Connections #

One of the two most basic pieces #

Changing a line – dash, color, weight, straight or curvy – can also impact meaning. A connection can be:

• Part of the data set
• Flow of information
• Flow of process
• Change state of information or process
• Idea
• Dependent data
• Metadata

All together, the connections form a connectome. 

Complex structures will have multiple strata of connectome.

Connections, longform #

Where a node is an endpoint for data transmissions or redistribution in a tech network, how it is interacted with — data sent over the internet, a button (physical or digital) pushed — is the connection.

If you think about it in terms of hardware, it’s the mechanics of how a keystroke becomes a letter on the screen. Think about it in terms of a database table, and it’s that a cell can be leveraged or manipulated.

If you are thinking about a connection in terms of the process of capturing data to be able to ship out an item, it can be as simple as the tab keystroke, mouseover, click, or tap to move to another form UI. It can also be as abstract as zipping up all the data entered and sending it to a warehouse. It is, in its most simple form, the action of moving from point A to point B.

When considered in the real world, it can be as magical as a transmutation, such as a seed growing in time or chaff rotting in a field.

Connections are most often an action, because action is generally what we consider working on a thing in order to move it to the next use. In diagrams, especially those detailing processes, each node can be an action. In that instance, the connection is usually the handoff point. People have chunked a string of actions into more recognizable interim steps, and the connection lets them know that we’re moving to the next chunk.

Connections are always represented as lines. They can simply form an attachment (a line from one object to another), provide directionality, mutual impact/bidirectionality, or even show a feedback system. A connection can be part of the data set, the flow of information or process, be a change state, incorporate an idea or show data dependency. It can even connect metadata, or imply a change in focus.

There is an accepted lexicon of line endings that can be leveraged, replete with meaning. I rarely use it, for the same audience behavior reasons of why I rarely use the full set of diagram symbols. But they are a tad bit more intuitive, so I’m more likely to pick up a different line ending than I am to leverage the diagram symbols.

All together, the connections form a connectome. Diagrams can survive without connections being incorporated. Information structure is entirely dependent on and defined by connectome or the lack of it.