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

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3.3 FreeMind for argument mapping

In the next activity, you will learn how to use FreeMind. You will watch a video in which an argument map is created for the following short piece of text:

Technology has really brought changes to human life. The world has become a global village. We see things happening all over the world within just seconds of their occurrence. We speak to people far away from our areas.

This text is based on a contribution from Stanley (from Oloitokitok in Kenya) to a discussion on a global phone-in programme called Have Your Say (BBC, 2004; BBC World Service, 2007). The programme was originally broadcast on the BBC World Service.

Activity 5 FreeMind argument-mapping video

Timing: Allow about 15 minutes

Watch the video which explains how to create an argument map with FreeMind.

Download this video clip.Video player: Video 1
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Video 1
Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

Move onto the next actvity where you will try FreeMind for argument maps.

Activity 6 Trying FreeMind for yourself

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

Now that you have watched the video, try FreeMind for yourself. Without looking at the video, try to map Stanley’s argument:

Technology has really brought changes to human life. The world has become a global village. We see things happening all over the world within just seconds of their occurrence. We speak to people far away from our areas.

When you have completed your map, compare it with the map that was created in the video in Activity 5.

Discussion

The final map from Activity 5 is shown in Figure 8.

An argument map for ‘Technology has really brought changes to human life on this planet’
Figure 8 The argument map from Activity 5

Your map may differ in various minor ways from the one in Figure 8. There are many settings that influence the appearance of a map. For example, Figure 9 shows the same map, but now with the main claim in bold, bubbles around all the nodes and a green background for the supporting claims.

The argument map for Activity 5 with minor variations in how it is realised.
Figure 9 The argument map for Activity 5 with minor variations in how it is realised

You may also have discovered that there are various ways to introduce new nodes to your map. For instance, you can introduce a child node with the New Child Node option, but also by choosing New Sibling Node on another child node.

Using the New Sibling Node option means that all child nodes are placed to the right of their parent node. In contrast, using New Child Node causes additional nodes to be put towards the left and right of the parent node. This gives the map a different appearance.

For instance, the map in Figure 1, which was created using New Sibling Node for the nodes at level 1, looks different when New Child Node is used instead. Now, the level 1 nodes appear to both the left and right of the main claim, as shown in Figure 10 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]   (larger version of map).

An alternative visualisation of the argument map from Figure 1
Figure 10 The map of Figure 1 but now with the level 1 nodes created using New Child Node, rather than New Sibling Node