Have you ever had to tackle a project that was so large that it overwhelmed you? A book project? A dissertation? You just didn’t know where to begin, and you quickly tired of hearing people say: “tackling a large project is like eating an elephant. You eat just one bite at a time.” Who wants to eat an elephant, you might have wondered to yourself, and where would you begin that little exercise? The tail? The trunk? The left foot? You have a book to write, or a dissertation to finish (or some other large project), and the “eating an elephant” analogy just wasn’t working, and the next person who told you to “just start at the beginning” was going to hurt. (We at ProfHacker in no way condone violence.) Nevertheless, you remained overwhelmed.
Mind Mapping
A effective way to gain control over unwieldy amounts of data is the use of mind maps. Mind maps are an effective way to tackle large projects, as they help you visualize ideas that can be overwhelming. On a mind map, you can rank and order information, color code and label sections of work, and you can see (literally) how one idea fits into another. Mind maps allow you to gather, manage, and share a wide variety of information and resources quickly and easily. They are ideal for managing projects, solving problems, planning meetings, brainstorming ideas or collecting thoughts, writing an article or a dissertation, or even creating new courses and lectures.
When I was writing my dissertation, I used mind mapping software to help me outline what I needed to do. My subject was broad and I kept getting lost in my data. The mind maps helped me “see” my information differently. As I was writing, when I was tempted to veer off into an area that was outside the scope of my work, the mind map helped keep me in check. The image below is a mind map of my dissertation’s introduction. I did, however, use mind maps with each chapter of the longer work.
Uses of Mind Mapping Programs
Mind maps do not have to be tools we use only for dissertations or books. They have other uses. Chuck Frey, at Innovation Tools, created a list of applications that mind maps can support:
- Idea file: A mind map is an ideal place to store ideas related to your project. Better yet, you can maintain a separate mind map as your master idea file.
- Project objectives: You can use a mind map to list objectives of the project, and keep them close at hand throughout the project to help you stay focused on its outcome.
- Questions: A mind map is an excellent place to create a list of all of the questions you have about the scope of the project, questions you need to ask other people, and other related questions.
- Information needs: You can use a mind map to create lists of the information you need, research you need to do, resources you need to explore, people you need to contact for specific information or expertise, and other information needs.
- Links to project resources: You can easily use your favorite mind mapping program to create links to web sites, documents, reports and other project-related resources to which your team members need fast, easy access. I have found this to be a big time-saver for me: Instead of wasting time searching through my file directories, looking for a key document or spreadsheet, I can create a link to it within my project map — so I never have to hunt for it again!
- Define team roles and responsibilities: You can create a branch of your map that concisely summarizes each team member’s roles and responsibilities.
- Project notes: Most mind mapping programs enable you to attach notes to the branches of your mind map. You can use this capability to store additional information related to the items in your mind map. Storing them in this way keeps them out of view until you are ready to look at them. At any time, you can easily drill down to read the notes you have stored regarding that aspect of your project.
Mind Mapping Software
Two software programs, Inspiration and Mindjet MindManager Pro, are good programs to use for mind mapping. (A disclaimer: I have used these two programs. There are other equally as effective mind mapping software programs available. In the next weeks, we will have another ProfHacker post about mind mapping software, but this post will feature programs that are free and open source.)
Inspiration, often used by primary and secondary school teachers, is an easy program to navigate. In an educational setting, this is good program, as the learning curve is very gentle, and through the Inspiration website, users have access to videos and webcasts, resources, and learning communities. Inspiration has a 30-day free trial, but with the education discount at a place like Academic Superstore, the price is reasonable at about $50. The sample below compares Jane Eyre and Charlotte Bronte.
MindManager 8, the newest version of MindJet’s Mind Manager programs, also has a free 30-day trial. This software is much more robust than Inspiration, but it has a steeper learning curve (and a steeper price). The program is a little more complex to navigate because it can perform so many more operations (and this is a good thing). In MindManager 8, you can collaborate with colleagues on projects using mind maps. You can add hyperlinks, images, and other types of files to your maps. In fact, MindJet provides mind map templates — from project planning to preparing and delivering compelling class lectures — that guide you in using its program. The sample below is from MindManager Pro 8’s faculty template on lecture planning. Embedded in the map are expanded lecture notes and links to relevant websites. Each of the main points of the lecture are numbered. The educational price for this program, including templates, online support, and online community forums, is about $150.
You can use mind maps to implement GTD strategies (see other ProfHacker posts on Getting Things Done here, here, and here). The GTD concepts are not difficult, but they become clearer when you can see them.
MindManager 8 and Inspiration both have iPhone applications.
The Conclusion
So, mind maps are easy to create and easy to read. In these maps, hierarchy and categorization are visually and clearly defined. You can present key ideas (without added verbiage). Additionally, you can use symbols and diagrams, hyperlinks and images. Using mind maps can help you save time by helping you organize your data. In short, mind maps are useful.
How do you use mind mapping software? What software programs do you recommend? Do you have uses for mind maps in the classroom? Please leave comments below.
[Images provided by Flickr user digitalart2 (elephant); Billie Hara, Dissertation Introduction; Inspiration; MindJet MindManager (GTD and Lesson Plan). Licensed under Creative Commons.]
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19 Responses to Mindmapping Software Programs
John Jones - November 16, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Here’s a video of a workshop at the DWRL on usinng mindmaps for teaching:
Mind Maps for Teaching & Research from DWRL on Vimeo.
