Tools for organizing thoughts (Andrius Kulikauskas)

This is a copy from 12/10/2007. Original page can be found at this address http://www.ms.lt/ms/projects/toolkinds/organize.html (not available anymore)

Please note: This page and [index.html Tools for Thinking] are both undergoing heavy construction to handle the large number of tools. Andrius Kulikauskas

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Reorganizing information is a function supported by software for managing personal information (PIMs, personal information managers), for requirements engineering, among others.

David Hyerle has devoted a website to graphic organizers.

Andrius Kulikauskas, 7/99

The Brain by Natrificial Software Technologies is a system for creating and visualizing relations between items, called thoughts. Thoughts can be linked to files, web pages, and notes. A user of The Brain connects one thought to another in one of three ways: as a parent, child, or jump. Parent-child relationships can be used to create a hierarchy or grouping of ideas, while
jump relationships represent exclusive relationships between items. When one selects a thought, it moves to the center of the screen, with its parent thoughts shown above, its child thoughts below, and its jump thoughts to the left. Siblings (thoughts that share a parent) are shown to the right. The visual effect of selecting items is like wandering through ideas. Natrificial Software Technologies has implemented many progressive ideas, such as enabling The Brain to organize files, allowing the import of file systems from Windows, and encouraging users to publish their Brains on the Web. A software development kit is available, as well as a solution center. Upcoming developments include a collaborative Brain, and a version for Java environments. Andrius Kulikauskas, Harlan Hugh, 5/99.

Mutlicentrix by Aw Kong Koy is a multicentric information mapping system, previously known as InfoMap. Multicentrix allows objects to be related in both hierarchies and networks. Also, each link in the network can itself be an object. Multicentrix has tools for editing the objects, hierarchies, networks, interfaces, links. It allows for the import of hierarchies and associations. It also includes a built-in HTML Editor and web farming capabilities. Aw Kong Koy describes Multicentrix/Infomap in his paper Computer Aided Thinking. kkaw@multicentric.com Andrius Kulikauskas, 12/99, Thanks, Zigmas Bigelis

I'm an investigator in Neuroscience and its relationship with the Accelerated Learning and I have created the discipline CMC, which in Spanish is Cartografia Mental Computarizada, and in English means Computerized Mind Mapping. A new tool is CMC for Accelerating Learning. It integrates Superlearning, MindMaps (Tony Buzan) and many, many software programs to study the brain and neurons, as well as the incredible software MindManager 3.5.5, including SuperMemo, Inspiration, AXON and other tools. All of these are integrated into a single body consisting of neurons and gliales. Eugenio Martinez, Investigator and President CMC 8/99, Eugenio Martinez

Mindmanager by MindJet is computer software for using the Mind Mapping method of Tony Buzan. Mindmanager lets one outline information by organizing it in a tree structure, with branches growing out from a root. The resulting diagram can be enhanced graphically by adding pictures, fonts, colors, and so on, as recommended by the principles of Mind Mapping. Recommended uses include preparing speeches and presentations, planning, tracking and communicatng complex projects, creating websites and site maps, effective note taking. The intent is to bring together the logical left brain and the visual/creative right brain to improve memory and productivity. Updates are possible from VisiMap and Activity Map. There is a software development kit for the alpha release of version 4.0 which includes a robust COM interface (as in Microsoft Office 2000). An overview describes the MindManager Open Interface which can be accessed through the internal scripting language MMScript, and also Visual Basic, Visual C++ and ATL, or any other language that supports Automation programming such as Java, Delphi, Perl, etc.. eMindMaps is a lighter version specifically for creating mind maps. Users have contributed several dozen examples, and there is a MindManager Users Group at www.egroups.com/list/mindmanager . John England, john@team-link.org, CEO of Teamlink, is doing part time PhD research (via Monash University in Melbourne, Australia) into the impact of Mind Mapping on strategic competencies, and appreciates your help. There is a list of books, including The Mind Map Book - How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain's Untapped Potential by Tony Buzan, Barry Buzan (Contributor), and also Mindmapping - Your Personal Guide to Exploring Creativity and Problem-Solving by Joyce Wycoff. Mind mapping is also taught to university students as concept mapping. Michael Jetter & Bettina Jetter are president and vice-president of MindJet, 1505 Bridgeway, Suite 202, Sausalito, CA 94965, info@mindmanager.com, +1 (415) 332 6808 12/99, Andrius Kulikauskas. Thanks, Rytis Umbrasas

