Archive for the ‘Organization’ Category

RSS Update 1

Thanks to Pat for bringing to my attention that the new RSS feed for this blog doesn’t seem to be working.  I plan to switch the feed over to a third-party service this evening, 1/10/15, so if you read this blog in a feedreader and you’re still using the old feed, this will likely be the last post on that feed.

I’ll post another update when the changeover is complete, so please, come back here and visit the actual blog at my new address, www.drdamian.org/blog.  At that time, I hope you’ll subscribe to the new feed and continue with me on this blogging journey I’ve been on for over half my career now.

Quick Housekeeping Note

In an effort to consolidate my social media/Internet presence, I’m in the process of “rebranding” everything under the handle drdamian (or, on Twitter and Instagram, _drdamian with an underscore).  That includes my portfolio website – formerly DamianBariexca.net – which is now DrDamian.org.  Besides being sorta catchy, there’s less room for human error when I tell someone the URL (I’ve been spelling Bariexca for people nearly as long as I’ve been able to talk, but it tends to throw people when they first try to spell or write it).

This blog is also getting a URL makeover.  I first purchased the ApaceOfChange.com domain name simply to redirect to my Edublogs site when I started blogging in the summer of 2007.  It wasn’t until December 2008 that I began the self-hosted WordPress version that has existed until now.

The old domains will redirect to the new for a few months, but if you subscribe to this blog in a feedreader, please update your feed accordingly:

New URL: drdamian.org/blog

New RSS feed: drdamian.org/blog/feed Do not use.

I know it might seem narcissistic, but to me it’s more about hashing out my understanding of digital identity and the digital footprint to which I contribute almost daily.  My two biggest concerns at this point are:

  1. not losing the few readers I have (but does anyone use RSS anymore?  Besides me, I mean), and
  2. getting the new, singular identity to get the same level of juice in the search results for my name as all my disparate identities that have been around for the last eight years

If anyone has any suggestions (that don’t involve me buying your amazing new SEO service), I’m all ears.

Update: The old Feedburner feed appears to still be updating for now.  Fair enough, but that won’t be the case once the ApaceOfChange domain expires this summer.  Better to switch over now, IMHO.

Update 2: I’m going to be switching the RSS feed over to a third-party service tonight (1/10/15), so please update your feedreaders accordingly afterward.

Wishing You a Productive New Year

Every so often I like to write about how I work and the tools I use to make my workflow as efficient and effective as possible.  Vicki Davis’ recent post about the productivity apps she likes got me thinking about what has changed in my own workflow since my last writing, as well as what has stayed the same.

The Mainstays: Evernote & Google Apps

I’ve been a loyal (read: paying) Evernote user since January 2009 and have seen the service explode in popularity since then.  I did my first writeup on this blog about Evernote shortly thereafter, and while the layout and bells and whistles have changed since then, the core functionality that keeps me gladly shelling out $45 every year for the service remains the same: my text notes and files are synchronized across and accessible from all my devices – my Android tablet and phone, my personal desktop and laptop, and my work laptop.  Any information I store there is accessible (and easily searchable in both raw text and files, thanks to Optical Character Recognition) to me at a moment’s notice.  I’ve lost count of how many times I have been asked a question at work and my response is, “Hang on; I’ve got it here on my phone.”  I use Evernote for both professional and personal note-taking and file storage, and there’s even a section of my dissertation devoted to how it is not only appropriate but also desirable to use a program like Evernote for storing research data.

Google Apps is another productivity tool I use daily, at work and at home.  Google Calendar helps my family to keep all our various appointments and obligations straight at home, while at work our Child Study Team uses a shared calendar to schedule IEP and other meetings without overlapping each other or double-booking staff members.  I don’t use Google Docs/Drive all that much at home, but at work it is absolutely invaluable for sharing and collaborating on documents with colleagues.  Of course, the fact that these services (including Gmail) are all easily accessible from multiple locations, including my phone and tablet, make them worth their weight in gold, or bad cliches.

The Newcomers: ToodleDo & Copy

Last time I did one of these writeups, Remember the Milk was my online to-do list of choice.  I don’t quite remember why I stopped using the service, but I was paying the $25 annual fee for a very robust service that, quite frankly, I didn’t really need.  ToodleDo provides much of the same basic functionality for free – multiple lists (Work, Home, etc.), due dates, notes for each individual task, etc.  As much as ToodleDo is more basic than RTM, I still don’t even use all that ToodleDo has to offer.  While there’s no official Android app, there are a few in the Google Play store that sync with the service (my favorite is MyToodle).

