My experience with Compendium is quite different. I just finished a two-day
strategy
session with the Fibre Channel Industry Association board of directors. Using
Compendium and Dialogue Mapping, I was able to capture the entire session, in
context
and on the fly, far faster than I could do in the sort of indented structure to
which
you're referring. And I type 90 wpm.

The resulting maps contain over 400 nodes. The group was astounded at how much
material
we worked through in such a short period.

The richness of the display and the ability to capture all comments works for
me. That being
said, I did not use the shared display in this particular case. With this group,
the shared
display actually got in the way. I do find that people who are not particularly
visual
have a difficult time following the graphical display. Anyone else have this
experience?

That being said, I think in the end the best tool for Dialogue Mapping is the
one you
can comfortably and efficiently use. So, if a note-taking system works for you,
I say
use it!

Michael

At 10:18 PM 3/6/2006, you wrote:
>I've been reading about and using Compendium today. It is not pleasing.
>
>Why would anyone put up with a note taking system which can't keep up
>with typing?
>
>When I see how little fits on a page, I'm inclined to forgo the icons
>completely and just use an indented structure and abbreviations.
>Perhaps (in part) like this:
>
>?? What dialogue mapping tool should I use?
> . . !! Compendium
> . . . . ++ Nice icons
> . . . . ++ Hypertext
> . . . . ++ Transclusions
> . . . . ++ Conversions to other media
> . . . . - - slow
> . . . . - - wastes space
> . . . . - - takes hours of practice
> . . !! TextEdit
> . . . . ++ I'm already proficient
> . . . . ++ dense on the screen
> . . . . ++ unlikely to hang
> . . . . - - no help for hypertext
> . . !! TextWrangler
> . . . . ++ can use two column display
> . . . . ++ super dense on the screen
> . . . . ++ can use tabs (but not in email)
> . . . . - - no help for hypertext
>
>Have you made do with no specialized tool except a laptop & digital
>projector?
>Am I just being silly and resisting spending the few hours to become
>proficient?
>Are the icons really important?
>Am I fooling myself about the density on the shared display?
>
>Dick

Michael Knowles, One Straight Line LLC
Co-author of "The Entrepreneur's Concept Assessment Toolbook"
http://www.onestraightline.com/
mknowles@...
Phone: 888-551-0051
cell: 831-234-4765