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Mind mapping software

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Vurbal:
I ran across another interesting option today called VUE.
-Vurbal (December 29, 2013, 02:34 PM)
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I think it's worth distinguishing between mind map applications on the one hand (Freeplane etc.), and concept mapping apps on the other (VUE etc.), although there is some overlap. The former are essentially hierarchical outliners (though laid out horizontally), where the process of development is hierarchical, flowing from a single, general central idea to many more specific sub-ideas.

Concept mappers on the other hand don't impose hierarchical thinking, rather, they let you connect any node to any other node in any particular order.

A third category might be programs that let you visualise the connected structure of your ideas that are implicit in your notes database. E.g. the Navigator tool in ConnectedText.

I'm not suggesting that one category of these tools is better than the other. They serve different purposes. The main thing to decide is what status do you want to give to the conceptual tool of hierarchical ranking in the development of your ideas. Sometimes hierarchical thinking is helpful, at other times it's unhelpful. So it's more about choosing the right tool for the right job every time.

Another interesting concept mapper is Cmap Tools (though I prefer to use VUE). There is also Scapple, which integrates with Scrivener. For mind mapping, I use Freeplane, as I like its minimalistic approach, plus it's very easy to assign shortcuts to particular operations.

-dr_andus (December 30, 2013, 06:31 AM)
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First off I want to thank you for posting this because it really helped me organize my own thoughts on the whole topic of visual mapping. I almost certainly would have gotten to the same place eventually. Because of my particular (and peculiar) set of neurological under and over functioning, though, it helps to have someone else question my conclusions to point me in the right direction.

Your definitions, unlike most of what I've found around the net, are spot on in terms of the traditional definitions of mind map and concept map. However IMO they are also outdated and inaccurate, perhaps even irrelevant, in the context of computer modeling. I'm explicitly excluding the use of programs which are basically nothing more than custom image editors here.

The distinction exists primarily because of the limitations of meatspace. In the physical world the surface you're creating a mind map on has 2 dimensions and a limited size. What you are really creating is not a model of ideas and relationships. It's a view of those things. On a computer you can create an n-dimensional model which is much closer to what's in your head and then view it from whatever perspective you choose.

That's not to say there aren't still specific scenarios where there's a bright line between those 2 approaches. There absolutely are. If your goal is to produce a single 2 dimensional representation of your idea(s) it's just as significant as ever and that's just cherry picking the most obvious example. However as a universal distinction it's completely arbitrary when the model is divorced from the display as it is in any good mind mapping program.

To put it another way, when your model is inherently 2-dimensional it will almost always be clearer if the relationships are as well. In a good mind mapping program it's just one of a multitude of factors which may or may not be significant.

dr_andus:
Your definitions, unlike most of what I've found around the net, are spot on in terms of the traditional definitions of mind map and concept map. However IMO they are also outdated and inaccurate, perhaps even irrelevant, in the context of computer modeling.
-Vurbal (February 05, 2014, 08:56 PM)
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It seems to me that you're taking the term "mind mapping" a lot more literally than I do. To me it was always just a metaphorical term, I never thought they were for "mapping one's mind." Mind maps and concept maps for me are tools for either analysing and developing ideas or for organising them for further presentation (i.e. outlines). They are for messing with stuff on (virtual) paper, rather than building a representation of my mind.

On a computer you can create an n-dimensional model which is much closer to what's in your head and then view it from whatever perspective you choose.
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That sounds to me like a very different use case from just analysing, developing or organising ideas. It sounds more like a scientific project (psychology?) to map what's happening in someone's mind. I'm not entirely convinced that such a thing is possible. It would presume that things are fully formed in the mind, and one just needs to use some kind of a tool to capture them. I suspect that ideas are not fully formed in the mind and they emerge exactly when one starts to interact with tools. So the tool is not just recording what's already there but it takes part in the development of those ideas.

Having said that, one could certainly try to build multi-dimensional models of one's understanding of a feature of reality. I was also looking for such a tool to analyse some of my empirical research data in this forum thread:
http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/3805/0/fast-3d-modelling

peter.s:
Such discussions would be more fruitful, weren't it for people who steal ideas in one forum and present them as their own in other ones.

40hz:
Such discussions would be more fruitful, weren't it for people who steal ideas in one forum and present them as their own in other ones.
-peter.s (February 12, 2014, 08:45 AM)
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Umm...

The discussions that take place at DoCo generally are quite fruitful thanks to people (mostly) parking their egos at the front door and generally not competing to see who's the smartest - or claiming ideas as their "own." What's being said is considered far more valuable, by this forum's participants, than establishing who said it "first."

Just sayin...  :)

Josh:
Thread necro powers, activate, form of...Graduate Thesis Student!

Vurbal,

I am interested to see how your quest to organize your thoughts has turned out as it seems you and I share a similar mind. I was wondering what you found and what you see as the strengths in such a product. I am not officially underway on my thesis in my Master of Science in Information Assurance course, with the ultimate goal being a Doctorate of Science in Information Systems to follow. As such, I am looking for a way to keep all of these random ideas and thoughts that populate in the tangled mess I call my brain somewhat organized. Have you had any luck?

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