Thoughtstream by Ben Darnell is open-source software similar in spirit to TheBrain that can be used on both a Palm and a PC. 1/00, Andrius Kulikauskas

Everything by the Everything Development Company is a collaborative world for editing web pages. There is a diagram that explains it. Nate Oostendorp and Rob Malda 1/00, Andrius Kulikauskas

Lucid Fried Eggs by Stephen Danic is an online note taking environment that combines the navigation of TheBrain with the collaboration of Everything. 1/00, Andrius Kulikauskas

Pathmaker by Skymark is a toolkit for leaders and managers that includes the following capabilities: flowchart, brainstorm, affinity diagram, cause and effect diagrams, forms for process analysis, force field, multivoting, weighted criteria rating for decision-making, structured discussion, slide shows for JIT training, meeting agenda and minutes, project pathway, and data analyst (with pie chart, bar chart, radar chart, run chart, histogram, normal test plot, scatter plot, Pareto chart and 7 control charts). The website includes a variety of management resources, including methods and tools. Skymark Corporation, 7300 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15208, (+1) 412.371.0680, Sales Department, info@skymark.com 12/99, Andrius Kulikauskas

KJ cards were developed by Japanese anthropologist Kawakita Jiro for archeological classifications and used extensively by businessmen in Japan. The KJ method, also known as affinity diagrams, is used for sorting information into groups from a raw list. A computer version, the KJ-Editor, was also created. The KJ-Editor is the subject of the papers below. A good description is at the Pathmaker website where there can also be found descriptions of many other management tools. [Andrius Kulikauskas, 12/99. Thanks, Joseph Goguen]

• The KJ Method on a Personal Computer Poster Sessions / Hajime Ohiwa / Kazuhisa Kawai / Masanobu Koyama / Naohiko Takeda Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction 1991 v.2 p.1333
• KJ-EDITOR: An index-card style tool by Takeda, N., Kawai, K., Koyama, M., Shiomi, A., and Ohiwa, H. 1992, IEEE Workshop (or Symposium) on Visual Languages 1992, 255-257.
• A 1993 paper published by the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence, Vol 8, No 5 in Japanese with abstract in English is Preliminary Experiments with a Distributed and Networking Card-handling Tool Named KJ-Editor by K.Kawai, A.Shiomi, N.Takeda, H.Ohiwa.
• KJ-Editor: A Collaboration Environment for Brain Storming and Consensus Forming IV. Help and Learning / H.Ohiwa / K. Kawai / A. Shiomi / N. Takeda Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction 1993 v.2 p.939-942
• A Card-Handling Tool which Supports Multimedia Data and Resource Accessing on the Internet II.3 Support for Creativity / Yoshihiro Ohmi / Katsutoshi Nakamura / Naohiko Takeda / Kazuhisa Kawai / Hajime Ohiwa Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction 1995 v.II. Human Centered System Design p.691-696

Idons-for-Thinking is software by which one maps ideas to hexagonal shapes, then clusters related hexagons, and then establishes links between clusters. Apparently, the hexagonal shape is convenient for visualizing the synthesis of two ideas, so that an idea and an icon together yield an Idon. A magnetic kit for whiteboards is also available, along with a manual, Thinking with Hexagons. info@idongroup.com Idon Ltd. Andrius Kulikauskas, 1/00

The Knowledge Systems Group has created CuttingTools to transform a standard web browser into a research tool that simplifies copying of information from HTML pages on the Web or on one's own computer. One adds a label and bibliographic information to the material copied and it becomes a card in a database. The content of the database is fully searchable. Cards can be organized hierarchically. A single click generates an outline made up of a card and all of cards below it in the hierarchy. Such an outline can be viewed as a finished product. The Knowledge Systems Group developed CuttingTools as an internal research tool to gather information its EducationCommunity.com web site for education policy makers. It plans to integrate CuttingTools into a web-based application program. CEO Kirk Knutsen, (702) 869-5242, Kirk@EducationCommunity.com. [AK 12/98, from the EducationCommunity.com /u/Default.htm Thanks, Jeff Remmel]

