Hi all
Mind Mapping. I use it. I think I use it successfully - it helps me. It's
just a shame I didn't start to use it years ago.
My mind maps don't translate well for other people though - mind mapping
is inherently a "personal" thing. I give My maps My meaning and My
interpretations.
I can guide someone through one on My maps but, as in any type of
communication (speech, writing, drawing, semaphore, morse code) I cannot
guarantee to convey My meaning and I cannot guarantee to fully understand
the meaning that has been "picked up".
Dialogue helps as it is a feedback process, but even then one can miss
something.
Similarly, flowcharts. They can be constructed using "formal" or
"informal" methods. One cannot guarantee to capture everything.
"The map is not the territory".
In the end they are only a tools, part of a wide battery of tools we use
to communicate. In my experience no one tool succeeds over all others. The
rich features provided by one tool may not prove as useful as the simple
set of features of another tool in conveying meaning.
Consider the text written on a word processor and the same information in
a picture ("a picture paints a thousand words"). Consider the poetry of
Wilfred Owen and the picture "Gassed" by Sargent. Each, on their own
convey meaning, but together there is synergy.
Similarly with people. Act alone in isolation and see boundaries and
restrictions. Act in a team (community, organisation, family) and those
boundaries then become traversable or disappear.
There is a great danger, I think, in looking for "universal" cures. The
become universal only in our context, and as we all know - our context is
changing all the time.
Regards
Philip Keogh
Pathology Information Officer
(see our website at www.leedsteachinghospitals.com)
--"Philip Keogh" <Philip.Keogh@leedsth.nhs.uk>
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