Info Product Mapping
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Case Study: |
Background |
Background
BE THE MEDIA: How to Create and Accelerate Your Message...Your Way is a compendium on the new media, compiled by David Mathison. More details at:
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Problem
BE THE MEDIA is a 536 page book. A newcomer to the book may consume the content in three phases:
- Overview: The reader skims the content of the entire book, as David Mathison strongly recommends.
- Learning: The reader focuses on those portions of the content that applies to their case, and really studies them.
(...some time passes by...)
- Reference: The reader needs to recall the content, after some real-world application, for the next level of learning depth.
The problem is that in the Reference phase, short of having taken very good and super detailed notes, the reader has just one general option: re-read the book or re-read selected chapters. The reading may go a bit faster, but it's still a linear, time-consuming endeavor.
Solution: Mapping the Content
Mindmapping the content of a chapter results in a "compressed" representation of an entire chapter's content. A skillfully done mindmap shows both the "forest" -- that is, the entire structure and outline of that chapter's content -- and the "trees" -- that is, the details and specifics of the content.
A mindmap is a radially oriented representation of information, knowledge or content. A chapter mindmap has the chapter title at its center, from which the main topics emerge radially, in approximately the order in which the chapter text approaches them, in clockwise order. Each topic is a node, from which emerge points with sub-points, and so on -- radially towards the periphery. The further away from the center a "node" is, the more specificity or detail it contains.
You can read the mindmap either radially, from center to periphery, or you can read it "around the clock," one topic at a time.
Each chapter of the BE THE MEDIA book results in a separate mindmap.
Results
For this Case Study, we only mapped the contents of a couple of selected chapters:
- Who Should Use This Book, and How: BE-DO-HAVE
- Book Chapter: 4 pages
- Mindmap Size: 1 page
- Compression: 4:1
- Mindmap Topics: 4
- Introduction to Part One: Rebooting the American Dream
- Book Chapter: 13 pages
- Mindmap Size: 1 page
- Compression: 13:1
- Mindmap Topics: 5
Demo
Please read these Important Notes :
To view the sample mindmaps:
- To view the mindmaps, please enter your First Name and your Primary Email Address below, then click on the View The Content Maps button.
- Each mindmap will be presented in two formats: flat and expandable.
- The whole flat mindmap is a single page PDF file, which you can download and either view it on the screen or print it on a regular sheet of paper. To reliably view it, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader version 8 or later, which you can download or upgrade, for free, from www.Adobe.com.
- If a flat mindmap is dense, that is it contains lots of information, the type size may get too small for comfortable reading on a 8.5x11" sheet, so it may require printing on a larger paper, or just viewing on the screen. The Acrobat Reader enables you to zoom in and out and slide around the page.
- The advantage of a flat mindmap is that you can see it all, by default, in one view. The disadvantage is that, if too dense, you may not be able to read the details comfortably.
- The expandable mindmap is viewable on the Web page, as a flash display. You can expand each node by clicking on the + symbols, or contract it by clicking on the - symbols.To reliable view it, you will need the Adobe Flash viewer version 9 or later.
- To test what Flash viewer you have installed, go to SergiuRecommends.com/TestingYourFlashVersion. If the page reports a version older than 9, click on the Adobe Flash Player Download link below the report to upgrade to the latest version (again, a free software).
If you have any questions about this Case Study or about mindmapping your info products, please do not hesitate to email me at SSS@VirtualToursMarketing.com (please refer to Case Study: BE THE MEDIA) or call me at +1-617-731-3132.
Enjoy!
Sergiu S. Simmel
Virtual Tours Marketing