Mindmapping

Posted by Stephen R. Diamond
Dec 19, 2008 at 04:29 AM

After researching and reflecting an a topic so that I understand it thoroughly, the point arrives when I can no longer postpone writing. But where do I start and what do I include? At this point I dump my accumulated knowledge and understanding into a mindmap. The mindmap serves the same function in a writing project as a task list in GTD (which I don’t practice). A mindmap gets my thoughts in an accessible format so that I can stop remembering and start thinking about a public, linear, expression. Since by now I understand the subject, I can express these ideas in condensed form, as a brief phrase, even a single word.

For me, the main advantage of a mindmap instead of a linear outline for “brain dumping” consists in getting everything into view at once. Critics retort that putting everything on a page is an illusory condensation because, in the end, we are limited to 7 plus or minus two chunks. But this argument assumes that learning occurs only by simultaneous apprehension, whereas rapid succession also plays an important role, and saccadic eye movements are much faster than the fastest video processor.

As Alex notes, I think the relational aspects of mindmapping are more useful to low visuals, like me. High visuals (like you) tend to find other aspects of mindmapping most helpful. For those like you, I think mindmapping might find use as a memorization tool rather than, as with me, a document-planning tool. You might be more enamored of hand-drawn mindmaps with artistic elaboration, to provide plenty of associational cues.

I don’t use mindmapping as a thinking tool. For that purpose, I find it far inferior to staring into space or freely writing in sentences and paragraphs.

Jim wrote:
>Can someone give me a good description of how they use mindmapping software? I have
>given a few applications a try, but haven’t been able to get too much out of them. This
>despite being a person who likes to have a piece of paper or a whiteboard handy when I am
>trying to explain something. My thinking style is very visual, yet I haven’t yet been
>able to get into mindmapping.
> >Jim