Virginia Tech logo VT Logo

Becoming a Professional III: Organizing Your
(digital) Life

As discussed in class, there are several tools available to help you organize, schedule, or manage your digital life. There are of course more tools than the ones listed here, but these are offered as starting points and to generate other ideas about what is out there that you might want to consider.  This page provides links to gain additional information about each item listed (will be helpful for the assignment).

Collaborative/Cloud Tools

Dropbox

Create folders and administer access to files kept within those folders. 

To learn more:
 

 

Google Drive

Collaboratively create all sorts of documents, including word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and forms.  You can control sharing options for each specific folder.
 
To learn more:
 

 

Zoho

Much more business-focused. Includes a project management/task tracker feature, and has a very different look from Google products. 

To learn more:

[Image from http://maxpixel.freegreatpicture.com]

Organizational Tools

Evernote

A tool that will allow you to save information, sync it across your devices, and have it accessible no matter where you are.  Evernote's motto is "remember everything," and it is a truly impressive tool.  

To learn more:

  • Visit Evernote's "basic" page (scroll down past the sign-up information section) to read about how you can save webpages, images, and even snapshots of handwritten text in a way that will make your information completely accessible and searchable.  
  • Then review the get started guide for information about other features offered on a paid plan (as noted in class, sometimes it may be worth the money if ia tool offers something that could be very useful for you). 
  • Watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjn6YkCY2yA
  • Evernote's YouTube channel

 

Instapaper 

An incredibly simple tool that lets you save webpages to read later.  You can create folders to organize your webpages and articles. Like the other tools featured here, Instapaper works across devices; you can download it to your mobile device.  

To learn more:

 

Remember the Milk

An online to-do list.  It will sync your information across devices, and help you manage your workflow.  

To learn more:

[Image from https://pixabay.com]

Scheduling Tools 

Doodle

A calendaring tool to help you schedule in-person and virtual meetings.  It can also act as a sort of virtual day planner, allowing you to schedule your day with chunks set aside for work, rest, and play! 

To learn more:

  • Watch this video: http://vimeo.com/doodletv/doodle-intro-en  for a quick overview 
  • Basic functions allow you to create a schedule poll and manage the link in your email
  • While you don't have to create an account, if you want to manage your scheduling polls, this page describes a little on how you can do that. They do of course recommend getting a premium account, but that's your call. 
  • They also provide a handy Help page to answer some commonly asked questions.

 

Google Calendar

Schedule meetings and events and get reminders about upcoming activities. Easy to share your schedule with others and invite guests so you know who is coming, who is not, and who is undecided. 

To learn more:

  • The "get started" page (also their help) has more information about what you'll need to create a calendar and how to use calendar functions. 
  • Lots of tutorials on aspects of Google Calendar are available on YouTube (oddly enough, very few are short). However, this one is worth taking a look at: 5 Google Calendar Tips You're Probably Not Using (9:38)
    • While you probably won't need the appointments option now, might be worth keeping in mind for when you are in a practice. 

 

TeamUp

This calendar service focuses on scheduling for groups rather than individuals.  Does not require a user account or login to use.  

To learn more:

[Image from https://pixabay.com/]

Other Journal alerting services & RSS feeds/readers

The library provides information on how to set up alerting services for Tables of Contents, through databases, as well as by publishers.

Find an RSS reader and subscribe to RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds made available (e.g. blogs, societies, podcasts, publishers, etc.). These two webpages provide examples and purposes for some commonly used (and free) RSS readers: