I’ve written before about how Mastering mind mapping can help at work  especially as recession looms. Well now, Chuck Frey has interviewed Jamie Nast on a closely-related topic.  Chuck has entitled the piece “Learn to think visually - or else”.

Jamie says “To this day the majority of people have not heard of mind mapping or idea mapping”.  This is amazing, but true, and it’s what motivates me most in maintaining Mind-mapping.org as a directory of information mapping software, repository of articles, and a go-to place for information about visual thinking.  And I regularly comment on blogs all over the web to get the message out about different ways of seeing and presenting ideas, plans, creativity and information.

We’ve heard Buzan say that mind maping has gone mainstream, but sadly, it really hasn’t yet, though it is increasingly popping up in unexpected corporate environments. Two of the people responsible for that are Nast and Frey!

Vic Gee
http://www.mind-mapping.org/
The master list of mind mapping &
information management software

For too long now we have had many statements about the origins of visual mapping but there are too few examples, to my way of thinking.

I’ve just written about early visual thinking maps and included a couple of cases.

If any can add to the list by providing other early examples, I’d love to have the chance to display them (with acknowledgement and link back) in this newly-begun collection.  Please email me: vic [at] mind-mapping [dot] org.  Idea Sunbursting is a particular case I’d like to carry an example of.

Vic

 [Update, 27th Aug: linked fixed, thanks to Matthew of Banxia.]

One of my informants, the ever-helpful Sue, has pointed out to me that Giveaway of the day has a free download and license for EDraw MAX but there’s a mere five hour timeslot left to get this.

Sue also provided this information: “FYI — Registration is a little tricky. Open the ReadMe file. Copy the name and number, then paste them into the spaces… oh? Where are the spaces? After installing the program, when it launches for the first time: Click on help; click on BUY/register; paste in the name and number from the ReadMe file; click activate & all should be well. That registers this as a purchase; otherwise it remains a trial version that will expire.”

Thanks a bunch Sue.

Now get over there and grab it the rest of you!

Vic Gee

http://www.mind-mapping.org/
The master list of mind mapping &
information management software

I decided I’d add some of my knowledge of mind
mapping to Google’s Knol, their competitor to
Wikipedia.  That’s just a snippet over on the right.

I’ve tried to keep this a neutral definition, and I’d
welcome comments.

Vic Gee

Oh yeah, and I’m working on one about concept maps,
but it still needs some examples.

Up to now, I would have said that uses of mind maps could fit under four main categories: Learning and teaching; creative idea generation and brainstorming; planning and managing tasks or projects; and organising  information.  Always in these, we would expect the items under a branch to be logically related to concepts or topics higher in the hierarchy.

But now, I’ve seen signs in two places of another direction.  Not an attempt to replace the others, but something refreshingly new in mind maps (to me anyway): Free association.

Mikky J has a poem and mind map combined called “Frozen” where he free associates his way down each branch.  Mikky asks people not to copy it, so please follow the link above to see it.

And Paul Foreman, who has appeared in the mind-mapping.org blog before, has a “flip it” mind map where, to fight off negative thinking, he suggests we reverse words, and look for free associations that reverse the starting point to become a positive thought.

My favourite branch is the one for “bored”.  Paul allows copying if there’s a link back as well, so you can take a look by clicking on the thumbnail here or the link above:

Always good to see creative new ways of using mind maps.

Vic

(With apologies to the person whose famous epitaph I paraphrased in the title.)

My hosting company rolled out a fix in the underlying PHP software that runs most of mind-mapping.org on July 22nd.The fact that this had broken the site was brought to my attention by a helpful user (thanks Sue), saying “Oh, no! I just posted a link to you.  Have you gone for good?”

Well, fortunately not.  It took a bit of communication with the host-company support staff to find out what had happened (and get a gracious apology) but now the hiccups are over and it’s back.  A case of one bug hiding another apparently.

Vic Gee

http://www.mind-mapping.org/
The master list of mind mapping &
information management software

New on mind-mapping.org this week, there are even more new, browser-based mind-mapping apps, and some bits and pieces of news about other events.

Ekpenso

Ekpenso* is a new, web-based mind mapping application in the first stages of development, but they are offering off-line use with Google Gears from the get go.

* Footnote: According to their web site, “Ekpenso” is Esperanto for idea or thought.  Not a lot of people know that…

Mindjet Connect

Given MindManager’s reach — almost certainly greater than any other commercial mind map software** — the most important announcement recently must be the web server application launched by Mindjet.  This works with MindManager to support collaborative use of mind maps. 

I’ve got a couple of questions in at MindJet about the clients it works with and pricing anomalies.  Will fill in on these later.

Update July 16 2008: One lost email and a re-send later, I can now say how users interact with Connect.  You can use : The full desktop product (MM7 SP2); Firefox 2.0; Safari 2.0 (Mac); IE 6.0 (with XP); and IE 7.0 (with Vista) to access and edit mind maps hosted on the Connect server.

On price the range  for the standard package is:
1-9 users, $11.99/user/month on a month by month basis (less if you commit to a year)
50-99 users, $8.99/user/month for a 1-yr contract.

** Second footnote: OK, all you FreeMind folks, I know you almost certainly have way more downloads than any other mind map software, but I carefully wrote “commercial mind map software”, OK?)

Mind42 no longer Beta

Mind42 has come out of Beta.  It is still free, but they say they’re working on a ‘pro’ version.

Wisdomap

A new web-based mind map application from the UK, this one focuses on associated clips, images and other and multimedia related to a mind map but separated from the map itself to reduce confusion.

More about Chuck Frey’s re-organization of his blog

After his move, Chuck has gathered all his valuable reports and research in one place here: http://mindmappingsoftwareblog.com/research-reports/ 

Vic
http://www.mind-mapping.org/
The master list of mind mapping &
information management software

Here’s a quick update after my recent post - I found an on-line mapper showing the relationships between words, called Visuwords.

This has similarities to VisualThesaurus but it goes a stage further because it seeks to show the relationships between words using colour and shape-coded connecting lines.  So what you get is a type of concept map.  The part-of-speech of each word is colour-coded as well.  You can’t build your own maps with it, but put in a word and you’ll see it build the relationships in front of your eyes.

A bonus: Unlike many of these on-line applications, it has an option to take advantage of a large screen.

Vic
The master list of mind mapping &
information management software

New on mind-mapping.org this week are three map-related tools: C-TOOLS, CharTr and Mind2Chart.  And two that have been updated - VUE and MindVisualizer.

C-TOOLS

C-TOOLS is a server / web based combination for making concept maps in an educational environment.  It even has an automated mark-students’-work-as-you-go capability.

CharTr

It’s early in the life of this project but it is making progress.

Mind2Chart

Not a mind mapping product, but an add-on for MindJet’s MindManager that can produce Gantt charts from a mind map with project management data included.

MindVisualizer

MindVisualizer has been upgraded with multi-centred mind maps, and the association descriptions needed for proper concept maps.  Well worth a look.

VUE

 I have been hoping for screenshots from VUE and now I’ve found some on the site.  VUE recently became VUE 2.0, by the way.  Aimed at education, this has interesting possibilities for presentations.

That’s it for this week.

Vic
The master list of mind mapping &
information management software

First it was Paul, now it’s Chuck.  Chuck Frey, author of one of the leading mind mapping blogs has moved to a new address: http://mindmappingsoftwareblog.com

Well, I’m off to change his entry in on my list of the canonical mind map sites, mindmapsearch.org as well. 

Is this the start of a trend?  Where shall I go then? (No rude answers please!)

Vic
The master list of mind mapping &
information management software