NoteCards is an idea-processing hypertext system developed in 1986 by Thomas P. Moran of the Xerox Corporation Palo Alto Research Center. Published papers about NoteCards include:

• Monty, M., and Moran, T. P. (1986). Study of authoring process in NoteCards. ACM SIGCHI Bulletin 18(2), 59-60.
• Halasz, F. G., Moran, T. P., and Trigg, R. (1987). NoteCards in a nutshell. Proceedings of the CHI'87 Conference on Human Factors in Computer Systems. New York: ACM.
• Trigg, R., Moran, T. P., and Halasz, F. G. (1987). Adaptibility and tailorability in NoteCards. Proceedings of the Interact'87 Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, Stuttgart.

Thomas P. Moran/ Xerox PARC /3333 Coyote Hill Road /Palo Alto, CA 94304 Phone:+1-415-812-4351 Fax: +1-415-812-4777 12/98, Andrius Kulikauskas, Thanks to Joseph Goguen

Inspiration Software Inc. offers Inspiration, a visual thinking tool which lets one display ideas both hierarchically and crossreferenced. The professional version contains symbols designed for diagramming, outlining, flowcharting, knowledge mapping, systems thinking and multimedia design. One can record and sort ideas generated in brainstorming. One can also draw concept maps and story webs to define or reveal the structure of ideas visually. A K-12 version is available for school teachers, as is a book, Classroom Ideas Using Inspiration: For Teachers By Teachers. Inspiration Software, Inc./ 7412 SW Beaverton Hillsdale Hwy, Suite 102 / Portland, OR 97225-2167 USA Phone: (800) 877-4292, (503) 297-3004 Fax (503) 297-4676 12/98, Andrius Kulikauskas

Questmap by Group Decision Support Systems is organizational memory software for capturing informal knowledge. It offers a computer whiteboard for displaying messages, documents, and reference material for a project, and then exploring the graphical relationships to understand the history of the reasoning that lead to key decisions and plans. Contact: Jeff Conklin, jconklin@gdss.com 7/99, Andrius Kulikauskas

Iris Media Systems has created Xantippe, "the information structuring workbench", "a hypertext/hypergraphics authoring environment for Windows 3.x. Xantippe allows the author to easily organize bits of information into a hypertext document. Xantippe encapsulates bits of information into electronic index cards. These cards can be categorized into file boxes. Hyperlinks can be created between related topics. Keywords can be attached to each card. Xantippe gives the author all the tools to create electronic handbooks, help material, training material, and presentations in a hypermedia environment." IRIS Media Systems / 1684 Locust St. Suite #125 / Walnut Creek, CA 94596 / Tel: +1 925 256 4673 / Fax: +1 925 256 6353 Email: rlai@irismedia.com, Rodney Lai / FTP: ftp.irismedia.com 12/98, Andrius Kulikauskas

Pad++ is a zoomable graphical sketchpad. It uses a two dimensional plane to represent hierarchical information and lets the kind of information shown change as one zooms in or zooms out. This is useful for file management, but also for creating atlases that reflect one's history of travel through hypertexts. Pad++ also supports hyperlinks. The software and a tremendous amount of information are available at the site of their Web tour (which you can figure out if you keep clicking). Current research directions being pursued include "creating Pad++ GUI components, developing an internet based distributed Pad++, performing Pad++ usability studies, developing Pad++ applications for understanding large datasets, porting Pad++ to Windows95/NT, developing easy to use authoring tools." The team currently working on Pad++ is lead by Benjamin Bederson, Allison Druin, and Tammara Combs of the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory at the University of Maryland, by James Hollan of the Distributed Cognition and Human Computer Interaction Laboratory at the University of California, San Diego, by Jason Stewart of the Computer Science Department at the University of New Mexico, and by Ken Perlin and Jonathan Meyer of the NYU Media Research Laboratory. Ken Perlin and David Fox's original versions of Pad, described in their 1993 paper, were supported in part by NYNEX and later the NSF. Ben Bederson and Jim Hollan designed Pad++ while working at Bellcore and later they both worked for some time at the University of New Mexico. Research is currently being supported in part by a DARPA grant. Sony Electronics Inc. licensed PAD++ software technology from both NYU and UNM in July 1998. For more information: pad-info@cs.umd.edu [AK 12/98, from the Pad++ tour [1]]

