For my Rip.Mix.Feed activity, I decided to remix the Digital Literacy Wiki our class developed as a concept map in a Web 2.0 tool called Gliffy. Here is the concept map in progress. Although Gliffy allows collaboration, the lack of a discussion tool within the tool hampers the success of this collaboration. Gliffy does afford the ability to save the diagrams in a variety of formats as well as embed the image in a website or blog as I’ve done here. There are also private and public settings to control sharing. Gliffy has many abilities beyond concept mapping that make it a useful Web 2.0 tool. So far, this has been a collaboration between Teresa D., Tim R. and Ken S. If any others feel they would like to join, please leave your email address under the thread in Vista. Any additions/comments to what is shown here so far are welcome as this is a work in progress. Here is a link to a larger version. Use this link or click on the image of the concept map below to access the hyperlinked map that makes connections throughout the weblog.
Gliffy Digital Literacy Concept Map
I don’t understand when Web 2.0 tools market themselves as collaborative and then it lacks discussion tools. I found the same thing with Prezi. It seems like this is an important part of collaboration. I’ve had to use other tools, like Skype, to make up for this. Your concept map looks pretty detailed though, and well organized despite the tool lacking discussion tools. Well done.
Thanks Christie:
The lack of discussion tools does hamper collaboration. I guess this is alleviated somewhat by being able to embed a live version of the product in blogs such as these. The discussion can take place here around the constantly changing image while the actual tool is held and worked on elsewhere. This does have some advantages as the whole screen can be dedicated to using the tool rather than having part of it blocked by a discussion thread.
This is a great collaborative project. I love the visual aspect of a concept map, and Gliffy seems to make the words pop up more than other concept mapping software that I have seen. Well done!
Thanks,
I feel the same way about Gliffy. I’ve used other concept mapping tools such as Cmap and VUE and find that it takes much more formatting in those tools to create the same effect. What is missing in Gliffy however are the analysis tools. I find the map analysis tools, especially in Cmap, to be very helpful in analyzing a large concept map on a subject/concept I am not familiar with. Looking at relationships between terms in a linear manner often provides a different perspective than the branched network of relationships show on the map itself.
Hi,
You did a great job on your concept map! I, too, found Gliffy pretty easy to use compared with Cmap and VUE. I also found the grid system very helpful as I didn’t have to guess where to line up the shapes.
Deborah
Tim,
This seems like a great tool. What I really like about it is that it allows embedding or saving as different kinds of files. I found with Vue and some other similar tools that they were hard to share in a readable format. Seems like you three have done a very thorough job in terms of content as well.
Joy
Thanks Joy,
The embedding abilities are quite good. I was surprised to see that the .png link that I embedded here actually auto-updates with any additions to the map. There are a few more now who have joined and contributed as well.
Tim