I’ve been playing with ConceptDraw Mindmap software. When I was a student, I used mindmaps a lot and I still scribble them out when I’m trying to sort through complicated articles.
However, I’ve always done them using pen and paper. Doing a mind map on a computer feels a little odd. I’ve always tended to use outliners. There was a wonderful program for the Mac about a decade ago but I cannot remember what it was called. Nowadays I mainly use Word which has the features but doesn’t feel as easy to use.
However, ConceptDraw is pretty easy to use once you get past the million-icons interface. I created the simple map you can see here in about five minutes of installing the program.
Next time I have a big article to write, I’m going to try mindmapping it in software first.
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I use both software and hand drawn, scrawled would be more accurate, maps for notes and documentation. Have also used them as authoring tool for my blog (composition not posting) as find they allow you to create, structure and edit complex information.
This recent post on map based note taking might be of interest:
http://rcd.typepad.com/rcd/2006/10/taking_note_of_.html
I was interested in trying out the software, but I just can’t see spending $119 on something that I can do on paper just fine. I mean, I would spend over a hundred bucks for Photoshop, which does things I simply cannot do on paper, or Office, for similar reasons. But a c-note plus for an information organization tool? And that’s just the personal version.
I am not persuaded.
Rich
BlogRodent
I’ve been a huge fan of FreeMind (http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) for some time. It’s incredibly functional, export/import features (including cut and paste) and free.
I am a big fan of the mind mapping tool MindManager from MindJet (www.mindjet.com). While I COULD do it on paper, I find it is not only great for mapping out articles but other plans as well. And, I can go back & tweak it later, reuse it to create a more in depth series, etc. I can export seamlessly to Word as an outline so it saves some typing as well.
The Mac program was called More.
More – that’s it. Great program. I wonder if it’s still around. Matthew
Also check out CmapTools, a free program developed by a few universities here in Florida: http://cmap.ihmc.us/download/
There are Windows, Mac, Linux, and Solaris versions available.
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