Notebook software is the topic for Session 7 of the Year of Productivity programme. I'm a big fan of Evernote and use it constantly for so many things: rough notes, more detailed notes, conference notes, Christmas card and present lists, recipes, clipped web pages, lists... I wouldn't want to be without it. I have the desktop version on my laptop and netbook, the app for my phone and use the web version at work.
I wasn't able to read the article1 as I don't have access to the relevant databases, but I looked through the abstract. I read some of the other articles and blog posts and found several useful, particularly the post about using Evernote for genealogical research. I also looked at the Secret Weapon site and found some tips. I'd never thought of using Evernote to store emails: this looks like it could be a useful way of organising them.
1 Axford, M., & Renfro, C. (2012). Noteworthy
Productivity Tools for Personal Knowledge Management. Online, 36(3), 33-36.
Productivity for Academic Librarians and Researchers: Session 6 - Calendars
Session 6 of the Year of Productivity programme looks at calendars. Personally, I love
calendars. I use my Google calendar religiously, usually for personal
appointments and plans – I go to the theatre a lot and I’d probably end up
double-booking myself if I didn’t write down every booking I make. I have an
Android phone so I can access my calendar anywhere. I mark off my annual leave
on my calendar, as well as anything unusual – such as if I am going to be out
of the office – but I tend to use my Groupwise work calendar for work-related
stuff, only adding personal appointments to this if they impact on work time –
such as a doctor’s appointment that infringes on work hours. I find my work
calendar very useful: my manager uses it to schedule team meetings and
one-to-ones, and if I need to get hold of someone in a different department or
Centre I can check their calendar to see where they are and when they are free.
I think Doodle is brilliant too – it is currently being used to plan one of my
best friends’ hen dos and although it’s still a nightmare trying to get everyone
together, I suspect it would be even more
of a nightmare if Doodle didn’t exist.
I tried
the ‘Don’t Break the Chain’ technique, printing out a booklet of calendars from
the handy paper resources section on the blog a couple of weeks ago. I used it
to assist my language learning, as I think the ‘little and often’ approach is
particularly well-suited to this kind of task. I find marking off the days as I
go very satisfying, and it gives me a sense of achievement to see the chain
grow longer and longer, so I think I will carry on with this.
CILIP in London Meeting: Swimming in Data: Records Research in the Digital Age
On Tuesday I attended another CILIP in London meeting at The Square Wine Bar, Tolmers Square, near Euston. Called Swimming in Data: Records Research in the Digital Age, Caroline Kimbell, Head of Licensing at The National Archives in Kew, gave a talk on how the digitisation of Kew's archives is changing the ways in which history is studied.
Caroline explained that there are around 180km of archives at Kew, most of which are handwritten. Only around 7% of these records have been digitised so far, and while some of this has been pushed forward in line with Government policy, much of it is commercially driven.
Caroline explained some of the ways in which digitisation has assisted with research in new and unexpected ways. Digital records enable teams to work more collaboratively in the search for information, and means that collections which previously lay dormant have been 'woken up'. For instance, medical historians can use records kept by ships' surgeons to find out more about disease, while historians and scientists can use logs from whaling ships to map the extent of the Arctic ice shelf at various points in the past. Royal Navy log books from the 1690s onwards are assisting climatologists, allowing them to study the recorded weather readings and map them on a scale impossible before digitisation.
Digitisation can help make documents accessible again. Damaged census returns from Manchester, which had become unreadable owing to exposure to damp, have been made visible thanks to UV and infrared light techniques.
In literature, digitisation means that writing can be studied in different and more scientific ways. For instance, it has become possible to search text for particular words and phrases to get a more general idea about writing in the past. Tags and keywords can be added to digital documents to assist future researchers.
This system is not, however, without its flaws. The tags and keywords added now reflect our own cultural priorities and may not be what future generations need or want to study. Caroline mentioned the example of law archives: records of past cases survive because those in power at the time felt that they were important.
I really enjoyed Caroline's talk, and am particularly glad that she mentioned the Old Weather project - this allows the public to help transcribe the weather reports mentioned earlier, and looks like a great deal of fun too.
Caroline explained that there are around 180km of archives at Kew, most of which are handwritten. Only around 7% of these records have been digitised so far, and while some of this has been pushed forward in line with Government policy, much of it is commercially driven.
Caroline explained some of the ways in which digitisation has assisted with research in new and unexpected ways. Digital records enable teams to work more collaboratively in the search for information, and means that collections which previously lay dormant have been 'woken up'. For instance, medical historians can use records kept by ships' surgeons to find out more about disease, while historians and scientists can use logs from whaling ships to map the extent of the Arctic ice shelf at various points in the past. Royal Navy log books from the 1690s onwards are assisting climatologists, allowing them to study the recorded weather readings and map them on a scale impossible before digitisation.
