I recently came across some news about multi-touch computer screens, and it got me to thinking about the ways in which small groups could use such a large, touch-sensitive computing interface to do mind mapping. A Google search led me to several videos that show prototype applications of this type of visual mapping technology, circa 2009, but little has happened since then.

Here is a video demonstration of some software called MindFlow that was apparently written as part of a graduate student’s master’s thesis. I have tried to contact the author, but he hasn’t replied to me.

A search of Microsoft Surface, the software giant’s foray into this new, tactile computing paradigm, led to another video, produced by several interns at Intuilab, a French company that has been moving aggressively to develop commercial applications of large-screen multi-touch technology. Their primary focus is on manipulating geographical maps, providing rich shopping experiences and making stunning interactive presentations. The company also builds custom interfaces, which can run on Microsoft Surface and a number of other large, multi-touch devices.

This video was also produced in 2009. I exchanged several e-mails with a sales representative of the company, trying to learn if Intuilab is still developing this mind mapping application. Unfortunately, they’re not doing so. Apparently the market for touch-sensitive mind mapping just isn’t big enough to focus upon. Instead, the company is wisely focusing on applications where it can help merchants and other users to develop immersive experiences that help to drive new revenues.

One final video is a demonstration of version 2.0 of Microsoft Surface, which was premiered at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January, 2011. Developed in close cooperation with Samsung, it features a new approach to sensing touch and proximity that is simply amazing. Among other things, it lets Surface “see” anything you place upon its surface – which could literally be used to scan or photograph items you want to add to your mind maps.

These videos are compelling – especially the one from Intuilab, which shows several people working a mind map at the same time. This could be an ideal small-group productivity and brainstorming tool.

But with a significant percentage of business people still not aware of the benefits of mind mapping, I think it will be some time before any developer takes a chance on creating a visual mapping tool for this platform – perhaps after the cost of the hardware and software are reduced to the point where it wouldn’t be viewed as an exceptionally risky venture.

Chance Brown, author of The Mindmap Blog, will be conducting a webinar on Wednesday, December 29, 2010 entitled “Introduction to Computer-based Mindmapping.”

In this session, Chance will cover the basic elements of mind maps, how they can be used as a powerful and effective information management tool for business, where to find examples of computer-produced mind maps that will inspire you to do more with these powerful tools, and he’ll provide an overview of the software programs that are available today – including some exciting new apps for the Apple iPad (a subject that is near and dear to my heart!).

I’ve known Chance for a number of years, and have a lot of respect for his extensive knowledge of both business and mind mapping. If you want to learn more about mind mapping software, I predict that this webinar will be an excellent investment of your time.

Click here to visit Chance’s blog and learn more about this upcoming event.

The results were very impressive, as they usually are when I ask you for ideas for feedback. It was hard to pick 5 stories that were more compelling than the others. But I finally selected these people to win the lifetime memberships:

• Susan Percy, for her description of her Twitter contacts mind map,
• Tom Culver, who described how he utilizes mind mapping software as a tool to define “solution spaces” and capture the results of his research when technology scouting,
• Andy Gee, who explained how mind mapping software enables him and his work team to reach consensus faster on project plans,
• Paul Hobcraft, who colorfully compared the benefits of mind mapping to the richness of a sheet of music, with all of its visual notations, and
• Ewan Lord, who uses mind mapping software to work through complex, interconnected issues in a very efficient way.

These winners will be receiving e-mails shortly that contain their logins to the Mind Mapping Insiders area. I will be sharing their stories in the coming weeks in this blog, too, so you can benefit from their learnings. Also, as I told you in my original post on this subject, my plan is to create a report from everyone’s contributions that I will distribute widely to help spread the word about the power and utility of mind mapping software in today’s increasingly dynamic, complex and uncertain world.

Thank you to everyone who contributed their amazing mind mapping stories, and congratulations once again to the winners of the lifetime memberships in the Mind Mapping Insider program!

As part of my process of monitoring what’s going on in the Twitterverse, I have two Twitter searches that I monitor regularly, which help me to keep my finger on the pulse of what people are saying about mind mapping. One is the word mindmap, and the other, “mind map.”

