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Digital Mind Mapping

By Charles Hopkins Published 07/6/2007 | Self Improvement

One time or another everybody will have to deal with the situation in which information needs to be gathered and cataloged.

The number of information sources is very abundant. There are magazines, books, web sites, abstracts, multimedia sources and probably one or more I forgot to mention. The diversity in media has increased too. We used to have paper on which books and magazines were printed. Now we also have cd's, dvd's, video tapes, internet and computer files.

Therefore it has become increasingly difficult to organize all this information in a manner that makes sense and makes it nearly impossible to retrieve them easily.

Mind mapping could be a way to handle this information overload and preferably digital mind mapping.

A mind map is a technique developed by Tony Buzan. He introduced this very powerful technique to unlock the brains fullest potential. Originally having a piece of paper and some colored pencils was enough to create handy mind maps. Although this early technique still works some companies have introduced digital forms of these mind maps.

The digital form makes it easy to create mind maps fast. You are now allowed to edit, draw, share and manage your ideas on your personal computer. There are many of these stand-alone software programs available and even online mind map programs are popping up on the Internet.

Many organizations are introducing the mind map technique as an excellent brainstorming tool. It makes creative juices flow easily. Participants of these digital brainstorm sessions are usually very enthusiastic about the new possibilities. Even the Time Management community seems to have discovered digital mind mapping.
It makes it very easy to brainstorm, to organize your thoughts or even write a book.

If you write a book it is a great way to keep an overview of the topics you want to discuss. You start with the main topic in the middle and add branches for each chapter or topic. Then you can add branches or sub topics to each main branch. You will get a tree shaped picture will all the chapters or topics in one easy to grasp overview.

Rather then jotting down your ideas in a traditional linear list you can collect your ideas in a visual map. Thus making it easier to keep a birds eye view of you ideas and easier to add new ideas or sub topics.

So next time you are stuck thinking up new ideas or organizing old ones think of the endless possibilities digital mind mapping may provide you with.