Contextualized knowledge mapping on steroids. Google just acquired MetaWeb, and this inclusion may just make Google the unbeatable 900 lb gorilla of search engines.

The implications are numerous, but I see a more contextual search within the web; based on generalizations that are attached to contextualized entities.

An ingenious idea indeed. We see this approach in Knowledge management products such as TopicScape and The Personal Brain that use relational data bases.

This is also a rather good model for Mind-Visual mapping practices. What do you think?

Wallace Tait: Visualmapper

The Luxor Theater was the location for TEDxRotterdam on last June 4, 2010. Speakers from all over the world gathered to present ideas which are worthy enough to be distributed. Or: Ideas Worth Spreading. The theme of the day was: ‘Somethink Completely Different. The program consisted of several special performances and Talks. Our partner World of Minds facilitated this event via livemindmapping on a livestream on the web. It was possible to follow mindmaps grow which were made by the team of World of Minds. (Photo © Marc Nolte)

Wat is TED?

TED is a nonprofit organization that spread ideas which are worth it. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. It started 25 years ago as a four-day conference in California. The annual TED conference invites world ’s greatest thinkers and doers to speak for up to 18 minutes. After that, the presentations are made available on TED.com.

TEDx is a program of local, independently organized events that bring people together to share the TED experience. On a TEDx conference, video and live speakers will be combined so that great discussions are elicit. Also a great degree of involvement will be developed in the exclusive group of attendees. These local, self-organized events called TEDx, where x stands for “Independently Organized TED event”. Although TEDx is a self-organized event, the big line in the program is according to the TED principle.

Program

(photo © Thomas Dral) TEDxRotterdam consisted of a very diverse program. It distinguished itself from other events because all the speakers differed from each other. Each speaker had his or her own style and subjects. This ensured that the audience got inspired again and again. Also the  many performances between the speakers were very enjoyable. Quite something else between the speakers, like a piece of music, singing or dancing, ensured that the audience remained fresh and sharp. This made it attractive for the audience to listen attentively to the innovative ideas of the speakers and receive these ideas. Also people were able to redistribute these ideas and create new ideas by themselves.

The program consisted of four parts:

1. Our World,
2. How We See The World,
3. How We Experience The World and
4.How We Explore The World.

Our World

The host of TEDxRotterdam, Max Westerman, welcomed everyone and explained what the day would bring and what the rules were to the speakers. Each speaker had only eighteen minutes available during his or her presentation.  Also he explained how people inside and outside the theater could participate directly in the event. People exchanged ideas with others by using Twitter through the hashtag # TEDxRdam.

To get started right away, none other than the mayor of Rotterdam, Ahmed Aboutaleb, was the next speaker. He had a few important issues about poverty. Aboutaleb grew up in a poor Moroccan village so he had experience with this subject and knew so much about it. Remarkably, he began his presentation with an impressive Moroccan poem.

The remainder of Part 1 of TEDxRotterdam brought forward some great quotes. After the impressive performance of Besim Hoti and Marielle Rijkaart, Bas Haring said during his presentation: “Sometimes you need to be an island, so you’re blocking other people’s ideas and begin to think for yourself. ” A distinct quote because TED stands for sharing ideas. This quote made a lot of people think.
Arjan el Fassed, located in the top 500 of Twitter users,  presented on the great impact of social media. In example, there is a street named after his Twitter-account: the ‘@arjanelfassed tweetstreet’.

How We See The World

AAlso during the second part a number of renowned speakers presented. Olympic swimming champion Maarten van der Weijden discussed a very direct and honest presentation about overcoming cancer. Like in Part 1, this part consisted of a few performers such as Harry Merry and Ntjam Rosie. Igor Nikolic gave one of the best presentations, according to many specators. This was because his speech filled with nice one-liners like: “Evolution is about trial and error, not trial and success.”

