The Mind Mapping Software Weblog

The Gettysburg Address as a mind map

I'm sure that some of you have seen Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address - a moving speech from U.S. history that is a marvel of brevity and impact - converted into a PowerPoint presentation. Created by Peter Norvig, his goal in creating it was to demonstrate how this visual presentation medium can often obscure rather than enhance the point. I just stumbled across it again this morning. Something compelled me to wonder: What would Lincoln's oratory would look like as a mind map? So I created one, based on Norvig's PowerPoint of the Gettysburg Address (PDF format, 54KB).

What do you think? Unfortunately, the mind map format doesn't create much more clarity than the PowerPoint version. It just goes to show that not everything can or should be captured in a visual map!

GoalEnforcer: A visual goal mapping tool

Here's an interesting application of visual mapping: GoalEnforcer is a specialized software program that utilizes a simplified form of mind mapping to enable you to record your goals and break big goals down into smaller, more manageable ones. You start by brainstorming your goals, recording your ideas quickly. Next, you drag and drop your goals, in much the same way as you refine a mind map. Goals can have sub-goals and sub-sub-goals, and so forth. You can even add deadlines to each goal, and track percentage toward completion for each goal. The program uses color-coded circles to indicate the status of each goal. For example, green means that a task has been completed, yellow means it's due today or running behind, and red means a task is overdue. GoalEnforcer also includes several reports, which display your progress toward your milestone goals in both tabular and line graph formats.

If you enjoy setting and achieving goals, this program is definitely worth a look. A trial version is available for download from the GoalEnforcer website.

A new visual mapping technique: Summapping

Arjen ter Hoeve, author of podcasts and training materials focused on mind mapping, has written an e-book on a new visual mapping technique he has developed called "summapping." Briefly summarized, it looks a lot like mind mapping, except that maps can contain items that may be closely related to one another (and therefore are located in close proximity in the diagram), but don't always need to be joined using connector lines. His objectives in developing this technique, which borrows a lot of concepts and practices from both mind mapping and concept mapping, are to:

• Provide a more flexible medium for recording information and ideas (by creating collections of information that aren't necessarily tied to a rigid, connected hierarchy)
• Make the contents of visual maps easier for others to understand (by incorporating a standardized set of map symbols and mapping conventions)
• Capture more information in a compact format (both more map elements, as well as a greater variety of content).

If you're utilizing a mind mapping program that can incorporate "floating" topics, you can try this technique on your own. Arjen's new summmapping website contains information on how to buy his new e-book, information on software for creating summaps, symbols that you can use and more.