In this Newsletter...
1. WelcomeWelcome to the August 2011 edition of the Using Mind Maps Newsletter; The Newsletter that helps you with using Mind Maps in your daily life.Most of the Northern Hemisphere has been in 'holiday mode' and fully or partially between academic years since our last newsletter. Even the Southern Hemisphere would have had a mid-year break in most cases. It was therefore not the best time to focus on learning. But it's now time to gear up for the next half of the year, whether it's a new academic year, or the last stretch towards the finals; and start to prepare adequately. The main advice I have for you is to focus on your learning process - and do the work. This month's newsletter focuses on my vision of Mind Map Software and where I think it should go. As usual, you can share your thoughts using the various Social Media options below, or even publish them on our website. 2. ProductsOur approach to use Free OpenSource Mind Map Software (Xmind) continues to prove successful. It puts Mind Maps and Mind Mapping into the hands of many more people.So don't delay. Download Xmind today and start Mind Mapping! You could also download the basic edition of iMindMap, which is also free. iMindMap is the official Mind Map Software endorsed by Tony Buzan, the inventor of Mind Mapping, and creates beautiful, organic, colourful Mind Maps. A ten step program divided into Four Sections that gets you learning faster and easier. The program takes you through four important stages:
English Grammar Mind Map Tutor Having a good knowledge of English Grammar is essential for all learners, if your learning medium is English. If English is not your mother-tongue, then this is also a great guide for you. The Interactive Mind Maps allow you to add your own examples and thoughts, making you the centre of the learning process, which is the best way to learn. The first of our Shakespeare series, which allows you to learn Shakespeare in a unique, holistic and visual way, providing you with everything you need to know about plot, background, characters, themes and more... 3. Associate AuthorsIf you are a subject matter expert and think you have the ability to produce a set of Mind Maps on your subject, we can sell it and market it for you using our Associate Author Program. If you are interested, please feel free to drop us a note using our Contact Form and we will get back to you with the details.By sharing your knowledge, you can grow personally, help others, and even create a permanent passive income stream. Take advantage of our growth and expertise in the Mind Mapping and Learning marketplace and start your own online business with hardly any capital outlay. The concept is simple.
4. Mind Map Tutor BlogOur Blog, www.mindmaptutor.com, keeps you updated with what's happening so that you can learn faster and easier with almost daily updates.You can follow our blog by subscribing via RSS Feed, Email, Facebook, or Twitter to get regular updates. Most of the topics are also highlighted on our Facebook Page, where you can comment instantly and get great feedback from us and others. You can now also comment on our blog using Facebook comments. Some highlights from our Blog last month: And lot's more... 5. Facebook pageVisit Using Mind Maps on Facebook and become a part of our Social Network by simply 'liking' our page.Facebook is great for updates, as it is unobtrusive and you can give immediate feedback. Please promote our Facebook Page to you friends and family. It is a great way for them to stay updated with the latest information on everything you need to know about creating and using Mind Maps to learn faster and easier. All updates to our site, as well as our blog, are posted to our Facebook Page, so you will always be informed of what's happening. Make learning and using Mind Maps a part of your Social Experience. In this way learning and growth becomes a natural part of you life and stops being a laborious effort. As information on Facebook is fed in bite size chunks and you only read what catches your eye, you are in complete control of the situation. 6. TwitterYou can follow me via my Twitter account.I am very active in the online Mind Mapping community, you will get updates and links to important information as I come across it. Twitter is the fastest way to get information into the market. If you haven't tried Twitter yet, give it a go. The great thing about Twitter is that you only have to read what you want to, as it just gives you the headlines. The information also comes to you, so you are only receiving information that you want to receive. If you don't like the source - kill it, and it's instantly removed. Twitter can be a great time saver to give you the information when you want it and how you want it. We publish all of our Blog feeds to Twitter so that you can simply browse the headlines and only visit the page if you like what you see. 7. Focus of the month - My vision of Mind Map SoftwareI've been testing Mind Map Software on the iPad and found it to be a great tool for Mind Mapping. I have largely replaced pen and paper with the iPad for my notes and have used it in meetings, for brainstorming, writing, presentations, and more. For the first time, I have a convenient Mind Mapping tool available with me most of the time, having the ability to share my Mind Maps on all my devices and still provide linear text notes for the 'Non-Mind Mappers'.Unexpectedly, this process gave me a vision of what Mind Mapping Software could be like, with seamless integration of your Mind Maps across software packages, enabling you to share your Mind Maps with anybody, no matter what their preferred software package is. This was inspired by a cheap, but powerful iPad application, iThoughtsHD, which allows me to import from virtually any format that makes sense and export to nearly every other popular document format. This highlighted two issues that I have with Mind Map software: Cost and Sharing of information. The sharing of computer generated Mind Maps (or the lack thereof) has bothered me for years. Most software vendors try to 'lock you in' to their product and provide limited importing and exporting with other software packages. I would like to see software vendors competing on the user experience they can provide, and not on a technical issue like file formats. This has happened to the 'Office' products and I hope that it will spill into the Mind Map arena. OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language) seems like a good standard to share content, as it could be imported into applications other than Mind Map Software, for example, Wordprocessors. iThoughtsHD, on the iPad, provides the best sharing of Mind Maps on the market today and keeps formatting, images and links in most cases. I therefore email any Mind Map I want to transfer to myself and open it on the iPad with iThoughtsHD. I then send it back in the required format. It's still a bit cumbersome, but it works! If you don't have an iPad, bear in mind the network that you want to share your Mind Maps with and either choose the same package, or packages that can share Mind Maps. It will save you hours of frustration and unproductive time. This brings me onto the next point: Cost. I am glad to see that there are more vendors providing basic free versions and not just trial versions. Xmind did this for some time, with a very functional free version and a fully featured premium version. Xmind has therefore been our software of choice for the sharing of our Mind Maps, as anybody could access them with the free version. iMindMap has also joined the party and now provides a free basic version. iMindMap is the only Software endorsed by Tony Buzan, the inventor of Mind Maps, but be very careful as it does tend to 'lock you in', as it makes sharing with other packages very difficult. You should be able to try the software, and if you like the experience, purchase the advanced features. If you don't like it, you should be able to change packages and transfer your Mind Maps. Unfortunately, this is still some time away. If you have an iPad, count yourself lucky, as you could easily do this with a package that costs less than $10. So, depending on the software you trial, be mindful of how many Mind Maps you create, as you may have to recreate them again if you want to change packages. Also think about who you want to share your Mind Maps with and choose a package that facilitates this the best. Else, you may lose the great collaboration benefits that Mind Mapping can provide. I look forward to a Mind Mapping future where we can all share our Mind Maps easily and freely... 8. What's coming...We are still in the process of upgrading our E-Learning Website and it will be some time before we are up and running. We will inform you when our online training and courses to help you learn faster and easier are up and running.Keep a look out for free information on our Website, our Blog , Facebook and Twitter. Be the first to get updated information as it arrives. 9. Communicating with usWe would also love to hear from you, so let us know how your Mind Map efforts are going. You can contact us via our Contact Page, or you can even write your own story and be published on our website.You can also comment on any of our blog posts using Facebook comments. The choice is yours. Till next time...What is your vision of Mind Map Software? UsingMindMaps.com is built with Site Build It! |
Learning Management Program
English Grammar Mind Map Tutor
