Anyone here using mindmapping?

[ClaesGefvenberg]

In the Handwriting thread, I happened to mention Mindmapping, and I thought I'd start a new thread on the subject rather than derailing that one. Here goes:

I make extensive use of mindmaps, hand drawn as well as in digital format. What about the rest of you? If you do, what do you use them for?

/Claes

[Xamonas Chegwe]

Yes I use it all the time. I'm surprised to find anyone else that does though. I didn't think humans were that advanced.

Oops. Wait a minute. Mapping? Not melding? Just forget I said that.

Beam me up Scotty!

[Xamonas Chegwe]

Sorry to be so facetious.

We actually had a guy at work who had been on 'a course' and was full of enthusiasm (and devoid of talent) for mind-mapping and tried to get the whole team doing it. We all called it mind-melding, had a good laugh, and he never mentioned it again.

I can see the benefits. I prefer to write a synopsis and character sketches (complete with anecdotes for each character) before I start writing a story though. mind-mapping doesn't really lend itself to a WP and I hate writing anything but scrawled notes longhand.

But when it comes to work - it doesn't fit at all with computer programming - not the kind I do anyway.

[IrishCanadian]

I havent since early in my highschool days. I hated mind-maps. But I'm current;y working on an essay in which I reserected the technique by pure accident ... it just happened natureally while I was gathering my thoughts. So we'll see how it goes ...

[Virgil]

Claes - Can you explain what a mindmap is? I've never heard of it.

[Jay]

Mind Mapping is a creative, non-linear graphic technique that records and organizes ideas as they freely flow from the mind. The ideas may be recorded using words, images, symbols and colors. Mindmapping, sometimes referred to as Idea Mapping, takes brainstorming to the next level.

Mind Mapping was developed by Tony Buzan in the late 1960’s. Using the brain’s ability to create words, images, numbers, logic, rhythm, color and spatial awareness, this technique captures on paper how our mind thinks, by charting the relationships, connections, and patterns of our ideas.

or

Wiki

I've never heard of it before either and kinda fail to see the point... so I guess it's up to Cleas to explain it further

[ClaesGefvenberg]

Claes - Can you explain what a mindmap is? I've never heard of it.

I've never heard of it before either and kinda fail to see the point... so I guess it's up to Cleas to explain it further

Happy to oblige (I expected the question, btw ). First off, I agree with the wiki Jay referred to, but there is more to it than that. I have used it or similar techniques since 2:nd grade. At the time, I obviously had no idea that it would once be called mindmapping, of course. I do remember getting a collossal dressing down from my 2:nd grade teacher for not "taking notes in a proper way".... Not very good for my creativity, had I payed any attention. Fortunately I did not. I persisted..

I do use mindmapping techniques at work... I use it a lot, all the time: Meetings, projects, audit planning, you name it.. The major advantage is that a single page often is enough to cover several hours of discussion.

I'll show you an example: We discussed the following question in another forum: How do we promote creativity? What are the Key Factors? The enclosed map is the result. Creativity seems to be a big thing here as well.

/Claes

[emily655321]

The teachers actually forced me to do that in 2nd grade. Though I'm a very visual thinker, I always hated it, because it didn't help me at all. To me, notes are a method to sort out all the chaos in my head, not reproduce it. I did it because the teacher told me to, but I had to first draw out list-like notes for myself and then plug them into the map format.

[Nightshade]

Now I hate the normal typical mind maps withh all the arows and the colours and litle boxes and general neatness and faff but I do use a technique that I syuppose is smiilar I just write down little points but they tend to catter across pages in what everyone but me seems to think is chos

[Taliesin]

Well, we use them before writing compositions or essays. They really come handy. It's a bit like brainstorming things that you associate with topic and the lines between the concept makes the thing more logical and connected

[Xamonas Chegwe]

I've actually been giving this thread a lot of thought - there's a first! - and I've come up with a theory about why some people find mind-mapping helpful while others find it useless.

I think that it forces you to think laterally (outside the box, if you prefer - must admit I cringed when I read that in the example map!) and that this is not natural for some people; they are very linear in the way they work and think.

I am the complete opposite. A thought no sooner enters my head than my mind is diving off at tangents into all the nooks and crannies surrounding it. To me, mind-mapping is a pointless exercise in writing down what I've already thought. It slows down my creative process rather than assisting it. To linear thinkers, it can be a valuable tool, helping them to take their ideas in directions that they wouldn't normally go. To lateral thinkers, it is an unnecessary burden; our ideas have already been there and are heading off somewhere different again.

When I plan a piece of writing, I need to take the opposite path; I need to force myself into a linear route. I find it helps to write out synopses, character sketches, descriptions of key objects, places and situations. I already have the map, (and it covers a much larger area than I need) I just need to find the best route through it.

Does this make sense to anyone?

[emily655321]

That does make sense, Xamonas. It's sort of what I was trying to say, though not very well. I look at the thoughts swirling around in my head, and writing is almost like trying to catch them with a butterfly net. So, for me, a bulleted list or an outline is much more helpful in putting my thoughts in order. But I can see how valuable a map could be to help people move thoughts around, rearrange the categories, and such, if the way they appear in their head is static. I didn't understand that in school, though; I thought the teachers were making me waste my time when I could have already been writing.

[soport]

In another posting in this thread (Writing tools) we are discussing how to mix images with text, for creative purposes. We were referring to Fantasy Art images, but can be applied to any other images.

[ClaesGefvenberg]

To sum things up a bit, I see that some of you like the tool, while others do not. That's what usually happens when I ask people what they think about mind mapping. People tend to be for or against, nothing in between.

Perhaps the fact that I was able to experiment with the technique and find my own way of using it helps. Being force fed with something rarely helps (Teachers - note).

/Claes

[Themis]

People tend to be for or against, nothing in between.

Excuse me, but what can one be except for or against something? There is nothing in between because a "either ... or"-question gives you just two options not three.

Ad topic: I don't use it either but I see it has its advantages for certain people. I also had to use it at school but it constricted me more than it aided me.