Software Choices for the Information Manager
Does the image above overwhelm you? Well, the growing range of software choices for the Information manager scares the h**l out of most unsuspecting seekers.
The collage contains a selection of software apps that are IMO worth the investigation. They are important enough to be termed the leading pack of the mind, visual and knowledge management software arena. Simply navigate the interactive comap at the bottom of this page and you’ll be redirected to the developers mentioned above.
If you’re a consultant who uses and infuses graphical tools to enhance your client’s business environments: you’ll then certainly understand the positioning of the products expressed within the collage. I use most of the products mentioned in the collage, so this may give you an understanding of the need of the consultant to be informed of the leading software applications for their Mind, Visual and Knowledge mapping clients.
I believe we have to categorize the products to inform of their capabilities. The following is certainly not prescriptive, and is merely my professional opinion based on my knowledge of the products within the collage.
In my experience, there are three software categories that correspond with the type of user:
1. Mind mapping: traditional Buzan type mappers who express maps using the laws of Buzan mapping. The genesis of personal productivity is realized within this category. This is the natural introduction for many users, and I certainly recognize; we wouldn’t be where we are today, if it were not for Tony Buzan formalizing Mind mapping.
2. Visual mapping: Information managers who have moved beyond Buzan Mind mapping. They understand Visual mapping includes, but is not limited to; Mind, Concept, Flow and argument mapping and other graphical tools. This is where Data management is effectively expressed.
3. Knowledge mapping: The evolution of the Visual mapper is expressed within the tools and techniques used, enveloped within a mindset that infuses process and systems thinking. The Knowledge mapper understands the Data, Information, knowledge processes that are integral within system. Database capabilities are the focus of the knowledge mapper.
Some products and users belong to one or all of the three categories above.
Careful consideration should be taken when choosing the software that may best suit your environment of use and expected outcomes.
As a consultant to Academia and corporate business, I am often called upon to give my professional opinion regarding the best software products available to date. The collage contains what I firmly believe to be the most relevant software products available to date that shall impact your personal, academic and business arenas.
Most of the applications are desktop PC and Mac oriented, while a growing number of recent newcomers are now offering corresponding editions that capitalize on the exponential growth of web 2.0 (Cloud computing). This arena is worth the investigation if you are indifferent to information security issues. Desktop computing however shall be IMO, the most secure and preferred medium for the Visual/knowledge mapping arena.
Some are clones of the leader (Mindjet), while a couple of applications should be scaring the leader. MindGenius has always been my preferred software for information management, yet Matchware MindView is IMO, a leader in the making.
Not to forget the excellent ConceptDraw Mind map, the extremely flexible Mindmapper and of course the very powerful Visual Mind. NovaMind and also Buzan’s iMindMap are excellent Mind mapping products too. All of the products you view in the collage are excellent software products that can be adopted into your personal, academic and professional business environments with relative ease.
One product to keep an eye on is DropMind; they have successfully released their desktop and web edition in sync, in fact both editions effectively synchronize with each other. DropMind while harvesting the look and feel of Mindjet Mind manager, have pulled off an extremely affordable software product for the masses.
Another new and extremely interesting arena has been developed and introduced recently, and it’s called “Method Neutral”. The developer is MindSystems and their software product is called “Amode”, a very powerful knowledge management product offering a most stable information database, process and project management environment.
If at all the knowledge mapper wishes to apply heavy duty database functions to their environment, The Personal Brain and TopicScape lead the user into multi dimensional knowledge mapping.
I can’t miss out Xmind, an amazingly user friendly product that packs a big information management punch, and it’s open source with a subscription cloud service for pro users.
The forward thinking Information manager of this century realizes the importance of graphical communication formats, that enable a whole brained and flexible approach to business management.
Since writing this article, Crystal Mapping has come to our attention. A link has been added to the interactive map below. (Amended March 28th 2010)
To navigate this map: choose a topic and press the TAB key. To quickly zoom press the CTRL key and use your mouse scroll function.
Wallace Tait: Visualmapper
www.visualmapper.org
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