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Late last month we launched the Map of Future Forces Affecting Education for the KnowledgeWorks Foundation, and let me tell you something: I’m happy about it. If you’ve read any previous posts, you know that technology makes me damn near giddy, and this site uses some of the best.

Main goal:

Build an online, highly-interactive version of the printed version of the map. While the printed version is great for small group discussion, an online version to which interested people can contribute allows the impact of the thinking represented in the map to grow exponentially.

Subordinate goals:

1. While maintaining interactivity for we humans, make the site indexable by search engines.
2. Allow actual conversations, which may have started in person, to continue and grow online.
3. Allow users to contribute to the thinking and assets by uploading their own documents or pointing to existing websites.
4. Allow users to control the categorization of the material.
5. Make it easy to use.

That last goal seems obvious, but was one of the toughest charges. Let’s face it, the subject matter of the Map is difficult to grasp and some of the language is highly academic. Layered onto that is that fact that the metaphor used to present the ideas in the Map takes some time to “get”. So how did we do it?

Adobe Flash is used for the UI. This allows users to interact with the map in an intuitive way. Much like Google Maps, you can pan in any direction either by using the navigational arrows or by simply “grabbing” the background and moving the map in the direction you’d like to go. A Compass View gives you context as to where you are within the whole Map. Using Flash, we are also able to trace your path through the site. This helps users begin to connect seemingly disparate ideas, which is vitally important on a site with such wide, sweeping scope for subject matter.

Using Flash Remoting (a business layer that ties the Flash-based UI to the data layer) paves the way toward expansion and personalization. Don’t want to remember where you were next time you go to the site? No problem, just log in and we’ll take care of remembering. Think three different topics are all related due to economics? Tag the nodes, and the rest of the world will see the connection. Got something to say about all of this? Great! We want to hear it. Join the discussion groups to further the conversation. Need to lead a small group discussion in your community? You can either print out the full Map, or just grab the topics you’re interested in and we’ll create a PDF on the fly for you.

We think it’s a heck of a site. And I’ve got two young children, so building a site that helps shape how my kids will be educated is perhaps the greatest happiness of all.