CHI 2011 • Work-in-Progress May 7–12, 2011 • Vancouver, BC, Canada

Digital Mind Mapping: Innovations for

Real-time Collaborative Thinking

Honray Lin Abstract

Human-Computer Interaction Institute This paper explores the development of a new digital
Carnegie Mellon University mind mapping tool for future research on interactive
5000 Forbes Avenue, knowledge management systems, specifically with
Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA regard to real-time collaborative thinking. We have
[email protected] evaluated numerous existing mind mapping software
applications, and performed ethnographic research with
Haakon Faste a variety of users, to develop a framework of principles
Human-Computer Interaction Institute to guide the design of future idea generation and
Carnegie Mellon University management systems. Our findings indicate a rich
5000 Forbes Avenue, opportunity space for digital mind mapping tools,
Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA particularly in the areas of facilitating collaboration and
[email protected] information storage and retrieval.

Keywords
Mind maps, concept maps, collaborative thinking

ACM Classification Keywords

H.5.2 [Information Interfaces and Presentation]:
User Interfaces; H.5.3 [Information Interfaces and
Presentation]: Group and Organization Interfaces

General Terms
Copyright is held by the author/owner(s). Design, Human Factors
CHI 2011, May 7–12, 2011, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
ACM 978-1-4503-0268-5/11/05.

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Introduction working memory, improving their design can overcome

A mind map is a graphical representation of ideas and problems associated with limitations in the capacity of
thoughts related to a central keyword, idea, or question. working memory. Additionally, by providing a graphical
Related concepts in mind maps are drawn radially overview of thought processes and connecting related
stemming from the central idea connected by lines [2]. concepts, mind maps can localize related concepts,
Compared to linear representations of ideas, mind maps reducing the cognitive load associated with retrieving
and other similar graphical representations of concepts and maintaining different knowledge elements [11].
enable a greater range of rapid idea expression and have
been shown to have a positive impact on memory recall. New knowledge is always generated based on existing
assumptions and facts. Mind maps are able to provide
Given the potential impact of digital mind mapping on not only raw data, but also the relationships across
collaborative design, our work began by examining the different concepts, their importance, and how they
current limitations of digital mind mapping, especially originated. Online concept maps are especially useful
with respect to collaboration and computer assistance. for knowledge generation, for example [5]. The new
As part of this research process, we have drawn ideas outlined in a mind map are also an effective
numerous mind maps, evaluated several currently communication tool, since the rationale and thought
available digital mind mapping software applications, and process behind new ideas are clearly outlined by the
conducted ethnographic research on 5 participants who structure and content of the mind map.
actively use digital software to organize and retrieve
their ideas. We also held brainstorming sessions on the Design Research Methodology and Findings
topic of digital mind mapping. Based on our findings we To develop a framework for the design of improved
have defined an opportunity framework for the design of digital mind mapping software, we performed several
improved systems and identified several key features design research activities. We began by generating
that will be implemented in future work. mind maps related to mind mapping, and then
performed an evaluation of existing mind mapping
Why Mind Map? software. We then conducted ethnographic research
There are numerous benefits of using mind maps as a with users of knowledge management software, and
way of representing information. Mind maps take organized two brainstorming sessions in response to
advantage of visual information representation to identified areas of need. The process and results of this
leverage the remarkable capabilities of human research are described in this section.
perception [7]. They are especially useful to designers
as they begin to work on new projects, record and take 1. Evaluating Digital Mind Mapping Systems
notes, reflect on their thought processes, communicate Our first activity was to engage in drawing numerous
ideas quickly and collaboratively with others, and look mind maps (on paper) about what mind mapping is,
for patterns when synthesizing information [3]. Since speculate on the possibilities of digital mind maps, and
mind maps are constructed by recording thoughts in reflect on the process of creating maps in real time. We

