Compendium Review
Compendium is a slightly different kettle of fish to the other products reviewed here, both practically and philosophically. Dealing with the philosophical side first, many of the mainstream mind mapping products like NovaMind, MindManager and ConceptDraw's MINDMAP are commercial while others are open source and free, like Freeplane, Freemind and Labyrinth.
Compendium is open source like those latter products but it is driven by an academic institute rather than commercial or hobby interest. From a practical point of view Compendium is more than a mind mapping product, something larger and more ambitious: a framework for capturing the connections between information and ideas.
Other Reviews & links: Compendium Homepage | Download Compendium | Compendium review | Compendium at Wikipedia
Downloading and Initial Impressions
The download process is slightly different to the norm, requiring a valid email
address before a download link is emailed to you. This might put off casual
observers but that is unlikely to be considered a problem for the Compendium
Institute, the organization behind the research project and the tool that has
emerged from it. Fifteen years of research have lead to the concepts enshrined
in Compendium. The heart of the project is the Knowledge Media Institute of the
UK's Open University and collaborators include other academic institutions
around the world and commercial partners such as Verizon. Compendium has been
used in many projects at the Open University and over fifty projects at NYNEX,
Verizon and Bell Atlantic so it has been comprehensively road tested and its use
and effectiveness closely studied.
Once downloaded installation is straightforward. The installer for the Windows
package warns that is has only been comprehensively tested on Windows 2000 and
XP and that it may work correctly on other versions (or not, presumably). Our
testing was conducted on a Windows XP machine. A Java runtime environment is
installed along with the Compendium package but it is relatively old and caused
our system to download a Java update the next time it was rebooted. Everything
still worked fine though.
The builders of Compendium have provided a number of screencast movies on their
website which take you thorough the initial concepts contained within the
program. They are well worth viewing as a quick way to get to know the software.
In the Windows version the layout is easily recognizable and although some of
the buttons are non-standard their functions are easy to figure out. The tool
tips that pop up on mouseover are a real help when starting out and much
appreciated as they are often never implemented in open source programs.
Database Driven
The program starts up with an invitation to create a user account and then an
initial mind map. This is the first sign that Compendium is built from the
ground up using a database to provide a multi-faceted collaborative tool. Most
mind mapping software has had collaboration capability bolted on as the internet
has become faster and more reliable but this is not the case with Compendium.
Starting the program takes a little while as database elements are registered
and built, then a window is presented with a hierarchical outline view window on
the left and a map window on the right. This second window, called a visual
view, is populated with an Inbox, Trash and a couple of map icons the first time
the application is started up.
Another disconcerting side effect of the use of a database instead of files,
although it proves beneficial once the panic is over, is that you are not
prompted to save changes as you exit. The sudden fear of all that lost work
turns into relief as soon as the program is restarted. The File Open dialogue
box presents a choice of maps, including the one you were working on. So changes
are made in realtime to the database and there's no concept of opening, saving
or closing files. The data represented by your maps is referred to as a
'Project' and there are tools to backup, copy and delete those projects.
Map Creation
After following the initial screencasts you will be able to create maps. These
are completely freeform and there are a number of different types of nodes (node
appears to be the chosen term for an item in most mind mapping programs). As
Compendium is a tool for mapping ideas, discussions and problems the nodes are
more specialist than in pure mind mapping tools. You can add a node that asks a
question, answers it or ascribes positive or negative attributes to another
node. There are also decision and argument nodes.
A lot of attention has been paid to keyboard shortcuts, so simply hitting the
'M' key while in the view window will create a new node, opening its text box
for you to immediately type the node's title. Nodes can also be created by
dragging the icon for the relevant node type from the toolbar onto the map. The
keyboard method works well and is preferred because mouse clicks sometimes don't
quite work the way you intend them too.
Context Click Consistency
There is some inconsistency as to when an area or a node is in focus (in terms
of the mouse) This means you sometimes don't get a response to a mouse click and
have to repeat it after waiting to realize that nothing's going to happen. This
is the sort of minor irritation that open source users have to live with which
wouldn’t happen with a commercial product like MindMindManager. Having said that
there is a full and comprehensive set of keyboard shortcuts for almost any task
and they are all listed in sections in the Help file.
Once you have mastered the basics of using Compendium it is well worth going
back to the screencasts on the Institute's website. Not only do they explain
some of the features but, crucially, there are walkthroughs of mind map creation
for specific subjects. For example there are three screencast describing
different ways of representing and capturing strategy and one that shows how to
capture and categorize a collection of useful web pages about a particular
subject. This latter one could catch on; it makes lists of favorites in a
browser look positively primeval.
