Ashish Gupta
Reason for using mind maps. Aka what makes mind maps so useful
Quick to grasp. Radiant versus Linear information layout. Almost 50% of our brain is involved in visual processing.
When entities are categorized visually, they stay categorized in the memory, and hence easy to remember, for a much longer time. Our brain connects the visual, keyword-rich, succinct representations to many more items in the long-term memory (LTS). This helps in long-term associations being formed and retained.
Written sentences contain a lot of fluff--conjunctions, pronouns, prepositions, and so on. Mind maps contain just that bit of relevant information, rather keywords, that one needs to read.
Color visuals increase the willingness to read by 80%. We suffer from information overload and we subconsciously train ourselves to scan for engaging content.
Keywords are understood across locales. Many non-English speaking professionals are aware of the primary keywords in their domain. This enhances the reach of mind maps much more. Even those who want it localized can get an almost accurate version via machine translation.
Ashish has several years of experience working with content. He is a technical communicator and a community builder by profession; UX advocate and a quality champion by nature; and a Chemical engineer from IIT Bombay by academic qualification.
In his spare time he likes to spoil his son silly, test workflows, identify usability enhancements and new features in software that he uses, and indulge in the online communities. Other interests areas in which Ashish dabbles are Instructional content, eLearning, social media, SEO, project management, life skills, watching soccer, fantasize about running long marathons some day, and occasionally trekking in the Himalayas.
