I really didn't expect to use any of the programs John Marshall introduced to us last week at the professional practice workshop. However, last Wednesday, Michael had some really interesting insight into how I could start to funnel the massive amounts of information I have been gathering through all of the readings I've been doing. He suggested I start "idea mapping", by choosing an organ or bodily function I've read about and build a "web" of related ideas or associations as a way to both categorize and visualize my ideas.
This exercise could have easily been done on paper, but I remembered this program Marshall had introduced called MINDMAP (http://mindmappingsoftwareblog.com/mmsb/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/index2.html), which lets you "idea map" online in a much more organized (and visually appealing) way. SO, after all of my eye rolling last tuesday (oops), I did indeed learn about a program that is relevant to my practice!
I made two of these "mind maps", one starting with THE FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM and another starting with LUNGS. After all of the readings I'd completed, these were the two most conceptually significant organs (the vagina, ovaries, fallopian tubes etc, making up the female reproductive system). Here they are:
P.S I highly recommend The Velvet Underground station on Pandora.
This looks like a good way to organize and focus your thoughts. I think its good to start by laying out as many ideas as possible, but now you need to make some evaluation. Which of the white bubbles are more interesting than others? When you find a few that you want to explore further, try putting that word in the center and map it out in deeper detail.
ReplyDeleteTry doing a mindmap using only images.
I recently tried to make work literaly from a list of written ideas and found the product unsatisfying. Your process may be different from mine, but some details may develop through the making process rather than the thinking. I'd like to see what you're making as well.