Connecting Links
One difference with Compendium over other mind mapping products is that lines
connecting the nodes aren't drawn in automatically as nodes are created. They
are dragged into place with a right-click (ALT+mouse button for Mac users) once
the nodes are in place. This makes map creation slightly slower than with a
package like
XMind, which connects nodes at creation, but allows complete and
absolute freedom as to where lines should go, with multiple end and starting
points no problem at all.
The colors of the lines linking the nodes have different interpretations. A line
can mean that a node 'Responds To' another node, or 'Expands On' the node
pointed to, or any one of around eight relationships. There are over half a
dozen of these, daunting for the novice user, but the lines can be labeled with
their type, or in fact with any other text. This complete freedom with line
placement and type can be daunting for some people but for those well-versed in
mind mapping as a concept it is very welcome.
Node Properties
The nodes can all have properties ascribed to them, comments, tags and others.
Tags show some of the power that Compendium has behind the maps that can be
drawn. There is a group of pre-assigned tags provided with the package but also
the ability to add your own. Once items have been assigned relevant tags, or
perhaps updated after a project meeting, you can search on those tags (as well
as other properties) to find all nodes with that tag, not only in the current
mind map but across however many maps you can get access to.
Compendium nodes can be maps themselves and there is no practical limit to the
number of maps that can be nested or the levels where they can be linked. There
is a 'weight' icon which, if turned on, will indicate the number of nodes
contained within a map node. This is a useful if crude measure of the importance
of the map.
Collaboration Connections
The academic roots of Compendium show in the extra features, particularly those
that enable collaboration. Compendium can make links to servers such as
ClaimMaker and IX Panel. ClaimMaker is a client server system for modeling
interpretations of academic papers and IX Panel is an experimental server-based
technology based at the University of Edinburgh for coordinating activities and
shared document. Connections can also be made to any service using the Jabber IM
protocol, and in fact the IX Panel link uses this protocol.
Another collaboration enhancement is the ability to link to Access Grid meetings
via a set of tools under the 'memetic' umbrella. Again memetic and Access Grid
are technical academic projects that support the sharing of learning. In this
case it is the ability to record, store and replay meetings whether they are in
person or virtual. Compendium also has a defined XML schema which can be used to
tie mind maps into other sources with XML interfaces and technically minded
people should have no difficulty setting these links up.
Bells and Whistles
Compendium has some neat tricks up its sleeve. You can overlay a map on top of
an image to add notes and graphics to it. This allows you to, for example,
annotate satellite maps or highlight items on a picture of a circuit board.
These task normally need knowledge of a complex graphics program but with
Compendium it is straightforward. Setting Text on mouseover is very useful too.
If care is taken over the text chosen this can be used so that people looking at
a mind map can get the overall picture before delving down into the layers that
will specifically interest them.
A scribble pad can be used to literally scribble on a mind map. This is a
transparent layer which is usually hidden but can be brought to the front of a
map and drawn on using a simple graphics tool. This is useful in live teaching
or presentation situations because lines, arrows and circles can be drawn
freehand on the scribble pad to highlight particular areas of the mind map. The
graphic editing capability is very rudimentary though.
Transcluding Nodes
Transcluding is another facility that is unique to Compendium (as far as we know
at the moment) and it keeps track of ideas or documents when they might fit into
multiple categories rather than just one. You can make a copy of a node, using
CTRL-C or the Copy option under the Edit menu. This does not create an actual
copy of the document. As all the content nodes are links to the real item, the
copy command creates another link.
Each node icon is annotated to indicate that there are a number of instances of
it in other maps and if you change the text label on one the other will all be
updated. However, you can assign different tags and other properties to each of
the different icons. For example an item could be an opportunity in one context
but a problem in another. However, if you do actually need to make a real copy
of a node, separate from the original, instead of a duplicate link, use the
Clone option instead of Copy.
Compendium Conclusions
What is Compendium all about then? While it has the mind mapping concept at its
heart it is much more than a tool to draw and update mind maps. Many people use
Compendium as an organizer for research projects or even their lives and its
ability to link to almost any object certainly lends itself to this. The
downside is that you have to use Compendium as the glue between all your
activities. This is fine unless you are working with people who don't use it,
because you will keep having to go back to the tools that your colleagues use,
then update Compendium separately.
Is it good software? Undoubtedly it is, but is using Compendium to draw mind
maps a bit like using a brick to crack an egg? Perhaps so; it will do the job
brilliantly but then you'll find yourself working around it more than if you'd
picked a simpler tool. If all you want to do is draw mind maps to help you fix
concepts in your mind then perhaps a simpler product like MindMeister or will do
the job for you. On the other hand, if you are looking at mind maps as the first
step in trying to encapsulate and analyze tricky, nebulous problems, then
Compendium won't let you down.