Productivity

Technology, Travel, & Blogging

/ dwakimoto

I can’t begin to describe how happy I am that it is Friday and the quarter here is just about over. The quarter has sped by and I can’t believe that we are almost halfway through December already. This, of course, means that a lot of people are gearing up for travel over the next few weeks to visit family and friends for the holidays. It also means that educators are getting ready to both relax for a couple of weeks and also gear up for the next term. This post, as promised, continues in the traveling and technology vein of a previous post this week and also includes some fun and free resources for teaching.

But first, some shameless self-promotion. The Waki Librarian has been nominated for a 2009 Edublog Award for Best Librarian Blog by Michelle Pacansky-Brock (whose blog MPB Reflections–21st Century Teaching and Learning is up for best elearning blog). So if you’re enjoying this blog and find it useful and feel so moved, I would greatly appreciate your vote. The link to the ballot is here: Best Librarian/Library Edublog 2009 Ballog. Okay, I promise that is the last of the self-promotion for the foreseeable future. Now on to the tech fun.

I love lists. I think it probably has something to do with being a librarian and organizing information. Anyway, here is a great list of 10 education technology products I am Thankful for. Most of these products are free, which is plus in these lean budget times. In addition to the products mentioned in the article, Twitter, Delicious, iGoogle & Google Gadget, Bloglines & Google Reader, and Web2Access top my list of online products that are valuable for my teaching and other work.

Twitter is fantastic because I can send announcements to students that they will actually receive because they can get it sent to their phones as a text message. They never check their email, so this has been a huge help.

I love Delicious because it keeps all my bookmarks organized and I can access it on any computer with an Internet connection. This is a huge help when I’m using multiple computers per day and because I’m a pretty bad at remembering sites unless I bookmark them.

Google’s suite of products keeps me organized and I am an especially huge fan of iGoogle–I love being able to have so many applications fed into one page through the use of Google Gadgets.

RSS readers, no matter which one you happen to use, are fantastic. I wouldn’t be able to keep up in the field without them.

And if you haven’t taken a look at Web2Access, you really should. These people are doing amazing work on accessibility in the online environment. You can search online resources and see how they score in terms of accessibility, download tools that will help you test the accessibility of your website and more. This is a truly helpful site.

While all the above resources are great for education, none of them will help you get the most out of your laptop while traveling. For that, you’ll have to check out Lifehacker’s article: Top 10 Downloads for a Road Warrior Laptop. Read this before you start traveling this holiday season and you’ll not only keep your laptop safer, but also utilize it more effectively.

That is it for the Waki Librarian today. Read a lot, let me know in comments what are your favorite online resources, vote for this blog if you feel like it, and next week the Waki Librarian will be back with more technology and tips for your library adventures.

Friday Grab Bag

/ dwakimoto

It is finally Friday. I don’t know about you, but this week has felt very long to me. So for this Friday I have a grab bag of bits and pieces I’ve been bookmarking throughout the last couple of weeks. I hope some of them are useful for you.

This article, Web 2.0 fails to excite today’s researchers, is an interesting look at the slow adoption of Web 2.0 for research and publication efforts by academics. Overall, I found the article to be insightful and full of good resources for those who want to explore the web applications for those academics who want to explore more social and open access ways of distributing and collaborating on research.

However, I’m a little puzzled by this sentence: “After all, it only takes one or two librarians to provide a library with a veneer of embracing Web 2.0 technologies.” It seemed quite out of place and I’m not quite sure what the point was supposed to be by including this in the article. Many libraries actually are doing quite a bit with Web 2.0 technologies in their libraries and are connecting with their users in new and more meaningful ways. I’m not sure why there needed to be a swipe at librarians in an article about academics. The academics could probably learn a thing or two about using technology if they asked a librarian.

But if you actually like to collaborate online, you should check out Lifehacker’s great article on the Top 10 web collaboration tools (that aren’t Google Wave). Great set of tools, but what else would you expect from Lifehacker?

Also from Lifehacker is a list of the Top 10 underhyped webapps, 2009 edition. Trust me, you will find something new that you will be able to use via this post. I happen to love the PDF to Word application and am looking forward to playing around more with Aviary. What is your favorite web app that is underhyped?

