posted 13 years ago
how do make multidimensional connections simplified and digestible, that's a tough one. all you can really do is simplify its presentation to the viewer. the expounding of the permaculture design manual is about ad simple as it gets while being honorable to the truth of its complexity. its no small book, and it would be even harder software to write. I work with non linear node based connections for a living, and the truth is the more you label the more compounded is the brain fry. All you can really do is display the hierarchy of connections in cascading fields of dominance. outputs may dwarf inputs in something like a chicken if there is a greater field like incidental forage systems available. it could go in reverse if your buying feed in, so your software would need a quick means of reconnecting large networks of connections. I've used those connect the bubble presentation programs but they lack a database of elements you can template. permaculture seems to stack connections to the brink of stroke inducing revelation. the only thing I know of that emulates that many interdependent connections is 3d software n that's not simple or friendly at all.
what can I say but dumb it down for the client, n manage the clutter of stats internally to the degree you can handle, there's just no easy way to linearize life systems