Mind Mapping

I have been a devotee of "mind mapping" for years. I am not a linear thinker and the discovery of mind mapping helped me dramatically in organizing and exploring concepts, ideas and information. I first "discovered" the concept in a book by Gabriele Rico called Writing The Natural Way. I was laid up after a knee surgery and read the book. I immediately saw that it fit exceptionally well with the way that I think and see connections.

Well, a couple of weeks ago I stumbled across Cmaps. I am linked to a webring on Peak Oil with the Radical Noesis site and the webring is hosted by Flying Talking Donkey. Flying Talking Donkey is also a mind mapping afficianado, and has a link to a concept map on peak oil. I saw the map and immediately got excited. SO I followed a link on the map to IHMC Cmap Tools and downloaded the free software to create concept maps.

Over the years I have looked at one software program after another that purported to do mind or concept mapping. They have all been big busts in my opinion because they forced a linear process. But the Cmap program really does provide concept mapping ability. It also allows the linking of annotations, notes, and url links to concepts. That is a tremendous leap forward. The software allows collaborative mapping, but I am still working on the basics of how the program works. You can try that out at the Flying Talking Donkey map link above.

If you are interested in concept mapping I highly recommend IHMC Cmap. Wired News has a piece on it called Concept Maps Go to School.