Dimitrios Diamantaras - November 16, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Don’t forget freemind. It runs on Java and is free and pretty capable.
GC Fiedler - November 16, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Some Mac programs to consider:
MindNode has a free version.
FreeMind (as Diamantaras indicates) is free.
Personal Brain has a free version (more like document mapping).
There are some other apps, but these are pay versions. You can check out MacUpdate or VersionTracker for these.
Brian Croxall - November 16, 2009 at 8:39 pm
My favorite mindmapping tool is bubbl.us. It’s not as powerful as many of the tools Billie writes about, but I’ve found it to be more fun. And that’s typically what I need to get me started on a big or undefined project: fun.
Dimitrios Diamantaras - November 16, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Thanks, I did not know of this one, and it looks good.
Nicole - November 17, 2009 at 8:47 am
I’m so excited to see this post! I’m a librarian working on some research guides for students, and I wanted to mention mind mapping (we call it ‘concept mapping’), along with some links for free software they could use.
I’d love to hear other free options people have used – are there any which run as java or some such from the browser that I could recommend to students?
Gerrit - November 17, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Yeah bubbl.us is my mindmap software of choice but only because it is free and there is not client download (you can access you account on the web from anywhere). I wish it had similar functionality to some of these other systems like image embedding but, again, the draw for me is the price. You can’t beat it.
Thomas - November 17, 2009 at 6:00 pm
CmapTools is totally free and super powerful. My students teach themselves to use it in just a few minutes: http://www.cmaptools.com/
Natalie Houston - November 17, 2009 at 10:52 pm
I’ve used both Freemind and Novamind — though I often find that I can access the creative power of mindmaps better by actually pulling out pens and paper. If it’s for something big and complicated (chapter outline) then at the 2nd stage I’ll transfer it to computer. Tony Buzan’s books are a great starting point especially if you’re not sure how mindmapping might be useful for you — and they are available at most public libraries.
Sherman Dorn - November 20, 2009 at 12:46 am
Mindmapping all too often ____________ verbs, like most graphics, and while Edward Tufte would probably ____________ that graphics should ____________ explanations rather than just “chartjunk,” more generally I ____________ that the general sloppiness in ____________ verbs ____________ it difficult ____________ oneself ____________ clearly.
wendy - November 20, 2009 at 10:16 am
CMap is the best of all of these, in my opinion. It’s available for all platforms for free, and it’s VERY easy to use!
Chris Clark - November 20, 2009 at 2:45 pm
I’m surprised no one mentioned Xmind [http://www.xmind.net/]. A few months ago we took a look at what was available and decided Xmind was a good free alternative to the for-pay titles reviewed here. Thanks for the great blog – I follow it regularly.
Michael Wojcik - November 21, 2009 at 1:38 pm
For us gearheads, FreeMind is particularly useful because its output format is XML and it has a built-in XSLT export driver. That makes it easy to 1) produce mindmaps from other programs than can be displayed and edited in FreeMind, and 2) convert FreeMind mindmaps into other formats.
A few years back I threw together an XSLT sheet to convert FreeMind mindmaps into LaTeX outlines (in the LyX file format), so I could sketch out my ideas in FreeMind and then crank out an outline that I’d load into LyX to start writing the full text.
A couple of times I’ve used FreeMind for class discussion – hook the laptop up to the projector, put up an empty map, then add to the map as people shout out ideas for it. I also used it once when I was the respondent for a panel at a conference – I mapped my notes as the panelists presented. (Then I was going to put the map up on the screen while I gave my response, but alas we had the inevitable equipment problems and I didn’t want to eat into Q&A time.)
Billie - November 21, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Thanks, John. This is very helpful!
Billie - November 21, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Michael, I’d never considered using a mindmap IN a classroom setting. This is brilliant! :-) Of course, it would be impossible to do when using the pricey programs, but Freemind is accessible. Nifty idea. Thanks! :-)
Billie - November 21, 2009 at 6:26 pm
After Brian mentioned bubbl.us, I found it online and I agree: it’s a neat little program. And free is always good. I’m sure using bubbl.us in a classroom setting (as Michael mentioned above referring to Freemind), would be effective.
Billie - November 21, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Thanks, Chris! We have an upcoming post about the free versions of mindmapping software, and we’ll includde Xmind for sure! :-)
Joseph Portal - November 25, 2009 at 12:57 am
Thanks for recommending Freemind, I’m quit new to this form of personal/business management. Unlike others I have tried before this one seems to like me a lot more, and so far everything is going well.
Del - February 5, 2010 at 12:56 am
Another application to which you can use mind mapping software for, which I’ve personally found to be very helpful to stay organized, is to embedd into your nodes images of the places you login into frequently each day.
Example:
Embed an image into your nodes that says “MY Blog” or “Blog” so that when you click on the node it takes you directly to your blog to login and make a post.
Or embed an image into your node that says “Tasks” and sub node images coming off that node which say Monday, Tues,Thurs, etc.
Then you just put maybe 3 major tasks that you wanted to handle for each specific day.
The reason you may like embedding images into your nodes to stay organized and focused is because you will find it much more visually appealing and you will be more likey to use your own mind maps that you make for yourself.
The software I use for this is called Systemizer mind mapping software and I downloaded it here
http://www.mind-mapping-software.org
Hope this helps anybody reading this…..
Del