Personal Information Managers (PIMs) are software tools typically used in business to keep track of tasks, contacts, and appointments. Sometimes they allow one to organize notes in a variety of ways for ongoing projects. Perhaps the best was Ecco Pro 4.0 from Netmanage, which PC Magazine rated as their Editor's choice for "the best approach that we've seen to manage random information effectively", and CNET acknowledged to be "the most powerful PIM you can buy" (1/9/97). Ecco Pro 4.0 let you organize notecards with data in alphabetical sequence, in hierarchies with topics and subtopics, as well as crossreference them via folders. The product had a following, but was discontinued, perhaps because it was too much work to learn how to use. It is still available for purchase. There is an Ecco user's group: eccopro@egroups.com, organized by Tom Hoots, who has a helpful homepage on ECCO assistance with tutorials by Stu Bloom. There is an anonymous page of Ecco resources with a free macro to help with pasting outlines into Microsoft Word 97 and 2000, and a list of Ecco related websites. Gary Ellenbogen is a consultant for personal productivity with Ecco. Phil Seeman, phils@catalystinnovations.com, president of Catalyst Innovations, develops third-party software for NetManage ECCO and posts information on the possible revival of ECCO. [Andrius Kulikauskas]

PC Magazine's August 1997 survey of contact and information managers also ranked Info Select 4.0 from Micro Logic Corp. as "excellent" in terms of its power as an information manager "for those who record fleeting thoughts and work with a random approach". A new Info Select 5.0 is out and Micro Logic is courting former Ecco users. There is a new version for the Palm OS for handhelds. Other free form information managers are Zoot by Tom Davis, AskSam, and Commence. Of these, only Commence was mentioned in the PC Magazine survey. The survey ranked Lotus Organizer 97 GS from Lotus as "excellent" in terms of its ease of use. Other PIMs reviewed included Microsoft Outlook 97, Office Talk 1.51 from Sareen Software, Sidekick 97 from Starfish Software, and Time and Chaos 32 5.2 from Isbister International. Organizer aide '98 from Ike-World Software is a personal information manager that includes a Note Tree for organizing notes in a hierarchy. Ike-World@POBox.com [AK 1/99, from PC Magazine Editor's Choice pcmag/features/infomanagers/ pcmg0145.htm, [2], and from Ike-World Software Ike-World/fs_index.html Thanks, David J. Kirsh]

Lotus Organizer 6 is a favorably reviewed PIM, primarily a contact manager and to-do list. It includes an EasyClip that simplifies copying information, for example, from the Web, and has a feature to simplify visiting websites with passwords. 2/00, Andrius Kulikauskas

Black Hole Organizer by Lincoln Beach Software has a window that floats on top of your desk top, into which you can dump text or links that you would like to reorganize later with a Windows Explorer like interface. A companion floater is the StarGate Link Buddy 2.0 for organizing links and documents. Keepsake Studio lets you organize photos along with accompanying text and sound. Harold Holmes, hholmes-AT-lincolnbeach.com, (314) 861-1500 1/00, Andrius Kulikauskas

NoteTab by Fookes Software is a text and HTML editor that works with files of unlimited size. It has side-to-side and outline views, and can be used for note taking. There is a users' group. Eric G.V. Fookes, Fookes Software, Av. Eugne-Pittard 22 Ter, CH - 1206 Geneva, Switzerland, feedback-AT-notetab.com 1/00, Andrius Kulikauskas

