[Design] Buzan type mindmapping somehow??

[M.Blackmore]

On Wed, 2006-01-18 at 16:11 -0500, Seth Johnson wrote:

> I use mindmapping for nearly everything.  I use it every time I
> have a large task the nature of which I am not fully sure.  I
> create collections of mindmaps, hyperlinked to documents and
> other mindmaps.  I simply really appreciate the ability to spit
> out thoughts without regard for linearity, then to group them as
> I please. ...
> 
> The radial arrangement of a mindmap is specifically designed to
> convey non-linearity -- it's great for group brainstorming
> sessions, as well as personal -- everybody can participate
> without feeling like somebody's idea comes "first."
> 
> Sorry if this is just really general, but mindmapping is good for
> nearly everything, in my book.

That sums it up nicely - yes indeed, almost anything. 

I'm very non-linear, non-logical thinker. Good at analysis and insight
into connections most other people don't see, can stand up and
extemporise without notes for an hour when caught by surprise (say for a
seminar I didn't realise I was supposed to lead ... which is an
indication of my general disorganisation! ... before I retired to look
after preschool kids) but quailed when it came to writing it down. Tape
recorders helped, mindmapping gave me a tool for writing at a keyboard
that worked more effectively.

OK, I'm badly dyslexic (or was as a kid and young man, sort of found my
own way out of it, no thanks to a working class "education" system) so
perhaps my mental processes mixed with high IQ aren't typical, but I
doubt that I'm that far off a "personality type" that will be not
uncommon amongst brain workers. 

But again, I won't be the only person dealing (or having dealt with)
intellectually based work and writing who lacks a formal mental training
in structured thinking - I suspect business and government, especially
in many more developing countries, and community level "social
entrepreneur" activities in less well off areas (the USA seems, to a
European perspective, full of 3rd world in first world locations...) err
as I was saying these will be full of first generation mind workers and
may also have this highly verbal, conversationally enhanced method of
thinking, rather than linear, mathematical or self-consciously logical.

Rather than falling back into mind mapping programs as seperate entities
(and I must explore open source alternatives to windows stuff) I thought
it would be great to integrate such a thing with calenders, diaries,
task lists, notes, and to drop or link emails transparently into this
sort of unstructured morass (out of which I have experienced structure
to sort of emerge by some process - the image that comes to mind is that
of the old BBC Timewatch TV series opening titles sequence where the
words emerged in relief as the winds of time blew off the covering
particles of sand).

Could one simply lift stuff out of an open source mapper and build it
in? No point in reinventing the wheel.

But remember - programmers tend to have logical processes that are
considerably more organised than the messy organic flux that the rest of
us mere mortals do, so the way you think about a problem and generating
ideas may be very different to the way "most" people do!