How We Experience The World

In Part 3, it was Eppo van Nispen tot Sevenaer who presented vividly on library 2.0. Eppo is a librarian by profession and talked about the impact of the internet and other media for libraries. Eppo said tactfully about libraries: “It’s about meeting people, not the books.” After other speakers in this third part, including the pastor Abeltje Hoogenkamp and APOPO founder Bart Weetjens, had spread their ideas, it was concluded with the brilliant performance of Celine Cairo. (Photo © Marc Nolte)

How We Explore The World

Part 4 of TEDxRotterdam brought the last but certainly not the least speakers. Professor Dick Tibboel gave an interesting presentation about pain. He explained that over 4 million people in the Netherlands are 65 years or older. Many of them suffer daily pain and therefore “a new instrument” is developed so that pain in humans can be easily identified.
Host Westerman shut off and looked back on a day where many new ideas arise and spread.

(Photo © Bram Muller)

Livestream livemindmapping

Besides the live videostream provided by TEDx there was a livestream with the mindmaps: livemindmapping. All day long there was a team of mindmappers in cooperation with the experts from our partners aHa!Coaching and Hypershifters who were actively mindmapping the presentations. The mindmapping team consisted of Alexis van Dam and Mathieu van der Wal, assisted by Denise de Wolf and Edita Artemis. The mindmaps was accessible for everyone via a livestream on the website of our partner MindMeister. MindMeister is an online service for easy online mindmapping. MindMeister focuses on online collaboration through mindmapping. In addition, this service allows mindmaps to share with others and for example connect to a website. It is possible to start a mindmap and share this via a so-called Wikimap with others so people are all contributing in the same mindmap.

Talks are set out in the mindmaps via live stream.

Anyone can read and review the presentations online. This made TEDxRotterdam globally accessible. People gained insight in the large amount of presentations due to Livemindmapping. All the information could be retrieved easily. The visualization of a presentation leads to more associations and stimulated thinking. In addition, a mindmap offers a visual structure of the talk. The livestream is also perfect for people who missed a part of the presentations or even all the presentations. They could retrieve these presentations at a later time. So these people were still aware of all the ideas that were spread on that day. See all mindmaps via the special TEDxRotterdam mindmapstream.

Satelitelocations

People who could not be present at the Luxor Theater, TEDxRotterdam could be followed from the living room via the livestream of the mindmaps and the video’s. However, TED is about sharing ideas, so many people had the need to follow the event in the company of other TED-fans. A few locations in the Netherlands where hosting the event on a big screen. One of these locations was de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, a livestream of the mindmaps was available at this location.

Twitter, tweets & retweets

The #TedxRdam hashtag on Twitter was and is still widely used. Through these hashtag (#), very positive noises were spread about the event and also about the livestream containing the mindmaps of the speakers. Not only during the event, but also after the event people are tweeting about TEDxRotterdam. This was of great value, the tweets offer insight into important issues and opinions, and are accessible to everyone. In this way, the TEDx ideas were also spread through Twitter.

What’s Next?

After the successful facilitation of TEDxAmsterdam 2009, also the Rotterdam edition is more than successful too. TEDxRotterdam spoke the words: “Somethink Completely Different” and they absolutely lived up to this.

Hypershifters thanked the organization of TEDxRotterdam for this inspiring day filled with new insights and ideas.

Have you missed the special TED event? You can watch the videos again. On the livestream you can look back the talks in the form of mindmaps in a visually way.

Would you like to receive the latest developments of World of Minds’ livemindmapping on events? . Follow partner World of Minds on Twitter @worldofminds and LinkedIn! Also register for our Research Report and follow us on Twitter @hypershifters. More information about livemindmapping can be found on the livemindmapping website!

Mindmapping great value for live event(s)

The bulk of the readings will be recorded by World of Minds through livemindmapping. Two mindmappers of World of Minds will record all the information that the speaker shares with his or her audience into a mindmap, a visual association tree containing all information and associations from one central theme which linked together. This type of information capture is ideal for the inspiring TEDx event. TED is all about ‘ideas worth spreading’. The mindmapteam will make sure that the ideas and information discussed can be followed with the livemindmapstream. Mindmapping allows visualization which provides insight in the information during presentations with further impact. The online mindmapstream allows you to see the mindmaps any time. Ideal if you want to share the mindmaps with your collegues or friends, or want to read something back you that missed and want to retrieve.

Unique collaboration with MindMeister

Livemindmapping during TEDxRotterdam is made possible by partner World of Minds and MindMeister, an online mindmapping application. The main feature of mindmapping via MindMeister is the possibility to jointly share and work on Mindmaps. The mindmaps that will be made by our team during TEDxRotterdam,  will be shared via a”live stream” on MindMeiste. It is not the first time that World of Minds has worked together with MindMeister during a TEDx meeting. TEDxAmsterdam2009 was also successfully facilitated in this way.

