Categories

Categories are areas of technological change (see FAQ for their background). The table shows the 6 Categories and the number of subdivisions (visible in X1) and sub-sub divisions (X2).

Moving your pointer over the Categories shows up short descriptions in the Support field. The description remains visible when you click to see what's in X1 and X2.
To view a glossary of all categories and their subdivisions you can click 'V'. The Support section also holds a tutorial in the format of a slide show, on the focus of each category and condition.

Locator

The figure at the top (with X1 and X2 in its center), is a small-scale model of the Locator, that you find next page. Locator is the application enabling exchange of knowledge and experience, the purpose of the site. The picture here is for explanatory purposes only.
Operating Locator has the objective of setting a 'field'. The coordinates of a field enable monitoring the portion of the site's content that matches your current interest. 'Categories' holds 6 broad divisions (not visible here). X1 shows the subdivisions of the category you click. X2 shows the sub-subdivision after you click in X1. You double click on the sub-subdivision of your choice, which compares to 'Safe'. This defines one coordinate for your field.
Next you select out of the (3) 'Conditions', following the same steps. Double clicking a sub-sub division of a condition sets the second field coordinate.
From your point of view, you have now defined the setting to find comparable experiences in the selected field. Obviously, others all have different backgrounds and still may come to select that very field. The interpretation of others' additions to the field against your background is the actual 'exchange'.

Conditions

Conditions are sets of circumstances, that critically determine the outcome of purposeful behavior, i.e. circumstances that condition both the determination of purpose and the means to achieve it.

The table shows the three sets and the number of subdivisions. See Categories and FAQ for more information. The slide show tutorial on the Locator page (in the Support section) includes both Categories and Conditions.
"V" includes an overview including the Categories and Conditions.

Clear/Confirm

Clear is a simple function (see the button in top of the figure) that clears the X1 and the X2 sections. It is handy if you have clicked several times in the Categories and the Conditions. What you turn up in the X1 and the X2 sections sits there untill you leave Locator or clear it by pressing this button.
Confirm (button down left) is the function to use when you have set both coordinates of your field. Both coordinates need to be set by saving (double clicking) a sub-sub division. Would you try Confirm with any other selection, the application stubbornly tells you that you have not done what it expects from you: two double clicks, one in Categories and one in Conditions. Maybe, in a later phase of development of the site, we'll make it possible to work with the higher subdivisions for locating a field but as long as this is not decided we can't but be firm on this.

After you have pressed Confirm, the system tells you it is "Processing". If you are a first time user, you will be presented a dialogue for logging in as 'Guest'.

Tracing

Tracing is available in the bottom section of Locator. It helps to keep track of your double clicks, both in Categories and in Conditions. It shows the numerical representation of your selection, for example C201, which tells that you have saved Category C, number 2 in X1 and number 01 in X2. C201 appears in a small window in the Tracer section indicated by 'V Choice' (vertical choice). Selections from the conditions show in an identical window indicated by 'H Choice' (horizontal choice).

The tracing section also contains a written representation of your last double click.

Tracing is not litterally a "step to follow"; rather its a visual record of your steps.

Access

Access is what happens after you have confirmed your saved selection of a category and a condition in X2. If you are a first-time visitor, the system invites you to log in as 'guest'. The dialogue asks you to hit the button for users who haven't got a password and a nickname. After that step your screen changes from Locator into the display of content. It repeats the selections you just made and shows the titles of all the additions and comments that are available in the field you set in Locator. If you find content, it implies that other people have gone the same way you went and have decided to place an addition or a comment. What you now have to decide is whether you want to access these or to go back to Locator to set another field, for which you find a button proper (reloading takes a mere few seconds, rather than the lengthy load you experienced the first time!).

Would you want access to the field's full content, you need an account. An account is a prepaid credit of €6,00 minimum, that's debited for the services you use (see FAQ and "About this Site" at the Home Page to read more on various aspects of an account).

Addition

An Addition is the part of your personal experience that you add to the field you have selected. The reasons why you should make additions are divers: you might hope to find confirmation in a point of view through reactions, or you might feel that your addition should be a question of a type that you didn't find the right answer to in your work or study. Or, you might be at the moment of taking a decision and would like to draw on others' experiences for a certain aspect in which you feel particularly uncertain. The critical point of an addition is that it evokes an interaction within a world wide community. Only by starting it off, you get a reaction. It is probably the most powerful function of Internet that this way we can enrich our personal and professional achievement and our 'reference environment' on areas of sheer interest, 'moments of thruth' or essential decisions for which we are or feel responsible. An addition has the function of a message to those who by selection of the same field you selected, have a shared ground. That's why you find in your selected field the term 'Main Message' to head all comments it has evoked. Additions are signed under the nickname you choose for the site.

Comment

A Comment is a specific type of contribution, by which you add to an allready available addition in the field you selected. The comment can be long or short, can contain a reference to another field, a book or an article or whatever other source you consider relevant. Comments and additions can be of specific interest for those visitors who want to get aquainted with a certain field or adjacent fields in which they have been active. Additions and Comments jointly could motivate you to make a new addition. The process of additions and the comments they originate is the core of the site, as it is in day-to-day generation of experience among collegues and networks.

