Live data from Hacker News

Interactive Mind Map for learning

github.com

31–40 of 62 posts

Re: Interactive Mind Map for learning

#31
post #15

This looks similar to https://metacademy.org . I am curious how these maps are built and how resources are being selected (methodology-wise)?

Author here. I was greatly inspired by this website. It was my goal to actually combine metacademy's idea of solving the dependency problems of knowledge and do it in a similar way but visually.

But how do you choose which resources (books, articles, courses..) to include? Is it performed algorithmically or by hand? I was working on the similar project (dependency trees for concepts) and the biggest roadblock I faced was the addition of new resources, since it is laborious, doesn't scale well and is pretty subjective.

Re: Interactive Mind Map for learning

#33
This is excellent but discovery has too much friction. I've been looking for something like the google knowledge graph for personal or business use haven't been able to find anything pre-made and I'm far too lazy to build it myself with Cayley or Neo4j or _insert graph database here_. Has anyone heard of anything similar? Just want an easy way to search, and add entries to a graph database, hopefully with node-level permissions that can be applied. I feel like it would help everyone, so I'd assume someone other than Google would have made it already but I haven't found it... anyone up to the task so I can be lazy?

Re: Interactive Mind Map for learning

#35
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Author here. I was greatly inspired by this website. It was my goal to actually combine metacademy's idea of solving the dependency problems of knowledge and do it in a similar way but visually.

But how do you choose which resources (books, articles, courses..) to include? Is it performed algorithmically or by hand? I was working on the similar project (dependency trees for concepts) and the biggest roadblock I faced was the addition of new resources, since it is laborious, doesn't scale well and is pretty subjective.

Currently the entirety of the mind map was hand picked and curated by me. I did use the internet a lot though as there are quite many threads online that have recommendations on what the 'best ways of learning X' is.

I also try to ask help from other people, ideally experts in their fields on how to best structure the content. Mathematics one is quite challenging just because everything is really so connected as far as ideas go.

I hope as this projects gets popular, more people will be willing to help and improve it. It is a collaborative process after all.

Re: Interactive Mind Map for learning

#37
post #16

In my opinion, Mind Maps are not great for organizing information, learning things or keeping track of things. Notice how the Github read-me itself is formed like a Table of Contents. Table of Contents (or other organized lists) are better for organizing your information and placing it in thematically similar topics, etc. In cases where you're presenting or recalling information, the more linear narrative of a Table…

Author of the project here. I do agree with you that mind maps have their flaws and limitations. But I found most curated list and most content in general to be quite rigid in structure. These mind maps should let the users explore and be guided through arrows. And the big problem that I find is that google and other search engines are a black box. You have to know what you want to ask for to get an answer. The poses…

Checkout Moonwalking with Einstein And Anki

Re: Interactive Mind Map for learning

#38
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But how do you choose which resources (books, articles, courses..) to include? Is it performed algorithmically or by hand? I was working on the similar project (dependency trees for concepts) and the biggest roadblock I faced was the addition of new resources, since it is laborious, doesn't scale well and is pretty subjective.

Currently the entirety of the mind map was hand picked and curated by me. I did use the internet a lot though as there are quite many threads online that have recommendations on what the 'best ways of learning X' is. I also try to ask help from other people, ideally experts in their fields on how to best structure the content. Mathematics one is quite challenging just because everything is really so connected as far…

By the way, while researching about Metacademy I have stumbled upon their developer group[0] where they were discussing challenges they were facing, thought you may find it useful. Good luck! [0] https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/metacademy-dev

Re: Interactive Mind Map for learning

#39
post #16

In my opinion, Mind Maps are not great for organizing information, learning things or keeping track of things. Notice how the Github read-me itself is formed like a Table of Contents. Table of Contents (or other organized lists) are better for organizing your information and placing it in thematically similar topics, etc. In cases where you're presenting or recalling information, the more linear narrative of a Table…

Author of the project here. I do agree with you that mind maps have their flaws and limitations. But I found most curated list and most content in general to be quite rigid in structure. These mind maps should let the users explore and be guided through arrows. And the big problem that I find is that google and other search engines are a black box. You have to know what you want to ask for to get an answer. The poses…

I find the most valuable point is the last: whereas, sure, you can go on wikipedia and find dependencies of an area of knowledge, that three of prerequisites makes more sense to be presented as a flow converging on a point, rather than having to dig deeper until you find a node you already understand.

A suggestion for your product: build these dependency graphs automatically, and let users mark subjects as already satisfied. That way you can omit digging into dependencies that are satisfied. If you really want to be righteous, recursively mark the dependencies of the satisfied dependency as also satisfied. That way a user can pick a topic and find everything that still remains to learn to get to that point.

And you can have the best of both worlds. Generating a linear progression of things to learn becomes a simple matter of printing the dependency tree in postorder.

Re: Interactive Mind Map for learning

#40

Kudos! Great job! One bit of advice: this would work better as a single page app that magnifies/animates as you zoom in on topics, letting you keep the big picture in sites.

Agreed. Zoom in on subgraphs for nodes which represent complex topics in their own right.
Post reply on HN