I recently discovered that Tony Buzan, the inventor of Mind Mapping, will be coming to the US next month to host a variety of exclusive talks, training events and accredited courses.  I found out about this tour from Kathleen Church, the Media Relations Liaison for ThinkBuzan, and she informed me that Tony will be conducting these workshops in Minneapolis, San Francisco, and New York from May 3rd to the 18th.    Not only does the content of the workshops look great, but given that this is Tony’s first US visit in over a decade this looks like an opportunity worth pursuing.  Here’s a brief excerpt from the training page and a copy of the official press release:

British born Tony 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. He works as a motivational speaker and business consultant for businesses and government organisations all over the world, including General Motors, Walt Disney, BBC, Microsoft, Intel, Boeing, HSBC, Friends of the Earth, Procter and Gamble, and British Airways. In 2008 Tony received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Creativity Association (ACA). The Englishman has authored or co-authored over 100 books on the brain, translated into 33 languages and published in over 150 countries.

Tony Buzan Brings His Mind Mapping Technique For Improving Decision Making, Creativity, Communications Skills To U.S.
Best Selling Author, Lecturer, Consultant To Tour US Cities

NEW YORK, NY—APRIL 4, 2010—In a career that has spanned decades, Tony Buzan has helped millions around the world to improve their professional and personal lives by improving decision making, unlocking their creativity and enhancing their memory skills with Mind Mapping techniques.

Now Tony is bringing his program to the United States.

A best selling author and consultant to major international corporations, Tony will host workshops and seminars in New York, Minneapolis and San Francisco May 3 to 18, where he will describe The ThinkBuzan System.

Course attendees will learn how to work creatively, generate innovative new ideas, deliver dynamic and engaging presentations, improve their organisation and planning skills, and enhance their training repertoires with a system that has been developed over 40 years of experience.

Mind Maps, which Tony invented in the 1970s, are now used by over 250 million people worldwide.  He is a consultant for businesses and government organisations all over the world, including IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Walt Disney, Boeing, BP, HSBC, and the BBC.

The royal families of Bahrain and Liechtenstein and global media personalities and prominent world figures have benefited from using his techniques.

After a presentation by Tony at HSBC’s headquarters, Anne Ewing, the bank’s Head of Learning & Development ,  said that “he held the audience spellbound as he challenged, confronted and tested our collective assumptions about how adults learn.  His complete mastery of his subject shone through… He is an extraordinary teacher and communicator”.

Leon Sadler, vice president for professional services at FICO, described the true power of Tony’s process: “I’ve relied on Mind Maps in my work with the world’s premier technical knowledge-based organizations, including Accenture, IBM and now FICO, a leader in analytics and decision management. I have passed on my enthusiasm to my co-workers and kids, and enjoy watching a new generation of Mind Mappers develop.”

In 2008 Tony received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Creativity Association (ACA).  Forbes Magazine has named Tony one of five top international speakers, along with Mikhail Gorbachev, Henry Kissinger and Margaret Thatcher, and reported that “Buzan shows corporate executives how to hotwire their creative energies.”

He has authored or co-authored over 100 books on the brain, which have been translated into 33 languages and published in over 150 countries.  During the US tours, he workshops and seminars will be co-hosted by Chris Griffiths, ThinkBuzan’s CEO and author of ‘Mind Maps for Business’.

The ThinkBuzan System is built around a number of cutting edge techniques that address key areas such as; working creatively to generate new ideas and innovative solutions, combating information overload, dealing easily with an overwhelming workload, making correct decisions quickly, and thinking strategically and setting goals to boost personal and business development.

Tony’s US Tour events are an ideal opportunity for all executives, consultants, trainers and managers, anyone working n education, marketing and PR, or human resources and development to sharpen their professional skills.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT:

· Tony Buzan: http://www.thinkbuzan.com/uk/company/about/tony-buzan

· ThinkBuzan Ltd: http://www.thinkbuzan.com/uk/company/about

· The ThinkBuzan System & The US Tour: http://www.thinkbuzan.com/uk/services/training/usa2010

“Thinkbase is a new way to navigate and explore information on the web. It is what we call a ‘Visual Wiki’. It is based on Freebase, an open, shared database of the world’s knowledge – in other words a Semantic Wiki. Thinkbase uses a visualization tool (Thinkmap) to create an interactive visual representation of the semantic relationships in Freebase.”

The other similar project that was mentioned in the research paper was ThinkPedia. While ThinkBase offers visual navigation for FreeBase, ThinkPedia does the same for Wikipedia content. One of the sub-projects of my Personal Memex project intends to offer visual navigation in very much the same was as both of these applications. The engine that these projects use for visual navigation, ThinkMap, is VERY impressive. Unfortunately, it’s a commercial license (~5k) and keeping with the spirit of my open source model, I need to find something that is free.

