Tinderbox / content visualization software for windows?

Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Aug 28, 2018 at 07:05 PM

thouqht wrote:
>I’m looking for a note management software that would allow me plop down
>hundreds of notes and build as many different connections between them
>as I want. Ideally, I could then visualize those connections in
>different ways. I create educational content on complex ideas and I need
>a way to move around a bunch of different information so that I can
>identify the ideal structure for delivery.

Assuming that the information is in English, I would personally use Brainstorm* even at this day and age (it has not been updated in several years). I stress that this is a personal solution, and not one without issues, but bear with me as I explain the logic behind my rather outdated approach in case you find it useful.

Content-wise, Brainstorm is plain text (one can colour whole paragraphs, but that’s all). It works in permanent ‘hoist’ mode, showing only the current level and the single entry above it. It is possible to open several windows to display different views of the same file (‘Model’ in Brainstorm terminology.)

One can collect or type text entries to their heart’s content and worry about organisation later. This can then be done using several tools, including buckets (‘Throw’ to ‘Marks’), drag-n-drop, and cloning (‘Namesakes’).

It is this latter feature that I find unsurpassable: other programmes have clones, but Brainstorm is the only programme I am aware of (along with the humble, and also no longer developed, Zulupad personal wiki) which can identify namesakes on its own.

So let’s say that I’m typing a list of topics, if I type one that already exists somewhere in the model (as an independent entry, not as part of a paragraph), Brainstorm will recognise it, light up, and include below it all existing subsidiary information. With the left and right arrows one can slide between the various namesakes wherever they may be, identifying related info along the way.

Brainstorm allows one to focus on structure (hierarchy, order, association, etc.) at the immediate level, while the overall structure slowly arises. There is a ‘balloon’ view-only mode to assess the whole hierarchy. This is a classic outline so, if there are namesakes, these will appear in multiple positions in the outline, with their subsidiary hierarchies repeating each time. The structures can be exported as OPML or indented text files.

A point of caution: while visual tools may seem more attractive and make structure more immediately evident, I have rarely seen them perform well at scale, i.e., with hundreds of entries.

* Find it at http://brainstormsw.com/ Click on the “Quick and dirty demo” link at the top right for, well, a quick and dirty demo.