Cosma / Documentation / Cosma 1
Human’s advanced abilities in the use of symbols and tools is what makes them so unique, so it is not at all surprising that the discipline that concerns itself with the use of symbols as tools is one that can subsume all other disciplines and encompass the entirety of humanity’s accomplishments. — M. E. Hopper
Communication is a discipline that can subsume all others.
Cosma has a page about communication as a discipline.
The knowledge resources on Cosma are also organized around these elements of communication systems.
Media, Knowledge, Human and Noise
There is a well known hierarchy for describing the content of communication.
These are the types of content in the hierarchy.
Data, Information, Knowledge and Wisdom
Cosma focuses on knowledge and wisdom.
The medium is the message. — M. McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
Media are the means of communication.
Mastering media is essential for effective communication.
Cosma has a page that describes media as a discipline.
Media come in these different formats.
Format Multimedia (Video, Animation) Image (Object) Scent, Flavor, Audio (Text) Haptic, “Other“
Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty. — J. Bronowski, The Ascent of Man
Cosma has a page about knowledge as a discipline.
Cosma provides a systematic inventory of the best knowledge resources on the Web!
There are also periodic “posts” about great knowledge resources on the Web.
Cosma enables spatial “Knowledge Navigation”of the Knowledge Resources inventory hosted on this site. The project is founded upon the premise that when knowledge is intuitively organized, and then presented in a spatial format, everyone can easily master it. That is why this site features Worlds for exploring it.
Knowledge Worlds
Knowledge Objects (K-Objects)
Knowledge Places (K-Places)
Knowledge Gates to Second Life (K-Gates, Alpha)
Knowledge Palace (K-Palace, Beta)
Knowledge Paradise (K-Paradise, K-Places 1.0)
Toy Worlds (Post)
Worlds Challenge
Form is supposed to cover the shape or structure of of the work; content its substance, meaning, ideas, or expressive effects. — Richard Middleton, Form. Key Terms in Popular Music and Culture
Pages on Cosma have links to knowledge resources organized by this unique classification scheme.
knowledge realm : a kingdom, sphere, or domain for holding the body of information, principles and truth acquired by humankind — M.E. Hopper, Cosma
The bulk of the pages on Cosma are about the stuff that surrounds us. They are organized using a scheme of “realms” assending from the inanimate to animate and then to sentient and beyond.
Use the Zoom page to start exploring the realms.
1. This is a special abbreviated Table of Contents for advanced users.
One goal of Cosma is to embed the knowledge used to make it within it.
This is to help others who want to create knowledge resources.