Spinscape announces private beta

I have been working closely with BOSSdev to release their really cool new mindmapping 2.0 product Spinscape.

The private beta was released today at the Vizthink show. If you would like an invitation to the beta, please send me an email at jasapir@gmail.com.

Vizthink Conference '08

I will be at the Vizthink Conference '08 with BOSSdev. Looks like it will be an awesome show!

Why has it taken mindmapping software so long to take off?

This subject came up at the Office 2.0 Conference last week. Here are my thoughts on the subject.

MindManager, the big dog of mind mapping tools, has only sold something like 800,000 licenses in almost 10 years of being in business. When you consider that MS Office has tens of millions of users, this is a pitiful number - especially since only a small portion of that number are actually being used.

So the question is - why? If mindmapping is so great, why haven't more people jumped on the bandwagon?

I think the answer is threefold:

1. The cost for what is being provided is too high. At $350, not too many people are willing to give it a fair shot.
2. The benefits of a mindmapping tool over manual mindmapping are not all that significant. Having the computer automatically draw the lines is just not compelling enough. (True, MindManager tried to enhance the value by providing things like exporting to Word and images, but it is still not enough).
   
3. Mindmapping 1.0 tools are solitary - there is no way to collaborate with others beyond sending the maps around as an attachment.

Web 2.0 changes all that:

1. You can go online and get basic mindmapping for free - no credit card or download necessary.
2. Being on the Web offers much more opportunity for functionality that is well beyond a simple mind map.
3. Mindmapping tools on the Web have real-time collaboration built-in.

These changes, and other aspects of Mindmapping 2.0, are going to significantly increase the use of mindmapping. The incredibly rapid proliferation of mindmapping 2.0 tools like bubbl.us and MindMeister are a testament to this (even though I see these tools as Mindmapping 1.5 at best).

What do you think? Why hasn't mindmapping taken off until now?

Single central node vs. Every node a central node

Mind maps, by Buzan's own definition, must have a single central node. Having this as a guideline is useful sometimes, but it gets in the way on others. It's good when you're getting your head around a subject, learning something new, brainstorming or making the initial steps in a project. The central topic is your focus and Buzan's "radiant" style strengthens and keeps the focus. If you're working with paper mind maps, as he originally conceived, it's easy to see where the rule came from.

But Buzan's rules also tell us to develop our own personal style of mind mapping. Often I want to move the focal center of the map from place to place. Later in a project, say, when I'm focused on locating resources, their allocation and management, that's all I want to have in mind for a while and I'll make "Resources" the central topic. So, early in a mind map when ideas are springing up, new information is arriving more or less at random to be ordered and organized or I'm taking notes from a book, radiant is great. Later on, as the mind map matures and it's being used for formal planning say, to find some information, or revise a topic, that's when I want to move different topics to be the center for a while.

I wanted to do this for years and was frustrated that Mind Man didn't let me do it. Mind Man became MindManager - and AFAIK even the latest version, MindManager 7, doesn't allow it. The usual answer is to make another map and link to it. Within reason though, I like to see everything in once place, or it becomes an out-of-sight-out-of-mindmap.

I have seen concept maps drawn with MindManager, but I believe "Every node a central node" is not about concept maps, and I'll tell you why: A concept map is a web or graph and will often have no hierarchy implied in the diagram. For example, associations between concept map nodes may be cause and effect; influences; or verbs; where hierarchy is unimportant. So I don't want to go down the concept maps path for now.

I think it's safe to say that a mind map always implies a hierarchy, and for the kind of tasks I do with mind maps, a hierarchy is very useful. Whether it should be a strict tree hierarchy (every node has one parent) is a different question and I'll come back to that in another post.

For me, a movable center has to be part of MindMapping 2.0 and for now, I know of only two software products that can do it.

Roy

http:/www.topicscape.com
For a new dimension in mind mapping

Linking to External Documents: Desktop Software vs. Web-Based Software

One of the primary concerns when deciding whether to implement a particular mind map in desktop mind mapping software or web-based mind mapping software is the issue of linking the map to related documents. There isn't any way to link to your local desktop documents from a web-based mind mapping tool without some very serious limitations, and I'm not aware of any web-based mind mapping software that currently offers this functionality. This is, in fact, one of the primary advantages of using a desktop package: the ability to weave arbitrary local documents into the structure of a mind map and hence into the structure of ideas surrounding some project or activity.

