Introducing Corkulous and the Mind Map Project

By Wayne Brown

Corkulous (as I use it) is a "Mind Mapping" tool. The idea is to visually map concepts and the connections between them with the aim of pulling some kind of coherent structure out of a pile of related ideas. In this case, I have over 400 posts that, if printed, would be over 1,000 pages. While creating each post has helped my clarify my thoughts of the moment, the result is a pile of essays that are not accessible in any practical way to interested users.

A small mind map is shown here.



A typical blog entry tends to touch on several related issues, each of which is likely to require some clarification. The index tries to do this, but it is not realistic to expect a reader to explore the index and the dozens of essays whose connection to the topic may be obscure. In any case, this results in a geometrically expanding demand on the reader. 

The Mind Map project aims to isolate a few key ideas, such as "Mind" and create a single essay or a small number of linked essays that cover the topic in a format convenient to a reader. Moreover, such a packet of essays may be suitable for publication to the wider world. 

In the map shown above, each box (and perhaps each link) can be expanded into a map of its own. More detailed maps can include HTML (web) links, links to blog entries, pictures, PDF, and links to other maps. Maps can be exported in many ways, including the ability to export to a reader who doesn't have Corkulous. This adds up to an extremely powerful set of tools that should simultaneously encourage a quantum leap in quality plus the ability to communicate the content in "bite-size" chunks.

It does not seem possible to include functional mind maps directly in this blog. It's an open question of how to share these. A more basic question would be why to share them. 

Maps can be placed in Google Drive, which provides extensive global sharing capabilities, but a "raw" board can only be viewed with someone who has Corkulous, which also means some kind of Apple device (PC not supported). That is probably too restrictive for general use. An HTML download (web page) would be widely shareable but is not there now. I vaguely remember that it once was. NOT saving the board in a standard (XML) format would seem to be a fundamental design error. Note that text items, such as links, can be exported and, with a bit of effort, appended to a blog entry that shows the board as an image. Better than nothing.

It seems that the core application of Corkulus will be to allow me to think graphically about related ideas. I have a mind quite suited to this.

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