I
have been pretty busy working on assignments lately and with my mind feeling
like a limp biscuit, I found it more difficult to come up with a blog topic for
this week than to answer one of prof. Galey's questions. So I decided to go
back to Luker's book and look what I highlighted from my readings to find some
inspiration. I stumbled upon a reference to a website, www.mindjet.com, that I
had highlighted and remembered that I wanted to check it out when I read it but
never did. It actually turned out great that I did not look at the website
before, because it gave me the chance to try "map mapping" on Mindjet
(doesn't "mind mapping" sound like such a cool thing to do?!),
"the world's best mind mapping software" (according to their
website!), and share my experience with you here.
I
should first say that I had not idea was mind mapping was, though the name was
partly self-explanatory, so I looked at some videos in the Resources section of
Mindjet's website to get an idea of what I was getting myself into. I did not
feel 100% confident after watching the videos (there is SO MUCH you can do with
a mind mapping software!!!) and decided to look online for information about
mind mapping before trying to create my first mind map. According to
Lifehacker's website (o.k., I'm not sure about this website's credibility, but
for the purpose of this blog exercise, I thought I could get away with using
the information I found there, because it does sums up pretty well what mind
mapping is all about), map mapping is
“one of the best ways to
capture your thoughts and bring them to life in visual form. Beyond just
note-taking, though, mind maps can help you become more creative, remember
more, and solve problems more effectively. A mind map is basically a diagram
that connects information around a central subject. I like to think of it like
a tree, although it has more of a radial structure. In any case, at the center
is your main idea, say, poetry, and the branches are subtopics or related
ideas, such as types of poetry, famous poets, and poetry publications. Greater
levels of detail branch out from there and branches can be linked together.
Mind maps can be used for pretty much any thinking or learning task, from
studying a subject [...] to planning your career or even building better
habits.”
I was really convinced when I read
that mind mapping could help me plan my career and build better habits (!!!)…
well, that is for another day! For the sake of the blog and the course, I
settled on creating a mind map of what I have to do to complete my full
research proposal. Here is what it looked like:
I do not think that I will buy
Mindjet’s software license (between $349 and $418 USD) for now (I am student,
and I can draw for the moment…!), but I definitely see how it can be helpful to
be able to capture your ideas in visual form. I think it can be a very useful
tool for research for many reasons, particularly because it enables you to
write down outside the map ideas you might get while reading, and link them to
your plan after if you decide it has a place there. You can also easily move
ideas/chapters/categories around and see they flow, instead of having to move
entire parts of text in your research and it enables you to keep a lot of
information in one place (you can link hyperlinks or files to your topics) and
write notes for each topics. If you are interested to try, a 30-day free trial is
available on Mindjet’s website.
Sources:
I noticed this website while reading, but I haven't had a chance to check it out myself yet (that busy student thing again...).
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a neat idea though! Thank you for checking it out for the rest of us :) I also agree that it is something that I might consider purchasing, if they had a significantly cheaper license, at least for students.
I have had the chance of using Mindjet for designing work models when I was back in China. I should say the whole idea of a tool which helps you to “clarify thinking, manage complex information, run brainstorming…” (to quote the description of XMind, software similar to Mindjet) is amazing. But to be frank, I wouldn’t give it a high mark if I were to rate it.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, these software pay so much attention to the aesthetic value of their products that they very often distract users from focusing on what is more important, the content of their work. Take myself for example, I found myself frequently struggling with the color choice for different levels of breakdown. And I spent a lot of time correcting and re-correcting my original choice. It was painful when you noticed at the end of the day that you have done almost nothing but deciding on the colors you don’t like.
However, that is only a superficial weakness. A more important defect of these software, in my opinion, is that they are almost never completely compatible with other word processing software. When you transfer your final mind map to Word, you would find it either too big that it expands over the margins of an A4, or too small that you can hardly read the letters. I mean, what’s the good of a mind map if it cannot be incorporated into its illustration? To the best it will be an island standing alone.
Last not least, almost all of these mind map software advertise themselves as “open source project”, in other words, free to download, which is not true. In fact, when you visit their websites, you would always find that there is a Pro version. And it will turn out that the free version has a lot of limits. Either it has an expiry date or your composition cannot be saved. And you will find a pop-up reminding you to buy the Pro version. I found myself very frustrated in these situations and I tend not to trust these software.
So, my opinion is, we don’t need to depend on software to organize our thoughts. We could always map our minds with a pen and paper. That will be easier and more productive.