Mind Mapping anyone?

[pik0]

Great question, Piko.

Here are three major reasons:
1. Even with widespread use of mind mapping in business, most students have never heard of mind mapping.
2. Once they hear about mind mapping, they don't know how to apply it to school (no systematic method). Note: this has changed now with publication of Concise Learning book (also available as an iBook :ipad-front.
3. The paper & pen note taking habit is hard to break because students have been trained to copy notes throughout their school years. With mind mapping, students can transition from copying notes to thinking during lectures, a big change that requires a major habit change.

1. Widespread? I wish it were. I've been working professionally since 1985 in the IT industry and have NEVER seen anyone doing anything remotely like this. I've worked with 100's of engineering professionals and everyone I've ever known kept it lineal. I've even attended brainstorming classes (a perfect outlet) and not a peep.
2. Yeah, it's a travesty that when I went to school, I was never taught how to study. Would have been nice to have at least had Concise Learning around (although it appears to be a new book as of this year).
3. Excellent point here. In fact I've been pinging many middle level managers on this very topic in relation to their employees and their abilities to complete tasks and projects. The end result is, they have all asked me to prepare a course to conduct in their office to teach the basics of mind mapping and how to apply this technique to their daily lives.

And what, do you suppose am I using to develop the course? Why, mind mapping, of course, and on the iPad no less.

Piko

 

[ginopiazza49]

Great question, Piko.

3. Excellent point here. In fact I've been pinging many middle level managers on this very topic in relation to their employees and their abilities to complete tasks and projects. The end result is, they have all asked me to prepare a course to conduct in their office to teach the basics of mind mapping and how to apply this technique to their daily lives.

And what, do you suppose am I using to develop the course? Why, mind mapping, of course, and on the iPad no less.

Piko

Good luck on that. Show those middle level managers a thing or two.

 

[jaybrass73]

iThoughtsHD - just downloaded, really pleased with the functionality of it, seems pretty easy to navigate round

 

[bdegrande]

I use iThoughts HD and like it quite a bit, I just got MindNode Pro for the Mac as part of the Mac Update bundle and will see if they will work together, if not I can always get MindNode's iPad app.

 

[pik0]

iThoughtsHD - just downloaded, really pleased with the functionality of it, seems pretty easy to navigate round

Nice!! They also have an iPhone/iPod Touch version. If you sign up for a free dropbox account, you can easily exchange the map files between devices and access from your desktop. If you save in the freemind format (.mm), the files can be accessed by just about every mind map app.

Piko

 

[pik0]

I use iThoughts HD and like it quite a bit, I just got MindNode Pro for the Mac as part of the Mac Update bundle and will see if they will work together, if not I can always get MindNode's iPad app.

Sign up for a free 2GB dropbox account. This will allow you to exchanges files directly with iThoughtsHD (and iThoughts) and your desktop. Then you can access from MindNode Pro. If you save in freemind format (.mm) then both apps can access the same file.

Now, if I can just convince all these software engineers to unify on a single file format, no more conversions. I've tried contacting Craig and Markus (iThoughtsHD and MindNode Pro). Both were surprised that there had been any effort to unify mind map file formats (XTM). From what I've read online, it looks like the Mind Manager file format is the most comprehensive. But that might be too much for these guys to convert to...

Piko

 

[ginopiazza49]

iThoughtsHD - just downloaded, really pleased with the functionality of it, seems pretty easy to navigate round

Nice!! They also have an iPhone/iPod Touch version. If you sign up for a free dropbox account, you can easily exchange the map files between devices and access from your desktop. If you save in the freemind format (.mm), the files can be accessed by just about every mind map app.

Piko

Just curious, what do you think of MindMeister for iPad? Would you choose it over iThoughtsHD or MindNode?

 

[pik0]

FYI, iThoughtsHD just released an update, which includes the following:

• New Icon
• Undo/Redo (unlimited)
• Novamind5 Support
• Rainbow Colour Theme
• Revamped Inspector
• Create new map based on existing map

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ithoughtshd-mindmapping/id369020033?mt=8

W00t!

Piko

 

[bdegrande]

I use iThoughts HD and like it quite a bit, I just got MindNode Pro for the Mac as part of the Mac Update bundle and will see if they will work together, if not I can always get MindNode's iPad app.

Sign up for a free 2GB dropbox account. This will allow you to exchanges files directly with iThoughtsHD (and iThoughts) and your desktop. Then you can access from MindNode Pro. If you save in freemind format (.mm) then both apps can access the same file.

Now, if I can just convince all these software engineers to unify on a single file format, no more conversions. I've tried contacting Craig and Markus (iThoughtsHD and MindNode Pro). Both were surprised that there had been any effort to unify mind map file formats (XTM). From what I've read online, it looks like the Mind Manager file format is the most comprehensive. But that might be too much for these guys to convert to...

Piko

Thanks, Piko. I have a Drophox account, I just wasn't sure if there was a file format that both would read.

 

[welllam]

I wish they have recording function that synchronizes the timing with the content i type so that I have the notes, nodes and sound to bring everything together.

It means merging soundnotes with this software.

 

[Hasty]

I've been using Popplets as a simple mind mapping/whiteboard tool which works well for what I need. Videos on youtube.
Some of the ones listed here are fairly hardcore , too many choices of colours, boxes, and connections can interrupt the flow of thought.

I like being able to incorporate my own images in some of the boxes and the simple jpg/PDF output is good enough. The only major annoyance is the inability to drag a completed branch to a new position, but hopefully the devs will have this covered in the next upgrade.

 

[Hasty]

Should add there's a free lite version available which restricts you to single map at a time.

 

[zorah]

handwriting own note vs. keyboard entry

Just wondering: any Mind Mapping apps that allow for the user to be able to handwrite text as opposed to using the keyboard?
Does Popplet allow this in any capacity?
I have iThoughts for iPhone already, and it kind of annoys me that I have to buy a separate program for iPad, so it's not going to my first consideration.
I also have iBlueSky which while not optimized, at least still works on my iPad, thought not quite like I'd like. But I would like the opportunity to handwrite instead of using keyboard.
So, if I can't have this handwritten input, then what are users current thoughts on iPad mind mapping programs. (including even iThoughts HD, my resentment aside, LOL)

 

[AlunReynolds]

Mind mapping

Glad you liked it. Hope it helps others to appreciate the benefit of mind mapping, and just how fun and easy it has become on the iPad.

Piko

I have been using this method exclusively for structuring my thoughts for years (since about 1992). I now can't take linear notes as they don't make sense to me. I can capture a very long meeting on a single page.

I have used a number of software packages for mind mapping. Visio has a reasonably good tool, so does mind manager, though it is a long time since I used it.

On iPad though I like iThoughts HD. Hardly miss the undo as you can just delete the node, or move it.

Omnigraffle can also be used quite effectively, though it's not a pure mind mapping tool.

 

[zorah]

Thanks.
I don't think I'll come across a dedicated mind mapping app that will offer handwritten input right now. I did a search in the App Store and came across MindNode again. Had seen it before for iPhone. Gave it a second glance and decided to give it a whirl, and glad I did. The display type never appealed to me before-I always looked for the nodes to be shapes. But already I created one project in a few minutes. App is intuitive. Text entry by typing displays better for MindNode anyway and I find it easy to read so oh well, so much for handwriting- this is better for me afterall!