WikiNodes is an app for the
Apple
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
iPad
The iPad is a brand of tablet computers developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple that run the company's mobile operating systems iOS and later iPadOS. The IPad (1st generation), first-generation iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010. ...
built by
IDEA.org. WikiNodes was the first tablet app for browsing
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free content, free Online content, online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and La ...
using a
radial tree
Radial is a geometric term of location which may refer to:
Mathematics and Direction
* Vector (geometric), a line
* Radius, adjective form of
* Radial distance (geometry), a directional coordinate in a polar coordinate system
* Radial set
* ...
approach to visualize how articles and subsections of articles are interrelated. The app displays related items (articles or sections of an article), which spread on the screen, as a spiderweb of icons.
Operation
The app uses the
SpicyNodes visualization technique which was awarded a "best for teaching and learning" award in 2011 from
American Association of School Librarians (AASL), and voted #edchat's 35 Best Web 2.0 Classroom Tools in 2010.
The user interface is based on two display modes:
* Page view – displays Wikipedia articles in long form, similar to how they appear on the main Wikipedia web site.
* Node view – divides Wikipedia articles into sections, and links articles to related articles, similar to
mind mapping
A mind map is a diagram used to visually organize information into a hierarchy, showing relationships among pieces of the whole. It is often based on a single concept, drawn as an image in the center of a blank page, to which associated represe ...
. The user can drag nodes, taps any node to display it in detail, with a panel to scroll to read the contents of the section. This provides a visual way to see the relationships between articles.
As of June 2011, the app supports the 3
top Wikipedia languages(by number of articles).
Reception
The app was highlighted as a "Staff pick" by Apple's U.S.
App Store
An app store, also called an app marketplace or app catalog, is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not i ...
, Week of May 28, 2011; as "New and Noteworthy" by Apple's U.S. App Store, Week of May 5, 2011; and at other times by Apple's app stores for non-US countries. It has been favorably covered by several bloggers, including those in the references below.
[WikiNodes for iPad – Making Wikipedia Fun to Explore
by Patrick Jordan on May 11, 2011 / http://ipadinsight.com/ipad-app-reviews/wikinodes-for-ipad-making-wikipedia-fun-to-explore/ ]
See also
*
List of Wikipedia mobile applications – Other iOS mobile apps providing access to Wikipedia
*
Radial tree
Radial is a geometric term of location which may refer to:
Mathematics and Direction
* Vector (geometric), a line
* Radius, adjective form of
* Radial distance (geometry), a directional coordinate in a polar coordinate system
* Radial set
* ...
– the general type of layout algorithm
*
SpicyNodes – Information visualization technique
References
External links
Direct link to listing in Apple app store
{{Wikipedia, state=collapsed
Graph drawing software
IOS software
Wikipedia
2010 software