Digitisation can help make documents accessible again. Damaged census returns from Manchester, which had become unreadable owing to exposure to damp, have been made visible thanks to UV and infrared light techniques.
In literature, digitisation means that writing can be studied in different and more scientific ways. For instance, it has become possible to search text for particular words and phrases to get a more general idea about writing in the past. Tags and keywords can be added to digital documents to assist future researchers.
This system is not, however, without its flaws. The tags and keywords added now reflect our own cultural priorities and may not be what future generations need or want to study. Caroline mentioned the example of law archives: records of past cases survive because those in power at the time felt that they were important.
I really enjoyed Caroline's talk, and am particularly glad that she mentioned the Old Weather project - this allows the public to help transcribe the weather reports mentioned earlier, and looks like a great deal of fun too.
Productivity for Academic Librarians and Researchers: Session 5 - Paper Productivity Tools and the Pomodoro Technique
Session 5 of the Year of Productivity, and
I think I need to work on my productivity, as I’ve come to it pretty late!
Anyway, I was definitely impressed with the different paper productivity tools
available. I love my electronic tools like Google Calendar and Evernote but I
still have a soft spot for paper – after all, the battery doesn’t run out and
it doesn’t crash. I am definitely going to check out the printable paper
productivity tools in the LifeHacker post.
- Chapter 4
of The Sketchnote Handbook is available for preview. Go to the author’s
blog to download the sample chapter. You can also view three short
podcasts by the author at his site.
Not being a lover of podcasts, I gave those
a miss but I read through the chapter. I can see why Sketchnote appeals to
people but I don’t know if it’s for me – I don’t really like expressing ideas
in this way, I’d rather just write them down. However, there were some good
tips in the chapter such as preparing a title page for your notes, scanning
them once they are completed and correcting any errors afterwards – however I
find it hard enough to write legibly
when note-taking, let alone draw
legibly.
- Having
read Chapter 4 in Exercise #1, try practicing the method while listening
to a pre-recorded webinar. If you
don’t have one already waiting in your to-do queue that you need to view,
you could watch the video of David Allen presenting his Getting Things
Done method that Mary introduced in Session 4.
I gave this a go but ended up writing notes
in the usual way! I do use bullet points and abbreviations in my notes anyway,
but I don’t know if even more complicated note taking the way to go for me.
- The
Moleskine company has collaborated with the Evernote folks and created a
special Evernote Smart Notebook.
Take a few minutes now and check it out here at the Getting Started
Guide. How might this tool help your
workflow and productivity? Could
you combine it with the Sketchnote method?
I use Evernote a lot so this could work
really well. I prefer to use a combination of paper and electronic methods to
create notes so this is definitely something I’d like to look into. It could
definitely work with the Sketchnote method, for instance if you’re in a meeting
and want to make notes by hand then add them to Evernote later.
- Review
the Pomodoro Technique. Try to
apply the method on a project you need to start today. How often did you have to keep yourself
from straying from the task? How much
did you accomplish during the session?
I tried this, but I found that as soon as I
wasn’t allowed to check my emails or
distract myself in any other way, I immediately wanted to even more. Also, I
found myself spending twice as long mentally ‘preparing’ myself for the
25-minute stretch of work knowing that in theory, at least, I wouldn’t be able
to stop. I think I’m going to need more practice…
Productivity for Academic Librarians and Researchers: Session 4 - Getting Things Done
Session 4 of the Year of Productivity programme, and Getting Things Done gets a mention. I’d heard of the GTD
system before, but had been put off trying it – it seemed like so much work and
that’s before you even start on your actual
tasks.
However, thinking about
it, a lot of it actually makes sense. David Allen, who came up with GTD, argues
that you can’t be productive if your brain is buzzing with all the things you
need to remember to do. I remember when I was studying for my GCSEs, and I couldn't sleep for thinking about everything I had to do – I would get up and
make a list of all the projects, pieces of coursework and other random bits of
work I had to complete, and found that simply writing it down helped, because I
knew I didn't have to remember it all – everything was written down. Even now,
one of the first things I do when I feel overwhelmed or stressed is to make a
list – this is true for both my personal and professional life. I am a seriously compulsive list maker.
It does seem that there
is more to GTD than to-do lists, and I actually ended up ordering the book to
explore it in more detail. While I wait for it to arrive, I will begin to
implement some of the principles.
This session’s tasks
included doing the ‘data dump’ and sorting it into projects, actions and
categories. I had fun doing this and decided to sign up for Todo.ly along the
way. I tried out Remember the Milk (another list-making app) for a couple of
weeks, and while it is straightforward and easy to use, it is comparatively
basic in its functionality. Todo.ly is an obsessive list-maker’s dream, with
its different categories and filters, and the ability to nest tasks. You can
sort tasks into different Projects, which makes it ideal for GTD. There is a
‘Today’ button you can click to find out what is due today, and I like the
‘Next’ filter, which shows you tasks with the soonest deadlines from all
categories.