Finally, because it is Friday, I’ll leave you with the xkcd cartoon of the day. And yes, it is definitely scary! Have a great weekend!

"scary" from xkcd.com

Findability

/ dwakimoto

Well, this week has been crazy and it is only Wednesday. So much to do, so much information to process and catalog, and so little time! So this problem got me thinking about findability. Don’t you think that part of the reason for information overload is not just that there is so much information out there, but that there it is also difficult to organize all the information so you can actually find it again when you need it? I do. So here are some really interesting bits of news and tools to help you control the information you have in your life.

Because one of my areas of interest is history, I am super excited about DocumentCloud. It will be a great resource for searching for primary source materials on the web. Anything that makes searching easier is a good thing–especially a service that is using open standards and working with many different organizations.

Here is a great resource if you are scratching your head trying to make sense of a journal’s Eigenfactor. This is a great resource for looking up Eigenfactors and also a great source to help yourself and/or your users understand Eigenfactors. How does this relate to findability? You now know where to find and search Eigenfactors and this is definitely a good thing.

This is a fantastic article from The New York Times: Mining the web for feelings, not facts. This is an interesting look at analyzing social media to understand people’s feelings (sentiments) and using that information to provide better services, marketing, etc. This would be a great tool for libraries to monitor what their users are saying about them (if anything). I’m going to be using this in my class, I hope, when we are talking about uses of the social web later this quarter.

And of course, Lifehacker comes to the rescue once again with a brilliant post about creating a filing system workflow. Even though we live in the Digital Age, there is always paper to file and using these tips will help you keep the paper deluge under control.

Hope some of these tips help you. See you later with more tech tips and library trends.

Working in Less Time

/ dwakimoto

I taught my first classes of the quarter yesterday, so the quarter finally feels like it has begun. It is crazy busy in the library as both new and returning students attempt to use our new printing system and navigate all the hurdles of registering for classes and finding textbooks on the cheap. Therefore, being able to get more done in less time is a really appealing to me. I think it is one of the reasons I like working from home occasionally. At home, I get more done in four hours than I can get done most days at work because I can truly focus in on what I’m doing at home. This post has some links to great articles and tools to help you get more done and actually have a life outside of work.

Lifehacker has a great article on the best sounds for getting work done. If you like to listen to music while you work, definitely check out this article. You might find some new favorite music to listen to while you are cranking out the reports.

I absolutely love and support this thought: “If you need to work better, maybe try working less”. I find that scheduling deadlines and tasks definitely keeps me on target and I get more accomplished than when I have more amorphous goals for the day or week. And I completely agree that it seems like we operate under the assumption that being at work late into the night or overworking and under-sleeping are signs of greatness or badges of honor. But actually taking time off and having a life makes one not only a happier, healthier individual, but someone who will actually be able to accomplish more. It is great to have some studies backing this common sense idea.

If you still haven’t used Wolfram Alpha, you really need to go there and check out what everyone is talking about. Wolfram Alpha’s retirement calculations is just another great feature of Wolfram and especially appealing in today’s turbulent economic times. It is another tool to add to your arsenal while you are planning your retirement.

This is a fantastic post on being at the point of need for our users. This post has some excellent tips and ideas that I think libraries need to think about implementing for the sake of our users.

Well, that is all from the Waki Librarian for today. I’m off to hold office hours. Enjoy the rest of your day and don’t forget to read and grow!

Reducing Waste

/ dwakimoto

No, don’t worry, this post is not about recycling or composting or even the Green Movement. Instead this is about reducing waste in terms of your time, energy and inspiration. It is back-to-school time and the campus is crazy here. So this topic of reducing waste is really close to my heart, especially as more things get piled on my plate.

First there is this article about “An inside look at college costs”. While we can argue about the accuracy of the article’s claims (and I think we should definitely look at the “objectivity”), it still brings up an important point–the bloat that exists at a lot of campuses. Sometimes reducing waste means reducing administration or streamlining processes instead of trying to blame faculty salaries for the woes of the university’s budget situation.

