Here’s a close look at concept mapping software—what it’s good for and how you can use it at work.

Grocery stores carry tens of thousands of items. How is it that I can easily find the one brand of brownie mix I need in less than three minutes? Easy: the store has determined what classification system will make sense to many shoppers and has put all the brownie mixes together with the other baking supplies.

Classification is crucial for organizing human thinking. Why? It helps people connect disparate information in ways that are meaningful. It lowers frustration, adds clarity, makes relationships clear, and makes information easier to remember.

People naturally classify and make associations. Let’s say we’re in a meeting and I complain about how we’re still behind schedule on the member database. Joe chimes in with how problematic the database has been lately, which is followed by Tomas’s complains about how IT isn’t taking the project seriously. Catch the associations? The brain’s natural associative power can be harnessed for generating new ideas and ways of thinking.

Making connections visual

Graphical representations of classifications and associations make them even more powerful. Graphics can compactly portray what would typically take a lot of words to convey. More important, graphics are easier to understand and remember for most people. Because of this, people use certain graphic representations to make classification and associations visual. Some of the most common types of graphic representations include

Likewise, here’s a high-level diagram of an instructional Website that was developed by a student in order to communicate her ideas about the site’s organization. It shows a lot of information and links that would be hard to illustrate in an outline.

Mapping it

Another graphical representation is a conceptual map. The term mind map was trademarked by Tony Buzan (www.mind-map.com) to describe making visual maps of ideas and the connections between them.

A very similar term is concept map, which is a technique that has become widely used as a method for capturing thoughts and generating or organizing ideas. It’s a simple concept: Start in the middle of the page with a central idea, and keep adding sub ideas, sub-sub ideas, and so forth. Here’s a simple hand-drawn concept map of my thoughts about a potential summer vacation.

I shared this graphic with my husband, and my scribbling triggered some questions, including whether we really wanted to be stuck together in a tiny RV. Likewise, one of my connections (June—no kids?) started negotiations. The map served its purpose: to get us talking about the possibilities.

Concept maps have been shown to be an ideal way to

For example, perhaps you need to write a whitepaper for your company. How would concept mapping be helpful? The technique forces you to think openly and associatively about content to include. The map points out major topics and subtopics and connects new and existing knowledge that could provide analogies and insights for explaining difficult concepts. Making connections between concepts helps determine transitions, and being able to see the big and small picture provides a check on multiple audiences and objectives people usually have when writing. That’s not to say that an outline couldn’t help you organize the paper, but linear thinking doesn’t generally achieve the creativity that associative thinking does.

Software options

Because concept mapping organizes ideas and shows relationships between them, it can be used in any situation where this would be beneficial. Individuals can use it for studying, taking notes, outlining a paper or presentation, showing ideas to others, and for organizing thoughts. Groups can use it to generate and communicate ideas, capture thoughts and decisions, and accelerate group understanding.

My vacation example shows that you can easily do this on a piece of paper with some colored pens. Groups could use a whiteboard or flip chart paper. The problem with doing it by hand is that it’s hard to move things around and it can be difficult to add and connect additional ideas. Digital concept mapping software makes it easy to add and rearrange ideas. I tested two of these software products, Inspiration and MindManager.

Inspiration (www.inspiration.com) received rave reviews from the K-12 teachers in my university classes. Many teachers have used the software to have students draw maps to illustrate what they’ve learned. Other teachers have used it to develop lesson plans. Similarly, a district technology planner that I know uses the software to communicate her plans to administrators.

Here are a few examples (taken from the Inspiration Website, with permission) of concept maps drawn with their software.

Primates Classification Map
 

Science Fair Website Planning Map

How con this software be used in a corporate setting? For example, I have used mapping software for was to illustrate to a client the content flow and activities for an instructional Website I was building. The client saw the big picture and was able to quickly understand such substantive issues as where the content originates, which can be a very difficult issue to communicate. In another example, I developed a visual site map for another instructional Website, saved it as a Web graphic (easy to do) and imported it into Dreamweaver with links that when clicked on lead the user to different pages.

A few of the product features that I found especially helpful were

You can download a free 30-day trial at www.inspiration.com/freetrial/index.cfm. Price for the full version is US$69.

MindManager (www.mindjet.com) is another software tool for visual planning and brainstorming that was new to me. I was especially interested in its integration with Microsoft Office, allowing users to easily move maps into common MS Word, PowerPoint, and MS Project formats. Clearly, this tool is designed primarily for business users.

One of the features that intrigued me immediately was that the QuickStart directions were in the form of a map (see below). Similarly, the help files used maps to show users how to sync task maps into Outlook, project planning maps into Project, and so on. Ideas about how to use these kinds of maps to display directions visually started popping into my head!

QuickStart Visual Reference
 

The software provides lots of example maps and a quick perusal shows that they can be used for many purposes. Here’s a map used for a meeting agenda (taken from the MindJet Website, with permission).

Meeting Agenda Map
 

I decided to use MindManager to help me do some creative preplanning for a module of an online course that I teach. Learners regularly have problems with the lesson on how to FTP files to a Web server, and I'm always trying to find better ways to teach this concept. I co-teach this course with another instructor so I thought this might be a good way to develop good ideas and convey them to him for his comments. Here’s the start of my map.

FTP Lesson Planning

Features that I found useful were

This is a great product, with plenty of potential uses. MindManager2002 Business Edition (for individuals within an organization) costs US$189, enterprise and mobile versions are available. You can download a free 21-day trial here at www.mindjet.com/us/download/index.php.

Recommendation

I was hoping that I could easily recommend one of these products over the other, but I find them equally useful. They feel quite different, so you may like one better than the other—depending on your work style.

Inspiration works better for maps that need more visual elements. For instance, I prefer to build site maps in Inspiration. In addition, I like being able to easily develop and view maps in diagram and outline views and move back and forth between views. If you prefer to switch between linear and non-linear modes, this capability is a big plus.

On the other hand, I like the ease of adding longer thoughts on each MindManager branch. MindManager had major benefits for exporting to Outlook and MS Project, too. If I was mapping for planning purposes, MindManager has a definite edge. Also, MindManager is available in an enterprise version so co-workers can collaborate on maps using server-based conferencing tools. This could be invaluable for synchronous distance meetings and e-learning courses.

Bottom line: because they both have free trial version, you can try them out for yourself soon!

Here are some resources for additional information on concept mapping.

Published: July 18, 2003