Personal Information Management
(PIM) was certainly not a term I’d met before encountering Thing 14. I certainly
didn’t think of the actions involved needing specialist study for organisation
of information. It’s just something I do without thinking really – creating and
saving files, researching new topics, leaving tabs on the IPad left open to
come back to (23 before starting this section) – hmmm, perhaps there is room
for improvement in how I deal with some aspects of information handling both at
home and work. But do I need further new online tools for this or simply be a
more organised person with the systems I already use and have available to me? With
a great deal of interest, I explored all the suggested PIM tools recommended in
Thing 14.
Evernote – a notebook creator and sharer, tools to clip articles
and whole web pages, ability to add photos and links to individual notes and
sharing capabilities too. Goodness, what a tool. I created a few notes and
added links etc and was impressed with the formatting tools in the note section,
so you could start turning your notes into more formal pieces of work. I also
found the web clipper a boon, especially as it gave several options others didn’t
(like Pocket) to save article, simplified web page or the whole web page or take
a screen shot. A very useful piece of kit I think, especially for a particular purpose.
If you were prepared to do everything on a laptop or IPad rather than paper
this could be really useful for a university course. Or perhaps doing lots of research
for a project or multiple or even for holiday planning. I can see its uses and
positives though how you export and print off the notes and books I have yet to
find – though that rather defeats the object of the software. Would I use this?
Possibly for a large project or online course, but as the site if block at work
I certainly will not be using there where use of Onenote and the Onedrive are
greatly encouraged. But I do like the ability to clip a whole web page useful,
and with the clipper icon on the Google chrome window now, that becomes a very
easy option indeed. And for someone who leaves windows open to come back to often
for months, so I don’t lose the place, the clipping function is a revelation. So
maybe, just maybe this will be useful to me.
Feedly. I had registered for a RSS site earlier on in this course and
have rarely darkened its website since. Revisiting an RSS site in this case
Feedly, I’m reminded though of what I have missed out on – the ability to see
updates on multiple blogs or sites all on one screen and access them from
there. While loving the blog I have created, I’m not really into following a
whole number of other peoples. Yet I could see this being useful for work if I
had a class posting their book reviews or creative work all on blogs for the
reasons above. While I appreciate the uses of this tool, I don’t yet have the interest
or the blogs to follow to make regular revisiting of Feedly worthwhile at the
present – I just don’t need this area of my information life organised.
Remember the Milk (RTM). I’m not sure I want to. Yet another new account
to log into took me to a glorified online task manager and list maker. All
straight forward to use though the display of the to do things seemed a bit
small to me – glad I was viewing on my laptop. I created a couple of tags
actually I can see the use of if you have such a hectic life you need to find
appointments relating to your holidays or forthcoming concerts, and the email
reminder I set for an appointment did promptly arrive the next day. If you used
this for both work and home planning it would allow you to log in and check you’re
not affecting another appointment, though that would be a huge commitment of
time to inputting data and for me work stays at work. I feel for me using this would require me to have a much more exciting life
to create enough content to put in it to make proper use of it than I do at
present. And it would have to be an all or nothing approach to RTM and ignore
any other device on your phone, tablet, email system what may offer to the same
thing. Perhaps if I were forward planning for a large project at work this
could prove useful especially the reminders. Call be old fashioned, but I’d
rather make proper use of my paper diary at the moment at home, and my outlook calendar
at work.
Pocket. Just another web clipping service? Yes, it is, and doesn’t
offer the choices that Evernote does with its clipping facility. Yet I have become
a convert to this piece of software on the pad and PC. What grabbed me first was
the simplicity – it’s there to perform one task and not get tied up with
multiple task options like Evernote. Once I had some items clipped into the
programme I thought the tile display was very clear and accessible and to be
taken again to the original copy. If there I a downside with this it is around
the how it saves one information from websites. Occasionally it didn’t save it
all though the go to original page option kept me happy. I just need to remember this is for more
articles, and videos, not for saving a whole or complex website. I can see
using this for both personal and work use being incredibly useful. Already my
23 open tabs on the Ipad are now clipped and just 4 are left open today. I can clip recipes, holiday information,
interesting news articles, articles people email me links for at work in
seconds and while web browsing to go back to later. I also found the ‘Explore’ option
very interesting and a useful way of finding related articles to topics I’m interested
in and related. This has already started the process of tidying up my personal information
at home and will help at work too as articles, pictures and links can now be
clipped away straightway, rather then hanging around my desk top, email system
waiting to be read or printed out and put somewhere to be read later and lost. I can now read these items at a time and place
that suites me and I know where they are too.
Having tried all the four PIM
tools, I can say that while I personally don’t have a need as yet for most of
them, I can appreciate the usefulness of them in the right situation or right
need arose. Evernote and Pocket are the two I have found agreeable as they offer
me something I find very useful in dealing with an information management situation
– what to do with articles, recipes etc on my IPad other than keep the tab open
till I’m ready to read it whether on the IPad or PC. The web clipping service
of these tools, especially Pocket, meet this personal need. And using PIM tools
really comes down to personal situation and need. There is no point having them
just for the sake of it unless they are working for you, to deal with a specific
information need.
My notepad and diary are quite safe for now.
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