Speaking of working more efficiency, take a look at this article, “Maker’s schedule, Manager’s schedule”. This article made so much sense to me–this is why I just dislike meetings so much (or at least one of the reasons). Meetings just break up my flow in the work day and I like the idea of scheduling meetings at the end of the day like office hours–that would make me so much happier. I wonder if we could implement this…

And, of course, Lifehacker comes out with a great post on how to Reduce your inboxes to streamline your workflow and reduce stress. This is such a great tip and really makes my life much easier. I highly suggest it if you haven’t already combined and/or reduced your inboxes.

So that is it for the Waki Librarian today. Have a wonderful rest of your week, read a lot, and I’ll be back next week.

Travel, Cooking, Chrome, & Copyright

/ dwakimoto

Yes, it is another one of those potpourri days on The Waki Librarian. It is a day to show off, yet again, how cool Lifehacker is and also to help you get ramped up for the back-to-school season (even if you aren’t going back to school). So without further ado, here are the goodies of the day!

Do you travel a lot? Do you want to be more productive? Lifehacker has come up with a great list of the Top 10 Tactics for Productive Travel. I plan on utilizing some of these tips on my next cross-country trip. Now if we could only get all the airports to offer free wi-fi…

Next we need to offer a happy belated birthday to Google Chrome. This is only belated because I hadn’t gotten around to linking to this great post on Lifehacker. Definitely check out the time lapsed video on the creation of the Google Chrome cake. I am a total Google Chrome convert and can’t wait to see what new tweaks and upgrades this next year will bring for Chrome.

Of course, with school having started (or soon starting) we have to talk about copyright. So here is a question for you, Should Copyright of Academic Works be Abolished? Full disclaimer: I haven’t finished this article yet, but I think it is a really interesting idea and would be very helpful to the open access movement.

Finally, here is Lifehacker’s An Exhaustive Geek Guide to managing Your Recipes Online, because we all know that no one wants to go hunting around for a recipe while trying to make dinner. I am continually amazed by the plethora of great recipes that I can access on the web. I guess I should get it together with these recipe organizers–right now all my recipes are simply bookmarked on delicious! And if you want a recipe to get inspired, check out this awesome recipe for ice cream gyoza.

Have a great day, read a bunch and the Waki Librarian will be back with more later this week.

Fixing Computers and Other Stuff

/ dwakimoto

Sorry for the delay between posts. I’ve been gone the last week and am just now catching up on all the RSS feeds and other news. So today’s post is about fixing computers, reducing waste and having a little fun, naturally.

Do you remember all the talk about how using computers would lead to a paperless office? Didn’t really happen, now did it? I think as we have found out, if anything, it seems like there is more paper around than ever before. To help us all get into a less paper-intensive existence, here is Lifehacker’s great article on Going Paperless. I especially like the ideas for using a digital signature and getting rid of all the junk mail. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go completely paperless, but this article definitely helps to cut down on needless clutter.

Speaking of going paperless, you should check out PC World’s article on your printer and whether it is stealing from you. Basically the article talks about the best and worst printers in terms of cost of printing. You know how printers are cheap, but the ink is super-expensive, right? So check this out and if you are in the market for a new printer, definitely stay away from the “Most Wanted” list. Just another reason to go paperless, no?

Lifehacker has done it again with a great summary article on 10 computer hardware fixes and upgrades. This is a great list to help you successfully upgrade and fix your computer. I really want to try the ideas on how to quiet a loud hard drive on my work computer, but I think the IT department would probably have a heart attack so I’ll try on my home computer instead. Again, great stuff from Lifehacker.

And finally, something fun: check out Unshelved. This week is all about the Internet and the library and the strip is absolutely hilarious.

Have a great day, read a lot, and I’ll be back later in the week with more.

Tips, Tricks, and M&M's

/ dwakimoto

Sometimes, there is more to life than talking about libraries and technology. Specifically I’m thinking about M&M’s and packing fractions. I’ll get to that later. I often feel like there is way too much good stuff to talk about on the technology in libraries front, not to mention too much just fun, random stuff to share. But never fear, once again the Waki Librarian has picked out a few great articles and distractions to make your Friday a little brighter.

You probably write a lot at work, right? There are always emails, reports, proposals and grants to write. All those drafts need to be proofread and perfected before sending out. So here is an article on 10 quick tips for powerful proofwriting. These are really helpful. Do you have any tips on proofreading? I’d love to hear them.

