Saturday 28 July 2012

Little Boxes

Friday revolved around organization, a skill that's always been a sticky spot for me. My entire family suffers from pretty severe ADHD: Inattentive Type -- the condition formerly known as ADD. Therefore, learning to keep everything in my life where I can find it, rather than shoving it all into a closet of miscellany, leaning against the door to jam it shut, and hoping for the best--that's been essential, and a constant challenge.

You can imagine, then, what a nightmare cyberspace is for me: so much room wide open, invisible, intangible, with only bookmarks to make any sense of it.

 Basically, that.

That's why I leapt on Pinterest: because suddenly, I have icons and little descriptions to remind me why I saved this link. Marvelous. It also suggests ways to organize the rest of my life: household management tips, vocabulary handouts, DIY toiletries...an A-type personality's fantasy. I'll probably keep using that for my personal life. For research projects, though, I can certainly see the benefits of Diigo, and will definitely try to make use of it in my classroom.

Evernote is a whole 'nother kettle of fish.





I use it like a binder. Of fish. No, of documents, but accessible from anywhere. It's clearer and more aesthetically pleasing than Diigo, although it does have some limitations. For what I need it, though, it's perfect. I make these beautiful schedules/to-do lists, like this one (which all of you might find useful:



None of the other tools we discussed will let me do this, and I love it. I'd love to hear about what you all found most useful, too!

P.S. Apparently Macs have Podcast Capture and Podcast Publisher apps? Anyone tried them?

12 comments:

  1. Yowza. I can't get myself into Evernote. It's intimidating. I really like the idea of Diigo, though. Did your group take a look at this?
    https://sites.google.com/site/team8project9440/using-diigo-in-the-classroom-2
    Plus, teachers get a free upgrade. Pretty cool!

    I don't know about those extra podcast applications, but I made one in Garageband and it turned out great. There's a track option for podcast specifically, so I'm just going to stick with that.

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    1. Good call, Asha. I am definitely going to try using the Garageband podcast feature for my future podcasts. Thanks for the tip!!

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  2. From looking about, it appears that Podcast Capture and Publisher are discontinued with the latest version of Mac OS X (Mountain Lion).

    For creating my podcasts, I use Quicktime Pro and Audacity (a free download). Audacity gives my the fades I wanted for the musical intro.

    For hosting the podcasts, it appears you used to be able to insert your podcast right into a Blogger post, but I think that is no longer available. It is no problem from WordPress though, as I tried it with my non-SoE blog.

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    1. It sounds like I really need to explore Audacity. That sounds fabulously useful. Does it have the same layout as the library in Aviary?

      I'll definitely be asking you for advice about inserting the podcast; that's something I want to come to understand.

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  3. @Pete - Yes, Blogger has an issue with uploading audio, though you may be able to go into the HTML code and insert the embed code. If you can't get Blogger to host your podcast file, you can always put it in your Dropbox, get the public link, and voila -- you're good to go.

    @Saskia - I am an Audacity fan and will go back to it as soon as Aviary closes its doors to Myna, which made me sound way more professional. :) http://audacity.sourceforge.net And as for ADHD, I find that Diigo is such an easy way to keep a bread crumb trail of what I have read so that I can go back and find it again. Of course, our situations are different, but I like, when someone says, "Do you have any good articles on infographics?" to be able to pull up my Diigo Library by that keyword and have the articles easily sharable.

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    1. Huh. Intriguing. I can certainly see that benefit. Perhaps I will need to start doing that...

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  4. Saskia,
    You'll have to show me the in's and out's of pinterest. It sounds like I have the wrong impression of what it is/how it works. I guess I've never given it a fair shot, but you make it sound very useful to you. Tutorialize me soon?

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  5. I don't know how to use Pinterest either. But apparently, it's as addicting as...well, a lot of internet things. But I can relate to your Type-A needs to organize and control the vast input of information that comes at us from all directions.

    That being said, I am glad you find Diigo and Pinterest helpful. I hadn't used any of the tools we learned about in 504 this summer when the program started, so unfortunately my Type-A personality is resisting incorporating a new tool to my already firmly established ways of dealing/coping/organizing myself throughout the summer.

    Add me on the waiting list for your Pinterest tutorial.

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    1. Yes'm!

      Yeah...I fight all that too. I have my way. My way works. Not. Changing. Ever.

      My kind would not survive. Don't care.

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  6. I love Pinterest!!! I do have to remember to "Pin" the things I find online, but it's great! I am also someone who loves organization and I think Evernote will be just what I need. I feel I have high hopes for it though, it better not let me down :). I do love the image you put up, I was mentally checkin off what I have done and what I still need to do hehe.

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  7. AH! ADHD! Such a struggle in the cyber world. It is so much harder to go through old links (many of which have expired) and looking for the part of the website you thought was useful (which you may never be able to find again because you could not highlight the important section). Pinterest has greatly reduced my daily bookmarking habit, and I can actually find things I pinned! I can't wait to have time to explore Diigo. Anything that will help me organize and search through my bookmarks folder is a life-saver.
    I am also a massive fan of making lists. I try to keep them in my planner (or diary if you are feeling British). When I leave my planner in the wrong bag, I feel lost. I know if I write things on stickies, they will get lost in all my paperwork. If I write a reminder in my notes on my computer, it will likely not be seen until finals roll around. Using evernote as a virtual binder to organize my schedule and keep all my documents together is genius! Thank you for showing us your wonderful list, quite helpful in crunch time :)

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