Nontrivial Exercises

Mind Mapping - Information in Context Examples

In my last post about mind mapping, I wrote about another way mind maps can express information in a succinct, efficient manner. I also described how you can use mind mapping to effectively capture information in context, which can be easier to use in some cases than simple written text.

This time I want to show an example of using mind mapping to take take notes in a meeting, and compare the notes in mind maps to the same notes in a Word file and a PowerPoint presentation.

I created some notes from an imaginary meeting with four attendees, and three prepared agenda points. There are a few bullet-point notes and then some action items. The notes are taken from the perspective of the person chairing the meeting.

First, the notes in the form of simple text, as an MS Word file. (click on the image to see the PDF of the full Word file).

Now, here are the exact same notes, but in the form of a PowerPoint presentation (again, click on the image to see the PDF version of the PowerPoint file).

Now, here are the exact same notes in the form of a mind map. I’ve also created a PDF version of the map and the actual MindManager map file below.

• The map in PDF form
• The MindManager map file

I think that the map form has several advantages over the Word and PowerPoint formats – it’s easier to quickly see the different types of information it contains (attendees, notes, actions); consequently it is easier to quickly find a specific part of the information you are looking for; it is also easier to highlight the specific actions and their deadlines for later reference; finally, the notes in map form all fit easily on one page, while the Word file is 2 pages, and the PPT file contains several charts.

In my next post, I will talk about some different mind mapping applications.

Hopefully this simple example helps display some of the qualities of mind maps and how you could use them to capture information in context. Have these examples been useful or interesting to you? Have any other thoughts on what I’ve discussed so far? Please let me know, I’d love to hear from you.