My colleague Patrick Hindert, Managing Director of S2KM, posted a revised version of "Web 2.0 for Lawyers" in his blog yesterday. Web 2.0 for Lawyers is a resource-rich visual knowledge model that provides an overview of web 2.0 and its implications for lawyers and law firms.
The embedded podcast provides a guided tour of the suite of concept maps.
How can visual knowledge models such as this one create value for attorneys and law firms? A portfolio of concept maps I have created to assist small businesses to increase employee effectiveness provides a couple of examples.
One promising use is to help juries understand the conceptual landscape and inter-relationships among the key points key arguments presented during a trial. The current standard methods for summative presentations to juries are PowerPoint and graphic drawings on flip charts or presentation boards.
The limitations to these methods are:
1) the "recency effect" means that the last point is the one that people tend to remember and while that may the most important, the "beyond reasonable doubt" requirement means that the jury needs to feel comfortable in adopting that final point.
2) it is difficult to impossible, using these methods, for the jury build a cognitive model of the case and arguments that in any way approximates that of the defense or prosecuting attorney. The cognitive load is simply too great.
Imagine that as a defense attorney, when you made your summary presentation to the jury, the presentation could unfold a conceptual model of your arguments that made clear the high-level concepts and the key inter-relationships?
What if photos, diagrams, audio or video recordings could be displayed in the context of this model, so that the impact and implications of their content would be apparent?
What if, as defense attorney, you could bring the jury along during the trial to support them to develop a "mental model" of the case that corresponds to your mental model?
Concept mapping software, and the embedded presentation tool, accomplish this by being constructed of "knowledge claims" or propositions. Cognitive research has revealed that the brain stores knowledge in the form of propositions - two concepts connected by a linking phrase, i.e., "Knowledge" "is" "Power." Propositions are the bite-sized chunks the brain uses to build internal knowledge representations.
Patrick Hindert has been using concept maps to define the business landscape for the structured settlement industry. He has been able to share his insights about new opportunities created by regulatory changes as well as to clearly communicate how different industry players perceive "hot issues" such as factoring.
The concept mapping tools my firm uses differ from other so-called concept mapping and mind-mapping tools in the extensive cognitive research that informs their design and the use of propositions as the core unit from which the concept map is constructed.
As pre-eminent knowledge workers, lawyers deserve the best knowledge tools and knowledge assets available. Concept mapping tools, such as InsightTM and CmapToolsTM, offer great promise.
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