COGS: The Four Core Link Salad Categories
🧍 C — Characters (Who)
Characters are the people, fictional beings, or identifiable personalities at the centre of a link salad. This includes historical figures, celebrities, artists, writers, scientists, athletes, politicians, explorers, fictional characters, and groups of people where the emphasis remains on the individuals involved. A character-based link salad explores the connections radiating from a “who”: where they were born, where they lived, what they created, what they achieved, who influenced them, who they influenced, and the moments in history connected to them. A single character can generate links across all other COGS categories — a person links to objects they created or used, places associated with them, and dates that define their story.
📦 O — Objects (What)
Objects are the things, creations, symbols, ideas, or artefacts that form the “what” of a link salad. These can include inventions, buildings, books, films, paintings, songs, vehicles, foods, technologies, landmarks, or cultural symbols. An object-based link salad explores its origins, creators, users, location, impact, and historical timeline. A single object often acts as a bridge between many different worlds: a book links to its author, its publication date, its language, its cultural impact, and the places associated with its creation or popularity. Objects are often the physical or conceptual evidence of human activity.
🌍 G — Geography (Where)
Geography represents the places that provide the location layer of a link salad: cities, countries, regions, islands, mountains, rivers, streets, airports, landmarks, and natural features. A geography-based link salad explores everything connected to a place: the people associated with it, the objects created there, the events that happened there, and the cultural identity that developed there. Places are naturally rich link salad sources because every location sits at the intersection of human stories, history, transport, politics, nature, and culture. A city can be viewed as a huge link cloud containing thousands of possible COGS connections.
⏳ S — Seconds (When)
Seconds represent time — the timeline dimension of a link salad. This can be as precise as a single moment, or expanded into days, weeks, months, years, decades, or centuries. A seconds-based link salad explores what happened at a particular point in time: births, deaths, discoveries, inventions, historical events, releases, celebrations, anniversaries, and recurring dates. Time provides the framework that allows unexpected connections to appear. For example, a single date can connect a musician’s birthday, a scientific discovery, a national day, a sporting achievement, and a cultural event that all share the same place on the timeline.
🔗 Using COGS Together
The strongest link salads move between the four categories:
- Character → Object: Who created, discovered, used, performed, or inspired something?
- Character → Geography: Where was someone born, lived, worked, or remembered?
- Character → Seconds: What important dates define their life or career?
- Object → Geography: Where was something invented, built, discovered, or celebrated?
- Object → Seconds: When was it created, launched, discovered, or transformed?
- Geography → Seconds: What happened in that place at a particular time?
- Seconds → Character: Who was born, died, or became famous on that date?
A complete link salad is effectively a journey around the COGS wheel:
Who → What → Where → When → Who → …
The more meaningful connections that can be made between these four categories, the higher the link valence of the subject. A high-valence node is one that naturally attracts many other links, creating a rich network of stories, associations, and discoveries. 🌐