- "This would be perfect for class next fall!"
- "This article falls right in line with the project Joe Smith and I are working on."
- "I'd love to read this when I have more time."
- "I need to read this again when I'm 70 (or next summer, or when I'm ready to prep a new class, or before I buy a car.)"
- I bookmark the article using my Delicious account. Admittedly it's an OLD tool and I have an account that's somehow stuck around through multiple iterations of Delicious (all the way back to when it was delicio.us and it was tied to Yahoo). *
- I email the link to myself, forever to be lost in the ether of my inbox.
- I email the link to someone else, forever to be lost in the ether of his/her inbox.
Now, I'm experimenting with a few different tools to help me organize and share my collections. I'll share some of the tools I'm experimenting with; perhaps you'll find them useful, too.
LiveBinders calls itself 'your 3-ring binder for the web.' It allows you to create a "binder" of content (with notes to yourself!). You can share the content of each binder or keep it private. Picture it as a shelf in your office with multiple binders based on a topic of your choosing. Some users choose to make their binders public, a way of publishing collections for the greater good, if you will. Check out the "featured" binders for examples. At a recent conference, one of the presenters shared her LiveBinder full of resources she'd mentioned in her presentation, the presentation itself and many other related resources. It was a nice take-away.
PROs: I like the organization functions. I'm creating LiveBinders for a Tech Lab I'm teaching. I have a binder for PE teachers using technology and another binder for elementary teachers using technology. I have tabs for PE in the news, PE educators to follow (links to blogs or Twitter feeds or websites created by PE teachers) and PE Tech Tools. I can add websites, images or videos (with a paid subscription, I could upload content). I've changed the layout of my binders to add a text box next to everything I put in, so I can write my own commentary. I can make the binder public, or require a pass code to see the binder. Students can add comments.
CONS: Haven't found any yet!
Padlet (formerly known as Wallwisher) is the digital version of your office corkboard filled with post-it notes. Create a "wall" and then populate it with sticky notes containing URLs, embedded videos, images and upload files. You can have lots of walls - one for each subject matter you're collecting. You can allow other users to post to your wall, you can make your wall public or you can just keep them all to yourself.
In addition to using Padlet as a collection spot, I've used it collect input from students. In this Padlet, I've asked each student in a Reading Methods class to post a link to an eBook he/she created, listen/read the ebooks posted by peers, and then give each other feedback - all on one wall.
PROS: I like this tool because it has multiple purposes (which can also be a CON). The ability to upload documents is nice. Items can be tagged and no one is required to log in (unless the creator of the wall requires it).
CONS: walls can get filled up and there's no search function within a wall.
Dropbox is a nice alternative to Google Docs. It seems a bit cleaner and more straightforward (there are folders that look like folders and are called folders!). I can create a folder for each collection of content I'm interesting in keeping. I can share the folder or the individual documents within the folder. Two major downfalls for me: 1) having to use a 3rd party add-on (URL Droplet) to add weblinks, and 2) the inability to attach a note to any of the elements within my Dropbox.
What do you use to collect your digital things?
One other that I've come across since writing (most) of this post is mammothhq.com (Mammoth). I think it has great potential - it feels like LiveBinder, but with more flair and more ways to customize the look and feel of the content. I haven't played enough with it to give it a full review yet.
ReplyDeleteI really like these recommendations as I don't have a great system. I try to use Evernote to "clip" articles or sites but don't take the time to organize them. I don't have a central place to organize these things I've collected. I'm interested to see what other people use.
ReplyDeleteI used delicious for a while--loved its name!--but now I use diigo. Same thing--it bookmarks sites that you can annotate and tag. I LOVE it because I use different computers--in my office, at home, in the classroom. The students don't see as much of a need as they use their own computers most of the time. But when I pointed out the tagging and note-taking aspects, some tried it and loved it, too.
ReplyDeleteI don't like 3-ring binders, so I would not use virtual ones either! Karen Sindelar should check out Live Binders, though!
The wall is cool, but difficult for me to read--too chaotic.
I'm curious about Evernote, but haven't used it yet. Google Docs works for me for organizing and storing stuff on the web. I'm not quite digitized enough to need Evernote . .. yet . . .
Oh, and I also use Pocket if I see an article I want to read and don't have time to read it right away. I can then read it later on any of my devices (laptop, Kindle Fire, iPod touch). I think once you open it, it's downloaded and can even be read offline.
ReplyDeleteI like that Pocket and Diigo have a little applet that makes saving things easy.
I typically email it to myself and put it in a 'Resources' folder, but it usually stays there unattended forever. I love google docs and dropbox, but haven't found them as useful for these sorts of things (random articles/sites I stumble across). I'm interested in the LiveBinder concept... I might have to give that a try this semester! Thanks for sharing! I'm also interested in what other people use.
ReplyDeleteGood to know, thanks!!
ReplyDeleteI am going to try your idea of the binder. I keep trying different sites, forgetting them and then try to recreate which takes more time than it's worth.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the ideas!
Like the idea of the LiveBinders so will need to try that one. I've had a Delicious and Dropbox account and never got into using them. I guess I'm stuck--keep an ongoing list in a word document of links and sources I want to go back to.
ReplyDeleteFor various reasons, I had been collecting bookmarks in three different browsers, so I tried to combine them all in Delicious. However, it's not clear to me how well it imported everything. Thus, I'm reluctant to try another 'organizer' and embark on yet another 'learning curve'. I've also tried Dropbox, but I'm still confused about how to control synching with 'the cloud'. If it seems appropriate, I'd love a workshop on cloud-based applications. Maybe next summer??
ReplyDeleteYet another good use for Dropbox. First, however, I should clean my desk.
ReplyDelete