Are you tempted to buy the iPhone or do you already own an iPhone? If it is the former rather than the latter, check out Lifehacker’s:
Bad Apple: An Argument against Buying an iPhone before you buy. I think alienating developers is a really poor move. I think the iPhone look great and have truly changed the mobile landscape, but I wonder if the way it is going is sustainable.

Okay, in a totally different vein, I know it is only the end July, but you should really take a look at Lifehacker’s guide on avoiding holiday debt. Especially with the economy being what it is, it is never to early to think about saving money during the holidays.

Because it is Friday, we need to end with something completely geeky and very fun. Check out the video about guessing the number of M&Ms in a jar. This is a fantastic use of physics and a great problem to give students! I hope my office does a guess the M&Ms in a jar contest soon so I can use packing fractions to my advantage!

Have a great weekend, read a lot and the Waki Librarian will be back next week with more.

End of the Quarter Bits

/ dwakimoto

It honestly doesn’t seem to make much difference if I’m teaching a class or taking a class, the end of the quarter is still filled with anxiety, last minute chores and lots of panicked students. It also means that I fall behind on bookmarking new web stuff, blogging about new web stuff, and basically just fall a little behind. So here is my attempt at catching up on some of the cool library and tech stuff that has been floating around my RSS feeds–basically just a little of this and a little of that.

So first for the technology bit, here is Lifehacker’s Top 10 Wallpaper Tools and Tweaks. These are amazing tips for creating or just finding desktop wallpapers that not only look beautiful but can help increase your productivity. I can’t wait to start designing a compartmentalized desktop and using the calendar feature– sounds like a good summer project to me. If you have another favorite source for wallpapers, please leave it in the comments.

And for a different change of pace, here is a news post that absolutely infuriates me: Kayne West is a “proud non-reader”. He says in the article that “I am a proud non-reader of books. I like to get information from doing stuff like actually talking to people and living real life.” One wonders then why on earth he decided to write a book. Thank goodness there are a lot of really awesome people who are very proud readers of books. Suddenly, trying to get my students, who are slightly less than enthusiastic about information literacy class at the beginning of the term, to actually engage in the class seems like a cakewalk. At least no one has ever told me they are proud of not reading books. Sheesh.

So to counteract that negativity, because we really need to, here is a great library hero who is Running a Library out of a School Locker. This student is running a library out of her locker at school, and the library is filled with banned books! Can we say born to be a librarian?! This is so amazingly awesome. The comments to this post are great reading as well. I sincerely hope the student did not get caught or in trouble for enabling students to read what they want. People who do things like this and totally get that banning books is pointless and stupid absolutely make my day.

So that is it for today’s bits of fun technology and library information. I hope everyone has a great week and I’ll be back soon with more goodies from the wide, wild world of information!

Energy and Productivity

/ dwakimoto

I’m pretty sure that all of my students have Spring Fever. They seem ready for summer, and they aren’t the only ones. I’m definitely ready for the quarter to be over too. And when spring hits, I always feel the need to do spring cleaning and with the days getting longer (well, technically they are still 24 hours long, but we get more sunlight each day so to me they are longer), I feel like I should be accomplishing more–both at the library and at home. In that spirit, here are a few helpful posts about getting more energy and getting things done.

This is a wonderful article on 55 Ways to get more Energy. These suggestions will hopefully help you get more energy throughout the day and be able to work (and play) more efficiently. Though I have to say I found the fact that the smell of lavender is supposed to wake you up hilarious–mainly because lavender makes me fall asleep. But luckily there are 54 other tips for me to try!

So now that you have more energy, you might just get the bug to do some spring cleaning. If so, then this article on how to organize rooms more efficiently is for you. I think the same advice would help with cleaning my office at work. I wonder how to transfer this advice into the computer realm so I might finally get around to organizing the files on my hard drive.

Do you know what your learning style is? If not you might want to check out these posts on learning styles and organization. Knowing your learning style doesn’t just help you learn more effectively, it can also help you organize your tasks, time and work. Anything, within reason, to help me get more organized is appreciated.

And now, with all this new energy and organizational skills, you will have more time to play and learn cool technology tools. Organizational tools for the win.

Have a great day and the Waki Librarian will be back soon with more library, technology and productivity fun.