CRC wrote:

Dr Andus:

Some ideas for representations might be found here:
http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html (I have
always found this a great resource to come up with new ways of representing ideas).

Neat resource! That will keep me out of trouble for a while...

You are really thinking a graph structure rather than the hierarchy of mind maps.

Yes but I would like to retain the mind map functionality of going from the general to the increasingly more specific. As you suggest below, zooming and moving around in a complex Venn diagram could do the trick, as long as one can create and overlay smaller and more specific areas.

One
approach might be to use concept maps.

I do use a lot of concept maps (most recently in VUE) but because usually you are pursuing a single line of inquiry in a given flow chart, it doesn't prompt the issue of possible overlapping of concepts.

I also tried to use "The Brain" for something

very like this but actually found the Venn diagram to be much more expressive. If there
are a fairly large number of items at the intersections the graph becomes more
distracting than illuminating - even with the brain approach to zooming and moving
around. I also played with some of the two and three dimensional graphing tools and
didn't find them satisfactory either.

For what you are describing a tool that
allowed the brain type of navigation (zooming, moving) but with a Venn diagram
representation might be ideal, particularly if the same item appears in different
intersections. I haven't heard of such a thing but it might be an interesting
challenge to create one....

Yes, that would be interesting.