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Mind-Mapping Software

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KenR:
Here's a page of interesting "mind-mapping" software. Hmm, I wonder where my DC nucleus is :P

Vic's compendium of software that supports knowledge management and information organisation in graphical form. Includes mind mappers, concept mappers, outliners, hierarchical organisers, KM support and knowledge browsers, 2D and 3D. The opinions are Vic's but material in quotes that follows "What they say" is quoted from the vendors' web sites. All prices are as at the most recent check (March 06). "$" means US dollars, other currences use the international currency code (EUR, euros; GBP, Pounds Sterling, etc.) The product names used in this web site are for identification purposes only. All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners...

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http://www.mind-mapping.org/




from www.stumbleupon.com

CWuestefeld:
I've been working for some time on a thought-organizing app, inspired by mind mapping. IMHO, there are some pretty significant flaws in the basic mind mapping approach, and no software (until mine is complete ;) ) addresses them.

Most significantly, while it's intended to be a tool for brainstorming -- that is, to organically develop your thoughts on a topic -- its hierarchical nature forces you to come up with a structure from the get-go. That's a Catch-22. If you're still trying to develop your thoughts, how do you know how to organize them?

Also, it doesn't provide very good support for ideas that are highly interconnected -- that is, ideas that have more than a parent and children, but also rich relationships between them. And another problem is that the structure that's appropriate for considering something varies depending on what aspect you're examining, but current software is almost universally centered around building a diagram as opposed to relating a set of thoughts.

I've blogged a few articles about these problems in detail, see The inadequacy of mindmapping here http://www.thewuestefelds.com/blog/?p=5 and Fixing the mindmap here http://www.thewuestefelds.com/blog/?p=12 .

tinjaw:
Very interesting find Ken. Thanks for the information.

CWuestefeld, I read you blog entries and I have some ideas. I'll post a reply to you blog.

roytsganda:
I agree about the limitations of the pure hierarchical structure of mindmaps.  Have you tried 3D mindmapping, where this is resolved?  Topicscape ( http://www.topicscape.com ) allows as many parents for a node as you want, it also has a 'loose association' link for ideas that are outside the parent/child hierarchy, and a Topicscape Islands node where things can be parked for later consideration, to be moved once you've decided where they go.

Apart from the hierarchy problem with mindmaps, there's the matter of size.  Any serious mindmapping - for innovation, business or creativity - can't afford to be fenced in by a 2D sheet, even when when you're looking at a portion of a virtual sheet in a window.  Topicscape solves this one by moving away from the single center and letting you arrange the mindmap around any topic.

And finally there's the annoyance that nearly all mindmapping software needs one node for every file you save on it.  When I'm brainstorming I'm just working with ideas, but when I go on to the next stage, I'm gathering information from all over and I want to manage that information in a mind map - often one culled from the brainstorming session, though heavily trimmed.  If I have a six-page article from the web, I don't want six nodes.  With Topicscape, I can put all six (or as many as I want) in one node.

See if it solves your problems with mindmaps.

vizacc:
hi,
I'm writing a mind-mapper program currently...

what features would you like to see in it?

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