This demo was put together in October, 1999, for my lecture at the University of Oslo.  It presently works with the ZigZag 0.61 prototype programmed by Andrew Pam, most easily downloaded as a boot floppy for a stock PC.  See instructions at xanadu.com/zigzag.

(Unfortunately this demo will not yet work under the more advanced version of ZigZag (Gzigzag), being developed by Tuomas J. Lukka of Jyväskylä University, available in Java under Open Source at Sourceforge.net.  (Not currently for beginners).)

• Place ZigZag 0.61 boot floppy in stock PC and reboot from the floppy (which has a very small version of Linux on it, just enough to run the demo).
• When you get to the blue-bordered menu, hit

Load a zigzag.zz data file from a DOS disk

Please insert your DOS disk now

ZZ FAMILY DEMO 99.10

• When it says

Data loaded

• When you get to the blue-bordered menu, hit

Run ZigZag

IF YOU GET IN TROUBLE IN THE LEFT WINDOW
• Make sure cursor is on a first name.
• Hit 'R' to reset coordinates of left window to x=d.1, y=d.2, z=d.3

IF YOU GET IN TROUBLE IN THE RIGHT WINDOW
• Make sure cursor is on a first name.
• Hit 'r' to reset coordinates of right window to x=d.1, y=d.2, z=d.3
• Hit 'y' (lower case) FOUR times to reset vertical coordinate of right window to y=d.children

IF YOU GET IN TROUBLE IN THE RIGHT WINDOW IN THE SECOND PART OF THE DEMO, showing marriages as well as children,
• Make sure cursor is on a first name.
• Hit 'r' to reset coordinates of right window to x=d.1, y=d.2, z=d3
• Hit 'x' (lower case) FOUR times to reset horizontal coordinate of right window to x=d.marriage
• Hit 'y' (lower case) FOUR times to reset vertical coordinate of right window to y=d.children
• If it still doesn't look right, type "726 g" to reset the cursor to the plus sign above the Stavanger Eleven.

(•  If it STILL doesn't look right, reboot from boot floppy and reload the data.)

FACT: the left-hand cursor stays in the middle of the left-hand window.
FACT: the right-hand cursor stays in the middle of the right-hand window.
FACT: each window shows what dimensions are horizontal, vertical and forward in a little map at the upper left-hand corner.
FACT: each window shows the cell number of the cell the cursor is on in the lower right.
FACT: in this prototype, you can only see the first six letters in any cell.  But you can see the rest of the contents by hitting 'Q' (left window) and 'q' (right window).

TRY GOING UP AND DOWN IN THE LIST OF FIRST NAMES ON THE LEFT,
using left-hand cursor keys e and c.
• Notice that the first names are in alphabetical order.  (I arranged them that way.)
• Notice that the same names light up in the right-hand panel.

TRY GOING UP AND DOWN IN THE FIRST NAMES ON THE RIGHT,
using right-hand cursor keys i and comma.
• Notice that the first names are in alphabetical order.  (I arranged them that way.)
• Notice that the same names light up in the right-hand panel.

TRY PUTTING THE CURSOR ON THE SAME NAME IN BOTH LEFT AND RIGHT PANEL.
• Note that when both cursors are on the same cell, it shows the same number in the lower right-hand corner of each panel.

TRY GOING UP AND DOWN IN THE LAST NAMES ON THE LEFT--
Move the cursor rightward with key f (you can go leftward with key s).
Now, in the last names, go up and down with right-hand cursor keys e and c.
• Notice that the LAST names are ALSO in alphabetical order (since each cell's connections are independent, I've been able to put them in alphabetical order independently of the first names; we're not sorting, just changing the view).
• Notice that the same names light up in the right-hand panel.

TRY LIGHTING UP THE FIRST NAMES IN THE RIGHT-HAND WINDOW.
Move the right cursor to each first name and type M.  You won't see the lit-up mark till you move the cursor.  (M is the 'mark' toggle.  Typing it again unmarks the cell.)

Now each of the eleven brothers and sisters should have their first names illuminated in both windows.

NOW TRY ROTATING THE RIGHT-HAND WINDOW TO SEE MARRIAGES.
•  Make sure the right-hand cursor is on a first name of one of the Stavanger Eleven, as lit up, and that the right-hand window currently shows x=d.1 and y=d.children.
•  Now type "x" (lower case) FOUR TIMES.  This should rotate the horizontal dimension x to d.marriage.

This shows, at the top, that the parents of the eleven brothers and sisters were Karenos and Cecilie, my great-grandparents.

This demo was prepared for my talk at U.Oslo to show how I'm related to Sverre Holm, the professor at U.Oslo who was sponsoring my talk there.

So let's go to me.  (Left window, scroll down to Theodor Holm Nelson.)

• Put the left cursor on my first name and check the cell number.  It should be cell # 761.
• Type "761 g".  This takes the RIGHT-hand cursor ALSO to cell # 761-- the same cell, viewed differently, showing its connections on different dimensions.

Now, since you're viewing me in the right-hand window on d.marriage and d.children, you can see my parents' first names, Ralph and Celeste.

• Try moving the right-hand cursor to both of them and see which of my parents had a parent amongst the Stavanger Eleven.  Since the Stavanger Eleven should still be lit up, this should be very clear.

• Now do the same for Sverre Holm.  Who was *his* ancestor among the Stavanger Eleven?

Extra credit:
• do the same for Petter Mosebekk.  But you'll have to search farther, because he's one generation younger.
 

This genealogy system in ZigZag is called an APPLITUDE-- a structure and set of dimensions that achieve some purpose (which may overlap with other purposes and applitudes).  We don't have separate "applications" in ZigZag.

ZigZag does the rest.

You might want to try putting in your own family.  I regret that it's not so easy because the editing program is very rudimentary.  But if you just put in the first names, it's fairly simple.  See the ZigZag direction sheet, called zzDirexCondensed. (Link will only work if it's in the same directory as this document.)

Best wishes, Ted Nelson
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