WikiNodes is an app for the Apple iPad

IPad

The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...

 built by IDEA.org

Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement

The Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that seeks to improve scientific and cultural literacy among the general public...

. WikiNodes was the first tablet app for browsing Wikipedia using a radial tree

Radial tree

A radial tree, or "radial map", is a method of displaying a tree structure in a way that expands outwards, radially. It is one of many ways to visually display a tree., with examples extending back to the early 20th century...

  approach to visualize how articles and subsections of articles are interrelated. It is a visual array of related items (articles or sections of an article), which spread on the screen, as a spiderweb of icons.

Other definition: The term WikiNodes is also the plural form of "WikiNode" which is a standard page that shows how a wiki relates to other wiki projects and communities on the Web.

Operation

The app uses the SpicyNodes

SpicyNodes

In concept mapping and information visualization, SpicyNodes is a method for displaying hierarchical data in which a focus node displays rich information, and the surrounding nodes display related information .- Main idea :...

 visualization technique which was awarded a "best for teaching and learning" award in 2011 from American Association of School Librarians (AASL)

American Association of School Librarians

The American Association of School Librarians has been a division of the American Library Association since 1951. Prior to that, school librarians were served by the School Library Section of ALA founded in 1914 which itself emerged from the Roundtable of Normal and High School Librarians which...

, 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 -- digests Wikipedia articles into sections, and links articles to related articles, similar to mind mapping. 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 36 http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/List of Wikipedias top Wikipedia languages (by number of articles).

Reception

The app was highlighted as a "Staff pick" by Apple's U.S. App Store, 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.

See also

• Wikipedia iOS apps
  Wikipedia iOS apps
  A variety of mobile apps provide access to Wikipedia on hand-held devices from Apple. These apps are accessed via Apple's App Store, a digital application distribution platform for iOS. This represents an important new way that the public is accessing Wikipedia...
  
   - Other iOS mobile apps providing access to Wikipedia
• Radial tree
  Radial tree
  A radial tree, or "radial map", is a method of displaying a tree structure in a way that expands outwards, radially. It is one of many ways to visually display a tree., with examples extending back to the early 20th century...
  
   - the general type of layout algorithm
• SpicyNodes
  SpicyNodes
  In concept mapping and information visualization, SpicyNodes is a method for displaying hierarchical data in which a focus node displays rich information, and the surrounding nodes display related information .- Main idea :...
  
  - Information visualization technique

External links

• Direct link to listing in Apple app store