We introduce a novel workflow, QCue, for providing textual stimulation during mind-mapping. Mind-mapping is a powerful tool whose intent is to allow one to externalize ideas and their relationships surrounding a central problem. The key challenge in mind-mapping is the difficulty in balancing the exploration of different aspects of the problem (breadth) with a detailed exploration of each of those aspects (depth). Our idea behind QCue is based on two mechanisms: (1) computer-generated automatic cues to stimulate the user to explore the breadth of topics based on the temporal and topological evolution of a mind-map and (2) user-elicited queries for helping the user explore the depth for a given topic. We present a two-phase study wherein the first phase provided insights that led to the development of our work-flow for stimulating the user through cues and queries. In the second phase, we present a between-subjects evaluation comparing QCue with a digital mind-mapping work-flow without computer intervention. Finally, we present an expert rater evaluation of the mind-maps created by users in conjunction with user feedback. Mind-maps are widely used for quick visual externalization of one's mental model around a central idea or problem. The underlying principle behind mind-mapping is to provide a means for associative thinking so as to foster the development of concepts that both explore different aspects around a given problem (breadth) and explore each of those aspects in a detailoriented manner (depth) [48] . The ideas in a mind-map spread out in a hierarchical/tree-like manner [35] , which allows for Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from permissions@acm.org. the integration of diverse knowledge elements into a coherent pattern [8] to enable critical thinking and learning through making synaptic connections and divergent exploration [55, 74, 75, 41] . As a result, mind-maps are uniquely suitable for problem understanding/exploration prior to design conceptualization [8] . There are two main limitations in this work. First, a majority of the recruited users had little to no experience in mindmapping. While this allowed us to demonstrate the capability of QCue in guiding novices to explore problem spaces, we believe that including expert users in our future studies can help us (1) understand how differently they perform using this workflow and (2) lead to a richer discussion on how expertise can be transferred to our system toward better facilitation. Second, one of the key challenges we faced was the lack of robust methodology for determining the effect of cue-based stimulus during mind-mapping (how users may have used cues and queries without explicitly using them to add nodes). While we characterize it on the basis of the number of cues answered and the number of suggestions assimilated directly in the mind-map, we believe that a deeper qualitative study on the mind-mapping process can reveal valuable insights. We plan to conduct such an analysis as our immediate next step. Our intention in this research was to augment users' capability to discover more about a given problem during mind-mapping. For this, we introduced and investigated a new digital workflow (QCue) that provides cues to users based on the current state of the mind-map and also allows them to query suggestions. While our experiments demonstrated the potential of such mechanisms in stimulating idea exploration, the fundamental take-away is that such stimulation requires a balancing act between intervening the user's own line of thought with computer-generated cues and providing suggestions to the user's queries. Furthermore, our work shows the impact of computer-facilitated textual stimuli particularly for those with little practice in brainstorming-type tasks. We believe that QCue is only a step toward a much richer set of research directions in the domain of intelligent cognitive assistants.
This paper introduces a method to generate questions (cues) and queries (suggestions) to help users perform mind-mapping. Presents a tool to assist mind-mapping through suggested context related to existing nodes and through questions that expand on less developed branches. This paper presents an approach for assisting people with mindmapping tasks, designing an interface and algorithmic features to suppport mindmapping, and contributes a evaluative study.