Productivity

Writing & Communication

/ dwakimoto

I don’t know about you, but I spend a lot of time every day writing. Now, most of the stuff I write isn’t creative writing or even writing for publication, but it is writing. All of spend inordinate amounts of time writing emails, Tweeting, IM-ing, blogging and composing memos. Writing is a part of our daily life and is all about communicating–one of the key parts of human life. So this post is about, more or less, writing and communicating.

By now I think my utter love of Lifehacker is apparent, but how can one not love Lifehacker when they have great lists like the five best journaling tools. Because sometimes, you don’t want to share your life with the world and you just want your thoughts for yourself, it is important to have a place to journal. I also love the fact that good, old-fashioned, analog pen and paper completely slaughtered the competition.

Another blog that I’ve just started following is Manage Your Writing. I quite like it so far and there have been a number of useful tips and posts. I like this slightly older post on writing to persuade. Every time we write, we are writing to persuade someone about something, even if it is only to go to the restaurant we want to go to at lunch. So using these tips in your writing might not only make your writing more powerful and persuasive, you might even get more done. And I love getting things done. As The Cult of Done Manifesto says, “Done is the engine of more.”

I also quite like this article on WikiHow on how to stop dealing with someone else’s lateness. I have to say one of my pet peeves is waiting for other people because they are late. I completely agree with this article that it is disrespectful to be continually late. I hope that this article can help you if you are dealing with people who run late. Plus, not waiting around for late people will allow you time to get more done and that’s always a good thing.

And, just because I can’t end a post without something fun, take a look over at xkcd’s comic on philosophy.

Have a great day.

Signs of the Times

/ dwakimoto

I am really bad at making up blog post titles so please forgive the overused title of this post. So here is a round-up of some tips and articles all about saving money, time, and getting things done during our lovely recession.

So as we all know, being green is the new black. In honor of that, here is Lifehacker’s Top 10 Battery Hacks. Here’s to getting more out of your batteries and to using rechargeable batteries. I have to say I love rechargeable batteries. I use them in everything that I don’t plug into my computer to charge, except for the cell phone. So what’s your favorite battery hack?

Okay, so between the hysteria over swine flu and the real problem of the recession, the news has not been so uplifting lately. Here is an interesting approach to saving money on a college degree:saving money with no-frills college. Although I think the entire problem of tuition needs to be tackled, no-frills colleges are a viable option for saving money. What do you think?

Okay, so it isn’t all doom-and-gloom on the economy front as Trade Paperbacks are doing quite well and some publishers are opting to have titles go straight to trade paperback, bypassing hardcover altogether. This works for me as I rarely have the money to buy titles in hardcover, but can usually afford a paperback–and trade paperbacks are usually pretty nice & have a larger cover than mass-market paperbacks which appeals graphically. So yay for yet another article that rallies in the face of the naysayers who just keep saying that reading is dead.

Finally, here is another Lifehacker article about Smart Installer which sounds great. Smart Installer will save you time by loading all the software you like on your new pc. This would have saved me so much time during the week where IT changed out the computer in my office three times.

Have a great Monday and the Waki Librarian will be back later in the week with more tech fun.

Friday Productivity and Fun

/ dwakimoto

Fridays are great days. Not only is the weekend almost here, but the actual day–Friday–is usually one of the best days at work. People are more relaxed and getting ready for the weekend, there are less students on campus (which means more work can get done) and well, I just like Fridays. But sometimes productivity can suffer on Fridays when people go into weekend mode too quickly. So here are a few tips for productivity and work and some fun too, because it is Friday after all.

Don’t you hate it when your Internet connection is out? It almost always happens when you really, really need to be online and then you are stuck twiddling your thumbs wondering how anyone ever survived without the net. But here is Lifehacker to the rescue with what you should do when your internet’s out. These are great tips for organizing your space, your headspace and your computer. So pull the plug, even if your internet isn’t out, and get organized.

For all the Firefox users in the world, Lifehacker has another great article on the Top 10 Firefox Extensions in 2009. Get ready to customize your browser and get more organized and productive. If you have a favorite add-on that didn’t make the list, leave it in the comments so others can benefit from your knowledge.

AlternativeTo is an interesting site that lists alternatives to many popular software titles. So if you don’t want to splurge for Photoshop or want an alternative to iTunes, check out this site. It is always nice to have an easy way to start comparing software.

And finally, here is just something incredibly fun: The Easter Egg Archive. I love finding Easter Eggs on DVDs and with this site you don’t have to try all the various combinations of buttons on menus trying to find the Easter Eggs. You can just search for a title and get instructions on how to find the Easter Egg. Score one for being more efficient and getting to enjoy more Easter Eggs.

Have a great Friday and weekend. More next week.

Cool News

/ dwakimoto

Can you believe that it is already Thursday? Well, I have some fun news and tools to make the last few days of the workweek fly by too.

