Description of the grid created
I created a grid based on the desire to find which of my friends would be the ideal candidate for a short little trip to Vegas. Some of the constructs that I used were personality factors, like funny, or academic oriented; others were physical features, like height, or gender. I found the triad function especially useful in the creation of these constructs.
Comments on initial impressions
It seems daunting at first. I found it hard to determine what the difference was between context and purpose, and how these entries related to the WebGrid session. As far as I know, they seem to only serve as labels. Also, knowing what to enter as elements and contructs is very difficult unless an example is given. After this initial confusion, the webgrid session proceeded quickly and with interest. The correlations drawn at the top of every new construction were insightful: "The traits 'can be crude' and 'very funny' are similar. Would you care to distinguish?"
Developing contructs for the topics listed in aspects of information systems was much harder than for my own project. A good reason for this is that the topics are not as easily compared. For example, broadband networks could be a superset of any other topics. With this in mind, the constructs I developed could have a universal application (with the exception of using/programming). The triad function was only helpful initially this time; soon I needed to scan the entire list to get ideas for constructs.
Description of the grid
The FOCUS feature highlights some interesting relationships. Multi-Media, the information highway, and virtual reality had a considerable close relationship. As for my constructs, I was able to keep the closest relationship around 80%. Anything 90% or higher and I would consider deleting one construct.
Compare the grids
The majority of the correlation of the topics was positive. We understand Virtual Reality the same way, but we are in complete disagreement pertaining to Knowledge-based systems. My 'programming'/'using' constructs were similar to his 'multimedia'/'programming' construct, but the rest of the relationships hovered around the 75% mark. Also, the computer found my constructs of 'programming', 'interesting to few', and 'complex' to all have significant correlation with his 'programming' construct, even though my assessment of my constructs did not find these three to have much in common.
This grid takes tools of the cross platform GUI field and compares them. These tools include development tools, and application tools. Other constructs were created to further distinguish them, you can link to the grid to read these constructs.
Analysis of the grid - Focus, PrinCom
On the PrinCom image, Netscape and Java were closely linked; Telnet was out all by itself; wxWindows and zApp where coupled together; and Galaxy and OI were also a solid pair. On the FOCUS page, these observations were reflected. The similarities of the four PIGUI development tools can be easier seen here, however. Interesting to note that 'non-graphical' and 'no-future' have a solid correlation.