A panoptic visualization document differencing system comprising: a differencing engine configured to direct comparison of two or more pages each of which includes respective media content, and: characterized in that the system further comprises: a colligator of the system that is configured to extract, generate or otherwise provide metadata associated with each page providing information about the respective page, the metadata including information identifying one or more links between the page and one or more other pages and specifying an arrangement of the respective page in each of a plurality of layout models; and a layout engine of the differencing engine or coupled to the differencing engine, the layout engine being configured to generate a comparison page comprising a layout of a panoptically-arranged visual representation of a comparison of the pages according to a layout model selected from the plurality of layout models according to the associated metadata for an identified page, wherein the differencing engine is configured to generate a comparison of the metadata of the pages resulting in metadata associated with the respective comparison page and to communicate the layout. a differencing engine configured to direct comparison of two or more pages each of which includes respective media content, and: characterized in that the system further comprises: a colligator of the system that is configured to extract, generate or otherwise provide metadata associated with each page providing information about the respective page, the metadata including information identifying one or more links between the page and one or more other pages and specifying an arrangement of the respective page in each of a plurality of layout models; and a layout engine of the differencing engine or coupled to the differencing engine, the layout engine being configured to generate a comparison page comprising a layout of a panoptically-arranged visual representation of a comparison of the pages according to a layout model selected from the plurality of layout models according to the associated metadata for an identified page, wherein the differencing engine is configured to generate a comparison of the metadata of the pages resulting in metadata associated with the respective comparison page and to communicate the layout. characterized in that the system further comprises: a colligator of the system that is configured to extract, generate or otherwise provide metadata associated with each page providing information about the respective page, the metadata including information identifying one or more links between the page and one or more other pages and specifying an arrangement of the respective page in each of a plurality of layout models; and a layout engine of the differencing engine or coupled to the differencing engine, the layout engine being configured to generate a comparison page comprising a layout of a panoptically-arranged visual representation of a comparison of the pages according to a layout model selected from the plurality of layout models according to the associated metadata for an identified page, wherein the differencing engine is configured to generate a comparison of the metadata of the pages resulting in metadata associated with the respective comparison page and to communicate the layout. a colligator of the system that is configured to extract, generate or otherwise provide metadata associated with each page providing information about the respective page, the metadata including information identifying one or more links between the page and one or more other pages and specifying an arrangement of the respective page in each of a plurality of layout models; and a layout engine of the differencing engine or coupled to the differencing engine, the layout engine being configured to generate a comparison page comprising a layout of a panoptically-arranged visual representation of a comparison of the pages according to a layout model selected from the plurality of layout models according to the associated metadata for an identified page, wherein the differencing engine is configured to generate a comparison of the metadata of the pages resulting in metadata associated with the respective comparison page and to communicate the layout.