I love Cooliris. It is such a fabulous add-on and time saver when you are searching through a mess of images. And now, Cooliris is even better. Yes, that’s right, you can now do even more with Cooliris, check out their blog post about the new features. Too bad it still isn’t compatible with Chrome. The best part, in my opinion, is the fact that you can now use Cooliris to search through the images on your computer! How cool is that? Now you can quickly scan through all those photographs on your hard drive to find the perfect one. This is going to make me so much more efficient at sorting through the photos on my computer. And it looks just as beautiful as when you are searching Flickr or another online image site. Really, take the minute today to download Cooliris and you can thank me tomorrow for all the time you have been saving.

In other cool news, Peggy sent me this great link about how many great advances are happening for accessibility. I think this is just wonderful and the fact that the California State University is leading the way just makes me inordinately happy to be working at a CSU. Now if we could just get Ning to be fully accessible, I think this week just might be perfect. But we are making progress and that is good.

I’m off now to work on the reference desk. Have a great day and remember that cool technology and accessibility can go hand in hand. Let me know of any other cool news you’ve heard.

Working smarter

/ dwakimoto

So it is Thursday and I’m feeling really bad about the lack of updates this week. But I have an excuse, really I do. Loathe as I am to make excuses, dear reader, this time I will. I’ve been at jury duty and now am on a jury for the immediate future. So that is my excuse–I truly am sorry for the lack of updates.

But enough of that, there are still hours in the morning before my reporting time when things must be accomplished, blog posts must be written, lectures must be finished and articles must be edited. So, you’ve guessed correctly, today we will be discussing, once again, how to get things done.

I have to admit, when I want to get serious writing or editing done, there is nothing like working at home for me. I don’t check my email every five minutes, I turn off my phone and just dive into my writing only to surface hours later to check communication with the outside world. And, amazingly, the world hasn’t fallen apart because I’ve not emailed anyone in the last couple of hours. That is how I get work done.

The lovely Lifehacker has this great post by Gina Trapani on reusable solutions to common productivity problems. This article has lots of links to other helpful resources and tackles productivity issues that are larger than say what a Google gadget hack will fix. I think this is fantastic and a very helpful read. Just remember, in the end, it is really all on our own shoulders to get the work done–in and outside of the library.

Here’s a site that will definitely help you with your productivity, in terms of learning a new language: Open Culture’s Free Foreign Language Lessons. Links to 37 different languages and each one offers links to iTunes, a feed and a website for each language so you can pick which way you are going to get your lessons. Just be careful as some of the lessons are free up to a point and then want you to pay for more advanced ones. But I’m happy, finally a site that has Swedish listed!

Finally, we have to end on a fun note, so here is a link to another great Unshelved comic strip. I just love it–rock on librarians for exposing people to new and different, even dangerous ideas.

Have a great day and with any luck, the Waki Librarian will be back with more techie fun soon.

People, Parking and Performance

/ dwakimoto

Sorry, just couldn’t resist a blog post alliteration on a Monday. The weekend is over and a new week is upon us, but luckily Mondays have something going for them that no other day has (well, actually, that is not entirely true, Wednesdays and Fridays have it too). What is that you say? A brand new xkcd cartoon. I thought we would start off with a cartoon before diving into the techie heart of this Monday’s post.

 

Parking from xkcd

Parking from xkcd

I could not resist this cartoon–haven’t you ever wanted to do that when someone has parked askew, taking up 2 spaces and there are no other ones in the parking lot? People really, really need to work on their parking skills. Or they could just save money, and help save the planet, by buying a smaller, more fuel efficient car. But enough on parking, off to the techie stuff of the day.

Have you heard that YouTube has a new YouTube EDU site. Yes, YouTube EDU, you heard that correctly. The site brings together videos from colleges and universities that have channels and post videos on YouTube, making it easier to sell teachers, professors and other instructors on the value of incorporating YouTube videos in their classroom or in assignments. Yay, for learning being interesting and in multimedia format! Check out the Compliment Guys at Purdue University. Rock on for making people smile! And nice job to all the universities producing such fun videos.

Have you checked out IE8 (Internet Explorer) yet? Here is a very nice review comparing IE8 to IE7. All I could think when reading the article was, that sure sounds a lot like Chrome. So if you use IE7 it sounds like it is time for an upgrade, if you haven’t already moved to IE8. I’m always fascinated by what browsers people use. I have to say that I’m a complete Chrome fan, but have Firefox portable to use whenever I’m doing research for Zotero since I no longer have access to EndNote Web. If you want to share what browser you use and why, leave a note in the comments.

