Instructions

Exploring Relationships

We’re just beginning to learn how to use relationship mapping tools to understand the ecosystem of Bay Area organizations involved in climate action. More than providing geographic and profile information, mapping tools see new commonalities and opportunities for new collaborations.

The current relationship maps are built on the Kumu platform. Viewing and using these maps takes a basic understanding of how Kumu works. Please take a minute to review these instructions.

Basic Use

– Every “dot” on a map represents an Organization or Tag – these are called “nodes”. In most cases, Organizations will be clustered around a key term like City, County, Tag or Parent Organization.

– When a map first appears, the screen will be split in the middle. The left
panel is where a node’s profile will be displayed if and when a node is selected (clicked on). Start by closing this panel by clicking on the three-dot icon in the middle of the workspace. This will allow the map to use the entire workspace. When the left panel is hidden, the three-dot icon moves to the far left.

– Use the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in or out. To move the map around the workspace, press and hold the left mouse button while moving the mouse.

– To “focus” on a node or cluster of nodes, select a node or the central node of the target cluster, then click on the “compass” icon on the right (bottom of the set of icons). This will bring that node or cluster to focus – all other nodes will be temporarily hidden. Click on the compass icon again to clear the focus. All of the nodes will reappear.

– To learn more about a node, first select the node, then expand the left panel by clicking the three-dot icon on the far left. The expanded left panel will show selected information about the organization.

Advanced Use

– Click on the “slider” icon on the far right (fourth icon) to display the Settings panel.

– The most useful setting is Connected By. Click on the slider icon to the right of this option. On the Cluster Settings panel, you can add or change “rules” that govern how the data is displayed in groups and relationships. Click “By” to change the key field for the rule. Click Add Rule to add a new rule. Adding or changing a rule may cause all of the nodes to disappear(!) – if this happens just clear the rule. If you add a rule, you may need to delete the rule above it to see its effects.

– Click the slider icon on the main workspace (to the left of the Settings panel) to close the Settings panel.

– Feel free to explore new relationships. You cannot save a view or create a new one without a user account. If you’re seriously interested in using Kumu to analyze the data, contact us to discuss setting up a user account.

If you have any questions, please drop a note to Mark Westwind (mark@westwindassociates.com).