News

 So I was on Mind-Mapping.OrG, Great site, and I am wondering if I got carried away with my comments..

What do we call our activity?

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.mind-mapping.org/
The master list of mind mapping &
information management software

“One thing, more than one thing, Leads to another… The Fixx – Reach The Beach”

So I was reading an article in the creativity section, when I noticed what seems to be a deliberate linking policy that contrasts most use of links on other web sites. Maybe it is on purpose or maybe it is inadvertent, but links in articles are not hot. Which given the general nature of linked ideas in the term you are looking for here in this article, or mind-mapping, the contrast I noticed immediately. I also make web sites, understand conventions of sites, and their dogma, which only the “Guru” improves upon (read as: breaks the mold;) but each site has an intrinsic autonomy, so when in Rome, we observe how the Romans live.

I have a hard time keeping track of what I want to do. I have never been good at using to-do lists. My introduction to to-do lists was back in the day when my parents would create lists of mandatory “chores.” I know that was some time ago and as an adult I should be “Over IT.” Over the aversion to someone telling me what needs to be done. I suppose it is a response others might have had too.

As well I am aware of the “benefits.” The great satisfaction of ticking items off a list. The social kudos for meeting deadlines. All of which are designed to free one from their obligations in a responsible manner.  In my experience my experience machine does not function on those same mechanics.

Yea, A Name Change! He is a 2 yr old, and more than just “Eyes.”

So I answer the phone,“Hello there.” I knew it was my wife via the caller ID, and she goes into her very sweet voice saying“Hi Honey.” That kinda softens the “surprise” for me and clues me into somethings up, (that’s a common story I suppose, I’ll save for another day.) So, Rose asks me If I checked my email, and I hadn’t yet; so I do. She says “I sent you a photo.”

Where did the old posts go? Well they are still in the WP blog at /blog but they will be here soon. Any ideas for the migration? There was never any deep traffic there or links to them, but I am a bit of a pack rat. Thoughts?

The images will defiantly find a new home here in a gallery app here. The in house solution is giving me troubles right now and was working on my dev machine just fine, but hosted here, eh! The gallery and the menus, bah, I think it is my host.

One solution I was thinking about was the Gallery2 or maybe the Gallery3 solution that is coming. I have always liked Menalto Gallery.

So, I have been working on this site again. I don’t know about “getting it right this time” or what ever. A big difference from the past incarnations of the site is that I feel like posting more, for now. Since I first started this site back in 2001 or so, I have wanted to use a full CMS, not just a blogging solution. Some of you might have seen the WordPress thing I had been doing here at /blog, but my heart was never in IT really.

I am not going to go into a diatribe about the differences in site solutions, (right now,) they all have issues. This is more a general acknowledgment post and a stating of the obvious. There are supposed to be some horizontal menus for you all to use, but they are currently not working right. So there will be side block menus for the masses in the mean time. The navigation bars at the top and bottom of the page are not menus by the way. There really is a lot going on in the background here, (well a lot for the current one man show.) There are a number of great site apps waiting in the wings here, and I want to encourage participation as usual. You do have to create an account, then login to participate; it really is easy enough and ready too! Do you feel like blogging?