Glossary

This glossary includes terms and definitions for i2® Analyst's Notebook.

The following cross-references are used in this glossary:

See refers you from a term to a preferred synonym, or from an acronym or abbreviation to the defined full form.
See also refers you to a related or contrasting term.

A

abstract semantic type: A semantic type that only serves as the parent of other semantic types. Abstract semantic types categorize their child semantic types, but are never associated with real data.
aligned value: A value that is used to interpret equivalent native values from different data sources. For example, the value Male can be used to align the native values M or Ma.
analysis attribute: A characteristic or trait pertaining to a chart item. Analysis attributes are never displayed on charts.
association chart: A chart that highlights the relationships between entities, rather than a chronology of events, by arranging data in a manner that emphasizes particular associations.
attribute: A piece of information that is associated with a chart item, such as a date of birth or an account number. An attribute is represented by a symbol, or a value, or both, that is displayed with the chart item.
attribute class: A descriptor of the characteristics of an attribute, including the type of its values, how its values are displayed, and the treatment of its values when they are merged or pasted on a chart.
attribute entry: An attribute with a preset value that can be associated with a chart item.
attribute instance: A single use of an attribute on a chart item.
authority: A measure of how well-connected an entity is, based on its inbound links. Authority is one of two eigenvector centrality measures used in social network analysis. See also centrality, eigenvector.
automatic attribute: An attribute that is created automatically by the application and added to a chart item.

B

betweenness: A measure of how important an entity is, based on the number of paths that pass through it on an association chart. Betweenness is one of the centrality measures used in social network analysis. See also centrality, gatekeeper.
binding strength: A measure of the strength of a relationship between two entities that are directly or indirectly linked. See also common neighbor.
box: An entity representation that can indicate an organization or group on a chart. A box is often used to enclose other entities. See also circle, representation.

C

card: A record of information attached to an item. An item can have multiple cards.
centrality: The relative importance of one entity compared to other entities in social network analysis, as determined by its relationships. See also authority, betweenness, closeness, degree, eigenvector, hub, social network analysis.
chart: A visual representation of real-world objects, such as organizations, people, events, or locations, and the relationships between them.
chart fragment: A view of a chart that highlights particular items of interest.
chart property: A characteristic of a chart, such as its summary description, time zone, grid size, background color, or merge and paste rules. Chart properties are saved with the chart. See also chart template.
chart template: An object that is used for chart creation that contains preconfigured chart properties, and lists of permitted entity types and link types. See also chart property.
child: In a generalization relationship, the specialization of another element, the parent. See also parent.
circle: An entity representation that can indicate an organization or a group on a chart. A circle is often used to enclose other entities. See also box, representation.
circular layout: A layout in which entities are arranged by type around the circumference of a circle. See also layout.
closeness: A measure of how quickly an entity can use links to get access to other entities on an association chart. Closeness is one of the centrality measures used in social network analysis. See also centrality.
cluster: A group of entities that have more connections to each other than to entities outside the group.
common neighbor: An entity that is directly connected to at least two other entities. For example, if C is connected to A and B, then C is a common neighbor of A and B. See also binding strength, connection.
compact peacock layout: A layout in which complex groups of linked entities are arranged to highlight the structure of associations. It is most suitable for charts with many linked entities. See also layout.
condition: A specified property, a value, and an operator that defines a comparison relationship between them. One or more conditions can be used to create a query or a conditional formatting specification.
conditional formatting: The process of defining and applying rules to change the appearance of chart items automatically, based on their properties. See also conditional formatting specification.
conditional formatting specification: A collection of conditional formatting rules. See also conditional formatting.
connection: A direct relationship between a pair of entities on a chart, represented by one or more links. See also common neighbor, connection multiplicity, directed connection.
connection multiplicity: A setting that controls whether multiple links between the same items are displayed as a single line, as directed lines, or as multiple lines. See also connection.
controlling item: A chart item whose position on the chart is defined by its date and time, and whose position affects the positions of other timed items. See also free item, ordered item.
cover sheet: A page on which the user can view and edit the summary and custom properties of a chart.

D

degree: A measure of how many direct relationships an entity has with other entities on an association chart. Degree is one of the centrality measures used in social network analysis. See also centrality, root entity.
directed connection: A connection between entities in which links that are in the same direction are represented as a single link on a chart. See also connection.
diverted theme line: A theme line that is attached to an event frame such that when the event frame is moved, the theme line maintains its vertical position with respect to the frame. See also event frame, theme line.

E

eigenvector: A measure of how well-connected an entity is, based on its inbound and outbound links. Eigenvector is one of the centrality measures used in social network analysis. See also authority, centrality, hub.
end: An entity that is attached to a link. See also end constraint.
end constraint: A constraint on the types of entities that can be the end of a particular link. See also end, valid end type.
entity: A set of details that are held about a real-world object such as a person, location, or bank account. An entity is a kind of item.
entity semantic type: A semantic type that can be assigned only to an entity or an entity type. See also semantic type.
entity type: A descriptor of the characteristics of an entity, including the properties it can contain and its appearance in visualizations.
event frame: An entity representation that emphasizes date and time information. An event frame is often used in conjunction with theme lines. See also diverted theme line, representation.
expansion: A process that searches for entities within a data source that are directly related to some selected entities.

