Usually, I’m skeptical about new ideas coming from my co-worker and good friend Alex Shyrokov, but this time I have to admit that he was right. He showed me a small application called FreeMind, that allows to create and manage mind maps. I was unaware of the existence of such maps, though i might have heard about it before (and stored it in the back of my mind), because when I read about it, it sounded as a very obvious and reasonable thing. The software itself is very intuitive. Just after a day of usage, I had the mind map of my proposed MSc thesis.

What is “mind maps” actually? It is a diagram system of one’s ideas concerning a certain topic. It can be used to visualize our thoughts and links between them that are generated in our minds while acquiring new knowledge. Visualizing can help us to better understand these links, which can be there subconciously, i.e. we might not be aware of them before actually putting them down on a paper or in this case into an application. This method certainly helps me in getting my thoughts about my thesis organized.

FreeMind is a very useful small, free tool that helps create mind maps. You create a treelike hierarchical structure with information stored at nodes and leafs. A very useful feature is the possibility to put URL links into nodes which can be accessed with a single click. The nodes’ sub-categories can be collapsed (folded) easily, also with a single click. The whole structure can be very conveniently dragged and zoomed, so it is very easy to realize the “bigger picture” or to go into “small details”. The feature that i like the most about FreeMind is that it has great import and export capabilities. This way, you can export your mind map to HTML, Flash, JPEG, PDF and publish it on your site! You can import for example a folder structure or your bookmarks from Internet Explorer. Without further ado, here are some examples.

This is an interesting mind map of nothing less than life itself. This map shows the complex diagram of risk management in medicine. Ever wondered how headaches are diagnosed in traditional Chinese medicine? Have you given it a thought, what has to be considered for building a career? You could even take notes in classes using FreeMind. What if priests have to organize their favorite excerpts? Can FreeMind help them too? Of course. You can also import del.icio.us bookmarks into a mind map, via Internet Explorer bookmarks. Here are the steps to consider when creating your own mind map.

The following figure leads to the mind map of my thesis.

Specail attention was given to the background section, which I had most trouble organizing in my mind before. Most of the nodes have links to online versions of papers. This way, I can access my whole background wherever I have internet, i.e. “on the go”.

Of course mind maps using FreeMind is just one option of organizing your thoughts. I chose this, because it works for me well. Hopefully, this application will develop further to have even more options like customizable icons, better arrow interconnections, ability to interact with Reference Manager, more import/export options, etc. Since it is open source, everyone can introduce new elements to the progam.

I would recommend this program for everyone to try at least for 5 minutes. It might help you too.

Oszkar Palinko

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