1. An apparatus for the retrieval, sorting, filtering and graphical visualization of information comprising a computer system and a software program stored in a non-transitory medium, said software program comprising computer implementable instructions which when executed by said computer system cause said computer system to: define the nodes and edges of a graph to be graphically visualized, wherein said nodes and edges correspond to user-defined metadata; graphically visualize said defined graph in an initial state, wherein said graph visualization further comprises: a metadata definition; a plurality of major columns each corresponding to a node; a plurality of major columns each corresponding to an edge; a plurality of sub columns wherein each sub column corresponds to a category of said metadata and wherein each plurality corresponds to each said major column; and a plurality of rows, wherein each of said plurality of rows further comprises a plurality of cells containing metadata corresponding to a corresponding sub column's category of metadata; and wherein each of said plurality of rows corresponds to a separate traversal through said graph; and to apply a sorting criteria to a subcolumn so as to reorder the position of said plurality of rows within said graph.