Map Your Mind With Gimini

Gimini is a neat little mind mapper written in Python using wxPython. Mind mapping in an excellent activity that helps organize thoughts and notes much better than bulleted lists. So far most of my mapping has been using a pen and a notepad. Pen and paper is still the best way to mind map, but I wanted to try it electronically.

I tested many projects, including Freemind, and for one reason or another was unhappy with the interfaces. When I found Gimini it was unmaintained and extremely out of date. I won’t claim that all of the bugs have been worked out, but it does allow you to save and load files. For now that is good enough for me. My next step it to start using setuptools so that it is easy for other people to install.

Why did I decide to use an incomplete project instead of one of the more mature ones? I firmly believe in reusing things that exist in most cases. But a mind mapper needs to function in a particular way. I wanted something a little more in tune with how my mind works and how I want to mind map. Something a little closer to the ultimate flexibility that a pen and paper offer.

At this point in time I wouldn’t recommend using it unless you want to help develop it. I’ll be sure to make an announcement when it is stable enough for the general public.

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December 30, 2006 | Filed Under python, gimini 

Comments

  • Gordon
    Hi,

    I agree with Nicola, it needs to be freely associative.
    And support multiple link types.

    Can wxPython support SVG file yet?
    If so they may be a idea for architecture.
    It's already freely associative, plus other features. The document file contains a list of all the vectors (links) and vector objects (nodes, bubbles, etc). You can then create a model or knowledge object to contain the SVG file and any other useful metadata (keywords for searches perhaps).

    Ciao

    Gordon
  • dstanek
    Thanks for the links! I'll read up on this today. Maybe it'll help me with a direction for Gimini. My end all goal is to make it easy for me to quickly mind dump.
  • You are right that so called "mind mappers" are not in tune with how many minds work. The flaw I find in them is that they're hierarchical, and thus unnecessarily limiting.

    One would have thought that in this age of Web 2.0 and tags, the limitations of hierarchies and taxonomies would be clear, but many people still seem to like it.

    A broader, and more useful, idea is "concept maps", freely associative: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_map .

    An compelling treatment of the inadequacy of hierarchies is here:

    A city is not a tree
    http://www.rudi.net/pages/8755
    part 2 of the essay can be found here:
    http://www.patternlanguage.com/archives/alexander2.htm

    It looks like most free concept map apps are written in Java. Writing one in Python, well, *that* would be a worthy effort. ;-)
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