Take, for example, the following. I have four documents: 1 created with Microsoft Word, 1 created with OpenOffice Writer, 1 created with Google Docs & Spreadsheets and 1 created with Zoho Writer. The first two applications create and edit documents on the desktop, the second two create and edit documents online.

Here is how I can integrate these documents into a MindManager mind map. Attachments are a part of the map and move around with the map. Links to files will be easily broken if I move the map around between computers or move around the files that are linked to. Links to web pages will always work, no matter how much I move the map around on one computer or among any number of computers.

Here is how I can integrate these documents into a MindMeister mind map. I can only use the Zoho Writer and Google Docs & Spreadsheets documents with MindMeister, and I can only create links, not attachments.

The major advantage of web-based mind mapping software over software that runs on the desktop is ease of collaboration. If I have the documents that I want to link to in an online editor, whether it's a Google doc, a wiki, or any other form of collaborative web document, multiple authors can have access to it for viewing, editing, or whatever using only an Internet connection. The MindMeister application offers a similar level of collaboration. Multiple users can even edit the mind map collaboratively in real time, seeing each others changes as the are entered into the mind map. Desktop office and mind mapping software is nowhere near as adept at collaboration as many web applications are.

Here are my recommendations. Consider using an online mind mapping tool if ...

• You want a highly collaborative experience
• Your entire structure of documents, email, and any other information that you want to link to is editable from the web
• The information in the documents that make up your project are not of an extremely sensitive nature.

Consider using a desktop mind mapping tool if ...

• You're willing to jump through some hoops to collaborate, or are not collaborating
• You're willing to jump through some hoops to move files between computers, or only work on one computer
• You want to ability to link to local documents and programs from your mind map
• You want the smoothest, fastest experience in terms of the user interface
• You have grave security concerns about putting the information that you're working with on the web

Arthur Vanderbilt
RadiantThought

Hi there. I'm Roy Grubb, blogging as a guest on Mindmapping 2.0.

This has to be a really good initiative, when we look at mind mapping now, with all the web-based tools around and the changes going on. I may have lot to say on the subject, with Jonathan's indulgence, but I won't bore you with a long screed or try to hog the space here. I'll make a series of short posts and read with great interest the feedback, responses and posts that other guests add, together with the thread that Jon will undoubtedly weave through them.

I'm in agreement with many of the points in Jon's comparison list. Here's my first contribution to the discussion.

Desktop-based vs. Web-based

This is a strong trend. By my count there are 11 browser-based mind mapping applications, and apart from Web-of-Web, most have appeared in the last 9 months. I don't see the trend as desktop-based being replaced by web-based, but of Mindmapping 2.0 adding web-based capabilities. I believe that Web 2.0 mind mapping applications will soon add a desktop component (which I guess they will charge for, or cram with ads). These off-line components will allow the same operations to be done as with an on-line subscription, and users will employ both.

I can think of four reasons this might be so.
1. Someone has already commented here that we don't always have a web connection. To that I would add 'but we always want to mind map!'
2. Some enterprises use MindManager and other desktop mind mapping applications a lot, so IT departments are going to be watching as Web 2.0 mind mapping is slipped into the enterprise by users. Well, maybe they won't be watching but they'll notice eventually. Then, they'll want to take control, putting the collaborative mind mapping on an intranet and using VPN for collaboration outside the LAN.
3. Anyone who's working with a couple of friends on a start-up, brainstorming it on mindmaps, won't want the people running the servers to have access to their plans.
4. Some users organize their files and notes in mind maps (guilty as charged) and web-based storage for the files won't always be practical in terms of space, time or (again) security.

Next time, with Jon's permission, I'll be writing about the single/multiple central node.

Roy

http:/www.topicscape.com
For a new dimension in mind mapping

Get involved in Mindmapping 2.0!

If you have any thoughts, questions, suggestions, criticisms, or whatever about the idea of Mindmapping 2.0, please write a blog post or two here. Drop me an email (jasapir@gmail.com) and I'll add you as a guest blogger.