25 Mindmapping
Description
This article is from the Self Improvement FAQ, by Loren Larsen llarsen@cs.clemson.edu with numerous contributions by others.
25 Mindmapping
Q. What is mindmapping?
A. Mindmapping is a technique developed by Tony Buzan for
"associatively" recording ideas on paper. Most notetaking methods
on paper are linear; that is you start at the top of the page and
record information in the order presented from top to bottom.
Buzan recognized that this isn't consistent with the way the human
mind works, which is "associately" by creating associations
between items that are not necessarily related to some predefined
order. A mindmap works by beginning at the center of the page
with a main idea and work outward producing a growing and organized
structure composed of keywords and images. Complete sentences or
even phrases are not allowed because they're redundant and
inefficient. Mindmaps are useful in organizing information, taking
notes, outlining talks or written material, brainstorming for
creating new ideas and seeing new connections between things.
Mindmaps take advantage of color, symbols. They can cluster
related ideas. They require a more active involvement in taking
notes because the location of the next item must be decided upon
based on what is already there. Traditional "verbatim" approaches
simply state that "what will come will follow what has come."
Mind maps are easier to remember and easier to review because each
one is visually different and because no two will have the exact
same structures, colors, clusters, symbols, etc.
Mindmapping is described by Tony Buzan in "The Mind Map Book" as
well as several of his other books. Another good book is called
"Mindmapping" by Joyce Wycoff.
Q. What mindmapping software is available?
A. One software program is available from the Buzan Centre (see
Appendix A) called "Mind Maps Plus". There is a shareware program
called "Info Map Lite"" available from CoCo Systems Ltd. (see
Appendix A). In general these software
programs allow the user to draw and manage mindmaps on computer
using a graphical user interface. Some tools allow sophisticated
re-arranging of the topology, annotating maps entries with notes,
etc.
Visio 3.0 (can accept full sentences).
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