Beyond Mind Maps: Relation Manager and Editor in Concept Maps

Hello everybody!

In order not to unnecessarily interrupt our flow of thoughts, which happens when there are too many design steps in between, we are grateful for any speed optimization in map creation. Predefinable relationships would be one such optimization.

Here are some common scenarios where using well-defined relationships is beneficial:

Semantic networks:

• is-a: Dog is-a Animal
• is-part-of: Wing is-part-of Bird
• has-property: Dog has-property can-bark
• causes: Sunlight causes Sunburn
• associated-with: Dog associated-with Leash

Concept maps:

• is-more-general-than: Fruits is-more-general-than Apples
• is-more-specific-than: Apples is-more-specific-than Fruits
• is-related-to: Rain is-related-to Umbrella
• shows: Diagram shows Relationship
• is-an-example-of: Rose is-an-example-of Flower

Systems thinking diagrams:

• influences: Education influences Job opportunities
• reinforces: Positive feedback reinforces Productivity
• flows-to: Money flows-to Economy
• flows-from: Information flows-from Research
• contains: Box contains Books
• regulates: Law regulates Behavior

The most frequently used relations will vary depending on the specific topics, objects, or processes being analyzed, structured, and visualized. And so we can deal with that:

I suggest a relation manager and editor

1. It would allow us to define and manage often-needed or domain-specific relations.
2. The relations or sets of relations would be offered similarly to node shapes in palettes but also in the context menu of any connection line, so that we can quickly select and apply them.
3. Relations created this way can have many attributes. Example: label (is-a), color (Red), thickness (4), shape(?), Arrowheads(?), and of course a direction corresponding to the type of relation: monodirectional, bidirectional, none.

Benefit: Huge time savings for all types of concepts that require formalism and consistent procedures! You don't permanently format, you just select and go...

Thanks!