Do you dread calling 1-800 numbers because of the annoyance of speaking to an automated system or pressing “1” so many times you’re afraid you might break the button on your phone? If so, check out 50-Plus Hacks and Tips to Get to a Real Person at Any Corporation in 10 Seconds or Less. This is a good list of tips and tricks, especially handy if you don’t already RSS and read The Consumerist. Because, as we all know, sometimes you just really need to talk to a real person–not a machine.

That’s it for this Monday’s edition of The Waki Librarian. Have a great week and the Waki Librarian will be back with more later this week.

Making Mondays Productive

/ dwakimoto

Sorry about the delay between posts. With finals week and actually stepping away from the computer for a weekend, I feel like I’ve not blogged in ages. So, without further ado, here are some helpful sites and random fun for making Monday both productive and just a little bit fun.

I am a complete Google Chrome convert. I still use Firefox for the extensions and for those few sites that don’t translate well in Chrome, but for the most part I’m a Chrome fan. So I am so excited for this announcement that Google has released a new Beta version. Now maybe they’ll be working on a version that works on Macs so more people can experience Chrome. This beta version is supposed to be faster, so score one for productivity help on a Monday.

Next up is spring cleaning because it actually is spring (even if it still feels like winter in parts of the country). So what better time is there to clean up your office so you can work more efficiently instead of burrowing through piles of paper in the attempt to find the one report you need that was in hardcopy? Lifehacker has this article and before and after photos of some great office transformations. So get cleaning! Not only will you have a cleaner office but you just might have some more ideas after getting some physical exercise (via cleaning). I know I often get my best ideas when walking and think more clearly in a clean workspace, although when writing my office often resembles the aftermath of a paper tornado. Anyway, get a jump on spring cleaning by starting with your office.

If you use digital images in your work, then you will love this list of 30 free image resources. Yes, there are places to get free and legal images on the web. My personal favorite is EveryStockPhoto. So go grab some images and get creative–you’ll need an outlet for all the ideas you come up with after cleaning your office.

And finally, we can’t leave off a Monday post without having a little fun. So here is Surfline’s Top 10 Colleges for Surfing. Yes, here is a list of the best colleges to attend for surfing. California is well-represented and I can personally attest to the influence of surfing at UCSC. If the swells were good in the spring, classes would be (un)surprisingly, poorly attended.

Have a great, productive and fun Monday. More later this week.

Getting Things Done

/ dwakimoto

Since it is the end of the quarter, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to get more done in less time, mostly because of the fast turnaround time required between giving final exams and when the grades are due. So here are some articles that might help you get things done.

The first battle of the day is actually getting up. If you’re not a morning person, you probably need some motivation for getting up in the morning. That’s where this great article from Wired comes in–here’s tips for getting out of bed. Try a couple and maybe you’ll be a morning person too, or at least not as reluctant to get out of bed.

This Cult of Done Manifesto has got to be my favorite thing that has come over my RSS feeds this week. Made by Joshua Rothhaas (a.k.a. spatulated), licensed under Creative Commons, and just plain awesome. Become part of the Cult of Done and actually get things done. I love all the advice, but especially like the advice, “Laugh at perfection. It’s boring and keeps you from being done.” I’ve got it taped on my wall right about my computer monitor so I can remember that “Done is the engine of more.”

Okay, well, this might tie as my favorite thing to come over the RSS feeds recently. Microsoft might always get the label of big, bad corporation, but now it has a Creative Commons Add-in for Microsoft Office. This rocks. Download and install this Add-in and get led through a few easy steps to create the Creative Commons license of your choice and easily insert the license into your Word document, Excel spreadsheet, or PowerPoint presentation. How cool is that? I love it. Not only does this let you get done with your work more quickly, no more hunting around the Creative Commons site for the license you want, but it also allows you to disseminate your work and hopefully spark ideas for others so they can get their work done too. Isn’t technology and sharing great?

And finally, all this talk of working, getting more done and productivity might be making a few of you overwhelmed with all the things that librarians and information professionals need to get done, like, yesterday. Well, take a quick break with the comic strip Unshelved. Check out this comic about Twitter, have a laugh, and then feel better about getting back to work.

Have a great day, read a lot, and we’ll see you next time on The Waki Librarian blog. Thanks for reading.

Productivity

/ dwakimoto

I’m always looking for gadgets, applications and add-ons that allow me to work more efficiently. If I have to be in front of a computer for almost a 1/3 of my day, I at least want to have my time spent wisely.

For those of us who are forced to use Outlook, here is a Lifehacker article on the Top 10 Outlook Boosters. If we can’t use Gmail, at least this makes Outlook a little easier and more convenient to use.

Do you use Google Docs? I like Google Docs for collaborative writing and editing. So if you also use Google Docs, check out Wired’s wiki on how to get more out of Google Docs.

Like I tell my students, you want to learn how to work faster, smarter, more efficiently and more effectively so you spend less time on work and more time doing whatever else you’d rather be doing!

More on Friday, hopefully.