MindMeister-livestream

Friday promises to be very inspiring day! Due to the exclusivity of the event and the limited number of places, many people are not be able to follow the presentations ‘live’. Especially for those who have no ticket for the event, TEDxRotterdam can be followed still ‘live’ by everyone through the livemindmappingstream!

Want to stay informed of the latest developments of World of Minds on TEDxRotterdam? Follow us on Twitter @WorldofMinds and LinkedIn!

PRESS RELEASE

CS Odessa Announces Update to ConceptDraw MindWave, a No-Cost Mind Mapping Gadget for Google Wave

San Jose, California, June 2, 2010 – CS Odessa has released an updated version of its popular mind mapping tool, ConceptDraw MindWave for Google Wave. This is a no charge Google Wave add-in, which enables users to rapidly collaborate with any amount of people, from 2 to 2000.

ConceptDraw MindWave provides teams the opportunity to interactively collaborate on a mind map while building a map structure that represents the focus of collaboration. The mind map can then take full advantage of Google Wave playback, or be downloaded to one’s desktop for further development using ConceptDraw MINDMAP.

Improved Functionality of ConceptDraw MindWave2:

• Getting Started mind map on first launch to introduce new users to functionality.
• Horizontal scroll bar for more versatile navigation.
• Automatic hyper linking of URL topic text.
• Added help and privacy resources to gadget
• New shortcuts and many usability improvements

Olin Reams, General Manager for the Americas at CS Odessa, observes, “We demonstrated ConceptDraw MindWave, at the recent Google I/O Developers Conference. ConceptDraw MindWave was presented in the Sandbox and was a huge success.”

“Many of the developers and spectators in attendance were able to immediately see the great potential in being able to build and store a mind map whose access can be embedded anywhere HTML appropriate, such as a web page or enterprise portal. Participants are then free to discover and interact with the wave mind map, join the conversation, and add or edit information. The end result is a great collaborative productivity tool.”

ConceptDraw MindWave is a no cost gadget for Google Wave. To install ConceptDraw MindWave, please visit: http://www.conceptdraw.com/mindwave

ABOUT CS ODESSA

Founded in 1993, Computer Systems Odessa supplies cross-platform productivity tools and graphics technologies to professional and corporate users around the world. With headquarters in Odessa, Ukraine and an office in California, CS Odessa sells products internationally through resellers in over 25 countries. The ConceptDraw Productivity Line of products has won numerous awards and is used by hundreds of thousands of people all over the world.

www.conceptdraw.com

I  looked at Open source and free offerings recently pondering these two models. Many questions such as; Are they sustainable, are these models really free in the long run and; can I actually use Open source and free software as the backbone of my information management processes that support my business operations?

IS IT DOABLE?

OK, so if I use Open office, Xmind, Nitro pdf reader and/or integrate my work with Google mail and docs; hmm, this really got me thinking; will this really work for me?

Well here the thing; it might work, and this really kills me to say this. I actually used Open source and free software for one week during March 2010. And as much as I now need therapy because of my willful experiment, I have come to realize it might actually be doable at a stretch.

Now if you’re one of my consultant/facilitator colleagues and/or commercial software developer friends; forgive me?

I now use Google mail and IMO the more professionally polished GMX mail as my primary mail clients; MS Outlook has IMO become rather obsolete to my needs.

As a professional Visual mapper during the experiment, I used Xmind to challenge my perceived negative view of open source and free. Admittedly it worked for me only to a point; there’s some functions that power Visual mappers just don’t have available in the open source and free models, so this is the downfall.

As an interesting addition; I also used The Gimp as my open source alternative to my regular use of Photoshop (yes I am a PS addict), and this worked really well too.

As much as this has been my personal experiment; I am now back to being my regular reliant self on the commercial models; “I am a realist after all”. This certainly has changed me though, and I am now more aware of the open source and free alternatives.

This was a very interesting personal experiment. The CAVEAT of my experience to date; if you choose to conduct the same experiment, be aware of many pitfalls and the surprising epiphanies also.

