Are You Thinking About a Mindmapping Conference?

It has been a number of years since I had initiated putting together a mind mapping conference here in New Jersey, and today I was talking to my good friend and visual mapper Wallace Tait about the possibility of setting up a mind mapping conference so that we convene and share ideas. With the economy in its current state we need to bring innovation and ideas to the work that we do whether it is in the public or private sectors. What better way to  kick-start this year then by planning to convene interested participants who want to explore how we can put mind mapping to use in the work that we do.

I have spoken to Wallace about the idea for an Unconference -whereby we pick a time and place and build the agenda the day of the conference based on your needs. This model has worked really well in the educational marketplace and is one that could work well for us. At the Unconference we could learn about new and innovative ways that people are using mind mapping in the work that they do, whether it is academic, personal, or business related. In this spirit, it would be great to have some corporate sponsorship that could take care of some of the expenses and be a host for the day. I for one think that a mind mapping conference is long overdue and hope that some of the leading companies in this arena will find value in this idea and step up to the plate to make this a reality. I know that Wallace and I are willing to put the time in to see that it happens. If you are interested in making this a reality please feel free to contact me.  All the best and Happy Mind Mapping!

How Has a Shift to Mobile Platforms Impacted on Your Use of MindMapping Applications?

Over the last couple of months I have been pondering and reflecting on the use of my mind mapping tools and how to best integrate them into my mobile lifestyle. More and more, I find that I am accessing my iPhone and iPad and need to have access to my mind maps for projects, to-do lists and brainstorming sessions. While I still rely on my desktop applications for doing the critical creation of my mind maps, I want to be able to access the information on my mobile devices wherever I am. Several years ago, I moved a lot of my mind maps to the web using Comapping, which I have used to teach my graduate courses. Comapping produces great embedding code and works wonderfully within Moodle. My students get the benefits of a prepared visual agenda-complete with links and file attachments which are easy to navigate. The only flaw in using Comapping at this time, is that it is Flash based and can't be accessed using an iOS device.

Looking at the options, I now needed to evaluate mind mapping tools that would give me the flexibility of being able to create them on my computer but have the capability to view them on my iPhone and iPad. Being a long time Mindjet MindManger user, I can use the desktop version for the mind mapping creation and upload it to my free Connect account which can be accessed from any iOS device with the Mindjet app. This is a new workflow for me but so far so good. My MindManager maps are stored on line and can be quickly accessed via my iPhone. Likewise, I can also choose to save my mind maps from my computer to my Dropbox account which is tightly integrated with the Mindjet app on my iPhone and iPad. One of the nice advantages of use the Mindjet Connect account with my iOS apps is that the maps are always synchronized and I don't have to be concerned if I am working on the latest version. In a pinch I can also access my Mindjet Connect account from any computer connected to the web and create mind maps which I can than access from my iPad or iPhone-which is really great!

I have also revisited MindMeister which I had used for a time several years ago and am very pleased with the features and the fact that it is web based and I can access my maps from my iOS devices. Unlike, MindManager, MindMesiter is all web based which gives me added flexibility of being able to create and access my mind maps with a browser and a connection to the web. With MindMeister, I can attach files and links which makes it a wonderful digital repository for my work. MindMeister creates a graphically rich mind map which can be embellished with icons and images to jazz it up. One of the really nice features of MindMeister is the ability to create embedding code which makes it easy to share out my maps-and works well in Moodle. Using the MindMeister app I can access my maps from any iOS device which has proven to be really helpful on several occasions.




Based on my workflow-I still tend to do more creation of my mind maps using a laptop computer which is just fine- but having access to the information and my files on the road from my iPhone or iPad is really indispensable. As developers of mind mapping application begin to think through their strategies for future product development  they need to enter into the formula ways for users to access their information from mobile devices. I trust that some of the leaders in the mind mapping space will announce apps shortly that will give end users more choices so that they don't have to leave their maps trapped on the island of their desktop or laptop.  As always, I'm interested in learning how the mobile platforms have impacted on your mind mapping workflow.

PS: I have just begun to utilize MindGenius and the MindGenius app on my iPad and will share my experiences in the next week or so.