With that said, I’ve started to research various visualization toolkits/APIs that offer some time of visual navigation. This navigation is very mindmap or concept map like in nature. There are some variations: some are force-directed graphs while others are hyperbolic. My research is still very much underway, but I’ve been collecting my links and have assembled into a mindmap. I’ve broken down the categories based on open source vs. commercial (for illustrative purposes), and platform (Java, Flash, or JavaScript).

Stay tuned on my progress in this area over the coming months since this will more than likely be my primary “pet technology project” for the summer.

Download the MindMap in MindManager format

Or, view the map fullscreen in flash (freemind format)

I also remembered seeing a link to a mindmap on Spiral Dynamics a couple years ago and decided to hunt it down before I immersed myself too far into the book. I found the original link via a Google search, but unfortunately discovered that the original site is no longer up (http://www.integralsingularity.com/freemindbrowser.html). Thanks to the WayBackMachine (archive.org) I was able to salvage the map. I was going to upload and view through my Mind Map Viewer, however FreeMind’s flash viewer was having problems rendering it (possibly due to the size?).

At any rate, I figured I would salvage this great bit of research and host somewhere so others could benefit (full credit goes to the original author). I’ve uploaded the map to my site(SWF/Flash format from MindManager), and provided some links to the map in other formats (FreeMind,Mind Manager,PDF, and HTML outline).

Mind Map

Outline

Other Links
FreeMind Map
MindManager Map
PDF Version

“Imagine taking a unique journey through the depths of your mind and stepping into a world of limitless possibilities where every one of your thoughts, habits, behaviors, beliefs, decisions and actions are revealed to you in vivid detail. Within this scenario “causes“ are identified and “effects“ are measured, effectively unlocking the hidden patterns that are continuously re-creating your life experience on a daily basis.”

What is the MasterMind Matrix?

“In the simplest terms, the MasterMind Matrix Chart presents you with a visual Concept Map of Your Personality. It progressively unlocks and expands your understanding of your current patterns of behavior, while helping you develop new habits that can guide your life in the direction of your choosing.”

You can download the free version of the map, or read about it in depth and buy the premium version ($50USD).

Most traditional personal knowledge management (PKM) or personal information management (PIM) applications offer the same basic set of features:

* Storage of notes and documents
* Search functionality and keyword/tagging capability
* Outline view in a traditional hierarchy, or user-defined views
* Task management, calendar, and contact management (mainly PIM, not KM)

These are essential features, however don’t offer too much to the more visually-inclined knowledge junkies. For visual learners and information visualization fans, having a graphical representation of knowledge and seeing how things relate is a must have feature.  Luckily, in the past few years there has been a rise in the number of knowledge management applications that offer this capability.  The following is a list of interesting /unique / effective tools for knowledge management and information visualization (not listed in any particular order):

15. DeepaMehta

Link: http://www.deepamehta.de/
Platforms: Win, Mac, Linux
Cost: Free (Open Source)

DeepaMehta is a “networked semantic desktop” that replaces the traditional computer desktop. DeepaMehta rids the user from dealing with applications, files and directories. Instead, the DeepaMehta user arranges information of any kind and origin into supportive topic maps. Topics may be e.g. projects, emails, webpages, notes, articles, contacts, or meetings. Users define their own topic types. Old-fashioned applications, windows and files are no longer in the sight of the user, but the meaningful relationships between real world topics.

14. Tinderbox

Link: http://www.eastgate.com/Tinderbox/
Platforms: Mac
Cost: $179

Tinderbox stores and organizes your notes, plans, and ideas. It can help you analyze and understand them. And Tinderbox helps you share ideas through Web journals and web logs. Tinderbox maps your notes as you make them. Build relationships by arranging notes, organizing them with shape and color, linking them. Tinderbox lets you record ideas quickly and keep them where you’ll find them again when you need them.

13. Vue

Link: http://vue.tufts.edu/
Platforms: Win, Mac, Linux
Cost: Free (Open Source)

At its core, the Visual Understanding Environment (VUE) is a concept and content mapping application, developed to support teaching, learning and research and for anyone who needs to organize, contextualize, and access digital information. Using a simple set of tools and a basic visual grammar consisting of nodes and links, faculty and students can map relationships between concepts, ideas and digital content.

12. eyePlorer

Link: http://www.eyeplorer.com/eyePlorer/
Platforms: Web
Cost: Free

EyePlorer allows you to explore and process knowledge. Search engines help you find links and documents – they require you to follow these links and open the respective document in order to access information. eyePlorer.com, powered by vionto, provides immediate access to facts. It visualizes facts as well as relationships between facts. Furthermore, eyePlorer.com allows you to collect, process and publish interesting bits of information. eyePlorer.com is a visual knowledge workbench.