I read an interesting blog post by Bethan Ruddock recently, which points out how much more difficult
it is to change small everyday habits than big ones, as we don’t see them as so
important. With this in mind, I’m going to try extra hard to stay focused on
maintaining and reviewing my lists.
E-Learning and Digital Cultures (#edcmooc) - Digital Artefact (Final Assignment)
As the final part of the E-learning and Digital Cultures course, I've created a digital artefact which forms the final assignment for the course. I had a number of platforms to choose from, but opted for Thinglink, which helps you create interactive images - you select an image and add links to videos, images, articles, and anything else you like.
I found this task rather difficult: I am used to writing essays and even giving presentations, but something like this is highly unusual for me. I enjoyed the challenge but I'm not entirely happy with the result. I hope I will receive some useful feedback.
Here is my artefact:
I found this task rather difficult: I am used to writing essays and even giving presentations, but something like this is highly unusual for me. I enjoyed the challenge but I'm not entirely happy with the result. I hope I will receive some useful feedback.
Here is my artefact:
 |
| A Technological Revolution? (Original image courtesy of resumbrae.com) |
I'd really appreciate any comments or suggestions.
E-Learning and Digital Cultures (#edcmooc) - Being Human, Week 4: Redefining the Human
The fourth and final week of the E-learning and Digital Cultures course looked, like Week 3, at the concept of ‘being human’ – but from
the perspective of how technology works to redefine our notions of humanity.
The videos provided an interesting introduction to the topic, particularly
‘Robbie’ which imagined a robot with which what many would describe as ‘human’
attributes, floating around in space at the end of his ‘life’. I found this
moving and quite sad – but I’m not convinced that artificial intelligences with
‘human-like’ thoughts and feelings are the future. Maybe we are imposing our
own ideas and values onto these?
The readings, which looked at the concept of transhumanism,
were eye-opening. Despite claims of a utopian future characterised by
individual autonomy and a projected end of death and suffering, I felt deeply
distrustful of the idea that perfection could be achieved. When reading Nick
Bostrom’s piece on transhumanist values1, I found it hard to believe
it was sincere – it seemed like a spoof. As Hayles2 points out, it
focuses on individual choice and autonomy without acknowledging the wider
implications of society, and doesn’t look at what will happen in terms of
population increase if people are able to live longer.
Despite claims to the contrary, the concept of transhumanism
has echoes of Nazi-esque eugenics and cult religion. Many of the ideas seem
far-fetched, and I think they are unlikely to be realised in the near future,
if at all. The idea that human limitations can be transcended and the ‘evil’ of
death destroyed I found alternately silly and terrifying.
The articles exploring educational
perspectives were much more palatable and relevant to the online learning
context. The EPSRC document on technology enhanced learning3 argues
that learning needs to exploit the potential of technology the way other areas
of life and work have been doing for years. Broadly speaking I agree with this
idea, although I took issue with some of the generalisations made, such as that
“almost everyone in the UK has a powerful computer in their pocket” – really?
This report, like so many readings from the course, barely acknowledges the
digital divide between those who have, enjoy and are competent at using
technology and the huge numbers who have difficulty affording and using such
equipment.
Carr’s piece4 explores
the sobering idea that modern use of technology, particularly the Internet, is
changing the way we learn and think. In particular he focuses on a growing
inability to concentrate on deep, close reading of longer texts in the face of
the mass of information available at our fingertips, which we tend to click
through and skim-read. This isn’t necessarily a completely bad thing but it
serves as a reminder of the impact technology has on our learning.
Having finished the reading for
this course, my next task is to complete the assignment, which involves
creating a digital artefact relating to one or more of the topics covered.
After that I’d like to have a proper think about what I’ve got out of this
course and examine my views on MOOCs as a whole.
1Bostrom, N. (2005). Transhumanist values, Review of Contemporary Philosophy, Vol. 4. http://www.nickbostrom.com/ethics/values.html
[Accessed 21 February 2013].
2Hayles, N. K. (2011). Wrestling with transhumanism. Metanexus. http://www.metanexus.net/essay/ h-wrestling-transhumanism.
[Accessed 21 February 2013].
3EPSRC (2012). System upgrade: realising the vision
for UK education, EPSRC Technology Enhanced Learning Research Programme. http://tel.ioe.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/TELtaster.pdf.
[Accessed 21 February 2013].
4Carr, M. (2008). Is Google making us stupid? The Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/306868/.
[Accessed 21 February 2013].
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