'INSPIRATION' AL IDEAS
Using 'Inspiration' in Geography (and other subjects for that matter...)
Noel Jenkins' JUICY GEOGRAPHY site has a very useful section / review of the software. Noel has used it in an INSET at the RGS, and he has kindly made the image that he used there available.
For more information go to the software developer's homepage HERE. You can get a FREE TRIAL DOWNLOAD from the site.
Inspiration is MIND MAPPING SOFTWARE, but offers more than that, and for the Geographer there are lots of exciting ideas.
This is the opening screen... Click to enlarge.
Notice the toolbar across the top of the screen which covers most of the tasks you want to do, and the formatting toolbar at the bottom of the screen which does most of the rest.
If you want, you can also choose from an extensive range of TEMPLATES to speed things up.
The software comes with the installation disc and a tutorial disc, and 2 short manuals.
The opening screen starts with a default box. This can be changed by clicking a different shape in the menu box to the left of the screen. The boxes range from:
to
to 
(change
the colour / size / font etc. on the bottom toolbar)
Using the CREATE TOOL, a new box can easily be added in a particular direction from the original box, and the LINK tool will then join the diagram together. The joins can also vary: straight or curved in various ways with different arrowheads.
RAPID FIRE allows you to type in ideas, and when you press RETURN a box will be created which you can then start to link together. Once you have a vague diagram created, there is the option to tidy up the diagram.