Until fairly recently, Dropbox was my service of choice for syncing my documents (those not already stored in Evernote, anyway) across my laptop, desktop, and mobile devices.  I had earned a fair bit of extra storage beyond their free 2GB by referring new members and participating in events like Dropquests.  It worked very well for me for what it does, but I only had enough free storage space to sync my documents, not ALL my files, including pics, music, and some home videos.  That’s not Dropbox’s shortcoming; I acknowledge that’s my own issue in wanting more for free.  What bugged me about Dropbox is that a lot of the “free space” I was earning was now all of a sudden for a limited time only.  For example: I bought an HTC phone, and was “rewarded” with 25GB or so of free Dropbox space.  The fine print, however, states that that space expires after a period of time (one year, two years; I don’t remember).  This did not sit well with me at all – if I earn the space, give me the space to keep! – so I began looking for other alternatives.

I found a few free Dropbox alternatives that also offered a) more free space and/or b) paid plans that were cheaper than Dropbox’s plans (e.g., 4Sync, Box), but I hit paydirt when I found Copy.

Copy provides much of the same basic functionality as Dropbox (sync/storage, cloud access, shared files/folders, etc.), but their free storage capacity was significantly higher than any other plan.  Right now Copy and 4Sync both offer 15GB of free sync/storage, but with Copy you can earn 5GB (yes, GIGA) per referral.  Compare that to Dropbox’s 500MB per referral on free accounts.  Sign up for Copy via someone else’s referral link (<–like mine) and you get an additional 5GB of free space for a total of 20GB.  There’s even an option to auto-tweet from the Copy service for an additional 2GB (you can always unlink your account afterward and keep the storage space).

As of this date, Copy has not limited the amount of free space one can earn via the referral program.  There are reports floating around the web that some users have earned terabytes of free space; I’ve earned nearly 200GB myself (but I could always use more!), which has been enough to let me store all my documents, photos, videos, and music in one central location, always accessible.

A recurring theme, if you haven’t noticed, is my ability to access all these tools on the move.  Despite having an office, I don’t actually spend a ton of time in it, so being able to whip out my phone and look up something in Evernote or consult my team’s calendar wherever I am is a luxury that I’m starting to treat as a necessity, for better or for worse.  I can see what needs to be done today and access files maybe I didn’t expect to need as long as I have an Internet connection.

Beyond the easy accessibility from multiple devices, the ability to input from multiple devices is just as important.  While it’s nothing to add something to my to-do list from my phone, I much prefer a laptop or desktop for longer typing tasks.  My vision is still good enough (for now) that I can read fine on small screens, but it would take me forever to type out on a phone what would take me 5-10 minutes to type on a traditional keyboard.

My point in writing this piece is not to get into a “this service is better than that service” tit-for-tat, and while it’s tech-centric, the moral of the story is not about online services, either (I carry a notepad and pen with me at all times and use them daily, too).  Rather, it’s about access: having access to multiple tools for multiple needs in multiple contexts and situations is what allows me to work as efficiently as I can.

As an adult, I am lucky to have the autonomy to make those decisions for myself.  In this new year, and each year beyond, I ask that you deliberately consider the choices you make for your own productivity, and what opportunities you give your students for similar decision-making.  I would love to see more and more students given (as if it is ours to give) the opportunity to use a variety of tools – whether it is paperbacks or e-books, keyboards or dictation software, notepads or cellphones – in order to help them to manage their own workflow, and, by extension, take more ownership over their learning.

Use Android 4.3 Owner Info to Recover a Lost Nexus 7

To celebrate my blog’s sixth birthday I thought I’d go back to my (ed)tech blogging roots and do a quick write-up on my new toy, Google’s updated Nexus 7 tablet.

One of the changes Google brought to Android 4.3 is the “Owner Info” option, which allows you to insert text that appears on the lock screen.  For as often as I travel with my electronics, I thought I’d use that to put my contact information and a reward offer front and center on the lock screen in case I ever lose my tablet.