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then tested free online demo versions and/or downloads C. ONTOLOGY AND CONCEPT MAPPING
of numerous existing mind mapping applications, As described by Grobelnik, et al., an ontology is “a
including FreeMind (freemind.sourceforge.net), fundamental data object for organizing knowledge in a
MindManager (mindjet.com), MindMeister (mindmeister. structured way” [6]. When structured visually this is
com), Cacoo (cacoo.com), LucidChart (lucidchart.com), also called a concept map [9], and usually consists of a
Creately (creately.com), Xmind (xmind.net), Visual graph/network structure consisting of concepts (vertices)
Thesaurus (visualthesaurus.com), and iMindMap and a set of relationships (edges). Software that can
(thinkbuzan.com/imindmap). Our intent was to explore understand the relationships across ideas within a mind
the current state of digital mind mapping and to identify map could provide related topics and additional ideas to
design principles to guide future research. Software was the user as they edit and browse their content.
selected on the basis of its popularity and the range of its Providing users this context synchronously with their
offered features. A summary of our findings is as follows: input can not only make mind mapping more efficient,
but could help generate ideas that would otherwise not
A. SPEED AND EFFICIENCY. have been thought of. Currently, tools that support this
Most available mind mapping software use the functionality require a solid understanding of ontology
keyboard and mouse as input devices, which can be and a relationship definition language [10].
significantly faster than paper and pencil for text input.
Additionally, mind mapping software such as FreeMind D. COLLABORATION.
allows specific tasks to be sped up with keyboard One of the main uses of mind maps is to brainstorm and
shortcuts, permitting an even faster workflow for explore ideas. When done using paper and pencil,
experienced users. Well-designed digital systems synchronous collaboration can prove difficult since
should leverage these natural potential advantages. participants must work on a single sheet of paper and be
in the same physical location at the same time.
B. APPEARANCE AND MECHANICS However, there are many benefits of collaborative work,
Unlike their paper counterparts, the way in which a digital particularly computer-based collaboration. In creative
mind map is presented to the user is constrained by the problem solving, for example, collaboration causes
design of the software interface. Designed well, digital mutual idea stimulation among participants [4]. Studies
maps have the potential to support the clean and have shown that collaboration exclusively with
consistent appearance of content. Also, although text input computers produces higher quality and quantity of ideas,
may be faster when mind mapping digitally, tasks such as due to the reduction of “production blocking,” since all
drawing are often slower or more difficult when using a users can work concurrently on a computer [8].
mouse. New touch screen devices may aid in making such
tasks easier, but they are rare among most users and Among the digital mind mapping software we studied,
afford poor data entry. Gracefully aligning readability, MindMeister, Cacoo and LucidChart are web applications
customization, and contextually relevant user control is a that support synchronous editing of mind maps, and all
challenge that none of the software we tested did well. of them also support live chat among collaborators while