One trend that I’ve noticed that makes me very unhappy is the growing tendency of “get rich quick” product authors who promise in their tweets to include a mind map as part of their latest information products. They encourage their fans to promote their products on Twitter as well, leading to multiple tweets of “I’m currently reading Sam Suave’s Mind Map Your Way to Superstardom e-book” – which gets really annoying after a while.

Here are several recent examples of what I’m talking about and what I dislike about their approach:

A private label rights (PLR) vendor who promises that you can make tons of money launching a website that contains nothing but a set of pre-written articles that you have the rights to republish. It includes a “mind map” – a flow chart, actually, that visually depicts how to launch your own money-making PLR website. Sounds like a scam that will sooner or later get you slapped – hard – by Google.

The Affiliate Profit Plan, which aims to help you “start making real money with affiliate marketing.” It also includes a mind map to help you implement its money-making strategies. Affiliate marketing, when done properly and ethically, is actually a good thing. But all too often people use it to try to make a fortune online. Little do they realize how hard it is to attract the volume of traffic to their new “profit magnet” website that they would actually need to make the amount of money that is promised by programs like these.

The worst offender, in my opinion, is the Mindmap to Riches program, which breathlessly promises that it will teach you “How to Achieve Your Goals & Ambitions Using Simple Strategies In Your Day to Day Life For Lasting and Sustainable Health, Wealth, Happiness & Success!” There’s only one problem: There’s not a single mind map in the entire report, nor do any of the author’s strategies for reaching one’s goals include visual mapping of any kind. To be fair, there is a single-page PDF summary included in this information product. But it appears to be an afterthought, not a core part of the product. Does that give it a veneer of respectability? I don’t think so. Clearly, the name of the report is misleading.

Why the sudden interest in including mind maps in these questionable internet marketing products? It seems to help differentiate their products, by offering some sort of magical quality.

“Ooooh, I see it includes a mind map. Then I KNOW I can be wildly successful with this product!”

The other, more likely, possibility is that these guys are watching what internet business gurus like Rich Schefren are doing (he sells an eMarketing Maps program that contains a set of well thought-out process maps for streamlining your business) and imitating them. But something is getting lost in the translation. In Rich’s case, he’s adding real value by depicting optimum business processes visually. But visual mapping tools can be just as easily used to create illustrations that add little or no value to the information products they accompany, or to mislead people into buying these products in the first place.

The market for online strategy reports and information products is very crowded; when anyone can produce and sell a PDF report for $29, that can be both a good thing and a bad thing. A mind map won’t rescue a half-baked collection of ideas and strategies that the author has cobbled together. Nor does a mind map necessarily make the content of these programs any more understandable. But it does make them “different” – and, perhaps in the minds of some prospective customers, better.

Mind maps are not a panacea. Thy won’t help you to make tons of money overnight, lose weight, cure cancer or help you to find a partner for life. It doesn’t help that the roots of mind mapping are somewhat connected with self-help and self-actualization, which lends it a somewhat mystical quality.

A mind map is a tool. Nothing more, nothing less. If you’re going to offer a mind map as part of your information product, make it something of substance, not just nearly useless window dressing.

I know I’m probably going to piss off some people with this post, but that’s the way it goes. I think these people are giving mind mapping a bad name through the power of association. I wish they’d stop!

“I have personally designed the ThinkBuzan Creativity Test, the first of its kind to be piloted to a mass audience. Building on the work of Ken Robinson and E. Paul Torrance, and my own leading research into creativity, my test is the culmination of 20th and 21st century knowledge of the brain and thought processes, and is guaranteed to produce unprecedented results,” he promises.

I took this test, and found it to be both fun and challenging. It included a number of brainstorming exercises, where you’re given several words and asked to come up with as many associations as you can within a defined period of time. Other questions do the same thing with combining shapes into new objects. And of course, there are a handful of demographic questions, aimed to help ThinkBuzan discern who is participating in the test.

Because I’m a big fan of anything related to creativity (I’m also the publisher of InnovationTools.com, the world’s largest website related to innovation, creativity and brainstorming), I can’t wait to see the results of this important research.

Click here to take the test; there’s also a form you can use to recommend the ThinkBuzan Creativity Test to a colleague.