I’m doing this with my new Nexus 7, but I’m guessing this would work for any device running Android 4.3.  It’s a simple process:

First, go to Settings > Security and look for the “Owner Info” option:

N7 Screen 1

Select “Owner Info”, check “Show owner info on lock screen”, and type in your message.  Mine’s simple; it just reads, “If found, contact (my phone number) for reward.”  You could also put a Twitter handle or your email address; if you run your own domain and are feeling really fancy, you could set up a custom email address for this sort of thing (e.g., rewardinfo@yourdomain.com):

N7 Screen 2

Exit out of Settings and lock your tablet.  When you wake it back up, you should see your custom message in the middle of the screen:

N7 Screen 3

My tablet is also locked with a PIN.  Anyone who finds my misplaced tablet is not going to be able to use it, so they have two realistic options: get in touch with me to collect a reward, or leave the tablet where it is.  Seems like a no-brainer to me.

Of course, the preferred scenario is that I don’t lose my tablet in the first place, but if I do, I’m hopeful this will provide enough incentive for whoever recovers it to get it back to me.

 

 

My Go Bag

Although I am a building-based school psychologist (which means I rarely leave my one building for work-related purposes), my recent forays into Edcamp organization, consulting, presenting, and grad school have me learning and working on the road more than ever before.  While I’m on the move at school, I can do a lot with just my mobile phone, a pad, and pen, but traveling further afield requires more firepower than I can fit in my pockets.  After many trials and more than a few errors, I think I’ve put together a “go bag” that ought to cover me in most circumstances.

The Bag

After some hunting around, I settled on the Timbuk2 Command Laptop Messenger Bag.  It’s billed as “TSA-friendly” due to the zip release that allows the bag (actually a very tight clamshell design – hard to describe; hit up the link for pics) to split open and lay completely flat for airport X-ray machines.  This is apparently a big deal for people who travel with more than one device (e.g., tablet and laptop).  I didn’t get it for this feature, but it’s nice to know it’s there if I need it.

Of greater concern to me was the bag’s build quality.  I’ve had too many broken straps, holey compartments, and torn zippers on past bags, so all the reviews I read espousing the quality of Timbuk2 products definitely influenced me to shell out a little more for a bag that seems like it will last (the lifetime guarantee helped my decision-making process as well).

From a capacity standpoint, this bag looks and feels compact, but functions very much like a real-life bag of holding.  Seriously, I have a hard time filling this thing, and it’s not for lack of trying.  The laptop actually goes in a slim foam padded compartment on the rear of the bag, and the laptop charger brick fits into a compartment on the bottom of the bag, leaving the main compartment free to hold other items.  There are pockets and zippers galore on this thing, but one feature I especially appreciate is the main flap closure – the flap is anchored by two aluminum hooks instead of velcro.  That’s a very welcome feature for the guy who rolls into grad class 15 minutes late every week and would like to avoid the very conspicuous rrrrrrrrrip of velcro that further disturbs the class.

Organization

I purchased a Grid-It organizer to keep my cables corralled in my bag.  Micro/mini USB, Ethernet, etc. – these are all cables I’ve found myself needing (and not having) at some point in the past few years, so I thought it would be good to warehouse some spares.  The Grid-It keeps everything in one place and frees up the pockets and compartments for pens, notepads, Swiss Army knife, and other assorted handy items.

I tend to keep all my work accessible via services like Dropbox, Evernote, and Google Drive, but I keep a handful of USB drives in my bag mainly for emergency data transfer, but also to give away as needed.  I get so many for free at various functions that I thought this would be a better use for them than sitting in a desk drawer collecting dust.

Table of Contents

Here’s a complete list of everything I’ve managed to stuff into this bag.  Amazingly enough, the Command accommodates it all very well and doesn’t feel bulky or awkward at all.  In addition to the basics (laptop, charger, phone, & iPod), this is what comes with me on my journeys:

  • Grid-It Organizer
    • Micro USB cables
    • Mini USB cables
    • iPod cable
    • 4-port USB charger
    • Ethernet cable
  • Targus power strip
  • Earphones
  • USB thumb drives
  • Notepad
  • Pens
  • Sharpie
  • Swiss Army Knife
  • Caffeine pills (I hate coffee)
  • Migraine pills (I hate headaches, too)
  • Spare wallet with consultant ID, emergency credit card, & dollar bills for vending machines

Do you keep a “go bag”, or do you have any must-have gadgets, cables, or thingamabobs I should add to my list of essentials?  Let me know in the comments.