195 Intelligent Mind-mapping Vincent Chik Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering University of Auckland vchi010@ec.auckland.ac.nz Beryl Plimmer Department of Computer Science University of Auckland beryl@cs.auckland.ac.nz John Hosking Department of Computer Science University of Auckland john@cs.auckland.ac.nz ABSTRACT Current computer based mind-mapping tools are much slower to use than pen and paper because users are distracted by tool operations such as finding and arranging widgets. The shift in focus from brainstorming to tool management interrupts the rapid brainstorming process that mind maps are intended to support. Our pen based mind-mapping software that includes intelligent ink recognition, editing and export alleviates these intrusions as the user only has to worry about writing on the canvas, yet usual digital document support is provided. The digital ink recognition and manipulation techniques described here will be of interest to others working with informal documents. Categories and Subject Descriptors H5.2. [User Interfaces] Input devices and strategies General Terms Design, Human Factors Keywords Mind-map, digital ink, ink reflow, ink recognition, ink grouping 1. INTRODUCTION A mind-map is a sketchily structured visual representation of one’s thoughts which may lead to a train of related ideas. It is based on radiant thinking, a concept which describes how the human brain processes ideas and information, whereby different ideas are associated to each other through relationship hooks [5]. The four main features of a mind-map (figure 1) are as follows: • Each mind-map has a starting location, the center node that contains the central theme or idea. • The ideas of the mind-map “radiate” from the central node as branches with sub-nodes connected to each other in parent-child relationships. • The final structure of the mind-map becomes a hierarchy of linked nodes. • Each connector/branch has keywords or an image associated with it. Mind-maps are traditionally hand drawn and used for critical thinking tasks such as strategic planning. They are an effective way of rapidly jotting down and arranging information, affording reinforced association of ideas and recall. Figure 1: Basic mind-map structure of: A centre node and branches that connect nodes together in a hierarchy. Compared with normal note taking or brain-storming, mind- maps have several advantages. For instance, time is saved by just noting down relevant key words. Associations between key points are highlighted while passively creating a hierarchy of ideas. Reviewing a mind-map takes considerably less time than to overview a set of written notes as the mind-map is effective in displaying the relevant keywords associated with a particular topic. By providing a visually stimulating environment, the retention of information by the brain is made easier [5]. There are a number of computer applications for mind- mapping. However these are widget-based tools that require the user to select an appropriate node widget or connector before they can enter data. We hypothesize that these tools will adversely affect the idea generation process in the same way as widget-based design tools have been shown to adversely affect the design process [8]. In contrast, this adverse affect of the computer is minimal with sketch-based computer tools [3, 13]. In order to explore the validity of our hypothesis we must first build a computer-based mind-mapping tool that more closely matches traditional pen and paper environments. Sketch-based computer design tools must also provide usual computer editing and archiving support. Here we report on the design and development of our pen-based mind-mapping software. 2. RELATED WORK As a background to this project we have reviewed the functionality available in current widget-based mind-mapping tools and compared that with the functionality provided in sketch-based tools designed for other tasks. From these we have formulated a list of the technical challenges that this project must address and related research on those topics. 2.1 Mind-mapping Tools Mind Manager 6 [1] (figure 2) is typical of current mind- mapping tools. The user clicks on the canvas to create a new node. Text can be added to a pre-selected node via the keyboard. Connections are made by dragging nodes on top of other nodes. Once the connection is made the layout is automatically imposed by the software. For example the OzCHI 2007, 28-30 November 2007, Adelaide, Australia. Copyright the author(s) and CHISIG. Additional copies are available at the ACM Digital Library (http://portal.acm.org/dl.cfm) or can be ordered from CHISIG(secretary@chisig.org) OzCHI 2007 Proceedings, ISBN 978-1-59593-872-5