Nexus Score Basic Hub

Visual Representations of Interconnectedness and Depth

Published: October 12, 2023 (11 min read)
Fragment in Flux: This fragment is currently unstable and undergoing updates.

I was introduced to the concept of using patterns to convey information density in this digital garden note by Azlen. Similarly, Maggie Appleton also uses iconography to visually differentiate between seedling, budding and evergreen notes in her digital garden. They inspired me to create my own pattern system to convey the interconnectedness and depth of notes on this website.

In order to create a pattern system for categorizing notes I had to define some factors that differentiate notes from each other. I selected the following criteria to try and capture connectedness and depth of each note:

Criteria and Weights

I then needed to figure out a way to score notes based on these criteria. After a lot of coffee and tinkering I settled on the following approach.

I decided on some arbitrary weightings for each criterion based on absolutely no research at all, I just went with my gut and some rudimentary reasoning. I’ll tweak these weightings as the site grows.

I’ll use code snippets to explain the approach I took.

const incomingLinkModifier = 3;
const outgoingLinkModifier = 1.5;
const externalResourceModifier = 2;
const wordCountModifier = 0.005;

I then work out a score for each criterion:

const incomingLinkScore = incomingLinkCount * incomingLinkModifier;
const outgoingLinkScore = outgoingLinkCount * outgoingLinkModifier;
const externalLinkScore =
  externalResourceModifier * Math.log(1 + externalResourceCount);
const wordCountScore = wordCount * wordCountModifier;

Pretty self explanatory, but it’s worth noting the reason I used logarithmic scoring on the external link is because of posts like Loadout Update (2023/Q3) . This post has many external links which in normal cases wouldn’t be a problem, but in this case it created an abnormal inflation of the score the post was given. So I used logarithmic scoring to apply some diminishing returns on the use of external links.

In the future I might consider adding different weighting options for different post types but for now this will do.

Introducing the Nexus Score

To calculate a score for each note based on the the weighting calculations presented some challenges. Just because a note has many outgoing links does not mean it is equal to a note that has many words.

My first approach was to tally up the scores but it didn’t convey any meaningful information based on connectedness to other notes for example. Just by looking at a score you can’t know if it has that score because of many incoming links or because it has a lot of words.

So the approach I settled on was to apply a multi-dimensional scoring approach.

const linkDominanceThreshold = 10;
const linkDominanceScore = incomingLinkScore - outgoingLinkScore;

let dominanceState;

if (Math.abs(linkDominanceScore) < linkDominanceThreshold) {
  dominanceState = "H"; // Hub Note
} else if (linkDominanceScore > 0) {
  dominanceState = "R"; // Receiver Note
} else {
  dominanceState = "T"; // Transmitter Note
}
const totalScore =
  Math.abs(linkDominanceScore) + wordCountScore + externalLinkScore;

Ok, so what’s going on here?

Firstly I calculate a dominance score by subtracting incoming link count from outgoing link count. This will either give me a negative or positive number. If the absolute (regardless of sign) dominance score is less than 10 it’s a “Hub” note. It means there is a balance of incoming and outgoing links to and from the note. If it has a positive score it is a “Receiver” note that has many incoming notes. If it has negative score it is a Transmitter note with many outgoing links to other notes.

The final part of the equation is to then add the absolute link dominance score, word count score and external link score together for a final total score.

I’m then left with two outputs that form what I’m calling Nexus Score.

Visually Representing Nexus Scores

To visually represent these scores on notes I had to figure out ranges for the numbers. Once again I went with gut feel based on the current scores.

const iconScoreRanges: IconScoreRanges = {
  R_Fragment: [0, 10],
  R_Basic: [10, 26],
  R_Developed: [26, 42],
  R_Advanced: [42, 68],
  R_Integrated: [68, Infinity],

  H_Fragment: [0, 10],
  H_Basic: [10, 26],
  H_Developed: [26, 42],
  H_Advanced: [42, 68],
  H_Integrated: [68, Infinity],

  T_Fragment: [0, 10],
  T_Basic: [10, 26],
  T_Developed: [26, 42],
  T_Advanced: [42, 68],
  T_Integrated: [68, Infinity],
};

These ranges will definitely be adjusted over time as the site grows.

The link dominance score and total score can now be used to match a score range. As an example a note with more outgoing links than incoming links and a total score of 25 will resolve to T_Basic.

Here is a full map of the Nexus Score icons.

Nexus Score[R] Receiver[H] Hub[T] Transmitter
Fragment
Basic
Developed
Advanced
Integrated

Icons source: https://tabler-icons.io/

Future Considerations

Conclusion

I know there are still many flaws in this system and many ways that it can be improved. This will do for now though and has scratched the creative itch I had. If you have any thoughts or critiques on the approach I took please feel free to reach out to me on X (Twitter).

Updated: October 13, 2023