As a close colleague recently pointed out to me; there’s a notable difference between the Open Source and Free models. The question remains though; will these models remain Open Source and Free in the long term?

Have you tried this experiment also? What did you experience and what are your conclusions?

Wallace Tait: Visualmapper

Wow, yes WOW: After viewing some of the training videos and release media regarding NovaMind 5, and I have to say it again WOW.  And yes I use NovaMind 5 too.

Gideon King, the creator of NovaMind delivers an awesome and totally new framework for version 5. It delivers numerous new tools, methods and expands upon the mindset associated with NovaMind.

The information manager of this century now has a Mind mapping product in NovaMind 5 that is graphically sophisticated, extremely professional and effective to the nth degree.

I really do believe NovaMind 5 raises the bar for professional Mind mapping, and the many competing benchmarks in this arena are being eclipsed by this latest release.

NovaMind 5 covers personal productivity, academic enhancement and business uses at all levels of service, manufacturing and corporate.

If at all you’ve been a past user of NovaMind, you’ll notice a whole new UI, functions and capability for both platforms. The new and enhanced functions are numerous and this blog just won’t contain them all; so here’s a few of them from the Express, Pro and Platinum versions.

NovaMind Express Features:

Map Elements:

Create your mind map using a range of different shaped topics such as lines, rectangles and ovals. Use callouts to add extra information. Highlight and visually group topics using boundaries. Use floating topics to create separate mini mind maps. Attach free floating shapes, images and text

Media Library:

Make your mind maps look great by selecting from over 3000 high quality adornments and images right within NovaMind. The images are tagged with a large number of keywords making it easy to find what you are looking for. Take the media library with you and use it offline.

Advanced Layout Engine:

Focus on your ideas while NovaMind’s unique layout engine keeps your mind map compact and tidy. Fine tune the look of your mind map by using flexible topic orientation and advanced spacing options. You can also move any topic to exactly where you want it.

Intuitive & Easy to Use:

Forget distracting popup dialogs. With NovaMind you can use a familiar MS Office-like user interface to edit your mind map and see changes live. Keeps the flow of your ideas going while NovaMind takes care of the layout! Other applications add features upon features just to add another bullet point on their sales pages. We carefully design new features to provide a consistent look and feel.

Imports & Exports:

Conveniently import mind maps created in XMind and FreeMind. Import and export OPML and text files. More imports & exports are available in NovaMind Pro.

Hyperlinks:

Add multiple hyperlinks to your topics. Link to websites, files and folders.
NovaMind Pro & Platinum allow you to attach (embed) files.

Themes & Styles:

Create beautiful mind maps with ease. Experiment with different themes and try various color and font combinations.

Outline View:

Work with the Outline view and the Mind Map at the same time. Immediately see changes in both the outline view your Mind Map. Drag & drop topics within the outline view or even between the outline view and your Mind Map.

NovaMind Pro Features:

Multiple Mind Maps in a Document:

Create multiple mind maps in a single document to keep them conveniently together. Add, remove and reorder mind maps. Copy & paste mind maps between documents.

Advanced Imports & Exports:

Create your documents and presentations using NovaMind. Export to Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint. Import and export MindManager 7/8 mind maps.

Attachments:

Use NovaMind as your information hub. Attach as many files as you like to any topic. Attachments are automatically stored within the NovaMind file and can be opened from within NovaMind or extracted to become separate files.

Checkboxes:

Use NovaMind for your to do list. Add checkboxes to your topics. Automatically rollup checkbox states from sub-topics or use manual checkboxes. Get a full set of Project Management tools with NovaMind Platinum.

Plugins:

Extend the capability of NovaMind 5 by using Plugins. With NovaMind 5 we are introducing a new plugin system which allows developers to create new features and integrate their own products with NovaMind. We are already working with a number of partners on exciting Plugins.

NovaMind Platinum Features:

Project Management:

Manage your projects using NovaMind. Visualize (and print) task information such as priority, percentage complete, duration and start and end dates. Setup resources and assign them to tasks. Presenting and discussing your project using NovaMind will make it easy to understand at a glance. Access project reports and export the data to Excel. Import and Export Microsoft projects.

