In my previous post about the mind mapping wiki, I promised to write about the phrase “information maps”: It’s used in that wiki as a term to cover the whole domain.
The nature of mind-mapping.org is that I need some general term. I don’t limit the content to mind map software in a strict or even a loose sense. I toyed with “visual maps” but quickly realised that’s a tautology — maps are visual by their very nature.
“Mind maps” and “concept maps” are such widely used terms, they will roll on for a long time yet, I think, but their problem is that some use them to mean something very specific, while others apply them broadly. You may have seen minor skirmishes in newsgroups, forums and Wikipedia discussion pages over this.
‘Cognitive map’ is another, but it sounds academic and I doubt it would appeal to those outside educational circles. In some ways it’s a pity that ‘concept maps’ has taken on a specific meaning because it would otherwise be suitable as a general term. Information, thoughts, ideas, arguments – all fit well under ‘concept’
I like WikIT’s suggestion – it’s useful. It’s not perfect, though. After all such maps are often used to generate ideas. Is a half-formed idea ‘information’, would you say? Not really. But as I can find nothing better for now, I may well start using this.
Vic
http://www.informationtamers.com/mind-mapping/
The master list of mind mapping &
information management software
