[Sigia-l] Concept maps

[Livia Labate]

Concept maps, yes, concept map software tools, no.

I use concept maps extensively. They allow for agile work and 
exploration of ideas, specialy when you are dealing with a lot of 
relational information. It is a helpful method to bring order to what 
can otherwise be a messy idea-generation/brainstorming process.

The tool, however, is post-its up on a white board. Concepts are 
connected using multi-colored markers. It's extensible, portable, allows 
multiple users at the same time, has more editing capabilities than any 
software and I can visualize the entire concept at a glance. My 
favourite thing though, is that when it's time to move on to the next 
steps of the process, the whole resulting concept map can be stored in a 
simple photograph.

All the software tools I have experiemented with are pretty horrible.