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Digital thinking tools for better decision making
Digital thinking tools for better decision making

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5.1 Sharing maps

At the beginning of Session 6 you looked at the ways in which digital argument-mapping tools can enhance our natural capabilities. One dimension that we considered was ‘reach’. Once a map is digital, it is easy to send it to the other side of the world with a single click or to share it on Google drive, One drive, Dropbox or other cloud services.

In addition, there are web-based versions of FreeMind, for instance, on rollApp [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] . Other tools allow you to view and contribute to maps that are shared on the web, for example:

For instance, on kialo you can find a discussion that relates nicely to the arguments in Sections 1 and 2 of this session (Figure 16). This discussion is about the main claim that ‘Social media has led to bubbles of reinforcing information, leading to paralysis of debate and stifling of opposing opinions’.

Screen capture of a kialo discussion
Figure 16 Screen capture of a kialo discussion, showing supporting claims on the left and opposing claims on the right

Kialo combines argument mapping with voting. The bars at the top left-hand side of each claim indicate how many people have voted for a claim. This is meant to reflect the strength of the claim. The more votes a claim attracts, the higher up it appears on the map.

It is also possible to zoom in on a claim and explore further claims that support or oppose it. For instance, Figure 17 shows how a claim from Figure 16 is opposed by a further claim.

Screen capture of a kialo discussion
Figure 17 Screen capture of a kialo discussion, showing an opposing claim to an opposing claim from the map in Figure 15

Kialo is a very neat tool for sharing and collaborating on maps. To conclude this session we will, however, sound a note of caution. To do so, we need to consider the role of assumptions in argument maps.