Promoting Creative Engagement with SpicyNodes

The Information Age has posed new challenges to the presentation and communication of knowledge. In their attempts to handle the abundance of information in an effective way, people have come to rely on maps. Maps are a useful tool for visualization and the arrangement of concepts as they mark the current location in the context of their surroundings. This paper presents SpicyNodes, an improved method of organizing and visually presenting web-based information using radial tree maps. The project encourages creative thought on two levels. For those who create, it provides a platform for organizing and displaying information in a creative manner, and sharing those methods with others. For users, it allows the exploration of complex systems while gaining the perspective of a broader context. By presenting information in a natural and intuitive way, such radial maps can help people think in novel and creative ways. It may also aid and find application in the learning process of kids and students with learning disabilities.