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I've used index cards on and off as an alternative to large-form-factor brainstorming tools like whiteboards. I've lately been trying out a new technique: differential mind-mapping. If you want to join the experiment, here's my v 0.1 of technique (cc: )
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For a broad theme, instead of making one or more "full system" mind maps from a single starting center node in a single heavy-lift sitting (which can grow huge and monolithic), start a bunch of cards that you add to and grow slowly over time.
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So you might have a deck of 30 cards devote to climate change, and on Day 1, you might start 4-5 cards with center nodes like "renewables", "greenland", "carbon capture" etc. You only add 1-2 nodes at a time. You slowly augment existing cards and add nodes to old ones.
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You don't let any one card grow too big or cramped. Stop when you run out of room, and start a new adjacent "tile" of what is essentially a differential-geometric tiling of a notional huge mind map.
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Use back sides (I'm using 3x5s, blank on 1 side, ruled on other, with blank side for the map) to capture meta-notes/doodles. Again, don't fill in 1 sitting. Add 1-2 lines (room for about 10-15) each session you touch them. Good for happy turns of phrase, taglines, little graphs
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I'm hoping once I have my few experimental decks built up a bit, they'll combine the best of flashcard review/spaced repetition type techniques and progressive summarization of an exploration.
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Eventual goal is to switch to "tiling" mode. When I have maybe 30-50 full cards and am running out of stream, I'm going to try and "solve" it as a jigsaw puzzle and try to pop larger emergent patterns. This is deliberately forcing yourself to start at worm's eye view.
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General inspiration is from non-Euclidean geometry (used in relativity theory etc), which is based on such "local patches glued together" approaches. Good for very complex curvy idea spaces.
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A favorite quote of mine is J. A. Wheeler tldring general relativity: matter tells space-time how to curve, spacetime tells matter how to move. matter = ideas space-time = connection structure among them.
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