James Fallows, jimf@thestandard.com, was The Atlantic Monthly's Washington editor from 1980 to 1996 and is an ardent booster of information management software. His many contributions to The Atlantic Monthly that broach this subject includeZoot! - August 1997, Navigating the Galaxies - April 1996, The Java Theory - March 1996, and a 1992 article on Lotus Agenda. In his 1996 article for Inc, v 18, n 4, "Organizational Behavior", he notes the wide variety of personal management software and the lack of a breakthrough entry that would make clear what a PIM is supposed to be. He also expresses sadness that Lotus decided to abandon Agenda, and that no product has followed up on four key features: text parsing, filtered views, inheritance, and limitless customizability. Lotus Agenda was developed by Mitchell Kapor, Ed Belove and Jerry Kaplan, and more than 100,000 copies were sold, but Lotus had trouble explaining what the software was good for. Mitchell Kapor, the founder of Lotus, popularized the term "personal information manager" in the 1980s. In 1995, the New York City PC Users Group had a Special Interest Group on personal information managers which drew up a "PIM Power Users Manifesto". The manifesto presented a list of desired features and challenged the software industry to develop a software product incorporating them. The PIM SIG appears to have disbanded. Another booster of PIM technology is Sean Fosmire, fosmire@bresnanlink.net, the author of the webpages Selected Internet Resources on Information Management (very useful!) and Free-form Information Managers. We also should mention our investigator [../../../../directory/bigelisz.html Zigmas Bigelis]! [AK 12/99, from [3]]

David Kirsh: Hi Andrius, I think you are now going about things the right way. You need to get on exactly such committees and then to push through your own projects. It's a good idea to have a PIM standard. I don'k know if you'd ever be able to sell it as a stand alone translator for much but companies might be willing to lease it from you. On the other hand, if you really want to be where the action is I'd suggest you think about using XML as your tagging language and then create a PIM in XML so that people could access their info anywhere in the world via the web. That's going to be a killer app (I want some credit or involvement when you make your millions on it :-). You'd have to deal with security issues, so keep that in mind early. [David Kirsh, kirsh@ucsd.edu, 1/99]

For the Palm Operating System there is ListMaker for making a hierarchical list that can include item templates and checkboxes, for example, for shopping lists. [Andrius Kulikauskas, http://www.synsolutions.com, 5/00]

Clipmate 5.0 by Thornsoft Development Inc. is an extension of the Windows clipboard that lets you keep everything you every copy or paste, and organize it in a Windows Explorer type directory. support-AT-thornsoft.com, (716) 352-4223 1/00, Andrius Kulikauskas

Shareware repository www.softseek.com has an extensive list of Information Organizers under its Business Productivity section. Editor's picks include replacements for the Cardfile program that comes with Windows (Card32 v2.0 and Jot+ Notes v2.3.0), free-form notes databases (InfoTree32 v3.5.4 and Zoot (16-bit) v3.1.86), productivity toolkits (FooBar v1.0.5), and portals for organizing and updating information from a variety of data sources. 7/99, Andrius Kulikauskas

Hypercard designed by Bill Atkinson provides many of hypermedia's functionalities. Hypercard in 1989, Toolbook in 1994, Authorware in 1991, and HM-Card (Mauner et al., 1995) made it easy to create links, buttons and hot spots. Hypercard was designed as an authoring tool. It has a simple graphical user interface that the computer user could identify with to handle graphics, video, sound and interactive links to other cards. It has a scripting language for more advanced users, OpenScript for incorporating buttons, sounds, etc.. [Based on Lennon 1997, 8/99, George Jayaraj]

Guide is a hypertext system that was developed by Peter Brown at the University of Kent in 1986. It was commercially distributed as the first hypertext system. Files could be interchanged between Macintosh and IBM PC. An interesting feature are the text areas that consist of different cursor shapes. They indicate different classes of links. They can be created without scripting. Guide is an authoring and browsing tool. [Based on Lennon 1997, 8/99, George Jayaraj]

Hypertext Editing System (HES) was built at Brown University by the team of Gross, T., Nelson, T., Rice, D., van Dam, A., and Carmody, S. in 1969. The team developed an alphanumeric keyboard and light pen for data entry. Simply called HES, it supports two types of links as well as annotations (tags). The HES screen consists of a scrollable text area followed by a tag and prompt area. HES does not impose hierarchies, the data segments are freely connected in text links and branchways. Users may jump within the segment or to another segment. Branches from a segment may be selected from a menu at the end of the segment. HES was sold to NASA to produce documentation for the Apollo program. Later it was distributed commercially as a file retrieval and editing system FRESS. It included color raster graphics and navigational aids. [Based on Lennon 1997, 8/99, George Jayaraj]