11. BeeDocs Timeline

Link: http://www.beedocs.com
Platforms: Mac
Cost: $65

Bee Docs Timeline is software for Mac OS X that makes it easy for you to present historical events in a way that reveals connections and clarifies relationships.

Make timeline charts of world history, family trees, fictional events or business deadlines. Timelines can help you understand and present history with new perspective!

See: http://eric-blue.com/2009/04/14/how-to-create-stunning-3d-timelines/

Post continued, click below to navigate to the next page….

The purpose of Alltop is to help you answer the question, “What’s happening?” in “all the topics” that interest you. You may wonder how Alltop is different from a search engine. A search engine is good to answer a question like, “How many people live in China?” However, it has a much harder time answering the question, “What’s happening in China?” That’s the kind of question that we answer.

We do this by collecting the headlines of the latest stories from the best sites and blogs that cover a topic. We group these collections — “aggregations” — into individual web pages. Then we display the five most recent headlines of the information sources as well as their first paragraph. Our topics run from adoption to zoology with photography, food, science, religion, celebrities, fashion, gaming, sports, politics, automobiles, Macintosh, and hundreds of other subjects along the way.

You can think of Alltop as the “online magazine rack” of the web. We’ve subscribed to thousands of sources to provide “aggregation without aggravation.” To be clear, Alltop pages are starting points—they are not destinations per se. Ultimately, our goal is to enhance your online reading by displaying stories from sources that you’re already visiting plus helping you discover sources that you didn’t know existed.

Again, glad to be listed on their site.  Now, as many readers may know, mind mapping is only one of my areas of interest and blogging topics.  I am now compelled to increase and maintain my number of mind mapping-related posts.

Wallace Tait is a professional visual mapping consultant based in the Canadian Province of Ontario. He is the co-author of the e-book Visual Mapping: A Systematic Framework for Business Improvement and co-founder of the Visualmapper group of consultants. He is an expert on the effective creation, management and presentation of graphically mapped information systems. Wallace recently approached me to discuss the idea of creating a Visual Mapping Body of Knowledge (VMBOK), to provide a commonly-accepted collection of principles and best practices about this powerful information management technique.

I found the article interesting for a number of reasons.  First and foremost, I’m personally a huge fan of information visualization, and visual mapping plays a huge part in my personal quest for Knowledge Management (e.g. Embedding Mindmaps in my Wiki).  I think any effort to spread the awareness of the importance of visual mapping/information visualization in knowledge management is important.  Secondly, I love the emphasis on whole-brained activity.  Coincidentally, I *just* started reading the book mentioned in the article: Dan Pink’s, A Whole New Mind (So far I’m impressed!).

Overall, an intriguing effort and great article.  Please do check it out!

Last year I picked up a copy of The Integral Vision by Ken Wilber.  I recently decided to re-read the book, and created a comprehensive book summary highlighting the key pieces of information in the book.  The book summary is presented in the form of mind maps for each chapter.

Why am I doing this?

I first stumbled upon Integral Philosophy a couple years ago, and quite honestly became hooked.  Since that time, I’ve read a wide variety of books and have engaged in the exciting and often daunting task of trying to build a comprehensive and well-informed worldview (or map).  There are a number of good intro books that people recommend for first diving into Ken Wilber’s work (e.g. A Brief History of Everything).  Regardless of which book you pick, the fact is for most people (myself included) this is a vast and complex topic.  Distilling a philosophy/worldview/framework into a small but useful text is difficult to say the least.

I’ve personally found The Integral Vision to be the best intro into Integral.  It’s a short, but powerfully-information packed book that definitely does justice to such an interesting and complex topic.  My hope is that others who are just getting into Integral Theory/Philosophy will benefit from the mind map summaries.  My advice would be to get the book, and use the maps as a study or reference guide to help the information sink in.

Overview

View Online (Flash) | Download Map (MindManager)

Chapter 1

View Online (Flash) | Download Map (MindManager)

Chapter 2

View Online (Flash) | Download Map (MindManager)

Chapter 3

View Online (Flash) | Download Map (MindManager)

Chapter 4

View Online (Flash) | Download Map (MindManager)

Chapter 5

View Online (Flash) | Download Map (MindManager)

Chapter 6

View Online (Flash) | Download Map (MindManager)

Entire Book Summary

Download (2.0MB Zip)

The one feature that I’m especially pleased (ok, very excited) about is the ability to export your mindmap and share via their flash player. For quite a while, I’ve been advocating the need to bring mind maps to the masses (read my Call to Action), and have taken steps to create an experimental Universal Mindmap Viewer. One major pain point of most mind mapping applications, is the difficulty in sharing maps. And, ultimately, the lack of quality(user experience) of simple image or HTML exports.

The thing I really like about MindJet’s new flash player is that the look n’ feel is very similar to the real MindManager application (I would love the see a full-screen option BTW).

Checkout their player page for an interactive example.