Thinking Tools for building theories

The following tools can help to build a model collaboratively. They are ordered in increasing complexity and versatility:

Participatory System Mapper (PRSM)

The Participatory System Mapper (PRSM) is a free, open-source and secure tool for mind-mapping and system visualisation. It’s only for drawing stuff, not for simulating data.

Pro: No login needed.

Con: It only supports Mason diagrams, not Bischof diagrams (where arrows are variables).

🤓 ▶️ Tutorial webinar (1h).

✅ This format is trackable in git. You can export the graph in two text file representations (.gv and .gml files). Both are relatively well human-readable.

Draw.io

https://app.diagrams.net

Pro: No login needed. Open Source.

Con: Needs Google Drive for collaborative editing.

🤓 ▶️ TODO.

✅ This format is trackable in git. You can export the graph as .xml file (Datei → Exportieren als → XML…). This file is, however, not very human-readable.

Loopy

Loopy is an intuitive open source tool created by Nicky Case. With Loopy, you can build (and simulate) dynamic systems simply by drawing nodes and arrows with your mouse. It is great for quick prototyping and testing, but does not allow specific functional relationships or data export of the simulations.

🤓 ▶️ Short tutorial (6 min.)

✅ This format is trackable in git. You can export a text file representation of the model. This is, however, not very human-readable.

Insight Maker

Insight Maker is a free tool that allows to build system dynamics models and agent-based models in the browser, simulate data, and to share the models with others.

🤓 ▶️ Collection of short tutorial clips (~35 min. overall).

❌ This format is not trackable in git. I could not find a way to export the model as a text file (or any local file format).