The whole of Additions and all Comments in a field are freely accessible during your revisits of the site once you have opened an account. So your credit won't be charged when you revisit the field that you selected when you opened an account. If you access a new field however -for which you should make a new setting in Locator- your account will be debited accordingly. (See also FAQ -> What more can I do in a field?').

What is the basic idea of Locator?

The composition of the Locator categories (See Steps -> Categories) has as common thread all changes that a firm or organization may need to go through if it adopts digital technologies for its internal operation, market behaviour and customer relations, including the selection of hard- and software platforms, infrastructure and partnerships and the financing, planning, training programs and systems to redesign and reorganize for up to date strategic competences.

The composition of the Locator conditions (See Steps -> Conditions) has as its basis the various circumstances determining one's personal relationship to professional contribution to technological change, its understanding and its effective implementation.

The dual coordinate structure of Locator is a means to make experience comparable and to enable exchange.

What to expect entering a field?

If you are familiar with Internet, you might expect that you can buy something and that there's some free service too, or at least a free trial period. On entering a field you'll find this site has no function in marketing or sales (See Steps -> Access). In a field, for which you need to define coordinates first (See Steps -> Locator), you find additions and comments. A subset of other visitors of the site have set the same coordinates for a field as you did but obviously the backgrounds of those who selected the same field are different. The value (and the thrill!) of entering a field is, that you find contributions of all those who have the same interest, concern or need to know that you have. The variety in backgrounds for contributions makes the exchange process to take off, which is what the site intends to do. The logical next step is for you to make an addition or a comment, through which you add value to the field as others did before you entered it.

What if the field is empty?

The number of possible combinations is 3382, so it will take a while before all fields carry content. A visitor who expects valuable content in a field and finds none, may find reason to be dissapointed but should realize also, that the value of the site is more than consuming others' contributions (See Steps -> Addition). Whether you prepare the initial message, comment on others' or just want access is indifferent costwise, because re-access to a field is free of charge.
Nevertheless, if you are with the first 250 visitors who take an account, your chance on finding an empty field is obviously greater than it should be compared with the situation of the site in full operation and high volume-content. Therfore, the first 250 will find this disadvantage somewhat balanced by a free credit of 10 creditpoints, which they will find on their login information when they revisit.

How to use the field content?

The contributions to the site are organized by title and include the dates each is posted and the posters' (nick-)name.
If the number of titles has accrued to a sizable volume, you may profit from the search function that's available at the field. If you wish, you can use this function to search all additions and comments in all fields.
Would you find the contributions of a certain visitor particularly worthwhile you can of course search on the name of the visitor.
You can also search on keywords and search the whole site.

The next release of the site will have the additional functionality of a mail box, where you can leave messages for other visitors, of which they will automatically be notified when they revisit the site. The site will than be prepared to include a platform for virtual communities.
Finally, for fields attracting most interest we will invite special commentators, for which site visitors will be invited to apply.

What more can I do in a field?

	Adjacency. Check this button for fields 'adjacent' to the field you selected, ie. fields with a statistically significant 'jointness' -in terms of visitors- with your field. Use it to check associative connections that emerge between your ideas and those of other visitors;
	History. This button allows you to review all your field activities since your first visit. Use it as your personal diary;
	Search. You can search your field on terms you choose or extend a search on all additions/comments in all fields;
	Steps record. Easy retracking of your steps to return from a series of steps you made and to start again at a certain point;
	Work with the content you would retrieve as you normally do within the limits of your browser: cut, paste, print, etc..

What exactly am I paying for?

The platform for exchange of knowledge and experience stands at the basis of all functions of the site. They include:

	a glossary of knowledge categories for e-business transformation;
	setting your own category field of access;
	exchange by easy to use addition, comment and search functions in the access field;
	adjacency and history function, to extend and record your personal exchange activities;
	tutorial on e-business transformation;
	essay section on e-business transformation;
	independent, continuous operation, to safeguard and secure chosen identity, payment, renewal payment and privacy;
	Full administrative detail from our records at revisits on credits remaining.

How and when do I pay?

	You pre-pay the minimum of €6,00 service charge at opening an account. The account is credited with 10 credit points;
	Visitors are presented a dialogue when they open an account, by which they can select their system of electronic payment;
	During visits, every handling that causes your account to be debited is recorded at the screen, including credits remaining;
	For access to a new field your account is debited 2 credit points; revisites of that field are free of charge;
	Additions and comments take 1 credit point;
	If during a visit you overcharge your account, you can purchase credits. Accounts and accounts renewals can be set at any amount, with a minimum of €6,00;
	Accounts renewals need your confirmation;
	See the €-conversion tabel for $, £and ¥ at this page and 'About this site' at the Home Page, for more details.

Anything free?

We believe that Internet use should be a normal business operation, with an Internet business model to ground it. If designed with care, operated with dedication and with a long term view on future extension and neccessary reinvestment for new releases, it should pay for a normal income for those who maintain and develop the site, with an entrepreneurs bonus for having taken the risk to make the initial investment. Therefore, we think that the operation offered at the present price level of €6,00 for access and exchange is near to free anyway and should not require third party advertising.
Nevertheless, the essay section, accessible from the Home page, is and will remain free of charge. It will be maintained with due attention to those who care to add their essay to the ones available now. Free also is the interactive document on 'How this site was made', that will be available shortly.
Finally, some functions don't require your account to be debited though they do require you to have an account. They include free access to your field and the history, adjacency and the search functions (except if you enter a new field).