Compendium
Tool for visual modeling, visual facilitation, and Dialogue Mapping.
Compendium is set of tools and methods for collaborative sensemaking. It builds on the legacy of QuestMap, adding extensibility, customizability, data interfaces, XML/RDF/HTML/VML support, and many other features.
Compendium is a Java application requiring the Sun JRE (currently 1.6). It currently uses either Derby or MySQL as its DBMS and runs in Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. Unfortunately, it is no longer under active development.
An extensive set of research papers, case studies, briefings, and related work is available at the [Institute web site].
You can download compendium here. Download the beta release (the one on the right) and be sure to follow the installation instructions. (There's also a new fork of Compendium that looks like it's worth following.)
Sharing Maps
Compendium's ability to share maps is fairly limited. It has an HTML export mode (both outline and graphical).
Printing Maps
The best way to print maps is to print the exported images (JPEGs) at 100% using a custom print size at your local print shop. Although the resolution is blocky up close, it's fairly visible from a distance. If you want to combine maps or add text or headers, it's best to do that by editing the image directly. If you're going to do this, it's worth paying for the better quality paper ("indoor glossy" at Kinko's), as it doesn't cost much more, it looks a lot better, and it's easier to stick things on it and remove them later.
Alternatively, you can insert exported images (JPEGs) into Microsoft Word with the appropriate page size (11x17 for larger maps) and make sure all of the maps are reduced to the same size for consistency. We've printed maps at 75%, and they've been good enough, but not great. This does not give you much flexibility in terms of overall print size, as Microsoft Word limits you to 20x20 documents.
History
Compendium was under (mostly part-time) development at Bell Atlantic (now Verizon) from 1998-2000. In June 2002, the Knowledge Media Institute at the Open University (UK) licensed the code and has been working on it full time since then. In 2009 the code was released under LGPL.
Learning Compendium
- When you open the application, open the PDF reference, for reference
- Click on a new project
- On the left, there is a list of maps your compendium comes with. Open the Quick Start map, watch the video, and play!
Configuration
Linux / GNOME
Compendium uses Alt-Click to mark a node and all its children, which is handy for refactoring. GNOME reserves Alt-Click for moving windows. You can remap this by going to System >> Preferences >> Keyboard Shortcuts.
MacOS X Lion (10.7.2)
Funny quirks
- When compendium is open, even if it is not the highlighted program, it's screen is always in the front. Need to actually minimize compendium in order to see the screens of other windows
Selecting themes
- Space is at a premium, so use the small icon theme
