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MInd-mapping vs. regular old outlining for academia
RM66 | Apr 4 2007
Hi all, I'm an academic and have been working on a GTD-style overhaul of my work environment for a few months now--taking the gradual approach so that each piece can really become a habit. I'm up to the point of formalizing project planning/managment. I've incorporated the following software into my worklife to great effect: Quicksilver, MailTags and MailActOn, Path Finder and DevonThink. All apps I learned about here (so thanks for that). I'm also really making use of ICal and that's working great. I seem to have a working system that I trust and that feels organic to me. As the next piece, I've been playing around with mind mapping software for a couple of weeks--I've tried several (FreeMind, CMaps, MyMind, Intuition, NovaMind and MindManager). I like the interface adn general feel of MIndManager best. The problem is, I'm not entirely convinced that it's significantly better than just a regular outline in a word processor. While it's nice to have the visual pieces and to see it as a wholistic image, much of that can be achieved with a good outline (particularly using Word where you could draw arrows or whatever between pieces). I also find that adding the little images is mostly a time sink rather than somethign that really helps me think about the project (I've done three pretty detailed maps for different projects so far.) So, my question is whether any of you have found that mind mapping really does have siginficant advantages for you over a regular outline and if so, what those advantages are. Similarly, if you tried and abandoned mind mapping, what led you to leave it? I should say that I'm not a huge outline user in general--I tend to use them for at most 3 levels of thinking at the beginnign of a project, but once I start the next phase (usually the writing), I don't much use whatever I generated as an outline. Thanks in advance 2 Comments
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I think the key is...Submitted by mdl on April 6, 2007 - 2:05pm.
I think the key is to realize that none of these tools is the perfect one. None of them is self-contained, and none (in itself) will magically produce an argument, paper, etc. I generally use these tools to chip away at a project. Sometimes, a mind map helps me gain an overview of a topic. At other times, an outline helps me to structure my thoughts. Usually, however, they are a means of thinking--a bridge to something else. The whole mind-maps craze (Tony Buzan) promises too much. No tool is going to solve all the problems. I generally find that things don't get resolved until I start writing. I think it's problematic to present mind-maps as the perfect receptacle for information; they rely too much on one-word tags (the equivalent of intellectual grunts and gestures). I especially get worried when websites recommend mind-maps as the best form of student notetaking; they seem to encourage a superficial form of learning (i.e., simple connections words and names rather than understanding the thing itself). I might draw a line between the name "James Madison" and the words "constitution" and "federal papers," but what does that really tell me? Mind-maps are, however, very helpful for brainstorming and generating ideas, especially when one already knows a topic. » POSTED IN:
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