Tech Landscape Musings of a Scientist on Current and Emerging Technologies Monday, March 9, 2009 Reality, What a Concept (Map)! Outwardly, Mindmaps and Concept Maps are quite similar. They both have: Nodes, representing concepts, ideas, or topics, Links between the nodes, and They both begin with a central idea. If we dig into the ideas behind them, however, differences begin to emerge. Last time, I briefly presented this information for Mindmaps. Today, I'll do the same for Concept Maps. Again, keep in mind that this post just skims the surface of the topic of Concept Maps. It is a large field of study, with plenty of literature to study on your own if you are interested. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Joseph D. Novak first developed Concept Maps as a tool for education. Since that time, it has developed into a powerful tool used in a wide array of fields. I stumbled upon a great Concept Map, created by Novak himself, for a simple case of a Concept Map explaining Concept Maps. It does such a wonderful job that there is really very little chance that I can add much of value to it, but I'll try to do it anyway.