Al,
Agree on the value of compression and of encryption!
If we keep to a scale-free standard pattern for visualizing trails, individual trees, and parts of trees, I hope it can ease the task of efficiently adding (or changing), storing, and retrieving data.
Below is a possible set of feedback buttons, reflecting a scale-free Heart-Head-Hands pattern, that a user can use to give feedback ratings and improvement suggestions that relate to a specific item of interest.
In a learning landscape of knowledge trees, high feedback ratings could increase the saturation of the targeted item, while suggested improvements could sprout a leaf (or more than one, if multiple ideas for improvement were given) at the targeted spot.
To avoid getting lost in an overwhelming number of leaves, the blendlevel of new items could be set to near-transparent to start. Subsequent upvoting by the knowledge tree creator (or by a team, or by the public) could make it more visible. Colors could be keyed to the source of the feedback as well.
Consistently downvoted content might turn gray or brown, and fall away. In this way, contents of the landscape might be refreshed and kept current in a time when knowledge may quickly turn obsolete.
What do you think?
Best,
Mark
PS The image below shows how rich feedback might be given to a web page outside of the learning landscape. The sliders for giving feedback, and the field for suggesting improvements, are what I hope can be built into the knowledge tree learning landscape.