Presenter:

Get your message across clearly and concisely using the NovaMind Presenter. You will be able to glide over your Mind Maps and zoom into topics. Your audience will be able to easily understand the context and meaning of your presentation.
The NovaMind Presenter is currently in development. When you purchase your NovaMind Platinum license key, you will be eligible to receive the NovaMind Presenter as a free update when it is ready. As pioneers of presentation tools for Mind Mapping, we are completely redeveloping the NovaMind Presenter for NovaMind 5.

So there you have it, just a little taste of what you get with NovaMind 5. You’ve just got to grab a copy RIGHT NOW!!

Wallace Tait: Visualmapper

I just spoke with Kathleen Church the  Media Relations Liaison for Think Buzan. She informed me that Tony Buzan, the inventor of Mind Mapping is coming to America. Kathleen is a professional Mind mapper and facilitator with a bent towards Academic use of the tools, methods and Mindset of traditional Buzan Mind mapping.  I was enthused by her passion for Mind mapping, and the fact that she convinced me to post this article about Tony Buzan coming to America for three distinct appearances at Minneapolis, San Francisco and New York respectively.

Please read the following Press Release and pass on to your friends, colleagues and associates.  This may indeed be a once in a lifetime opportunity for many of us to be in the presence and learn from the master and originator of Mind mapping.

PRESS RELEASE

Tony Buzan brings his mind mapping technique for improving decision making, creativity, and communications skills to America.

Bestselling author, lecturer, consultant to tour us cities

In a career that has spanned decades, Tony Buzan has helped millions around the world to improve their professional and personal lives by improving decision making, unlocking their creativity and enhancing their memory skills with Mind Mapping techniques.

Now Tony is bringing his program to the United States.

A best selling author and consultant to major international corporations, Tony will host workshops and seminars in New York, Minneapolis and San Francisco May 3 to 18, where he will describe The ThinkBuzan System.

Course attendees will learn how to work creatively, generate innovative new ideas, deliver dynamic and engaging presentations, improve their organization and planning skills, and enhance their training repertoires with a system that has been developed over 40 years of experience.

Mind Maps, which Tony invented in the 1970s, are now used by over 250 million people worldwide.  He is a consultant for businesses and government organizations all over the world, including IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Walt Disney, Boeing, BP, HSBC, and the BBC.

The royal families of Bahrain and Liechtenstein and global media personalities and prominent world figures have benefited from using his techniques.

After a presentation by Tony at HSBC’s headquarters, Anne Ewing, the bank’s Head of Learning & Development, said that “he held the audience spellbound as he challenged, confronted and tested our collective assumptions about how adults learn.  His complete mastery of his subject shone through… He is an extraordinary teacher and communicator”.

Leon Sadler, vice president for professional services at FICO, described the true power of Tony’s process: “I’ve relied on Mind Maps in my work with the world’s premier technical knowledge-based organizations, including Accenture, IBM and now FICO, a leader in analytics and decision management. I have passed on my enthusiasm to my co-workers and kids, and enjoy watching a new generation of Mind Mappers develop.”

In 2008 Tony received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Creativity Association (ACA).  Forbes Magazine has named Tony one of five top international speakers, along with Mikhail Gorbachev, Henry Kissinger and Margaret Thatcher, and reported that “Buzan shows corporate executives how to hot wire their creative energies.”

He has authored or co-authored over 100 books on the brain, which have been translated into 33 languages and published in over 150 countries.  During the US tours, his workshops and seminars will be co-hosted by Chris Griffiths, ThinkBuzan’s CEO and author of ‘Mind Maps for Business’.

The ThinkBuzan System is built around a number of cutting edge techniques that address key areas such as; working creatively to generate new ideas and innovative solutions, combating information overload, dealing easily with an overwhelming workload, making correct decisions quickly, and thinking strategically and setting goals to boost personal and business development.

Tony’s US Tour events are an ideal opportunity for all executives, consultants, trainers and managers, anyone working within education, marketing and PR, or human resources and development to sharpen their professional skills.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT:

• Tony Buzan: http://www.thinkbuzan.com/uk/company/about/tony-buzan
• ThinkBuzan Ltd: http://www.thinkbuzan.com/uk/company/about
• The ThinkBuzan System & The US Tour: http://www.thinkbuzan.com/uk/services/training/usa2010
• Kathleen Church Media Relations Liaison kchurch@thinkbuzan.com 1-800-961-4582

Wallace Tait: Visualmapper
www.visualmapper.org

Just completed reading Mark Wogan’s excellent publication named Crystal mapping; The BIGGER Picture. The book gave me quite a few “AHA” moments, but I want to focus on one that’s impacted me.

