Just as one should organize a physical office space, one should also organize the creation and use of digital information.
Before: “my formerly cluttered desk” by EvelynGiggles is marked with CC BY 2.0.
After: “totally organized office” by EvelynGiggles is marked with CC BY 2.0.
Multiple web-based tools exist for organizing tasks and information. As any efficient researcher knows, organizing information is just as important as gathering information. In this blog post, I provide an overview of resources for time management, collaboration, and research. Some resources are free, some resources are freemium, and some resources are fee-based. Inclusion in this blog post does not imply my endorsement. These resources are included for information purposes. Evaluate them to see which ones work for you.
Resources for Time Management
Both Outlook and iCloud have well-known calendar apps. However, there are others such as Any.do and OneCalendar. Any.do is a calendar that works with mobile devices and on the web. It integrates with Google Calendar, iCloud, Outlook, and more. OneCalendar is a calendar that works on mobile devices and on desktops that have Microsoft Windows 10 and 11 or a Mac operating system. Workflowy is an app that allows users to create a to-do list in outline form and then cross items off the list.
The Pomodoro Method as envisioned by Francesco Cirillo is a time-based plan in which people spend four sets of 25 minutes working. There is a break of 5 minutes after the first three 25 minute periods. After the fourth 25 minute period, they take a 15 minute break.
Any timer may be aligned with the Pomodoro timeframe or web-based (or app-based) timers may be used. Marinaratimer, Pomofocus, and TomatoTimer are three web-based timers that adhere to the Pomodoro Method.
Cold Turkey is an app that allows users to block apps, websites, and games on their computers for fixed periods of time.
Resources for Collaboration
When groups think about creating documents together, Google Docs and Microsoft Word often come to mind. However, there are other apps such as Zoho Writer. Microsoft, Google, and Zoho also offer web-based tools for creating presentation slides and spreadsheets. Also note Padlet which allows users to create boards of images and lists and share them with others. Petra Hillebrand has created a board entitled Padlet Apps and Plugins. RiseUp’s Pad allows users to create lists on the web and does not store IP addresses. Within Slack, users may create teams and send each other messages and documents through the platform.
Resources for Research
Reference Managers allow you to save webpages, documents, and more to a folder or other file and will automatically generate citations. Three popular reference managers include Zotero, Juris M, and EndNote. All of these reference managers allow users to add the bibliographic information of items manually or automatically through a browser extension or by typing in search terms. PowerNotes is a tool for highlighting information from websites and then automatically generating an outline.
Last year, I published a more detailed blog post on reference managers entitled #Organize Your #Research with Note-Taking Apps and Reference Managers. In that post, I included a link to my comparison chart of Evernote, OneNote, Mendeley, and Zotero.
Organizing both tasks and information is important. Keep track of the resources and methods that you use to organize your tasks and information. Again, review which resources and methods align with your work flow.
