Venessa's ideas on trust-building and on managing your online reputation (http://emergentbydesign.com/2010/02/06/the-importance-of-managing-your-online-reputation ) have raised issues of how user profiles might best be prepared.

One way to do this may be to create a relatively painless system for users to generate web-based mindmaps from their archives of Tweets, organized into branches that enable others to scan or delve into one's animating interests and strengths.

As a first step, services such as BackUpMyTweets can create an .html files with all of one's prior Tweets, which can in turn be converted into a .doc format file.  Mindjet's Mindmanager (reputedly) offers the ability to then import this file and generate a draft Mindmap from it.  This autocreated Mindmap might then be organized, layered and augmented with additional #hashtags or emotional symbols to provide a searchable mindmap profile.

The resulting Mindmap might have several top level branches.  One of these could include Tweets that relate to the Strengths dimensions that Venessa has noted can be an integral part of a profile, to promote linkages and relationships within a social network that can help projects succeed.

Another primary focus of a user profile mindmap might be  “scope” branch, for profile creators to show Tweets that relate to their primary personal, business, and/or civic interests.

Each branch in this part of the Mindmap could expand to show related Tweets (and perhaps Facebook updates). This could help participants in a network weaving system to further discover opportunities for connection based on shared outlooks and interests. Applying “information mapping” rules regarding the number of items (the number of sub-branches should range between 2 and 7) that can be shown at each level of the mindmap would encourage the profile creator to assign relative importance of items in each multilevel branch.

A third primary focus in the user profile mindmap could consist of a “Projects." Here the person might outline current or intended initiatives and task priorities.

In the Projects section, the creator of a Mindmap profile could describe immediate, near or mid-term, or long term aims and priorities. Along with a summary of the project, the profile creator could outline a provisional support pledge for each planned or potential project in the form of offers of time and skills to volunteer, or other inkind contributions.)

Thoughts?  If a simple way to import Tweets into web-based mindmaps can be found (I tried Mindjet but couldn't get it to work), it might be interesting to try some prototype mindmap user profiles.

Best,

Mark

@openworld