F

free item: A chart item that is not ordered. Free items can be moved anywhere on the chart. See also controlling item, ordered item.

G

gatekeeper: An entity with a high measure of betweenness that may control the flow of information among other entities on an association chart. See also betweenness.
grade: A rating that indicates the accuracy of a piece of information or the reliability of an intelligence source.
grading system: A rating scale that is used to classify information in a data store or on a chart. A grading system is a measure of reliability and accuracy.
grouped layout: A layout in which entities are arranged to show groups of interconnected entities. See also layout.

H

heat map: A graphical representation of data values in a two-dimensional table format, in which higher values are represented by darker colors and lower values by lighter ones.
hierarchical layout: A layout in which entities are arranged to show organizational structures. See also layout.
histogram: A graphical display of the distribution of values for a numeric field, in the form of a vertical bar chart in which taller bars indicate higher values. See also histogram filter.
histogram filter: A filter that changes the appearance of a chart. When a histogram bar is selected, items that match the conditions defined by that bar are selected, while items that do not are hidden. See also histogram.
hub: A measure of how well-connected an entity is, based on its outbound links. Hub is one of two eigenvector centrality measures used in social network analysis. See also centrality, eigenvector.

I

icon: An entity representation that consists of a stylized image and an optional label. See also representation.
import design: A specification of how data from an external source will be transformed into chart or repository items during an import procedure.
item: An entity or a link. Items are characterized by the values of their properties. See also merged item, ordered item.

L

layout: The arrangement of items on a chart. See also circular layout, compact peacock layout, grouped layout, hierarchical layout, minimize crossed links layout, peacock layout.
line strength: An indication of confidence in the information underlying a particular link. Line strength is represented as a solid, dashed, or dotted line on a chart.
link: An association between two entities, such as an ownership relationship between a person and a vehicle.
link direction: An indication that the meaning of a link is different for each of its ends. For example, the direction of a telephone call makes one end the caller and the other the recipient. Link direction can influence the centrality measures used in social network analysis.
link semantic type: A semantic type that can be assigned only to a link or a link type. See also semantic type.
link separation: The distance between adjacent links in a connection on a chart.
link type: A descriptor of the characteristics of a link, including the properties it can contain and its appearance in visualizations.

M

match: The part of a result that met a condition during a search operation. A search can yield a perfect match or a partial match.
merged item: An item that is created by merging the information held in two or more items. See also item.
minimize crossed links layout: A layout in which entities are arranged in a configuration where the fewest number of links overlap. See also layout.
multiplicity: See connection multiplicity.

N

network chart: See association chart.

O

ordered item: A chart item whose position is maintained within a sequence. The movement of an ordered item is restricted such that it cannot be dragged beyond neighboring ordered items. See also controlling item, free item, item.

P

parent: In a hierarchy or auto-level hierarchy, a member that has one or more child members at the level immediately below.
path: A route on a chart between two entities. A path may include intermediate entities.
peacock layout: A layout where complex groups of linked entities are arranged to show the structure of associations. It is most suitable for charts with many linked entities. See also layout.
property: A container for a single piece of information about an item.
property semantic type: A semantic type that can be assigned to a property type, a property in a data record, or an attribute class. See also semantic type.
property type: A descriptor of the characteristics of a property, including the type of information it can contain.
proportional: Pertaining to an area of a chart in which the horizontal distances between items have a linear relationship with the time differences between them.

R

representation: The form in which an entity is represented on a chart. See also box, circle, event frame, icon, theme line.
root entity: An entity in a grouped layout that has the highest degree centrality in its group. Depending on the data, there can be more than one root entity. See also degree.

S

semantic type: A category that defines the real-world meaning of data, and therefore how applications should interpret that data. For example, Person is a semantic type that could be assigned to entity types such as Male, Victim, and Witness. See also entity semantic type, link semantic type, property semantic type.
snapshot: A stored version of a chart that preserves its contents and layout at a particular stage of its development.
social network analysis: A method of analyzing the structure of social relationships that uses mathematical metrics to make claims about social organization and social dynamics. See also centrality, weight.
style segment: A section of a theme line between adjacent items to which color and strength can be applied.

T

theme line: An entity representation that shows the interactions of an entity over time. A theme line can be used with event frames. See also diverted theme line, representation.
theme line extent: The distance between the beginning and end of a theme line
theme line wiring: The manner in which a theme line diverts from a horizontal trajectory in order to pass through and travel between event frames.
timeline chart: A chart or a portion of a chart that shows a chronology of events. For example, a series of meetings that occur over several days, or a set of transactions that occur over a period of time.

V

valid end type: An entity type that conforms to the end constraints of a particular link. See also end constraint.

W

weight: A value that is added to a link on an association chart, to represent its importance relative to other links. Weight can influence the centrality measures used in social network analysis. See also social network analysis.
weightings file: A file that contains information that can apply weighting values to links on a chart.
wiring segment: The section of a theme line between adjacent diverting event frames.