Xybernaut makes wearable computers, such as the fourth generation Xybernaut Mobile Assistant IV (MA IV), which includes a touch screen flat panel color display, a head mounted color display, and hands-free voice recognition and activation. This solves many industrial problems, such as work in awkward, precarious, super clean or super mobile environments. Software includes LinkAssist, a speech-enabled open hypermedia toolkit for adding hyperlinks to existing files. The website includes a list of industries for which wearable computers are relevant. Michael Jenkins, Vice President, CTO, and a co-founder, leads the new product formation strategy team, and has previously worked in operating systems and database design. 2/00, Andrius Kulikauskas, Thanks, Daphne Terrell

Daily Notes by PrimaSoft PC is a straightforward software notebook for sorting notes by subject or by date, searching for text, and printing. 7/99, Andrius Kulikauskas

Softword Technology is the maker of shareware programs including ItemTree, a hierarchical organizer for short notes, and Clipper, a clipboard that keeps track of what you have been copying. 2/00, Andrius Kulikauskas

Workbook by Business Resource Software, Inc. is a hierarchical organizer for working with thoughts. +1 (800) 423-1228 2/00, Andrius Kulikauskas

Note-It-All 2.1 by Nucois a straightforward note database that shows a list of notes, a short description, and a complete note (up to 30 KB). Along with each note there are boxes for subject, title, author, as well as an automatic last up date. Simple searches can be performed on the text. The website contains a list of fifty uses. 9/99, Andrius Kulikauskas

Staccato Notes by Cartoon Logic is an Internet-enabled utility for storing notes and sending them as e-mail messages. 7/99, Andrius Kulikauskas

Post-it Software Notes by 3M make it possible to jot down notes on the computer desktop. The notes can be organized and stored on customized Memoboards. Alarms can be set, and searches can be done on the notes. Other sticky notes programs are Magic Notes and Quick Notes. 7/99, Andrius Kulikauskas

Personal Knowledge System uses the hypertext model and date stamping for the collection and organization of information as it presents itself during the daily routine. 757-898-3873, 130 Lorna Doone Drive, Grafton, Virginia, 23692-3429, info@KwBSolutions.com AK, 2/99

DETEX Systems, Inc. makes eXpress, a software tool for hierarchically expressing information, typically for use in developing the design of a complex product. Elements of the hierarchy can include conceptual descriptions, complex symbols, graphic images, and there are capabilities for editing these objects directly. One can make use of a symbol library and create new symbols as well. [AK 12/98, from DETEX Systems, Inc. [4]]

Programming tools for CASE (computer aided software engineering) include AxiomSys by Structured Technology Group, Inc, MacA&D and WinA&D by Excel Software, and ClearCase by Rational Software.

Professor Theodor Holm Nelson, Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan and Project Xanadu, Sausalito, California, are developing an OSMIC (Open System for Media InterConnection). "An Integrated Universal Format, especially for Text, Hypertext, Annotation, Versioning, and Intercomparison" Also see Xanadu Australia, Xanadu related links ted@xanadu.net [AK 12/98, from [5]]

R. H. Trigg, A Network-Based Approach to Text Handling for the Online Scientific Community, Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Computer Science, University of Maryland, 1983. [Dennis Shasha]

D. E. Wojick, Trees: a new tool for writers June, 1979. Adams and Wojick, 5989 Battle Point Drive, Bainbridge Island, Washington 98110. [Dennis Shasha]

T. H. Nelson, Literary Machines, Box 128 Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 1983. [Dennis Shasha]

Related newsgroups include: alt.cyberspace, alt.hypertext, comp.infosystems, comp.infosystems.hyperg, comp.infosystems.interpedia, comp.os.research, comp.theory.info-retrieval

A proposal for a string to string mapping paradigm for computer networking is given by gordoni@base.com Web Technology and Beyond - current and future Web technology This may simplify the mapping of one idea to another. [AK 12/98, from [6]]