These are my thoughts and notes around Compendium software in its relation to being innovative. To quote the Compendium Institute (2016): “Compendium is a software tool providing a flexible visual interface for managing the connections between information and ideas.”

Compendium Screenshot

In my previous part of this activity  I defined innovation”adapting previous ideas or creating new ones to provide value to someone in a way they have not considered previously”.

Here are some thoughts around the software:

Innovation in software: Compendium software is not the first software of its type, with  gIBIS and QuestMap being products developed previously. There is current software that is similar: Docear and Vue being examples. So whilst it is innovative in the sense that there are not many peers, it is not THE innovation in this area.

Innovation in licensing: The software, like its peers runs under “semi open” licenses with a GNU LGPL licence. So it is innovative compared to the majority of software that runs on locked in licensing.

Innovation in platform: Compendium works on the three major operating systems: Windows, Apple OS and Linux. So do its peers. One area of innovation is its ability to run direct from a pen/thumb drive. Competitors do not.

So overall I would say that whilst Compendium is innovative it is not really an innovation as such. It is borrowing and building on previous ideas.

I have played around with the Learning Design version previously and I do like the software. It dovetails well into my work as a facilitator, though I have not had a chance to use in “anger”. I need to play around more with it!

Compendium is in continuous development and CompendiumNG is the latest version.

Thanks for reading. Have you used it? If so, how have you found it and what did you use it for?

References:

I tend to link direct to sources where possible. This section may be rather empty because of this!