You Too, Can Learn How to Mindmap, Just Like the Pros Do!

This is just a quick note to let you know about an opportunity to take an online mindmapping class for free. Now that I have your attention (free usually does that), I'll tell you a bit about the course. For those of you that are newcomers, or relative newcomers, to mindmapping, this is a Free Interactive Mind Map class, from the folks at mindmaptutor.com. To give you an idea of what will be covered in the course, from the class' homepage. You will:

• Learn what a Mind Map is
  
• Learn what a Mind Map is not
  
• Learn the Principles of Mind Mapping
  
• Learn the Seven Steps in creating a Mind Map
  
• Create your first Mind Map
  
• Evaluate your knowledge along the way
  
• And much more
  

To get started with the course, go to its homepage, read the instructions on how to enroll, and go do it! I do have a few comments on the course. It is about "Pure Mind Maps," as defined by Tony Buzan. It does not touch upon the "Common Mindmaps" that we spend most of our time on, here. Having said that, it is a very nice presentation of Buzan's Mind Maps, and the concepts covered in the course are useful even for Common Mindmaps. Another caveat is that the folks running this free course also run other, unfree course, and they would very much like you to take them. You are under no obligation from taking the free introductory, and you may even decide you want delve deeper into the way of the Pure Mind Map and take additional classes. It's strictly up to you. I have no connection, paid or otherwise, with the Mind Map Tutor people

One final point. Mindmapping should not be a chore. It should be fun. In many cases, it can take tasks that are a chore, and make them fun. This may be a geeky thing to say, but I have fun with Mindmaps. That's why I'm so excited about them (even though you couldn't tell, because I hide it so well).

Welcome!

Welcome to Tech Landscape:Musings of a Scientist on Current and Emerging Technologies. The title is rather grandiose, and could lead you to believe that I have delusions of grandeur (or perhaps that they are actually not delusions after all.) However, the title is simply intended to indicate how broad the topics are that I am hoping to cover. So, in keeping with ritual, I will let you know what the blog will actually cover, and then tell you a bit about myself. In case some day in the future you have an overwhelming urge to refresh your memory about what I am discussing in this post, you will not need to dig though the archives to find this one. Most of the information in this posting is duplicated on the About page of this site.

This blog is intended to cover a wide variety of technology topics, with a bit of bias toward three general areas of interest. These areas are Social Media, including web sites, software, and developments in the industry, the Macintosh and other Apple products, and personal productivity tools, such as the popular Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology, and the Mind Mapping methodology. The technology landscape is both broad and complex, but I hope to stay on top of it by investigating both new areas of technology as they emerge, and existing areas as they evolve. I would also like to hear what you are interested in reading about. If you have a topic that you would like me to look into, please leave a comment on this page, and I will consider it for a future posting.

My name is Seth Greenblatt and I have been involved in research in a wide variety of areas, including Mathematics, Statistics, Social Network Analysis, Computer Science, Physics, and Artificial Intelligence, for over 30 years. I have taught and done research at a university, performed contract research for the Government, and worked as a consultant to commercial companies and international organizations. I have even developed software. During less serious times, I have worked as a standup comedian, a model, and a disk jockey for several radio stations. This is not going to be a comedy blog, but I do hope to keep you informed, make you think, and perhaps even entertain you a bit.

I have a few procedural things to go over. First of all, this is just a one-man staff, so I won't be publishing 10-15 postings per day. The frequency of my postings is quite variable. In some cases, I will have a few short pieces of information to get out to you, so I'll post more than once in a day. However, I have been a research scientist for many years, so I will delve deeply into a complex topic and it could take several days to complete, perhaps as long as a week. Since there will be a variable amount of time between postings, I would recommend that you subscribe, so you will know when the next posting is up, without having to check the web site.

The last thing I want to cover is comments. I reserve the right to take down any comments that I feel are unacceptable. Comments are unacceptable if they use foul language, or if they do not maintain a civil tone. To put it more plainly, I don't mind if you disagree with me, but don't act like a jerk.

I want to thank you for visiting Tech Landscape, and I hope I can keep the content interesting enough for you to continue to visit.

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Hope you'll be back soon, Seth