item steps you back through this list.

If you have stepped back through the list of cards visited, you can use this item to step forward through the list.

allows you to do simple text searches through all of the fields of the topmost window. The first time you use this option, you will go to the first instance of the text searched for. To find the next instance, just hit <return>.

allows you to do more complicated searches across more than one project. This produces a list of all occurrences of the text searched for.

doesn't do anything. It is just a title for the remaining items in this menu. The workspace extensions are currently not available. If they sound interesting to you, contact us.

"The Library" opens a project which gives you access to the many (mostly environmental education) information resources which have been developed for ECCE!. "CorrChannel" opens a note organizing tool. "To Do" opens a To Do project. This is a relatively undeveloped section of ECCE!. "EarthPhone" opens an integrated communications program. "Map Navigator" opens a set of county outlines of the lower 48 US states at a scale of 1:Two Million.

Figure 133. Pathway Menu.

PathPointers are text based codes which allow LifeMap to open any card. To use a PathPointer, select the text and choose this item.

inserts a menu which allows you to record a PathPointer for the current card. You can construct PathPointers by hand, but this method is easier.

creates a PathPointer for a document that was not created by LifeMap. For instance, if you wanted to create a PathPointer to a WordPerfect document, you would use this item.