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mapping. Recent research projects such as SharedMind clearly specified where and how they wanted their
have implemented synchronous and asynchronous content to be stored. Some participants used virtual
collaboration, including conflict detection algorithms [1]. folders to indicate where different groups of ideas and
Given the increasingly collaborative nature of digital tasks should be saved, whereas others used features
mind mapping applications, we believe that there are within their mind mapping software to demarcate
numerous opportunities for future research in this area. different groups of ideas. One participant, for instance,
demonstrated how she created different branches in the
2. Ethnographic Research mind mapping software when taking notes from lectures
Following the evaluation of existing mind mapping in class, based on the semantic content of the lecture.
software, ethnographic research was conducted to
further explore identified areas of interest. Five C. ENCOURAGING COLLABORATION
participants who actively brainstormed or recorded Participants also indicated their desire for collaboration
ideas using digital knowledge management tools were in the process of idea synthesis, citing its usefulness
interviewed. Three of the interviewees were graduate and its ability to encourage. All users described how
students enrolled in Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer they used their brainstorming software collaboratively,
Interaction program, and the remaining two were or their desire for collaboration. One user indicated that
developers of idea visualization software. Participants she and her friend had the habit of each taking a daily
were asked to show and describe how they use their photograph and posting it in a shared folder for each
software for tasks similar to or involving brainstorming, other to see. She noted that although no visible
collaboration, and exploring, organizing, and visualizing communication took place, her friend’s participation
ideas. We identified the following opportunity areas: was motivating. Another user of mind maps indicated
that since digital mind mapping is still uncommon
A. PERVASIVE AND IMMEDIATE STORAGE among most people, sending team members digital
Participants indicated the need for an intuitive and mind map files was problematic since they could not
immediate way to store thoughts and creative ideas on easily be opened and edited.
the fly. One participant indicated that she used mind
mapping software to take notes for class, touting the D. EASY INFORMATION RETRIEVAL
software’s speed and ease of use over traditional pen The interviews revealed that participants often want
and paper. Another participant used text messaging summaries of their recorded thoughts when they revisit
and emails as reminders to revisit his ideas at a later their ideas. For the task of note taking, one participant
time, citing the lack of good tools for this task. indicated that she rarely went back to check on her
notes since it was difficult to find what she was looking
B. MATCHING USAGE WITH CONTENT PRESENTATION for. In this regard, mind maps were particularly useful
The different ways participants used to store their ideas to her because they facilitated this sort of behavior.
reflected the importance of intuitive content organization
for digital mind mapping systems. All of the participants

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Brainstorming and Ideation could be displayed to the user in context within the
Based on the opportunity areas identified above, software’s user interface. This feature addresses
brainstorming sessions were conducted with eight limitations in collaboration identified in both traditional
graduate students in the Human-Computer Interaction and current mind mapping tools.
Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Participants were
asked targeted questions involving digital idea input, • We observed that a significant reason why users
idea organization, and idea summarization, generating collaborate is to connect with others. An “Interesting
over 50 rough ideas in two 1.5 hour sessions. At the end Button” could allow users in the crowd to give feedback
of each session, favorite ideas were voted on by the on concepts in a map. This would allow individual ideas
group, informing an ideation/refinement phase that to be flagged as “interesting” in an easily visible way.
resulted in 23 refined concepts with titles, descriptions, a
statement of each concept’s value proposition, and a A Dynamic Browsing Experience
sketch. A selection of these features, which we will Our research indicated the wide range of ways people
implement in future work, is described in detail below. use to store and retrieve their data, from using
Dropbox to store personal artifacts to using mind maps
Facilitating Social Interaction and Direct Collaboration as a note-taking tool. Thus a successful mind mapping
To facilitate users’ desire for collaboration in the application should be able to provide a dynamic and
process of idea synthesis, real-time editing of mind customizable experience that caters to each user’s
maps will be enabled as a web application. With the desired modalities of use. Some specific ideas:
approval of each mind map’s author, users will be able
to browse and contribute to each other’s maps online • “Summary Zoom Layers” could dynamically summarize
and connect with other users sharing similar interests. content in a mind map. As users “zoom out,” adjacent
Anyone with a web browser will be able to contribute to and similar idea nodes could condense into “summary”
shared maps through this online system, overcoming a nodes describing the nodes they contain. The importance
key limitation encountered by a participant in our or number of summarized nodes could determine the
ethnographic research. Some specific ideas: size of each summary node. Based on the observation
that users want an easier way to retrieve stored
• Through “Visual Idea Crowdsourcing,” users could be information, this concept allows users to see summaries
enabled to flag ideas or entire sections of their map for of entered ideas as well as which ones most important.
external user input. By doing so, they would be able to
leverage crowd data to enhance their idea synthesis. • “Semantic Analysis” describes the potential ability for a
mind map to change based on the user’s desired viewing
• “Collaboration Notification Overlays” could provide preferences. Metadata about ideas and the relationships
real-time updates on changes to the currently editing between them could be stored as new ideas are created.
users of a mind map. Small transparent widgets with The user could then specify different filters, which would
text and images indicating the most relevant changes change the hierarchy of the mind map to highlight

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