Cosma / Communication / Knowledge / Realm
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Introduction1
Dictionary
knowledge : the sum of what is known : the body of information, principles and truth acquired by humankind — Merriam-Webster
realm : (1) kingdom (2) sphere, domain — Merriam-Webster
knowledge realm : a kingdom, sphere, or domain for holding the body of information, principles and truth acquired by humankind — M.E. Hopper, Cosma 2
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Exploration
Cosma has a number of 3D interfaces that enable truly spatial Knowledge Navigation and invite exploration of the Knowledge Resources inventory hosted on this site.
You can use them to explore “Knowledge Realms” visually and spatially.
This 360° image is the first in a series of Toy Worlds for exploring knowledge!
Click on objects to find out about them.
Use the menu or doors to visit other Toy Worlds.
You can also explore this Toy World on Kuula.
Learn more about Toy Worlds on this page.
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There is also a Welcome Area in Second Life. If you have a SecondLife account and software, then you can click the image below to explore the Welcome Area and the four other rooms (Solar Extremes, Gaia’s Greenhouse, World Travel Lounge and Walk-in-Art).
There is also a much older site that is an archive of the Knowledge Places (K-Places) project. The project began in 2006 and covered more than a million sq. meters of land in Second Life. The sites were made up of thematically organized spaces that used a variety of metaphors (Port, Park, Plaza, Pier, Palace and Paradise). You can find out much more about the overall project on the K-Places page.
The largest archival site is K-Park — it preserves the spaces and objects that were an interface to the Knowledge Realms.
Here is a video of an extended walk-through of the K-Places archival site.
This map shows where the archival site is located in Linden Village. If you have a Second Life account and software installed, then you can click the map to teleport there.
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Knowledge Realms
You can also use the menu below to explore the Knowledge Realms.
History is philosophy teaching by example, and also warning; its two eyes are geography and chronology. — James A. Garfield
Geography Navigation, Map
Chronology Calendar, Clock
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“Fundamentals”
Law (Constant) Relativity
Force Gravity, Electromagnetism (Light, Color)
Matter (Microscope) Molecule, Atom (Periodic Table), Particle
“Space”
Universe (Astronomical Instrument)
Galaxy Milky Way, Andromeda
Planetary System Star, Brown Dwarf, Planet, Moon
Our Neighborhood
Solar System Sun
Terrestrial Planet Mercury, Venus, Earth (Moon), Mars
Asteroid Belt Ceres, Vesta
Jovian Planet Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
Trans-Neptunian Object
Kuiper Belt Pluto, Haumea, Makemake
Scattered Disc Eris, Sedna, Planet X
Oort Cloud Etc. Scholz’s Star
Small Body Comet, Centaur, Asteroid
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Sphere Land, Ice, Water (Ocean), Air, Life (Cell, Gene)
Ecosystem Forest, Grassland, Desert, Arctic, Aquatic
Tree of Life
Microorganism Virus
Prokaryote Archaea, Bacteria
Eukaryote Protist, Fungi, Algae, Protozoa (Tardigrade)
Plant Flower, Tree
Animal
Invertebrate
Cnidaria Coral, Jellyfish
Cephalopod Cuttlefish, Octopus
Crustacean Lobster, Shrimp
Arachnid Spider, Scorpion
Insect Ant, Bee, Beetle, Butterfly
Vertebrate
Fish Seahorse, Ray, Shark
Amphibian Frog, Salamander
Reptile Turtle, Tortoise, Dinosaur
Bird Penguin, Ostrich, Owl, Crow, Parrot
Mammal Platypus, Bat, Mouse, Rabbit, Goat, Giraffe, Camel, Horse, Elephant, Mammoth
Walrus, Seal, Polar Bear, Bear, Panda, Cat, Tiger, Lion, Dog, Wolf
Cetacean Whale, Dolphin
Primate Monkey, Chimpanzee, Human
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Human
Self Body, Brain
Society Culture, Family, Dwelling, Fashion, Celebration
State
World
Afro-Eurasia Africa, Europe, Asia
America North, Central, South, Caribbean
Oceania Australia, New Zealand
Polar Regions Arctic, Antarctica
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Hypothetical, Mythical, Celestial
Unicorn, Pegasus, Phoenix, Mermaid, Elf, Fairy, Muse, Athena, Angel
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1. The resources on this page are are organized by a classification scheme developed exclusively for Cosma.
2. Collecting hundreds of thousands of Knowledge Resources over the course of decades is far easier than you would probably think. However, figuring out how to organize them in order to make them accessible is hard. Adding the additional constraint of needing to organize them into a literal map in order to create 3D interfaces to enable spatial Knowledge Navigation is a very sticky problem. There is a long history of how to deal with knowledge organization problems, but there is no perfect solution — there are only a series of trade-offs in adopting any ontology. In practice, Cosma does not use any one specific existing system to “layout” knowledge. Instead, the virtual spaces that serve as 3D interfaces to Cosma are laid out into “Realms” based upon an amalgamation of taxonomies for organizing reality into hierarchies and physical maps.