Using Comapping for Workshops

As much as I enjoy the power of desktop mind mapping applications and use them all of time in the work that I do, one of the tools that I am relying on more these days is Comapping, an online mind mapping collaboration tool. Comapping can be accessed from any computer and browser that is connected to the Internet and gives me the flexibility to organize my ideas, add hyperlinks as well as attachments. Comapping does a great job allowing you to share your maps when they are done and I have been taking advantage of this feature for years now when I teach my graduate courses. For each class I create an interactive agenda with Comapping and then publish it to my Moodle classroom account for all my students to access.

Recently I have done a number of workshops and needed a quick way for my participants to be able to jump from web site to web site to view the contents. Using Comapping I was able to create the agenda embed the hyperlinks which made the day go so much more smoothly for me. Publishing your Comapping maps to the web is really quite simple and easy to do and when you are done you are given a unique URL that you can then pass out to your students. Because the URL is rather long, I generally log into my Bit.ly account shorten it and customize the link so that when I get to the workshop I just have to give out the shortened URL.

Comapping is also unique in that it allows you to embed your attachments that your participants can access from the map.  In the example below you will see that I have embedded a number of Quick Reference Cards for the SOLO training I have coming up. This will make it easy for my participants to access these reference materials on the day of the training as well as when they are back in their classroom. You will also see that there are live links to the Don Johnston Website for additional support videos that can be quickly accessed from the Comapping map. Using this technique not only saves me from printing costs and paper, but models for teachers what is possible as we move from analog to a digital  materials. So interact with the Comapping map below and let me know you thoughts about using Comapping in the work that you do. If you are interested in learning how you can do this shoot me an email.

Run Flash on Your iPad with iSwifter

As much as I enjoy using my iPad-one of the few drawbacks of the iPad is its inability to play Flash. With the rapid adoption of HTML 5 it is unlikely that we will ever see Flash on the iPad. Hoverer, there are some clever solutions out there that can help you play Flash on your iPad that work well. I recently came across iSwifter for the iPad and decided to download the Lite version to give it a test run. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that iSwifter can play Flash based applications over the web which really impressed me.With iSwifter I was able to open and use Comapping quite effectively. There are some little things that didn't work exactly as they would on my laptop but having the ability to open my stored maps on the web was really fantastic. I was also able to play my Flash content that I created in Adobe Captivate and Presenter without a problem on my iPad. If you are looking to run Flash on your iPad then take a look at iSwifter and let me know how you make out.

Using Comapping for Creating a Classroom Agenda

One of the handiest tools that I use when I teach is Comapping- it has been a fantastic tool for developing the agenda for each and every class that I teach on campus. Comapping allows me to map out what I am going to cover with links and attachments that makes it very easy for my students to access and use. Once I have completed my agenda map for the classroom session, I simply Publish to Web from within Comapping and grab the embedding code that is generated. Once I have the embedding code I simply paste it into Moodle to generate the mind map. Here is an example below of a agenda map that I recently used in a class this week.

Mind Mapping in the Cloud with Comapping

As I try to move more and more of my work to the cloud I keep going back to one application time and time again and that is Comapping. Comapping is a simple and easy to use mind mapping application that runs within the browser and gives me access to my maps from anywhere that I have access to the web. I should note up front, that Comapping has really become a great way for me to share information when I am presenting or teaching my graduate courses. It is easy to place web links and attach documents to the map which then gives my students access to the information that I need to provide them.

In many ways my Comapping maps can be thought up as a way for me to transport information that I need to share with others. One of the key features of Comapping is the ability to publish the information in such a way that it is easy to re-purpose it on a wiki, Blog, Google Site, or within Moodle. I have developed a number of Comapping maps for my graduate classes that I teach which is ideal since Comapping provides me with the embed code to publish it right within Moodle. This feature alone is worth its weight in gold. Now my students have access to web resources that are just a click away or they can download PDF files that I have attached to the map. If you haven't tried Comapping I urge you to take a look at it and see how it can help you manage the information more efficiently.

Here is an example of a Comapping map that I have used for some of my presentations: