The iMindMap Program: Extraordinary Mind Mapping Tool
As instructional methods around the turn of the century expanded to include computer programs, many developers took the methods taught in books on mind mapping and wrote software that would reproduce those methods on computer screens. Some of these new programs were endorsed over the years by Tony Buzan, the person who had first made this method of learning popular. But despite his endorsement, he really had no control of anyone else’s programs, so it was inevitable that eventually he and his organization would need to produce their own mind mapping tool, which he could fully promote.
The initial “iMindMap” program was developed in 2006 with a 2.0 version released early in 2007. Both Buzan and Chris Griffiths, the developer of this mind mapping program, wanted something to take the previous paper-based, hand-drawn style and somehow replicate it on a screen. Griffiths felt that people’s thinking skills were actually being dulled by working on computer technologies, so one of his own goals was to counteract that problem. And of course the ultimate aim, for both Buzan and Griffiths, was to retain what their website (www.imindmap.com) calls the “brain-friendly nature” of hand-drawn mind maps on the screen. Thus their mind mapping tool was born.
Early reviews of the program were positive. What most people remarked upon was the “organic” nature of this mind mapping tool. It really seemed to leave behind the boxes and straight lines of other programs, and reproduced the flow and even colors people used when creating their own mind maps on whiteboards or note paper. Command buttons were clear, tabs allowed users to switch to editor, presentation and the more traditional outline views, and a drop-and-drag method of creating new branches from a central topic seemed to mimic the method of making a visual map by hand drawing.
With the latest beta release of “iMindMap” version 3, the mind mapping tool appears to keep getting better and better. Whereas business people had complained that the original bright colors and free flowing branches appeared too “cartoon-like” to use in meetings, now they can change to a more traditional flow chart style. Buzan and Griffiths have added other enhancements and options in response to the needs of users as well. Rather than fall in love with this mindmap software for its own sake, they continue tweaking it so it serves its real purpose, which is to help users understand information in a more organic way.
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