Associative networks

Documentation systems or hierarchical data bases that associate information and concepts across the conventional boundaries of categorization (based on the kind of word-association that occurs in thesaurus entries).[Advantages]

Word-associations are fairly direct mappings of the organizational structure of peoples minds and are direct indicators of the degrees of relevance between the concepts. They provide a whole new range of analyses of value to the user. Not only do they indicate which elements need to be thought about in contiguity with each other, but they also indicate the degree of cohesion existing between them. Documentation and data bases based on these associative or relevance networks can highlight and facilitate possibilities for integrative approaches.

[Disadvantages]

Although the production of relevance maps would be a major aid to international document users, the challenging requirements for comprehension and innovative learning already make such an advance inadequate. The problem is that such maps are too complex and disorganized to facilitate contextual memory and comprehension. They are difficult to memorize as a whole.