IT’S THE POWER OF 3

A really good case was made for limiting the foundation of how we may best initially create our Visual maps. The power of three refers to being confined to the core, first level and second information levels. And looking further at the structure of Crystal mapping, I agree with mark’s finding; here’s why.

Mark states; “the number three wasn’t selected based on any magic number theory, urban myth or mystical quality but on its practical real world ability to present information in a simple context”.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel the 19th-century philosopher put forward a three tiered evolution of thought from thesis to synthesis via antithesis in aid of the pursuit of logic. And in language and grammar; three elements are needed to form a simple proposition; a subject, a predicate and a copula.

Three keeps on popping up as if it is some kind of mystical adage of getting your point across. I even find myself using the three elements stated above to get my point across most of the time. I state the Visual mapping arena is made up of three arenas; personal, academic and business. I could also state the personal has 3 sub arenas of productivity, motivation and communication, and that academia has 3 sub arenas of school, college and university, and further define business to have 3 sub arenas of service, industry and corporate. OK, I’ve just blabbed on about 3, three, III; but it does feel so comfortable to restrict to three elements, and from that point onwards to express sub associations.

So, it does appear three seems to offer something, at least anecdotally, in support of qualities as a communication method.

7 (+ or – 2) is also thought of as being a magic number relating to communication based on George Miller’s work in his 1956 paper The Magical Number seven, plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information.

There has however been a great deal of misunderstanding of what was meant regarding the use of seven in communication. Many have taken 7 as the standard number of units for communicating anything.

7 points on a slide, 7 words to a line, 7 paragraphs on a page; using 7 in such a format seems to be taking things too far and doesn’t seem to be what Miller meant.

George Miller states 7 (+ or – 2) was a limit “for the discrimination of uni dimensional stimuli (pitches, loudness, brightness, etc.) and also a limit for immediate recall, none of which has anything to do with the capacity to comprehend printed text”. According to Edward Tufte a deeper meaning of Miller’s work is “to suggest strategies, such as placing information within a context that extend the reach of memory beyond tiny clumps of data” http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0000U6&topic_id=1

Using three is a convenient and practical strategy to assist simple context. Putting information in context answers the following questions
• What is the point being made?
• Why is it important?
• How does it relate to me?

Delivering information in such a way enables authors and recipients to create, manage and exchange information processes quickly and easily. By adopting such an approach; the creative processes enable a bigger picture.

Another unit of three in context asks who where, and when?
• Who is responsible for it?
• Where is it to be found?
• When will it be done?

Setting organizational targets we have another contextual threesome, where objectives are communicated relating to responsibilities such as:
• What is my target?
• How does this fit in with my immediate superior’s target?
• How does this fit in with my immediate subordinate’s target?

By managing information within a simple power of 3 contexts; instant understanding is captured.

The power of 3 is experienced in and through using Crystal Mapping. It works by limiting information display to three levels within the visual workspace, presenting information initially within the simplest of contexts. Understanding is further built upon, by continuing to add more levels, while retaining the graphical display of information within units of three.

It is essential to make sure that wherever you are in the organization structure, you and your team are aware of the organizational objectives. To grasp the bigger picture context you need to see how objectives fit into the overall organizational structure.

Crystal Mapping always starts with the purpose at the core or centre of the map it is easy to always see how your ‘piece of the pie’ fits in with overall information objectives.

Mark Wogan believes the best way to achieve success is to make sure everyone understands the overriding mission or plan and then to let them get on with it. The Crystal mapping power of three structures enables clarity, concept in an unambiguous visual format.

So; I encourage you to grab your copy of Mark Wogan’s publication and experience your very own AHA moments. The product is developing at an agile rate, and it’s certainly going to evolve into a very formidable information management app for the forward thinking Information manager.

Here’s a youtube video of getting started with Crystal Mapping:

Wallace Tait: Visualmapper
www.visualmapper.org

Mark wrote a very informative book titled “Crystal Mapping: The Bigger Picture”, which was published during 2007.