Survey results: I’m now analyzing the data from the recent mind mapping software user survey. It’s taking me a bit longer than expected, because I’m benchmarking the results from this year’s survey against a similar one I conducted in 2006. It’s an opportunity to see where visual mapping has evolved in the last half-decade. I want to do a thorough analysis of this data and the trends and insights it contains, so it will be another week or two until I release the survey results. Watch this blog and my Twitter stream for more details.

Power Tips & Strategies for Mind Mapping Software 3rd Edition: This updated and expanded third edition of my popular e-book is nearing completion. I’m estimating that it will take me about a month to finish updating the resources that will make this the most comprehensive collecti0n of best practices and productivity tips for mind mapping software available anywhere.

Basics of Mind Mapping Software report: As mind mapping continues to steadily grow in popularity, there is always a steady stream of people who are trying mind mapping software for the first time. It has its own set of terminology and practices that may be confusing at first. So I’m in the process of assembling an e-book that will be focused on arming first-time users with the knowledge they need to get up to speed faster with mind mapping software.

Focusing on your needs: Several of the questions in the recent survey focused on you and your needs: What do you need to know to be more productive with your software? What application of mind mapping software do you want to know more about? I’m now in the process of translating your feedback into a map of future content and resources for this blog – to ensure that it does the best possible job of delivering everything you need to be a master visual mapper.

I’m also in the early planning stages of several other initiatives that are aimed at building community and knowledge sharing among visual mappers. It’s too early to tell you about those right now. But when the time is right, I’ll spill all the details here on this blog. So watch for more details in the weeks and months ahead.

If you want to be informed when any of these resources become available, I urge you to sign up for my weekly e-newsletter, if you haven’t already done so. My Twitter feed is also an excellent source of updates.

Thanks for being a loyal reader of this blog!

Buzan has helped millions to unlock their creativity, enhance their memory skills and expand their thought processes. He invented Mind Maps in the 1970s and they are now used by over 250 million people worldwide.

Workshops will be held in New York, Minneapolis and San Francisco; registration for them is now open.For more details, please see the U.S. Tour page on the ThinkBuzan website.

I’m planning to attend the workshop in Minneapolis, to meet the man who inspired the creation of this blog, as well as Chris Griffiths, the developer who came up with the idea for iMindMap who is now CEO of ThinkBuzan. It will be awesome to meet Tony in person, and to hear about the latest developments from his organization. From what I hear from his people, he’s looking forward to meeting me, too!

The Most Improved Mind Mapping Software of 2009 is (drumroll)… MindManager.

The top 5 most improved programs, based on 215 responses, were:

1. MindManager (26.0%)
2. NovaMind (20.9%)
3. iMindMap (11.2%)
4. PersonalBrain (11.2%)
5. XMind (10.7%)

To view the full results as a stacked bar chart, please click on the image above.

It’s no surprise to me that MindManager was ranked number one. It has tremendous name recognition in this niche, and after some incremental improvements and a mediocre attempt at creating a collaboration tool (Mindjet Connect) in 2008, the company finally got it right in 2009 with Catalyst, a polished, full-featured collaboration environment that is really quite good.

This survey also shows us which programs are coming on strong as innovators. Gideon King and his development team at NovaMind have been relentless in pushing the envelope in terms of what’s possible with mind mapping software. It’s really cool to see that you, the readers of this blog, recognize their efforts, by NovaMind the second most improved mind mapping program in 2009 – and, significantly, only 6% behind MindManager!

iMindMap and XMind are fairly new entrants to the field of mind mapping software, making it very impressive that they came in number 3 and number 5. It appears that users and fans of mind mapping software recognize their developers’ commitment to innovation, too!

Finally, the survey results demonstrate that some of the developers of mind mapping software need to do some work in building name recognition. DropMind Desktop (37.7%), MindView (31.2%), VisualMind (30.7%) and MindGenius (27.9%) led the pack in terms of software programs that respondents weren’t aware of. DropMind is fairly new, and MindView was formerly OpenMind (the name change took place in early 2009), so those relatively high numbers are easy to understand. The other two programs have been around for a while, and I’m not sure why respondents aren’t aware of them.

Thanks to all of you who participated in this interesting survey!

“This needs an idea that will motivate committed visual information mappers and at the same time can leverage the whole mind mapping community to get the word out, explain, demonstrate, tell stories, show all different styles of maps, all uses,” he explains.

To participate in this worthwhile brainstorming campaign, please see Vic’s blog post.