A8: Mind Mapping for Effective Content Management

Mind Mapping for effective content management <ul><li>Stephen Evans </li></ul><ul><li>[email_address] </li></ul><ul><li>Gareth Saunders </li></ul><ul><li>[email_address] </li></ul>University of St Andrews www.st-andrews.ac.uk

Hello! Welcome

Dr Stephen Evans Information Architect / University Web Manager [email_address] Who we are Gareth J M Saunders Assistant Information Architect / Web Manager [email_address]

What you might need … Paper and pens Laptop (optional)

Welcome 1. Introduction to Mind Mapping Paper exercise #1 2. Mind Mapping and the Web Paper exercise #2 Discussion 3. Case Study 90 minutes

Do you know what a Mind Map is? Show of hands … 1 of 4

Have you used Mind Maps before? Show of hands … 2 of 4

Have you used Mind Maps for a Web project before? Show of hands … 3 of 4

Have you used Mind Mapping software? Show of hands … 4 of 4

Learning objectives 1 of 4 Learn … What Mind Maps are and use them for anything !

Learning objectives 2 of 4 Learn how to use Mind Maps to … Audit an existing Website .

Learning objectives 3 of 4 Learn how to use Mind Maps to … Create or optimize a site’s information architecture .

Learning objectives 4 of 4 Learn how to use Mind Maps to … Manage a Web project .

Welcome 1. Introduction to Mind Mapping Paper exercise #1 2. Mind Mapping and the Web Paper exercise #2 Discussion 3. Case Study 85 minutes to go …

Background 1 of 3 Porphyry of Tyre 223 – 309 A.D. Platonic philosopher

Background 2 of 3 Semantic network 1960s Diagrams representing semantic relations between concepts. Work by Allan Collins and M.R. Quillian. Mammal Vertebra Animal Whale Water Fish has is an is an lives in lives in is a Cat is a

Background 3 of 3 Tony Buzan 1942 - present Educational consultant and author

Elements of a Mind Map Central idea

Elements of a Mind Map Branches Central lines thicker

Elements of a Mind Map Branches Branch length

Elements of a Mind Map Branches

Elements of a Mind Map Sub-branches

Elements of a Mind Map Colour

Elements of a Mind Map Images

Elements of a Mind Map Relationships

Elements of a Mind Map Boundaries

Non-linear v Linear 1 of 3 Christmas List Eddie – Music CD Mum – Flowers Jenni – Game Dorothy – Clothes/Voucher Paul – Book Peter – Book

Non-linear v Linear 2 of 3 Christmas List Eddie – Music CD Mum – Flowers Jenni – Game Dorothy – Clothes/Voucher Paul – Book Peter – Book .

Non-linear v Linear 3 of 3 Christmas List Eddie – Music CD Mum – Flowers Jenni – Game Dorothy – Clothes/Voucher Paul – Book Peter – Book .

Examples 1 of 5 ww.imindmap.com

Examples 2 of 5 education-world.com

Examples 3 of 5 www.mindtools.com

Examples 4 of 5 resourcebank.sitc.co.uk

Examples 5 of 5 Steve and Gareth

Exercise #1 Create a Mind Map of what you needed to do in order to get to IWMW 2008. 10 minutes

Refresher: Mind Map framework

Look what we made …

Welcome 1. Introduction to Mind Mapping Paper exercise #1 2. Mind Mapping and the Web Paper exercise #2 Discussion 3. Case Study 60 minutes to go …

Making the connection

Structuring information MM is about structuring info and showing relationships – so are websites Why Mind Map a website? Cf .Exercise 1: Construct new websites from scratch Audit what’s there - presenting what already exists in a different format Audit individual pages and entire site Understand structure and relationships Improve the IA Why Mind Map a website? 1 of 2 Site Structure Audit existing Reorganise Create new

Why Mind Map a website? 2 of 2 Site Structure Audit existing Reorganise Create new Page Structure Audit existing Reorganise Create new

Small site example

Central idea

Branches

Sub-branches

Meta data and icons

Putting it all together

Large site example

Full Mind Map

Collapsed branches

Why use Mind Mapping software?

Why use Mind Mapping software? Easy to use Efficient for HUGE sites Copy between maps Print outs (A3, PDF) Export to other formats Add notes and links Share the task

Mindjet MindManager 2002 SE Commercial

Mindjet MindManager Pro 7 Commercial

freemind. soureforge.net Open Source Java

mindomo.com Online

Exercise #2 Mind Map the page elements of our University homepage www.st-andrews.ac.uk

Plenary discussion blah, blah, blah blah, blah, blah

Welcome 1. Introduction to Mind Mapping Paper exercise #1 2. Mind Mapping and the Web Paper exercise #2 Discussion 3. Case Study 15 short minutes to go …

Every website different

Some worse than others

A bit like … Unilever Nestl é Bob Smith Heinz

Blackwell Scientific Avon Books Mercat Press New Clarion Press A bit like …

Our aim

The solution: step 1 New Information Architecture

Information Architecture report

External users About the University Visiting St Andrews News and Events Research Prospective Students Alumni Parents Information Architecture report

Current students e.g. Money Matters Safety and Wellbeing Involve Yourself Career Mattters Academic Matters Information Architecture report

Current staff e.g. Money Matters Safety and Wellbeing Professional and Personal Development Research Academic Matters Information Architecture report

The solution: step 2 Mind Map individual websites

Mind Map individual websites

The solution: step 3 Map existing websites to new IA

Mind Map new Information Architecture

Map existing site to new IA

The solution: step 4 Set-up our Content Management System

Set-up T4 SiteManager

Create structure in SiteManager

The solution: step 5 Migrate content

Take one Mind Map

Automatically number the branches

Export to text

Import into Excel

<ul><li>Columns </li></ul><ul><li>Mind Map reference </li></ul><ul><li>URL </li></ul><ul><li>Type of content </li></ul><ul><li>Instructions </li></ul><ul><li>Location in SiteManager </li></ul>Schedule of work in Excel

A highly trained team of elves copy and paste

The migrated website

Project management and tracking 1 of 5

Project management with JCVGantt Pro

Summary …

Two web managers

One month

Mind Map 28 websites

Planning new IA took …

… approx. 10 minutes per website

Time to create migration schedules …

… took between minutes and days

Setup IA in SiteManager …

… took minutes

15 postgraduate students …

… dilligently moved …

… 3,000 pages …

… in 8 weeks

If it hadn’t been for Mind Maps …

… we would STILL be migrating content!

<ul><li>Photos </li></ul><ul><li>www.sxc.hu </li></ul><ul><li>www.stockxpert.com </li></ul>Credits Mind Maps www.education-world.com www.mindtools.com www.resourcebank.sitc.co.uk Software www.mindjet.com http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/scotland /

Mind Mapping for effective content management <ul><li>Stephen Evans </li></ul><ul><li>[email_address] </li></ul><ul><li>Gareth Saunders </li></ul><ul><li>[email_address] </li></ul>University of St Andrews www.st-andrews.ac.uk