As CEO of Crystal Mapping and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts; Mark spends his time committed to finding new ways of combining words, pictures and numbers to present information and knowledge.

Improving understanding and changing the way organizations think and communicate is his mission. Mark and his colleagues also offer a business management consulting service through The Visual Perspective at http://www.thevisualperspective.com/

While talking with Mark it became clear the circular Crystal Map approach had real merit. This product adds to our expanding world of visual mapping tools in a very unique format. So here’s a brief synopsis of the idea with a few questions answered by Mark.

Brief description of Crystal Mapping:

The best way to describe it is to show it so here is a screen shot of a basic map:

The first thing you’ll notice is the point I make about it using circles to organize discrete bits of information into a unified whole rather than the traditional ‘root and branch’ style of mind mapping approaches.

The thing that strikes me right away is the sense of unity you get from such a clean view of the information. It really does start to give the viewer a feeling of gestalt and that the whole is indeed greater than the sum of its parts! Of course you’re not limited to three levels of details as to delve deeper into the map, click on any segment and it takes you to another level of iterated detail. A visual audit device on the left side of the screen leaves a ‘breadcrumb’ trail to always make it clear where you are in the map.

From a utility point of view, as you’d expect you can attach/embed hard disk files, URL links, images and copious notes to the segments to enable the viewer to access more detail about any particular segment but – as Mark say’s, you never lose sight of the bigger picture so whatever content you look at its always in context, helping viewers to form a real understanding of whatever is being presented in the map.

Q & A:
Mark, tell us how you came up with the idea of Crystal Mapping and why.

Well it was really a case of necessity being the mother of invention. In a previous business I needed a way of presenting company objectives to everyone in a way that was inclusive across functions and geography and that represented the unity of the business. It was that word ‘unity’ which got me drawing circles as they just seemed like the logical way for me to represent that we are all part of the same team, and everything else stemmed from there. However I didn’t start the business which eventually became Crystal Mapping till a few years later.

Why didn’t you use a more traditional mind mapping approach to organize your thoughts and represent your ideas for the business.

To be honest the ‘node and line’ approach didn’t really seem to me to convey the ‘unified – one team’ relationship I was trying to represent. Mind maps are great in some contexts but you do get the feeling that right now they are pretty much used in a blunt manner for everything – a bit like a guy with a hammer seeing everything as a nail! I think you’ve made the point yourself Wallace that not everything as a visual mapping solution has to be a mind map – it’s time we had more variety to meet the different demands of the visual mapping world.

So what’s the benefit of crystal mapping over mind mapping and why would business use a crystal map rather than a mind map.

In my mind the bigger question is getting business users to appreciate the generic benefits of visual mapping in the first place. As you’ve mentioned before we are still a long way off mainstream acceptance! So assuming we have a receptive audience who are turned onto visual information management, we have to provide them with the right solutions to their needs. My view is that there are certainly many ways to ‘skin a cat’ (such a quaint phrase) but it definitely doesn’t always have to start with mind mapping. For example if you want to communicate your company / team objectives; using a crystal map gives you a much more one company – one team feel as everything is joined to the core of the business so employees see themselves as part of the bigger picture.

In education my research and feedback from schools is that crystal maps offer a great alternative to mind maps as they are much more ordered and structured and thereby allow students to recall the content more easily.

Crystal Mapping is a cloud app – do you think mainstream business users are going to embrace cloud technology?

I know there is a fair amount of debate about whether business is ready and willing to embrace ‘the cloud’ due to data security issues of their information being ‘off site’ but I believe this is more apparent than real. Just as we as individuals initially reacted very cautiously to internet banking but now think it a necessity, so will business start to adopt and benefit from the utility and cost advantages of cloud technology. Personally I would be far more worried if I were running a desktop/server only software business.

Why do you believe users will purchase and subscribe to Crystal Mapping?

Because its good value for money as cloud apps are, it’s easy to use and it ‘does what it says on the tin’ i.e. it helps you clarify your thoughts and ideas and makes them clear to others – crystal clear if you like! More than that little pitch response – CM is great for collaboration (a real benefit of cloud apps.) and the fact that we have a desktop version which synchronizes with the web app. Being server based means; if our business users want to ‘play safe’ – they can, and we don’t need to store their ‘sensitive’ files outside of their own internal server comfort zone.

