My Favorite Free Mindmapping and Flowchart Collaboration Software

Sue Altmeyer, Electronic Services Librarian, sue.altmeyer@law.csuohio.edu | October 08, 2008 – 08:14

Professor Janice Aitken told me about using mind maps or flowcharts as a research log. Flowcharts can contain more words, so maybe they are better for a research log. Mind maps have plenty of fans, however. Attorney Maxwell Kennerly said of mind maps:

“Personally, I find that if I’m dealing with a lot of issues at once — as is frequently the case in business litigation, multi-defendant personal injury cases, or cases involving a lot of documents — there are few better ways to get everything in your brain down onto paper in a coherent form.” (see his post on the Litigation & Trial Blog – Free Mind Mapping Programs ).

I tried a number of different free mind mapping and flowchart programs. My favorites were Bubbl.us for flowcharts and Mindomo or Mindmeister for mindmaps. I like these three because they are free, easy to use and allow for collaborative editing. Only people you specify can see the diagrams, and only people you specify can edit them. You can export the diagrams you make and save as them as an image, which can be posted to a Wiki or other website.

If you are not interested in collaborating on a flowchart or mind map with others, good old Microsoft Word makes decent flowcharts. You can not copy and paste the diagram directly on to a webpage. You can copy and paste the diagram into the Paint program (typically under Accessories), save as an image, and then put the image on a Wiki or website.

Here is an example of a mind map I made of a research problem concerning a petting zoo’s liability for a child being bitten by a rabbit. I made a similar flowchart, which can be accessed by establishing a free Gliffy account.