Mind maps
(To be expanded)
As a quick intro, mind maps are visual representations of mostly-hierarchical points, centered around a core concept usually. The accent is on the visual aspect, which helps in the task for which mind maps are often used: brainstorming, reviewing, summarizing, etc. Proponents of the method tend to say that mind maps “appeal to the way the brain works”, the brain being this mass of interconnections etc.
An example mind map (from Wikipedia)
Here are a few examples. You can both draw them by hand and with mind mapping software.
To be honest, I personally don’t use mind maps much, but they clearly deserve a page on this blog, as many people think of them as fundamental in their knowledge toolbox. I’ll add more content when my thoughts on the topic evolve. I will say, though, that they’ve indeed been useful to me when memorizing lists for exams and for brainstorming.
Mind mapping software: XMind
One of the reasons I don’t use mind maps much is the apparent lack of standards in software that support them: I don’t like the idea that my work is locked in a format particular to such or such commercial app. In the past, I knew of FreeMind, which is now popular enough that a few other apps allow importing from it. Looking at this diagram, it also seems that MindJet MindManager is another de facto standard in the field.
Problem is, FreeMind visuals are not that impressive, so up to this point I didn’t really see the advantage over plain old bullet point lists. And given my limited use of mind maps, it doesn’t make sense to shell out 350$ for MindManager (not to mention it’s Windows/Mac only).
But looking over the list of mind mapping software over at Wikipedia , I learned of XMIND. It’s an open source application backed by a company which also sells a Pro version. (For techies, it’s based on the Eclipse platform, and being open source makes it score point in the “lock in” dimension.) Its visual aspect is, to me, more appealing than FreeMind’s. The visuals being one of the core reasons to use mind maps in the first place, this plays a big role to my taste. Also, the GUI looks more modern. Here’s a blog post on XMIND from the point of view of someone using FreeMind everyday.
I’ll be trying this one out for personal projects (probably book summaries, see bellow).
Interesting uses of mind maps
One interesting use of mind maps I recently saw is for book summaries/reviews. It certainly makes the documents more engaging. Here are a few examples:
Marco Milani:
Nice post and good review about Mind Maps from a general point of view.
I share with you the same concerning about lack of standards in software, in any case consider that many MM softwares store data files in textual formats, like xml, so your data is always preserved.
I would also highlight that I’m not an “ex freemind user” as stated in this post, even if I’m interesting in evaluating other promising solutions, I’m using freemind everyday.
16 March 2009, 11:27 amFrancois:
I understand that many apps store their information in XML formats, which is good, but I still like the idea that the source is available. XMind seemed to have the best of both worlds: great visuals, yet open source.
Thanks for the comment. (And I just corrected the post regarding your usage of FreeMind; sorry about that.)
16 March 2009, 12:16 pm