On top of this we have some features that make CM unique. For example we have built in an auto-generation feature which creates a map from one word for education and business research. So if you wanted to build a map of RFID in the retail industry let’s say – you type in ‘RFID Retail’ and the app builds the first level of the map. You can then edit as you like and continue asking the system to auto generate your map content – not just the segments but the Notes content as well.

We also have a search feature that helps users build maps by automatically creating search strings in Google, Bing, Flickr, You Tube and Wikipedia. This not only helps you find the content to help build you map but lets others continue the search for more detailed or specific information as they might require.

Another important capability of CM is the data load of any given map stored in the cloud. We currently allocate 1GB of data storage for subscribing cloud user; this will indeed increase when we have a more defined user base. We have everything in place to increase the data load capability significantly according to demand, and we shall offer specific data storage levels priced for corporate users.

What is your approach to The Voice of the Customer?

At Crystal Mapping, we firmly believe the user base defines the future direction of this product. With this in mind, we proactively measure the needs and wants of our users. We also believe communication is a key factor in the continuous improvement process.

What’s your pricing strategy?

Pricing is per account and at the time of this interview is offered at £29.99 (around $45/€33 at current exchange rates). We offer site/group and volume discounts and education discounts.

Wallace Tait: Visualmapper
www.visualmapper.org

The term “method neutral” is an oxymoron, and IMO; it is a genius breakthrough approach to challenging existing perceptions to the data, information and knowledge development processes.

Graphical information management has been around for a while, and it has unfortunately continued to be restricted to the fringes of the mainstream. This is to a degree, due to a certain radiant technique being touted as being the “one size fits all” solution.

A single hierarchy while being the basis for reasonably effective graphical communications, has become rather passé when assessing the needs (read demands) of the forward thinking information manager.

Multiple modes of expressiveness are now needed within products that offer end to end capabilities that combine various information management modes. Convergence is the key request from information management expressed within corporate business.

Method neutral offers flexibility in a convergence model, cutting through the one size fits all approach.

The three main arenas for information management are; personal, academic and business. While looking at the overwhelming range of software offerings currently available, we simply have way too many choices. Choice is (we are told) good and competition is what motivates creativity; so why do we keep on getting the same old same old from the Mind/Visual mapping developers?

Method neutral has its origins at Mindsystems, the developer of Amode, and version 2 was recently released. Amode gives the user the ability to experience a further enhancement of method neutral in a completely new functional approach within the product.
This new function is called ThoughtPad; offering the user the ability to associate almost any kind of graphical expressiveness that can be associated with the central mode of the database knowledge tree.

The genius of this new approach; we are no longer constrained by the many singular formats that are either Mind, concept, flow, argument and others offered by some software developers. We can simply use them all, and then some.

Information is the core function and importance that is contained with the knowledge database tree mode. Having the ability to associate almost any kind of graphical idea and visual thinking within the ThoughtPad; giving the user absolute freedom and comfort of knowing they are not constrained by a singular format.

Mindsystems has taken this opportunity of shaking up the status quo, and I do believe this is exactly what is needed within the Visual information management arena at this time.

As a forward thinking Information Handler, IMO there’s 4 main points of your future success to consider.
1. The need for a stable desktop knowledge database product
2. The need for absolute freedom of graphical expression
3. The need for control of all of your processes that support your particular system
4. Seamless integration into to your business/project management mainstream

Mindsystems Amode offers the user these and more. Of course there are more points to consider; it is however very clear though that Mindsystems Amode has developed an information management tool in Amode that offers an end to end complete package for the forward thinking information handler.
The information management arena offers some wonderful products, and I firmly believe Mindsystems Amode takes the lead for the business/project management approach to Personal, Academic and Business knowledge handling.

I certainly look forward to experiencing the further evolution of this product; it has a very light footprint, an amazing stable database load. The new Mindsystems ThoughtPad will take the Visual mapping arena into a whole new mindset of flexible graphical expressiveness.

The status quo shift is CHANGE; nothing to be scared of and much to embrace. So; do you want the same old same old, or do you want to move forward with confidence, control and flexibility?

Wallace Tait: Visualmapper
www.visualmapper.org