9-11/11/20: Creating to Map and Create a System

 

9/11/20 

• Started project and had a Teams video meeting. Very productive and a lot of fun to bounce ideas of of each other
• Many good ideas.
• Looked at many different online mindmaps solutions to collaborate.

10/11/20

• Decided to try Miro and show the team its capabilities by digitising my paper map of our initial meeting.
• Digitised the mindmap form our initial Teams meeting.
• Began designing system of icons to show what stage research tasks are at.

             \> Really enjoyed this, as am very systems-oriented.

I am hoping that everyone can start adding all of their ideas to the map so we can all see them together at once, and use the comment feature to have discussions on each idea.

We can also use the platform to share videos and inspiration.

I think we could get the most out of this by following Birger Sevaldon's systems-oriented design, and his giga-maps. Thesare are huge mindmaps that contain all of the ideas and research of a project. I, myself have designed a system of giga-mapping, called meta-mapping, that I use in my own design, which also incorporates the design element directly into the map itself (something Sevalndson is against), using colour coding to show different elements of design, and to distinguish it from research and brainstorming.

I think the best way to do this on Miro would be to utilise its Google Docs integration, whereby you can insert live Google Docs docs into the mindmap/Miro board. This would allow us to do all of our individual research on Google Docs or Slides, and insert them at the appropriate point in the map, so they are easily accessible and editable ad comentable on by others, all while still in the node-to-node idea brainstorming flow that happens when dancing around a mindmap, jumping from node to node, the very process by which I found found my greatest ideas.

I find the main benefit of having it all in once place is that you can create links between any part of not just the brainstorming and those nodes, but between different bits of research, or even with my meta-maps, designs and designing. Having all of these disparate elements together in the same place creates a fertile ground for these links to naturally arise, birthing links between things that would otherwise have been seen as too disparate to together parent a new idea. As one common definition of creativity is the ability to create links easily between (especially seemingly unrelated) concepts, I beleive this process enhances creativity and leads to the creation of more innovative ideas.

11/11/20

It turns out the icons move or don’t move when the does of the mindmap automatically adjust to accommodate new ones.

Tried locking and grouping features, but to no avail. Grouping works only in textboxes that are linked to look like nodes, but are actually not textboxes.

Proper nodes using the Mindmap app feature of Miro are preferable, as they allow easily auto-rearranging and spreaidng out of nodes.

Will have to copy and paste emojis into the node text, but this limits size as node font size is fixed

for proper nodes.

Am really enjoying the system that I am starting to create, though, as I am very big on systems design - it just comes naturally to me, even when I fight it!

I hope that the group do not feel I'm doing too much without them, and I have expressed that of course it is all up for debate and experimentation, and that I hope everyone/anyone who wants to, can get involved in modifying the system, creating a new one, or just saying that this isn't helpful for them and they aren't a fan.