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Twitter Weekly Link Roundup for 2010-02-07

February 7th, 2010

Miscellaneous tweets …

  • I wish I had 48 hours for every 24 hours that everyone else had. Even then, I know I would never catch up. #
  • “Any teacher who can be replaced by a computer …. should be!” — Arthur C. Clarke via @hjarche #
  • If you don’t subscribe to NYT Technology RSS, you should - they have the BEST articles. #
  • Fraud and online education: http://bit.ly/bXJjcX (but I don’t see any reason why someone couldn’t pull off the same scheme F2F) #
  • I think I’ve found a new assistant (Human Personal Digital Assistant) Hurray! #
  • From Fish to Infinity (what ARE numbers, really) from the NYT today: http://bit.ly/c5JeZq Great for my #MathET class. #
  • Anyone want to repeat this study about Conceptions of Math at your college? http://screencast.com/t/NDBlYzAwNGQ #
  • RT @k8nowak: 7th period prefers “All Strippers Take Cash” #math #
  • How reliable are shuttle launches? Anyone got stats on scheduled launch dates vs. actual launch dates? #
  • Moved into my new office today: http://screencast.com/t/N2JhNThhYW (I may need sunglasses!) #
  • Frantically trying to get everything done before I leave for Arizona (giving the keynote at TechTools 2010, Scottsdale CC). #
  • Also, I might add I’m a little nervous about giving a talk where there are likely more tweeters than normal. I have a plan though … #
  • Sometimes, when I can’t remember how to do something technical, I have to watch my OWN video on how to do it. That just happened. #
  • Myth: If it’s fun, it’s not learning. (aka Games are evil, but simulations and inquiry-based learning is not) #lrnchat #
  • I need to remember to download and watch Digital Nation next week. Curious … #

TechTools 2010 in Scottsdale, Arizona

  • Another early morning … I’m going to spend the Michigan winter escaping to where there’s sun. #
  • I am now in sunny Arizona! #
  • Just went on the tour at Taliesin West. #
  • Has anyone tried https://www.socialoomph.com for timed-release tweets? (used to be Tweet Later) #
  • RT @cherylcolan: Best dressed keynote speaker ever - it’s all about the Docs @busynessgirl http://yfrog.com/1dqsxmj #
  • RT @soul4real: @busynessgirl just called out all the Tweeters in the crowd at #TechTools10 #
  • Great idea for in-class twitter use: Tweet a couple questions before class. Students answer when they log in at beg of class. #
  • Another great idea for twitter & teaching: After students have answered the questions, use a wordle to show collection of answers. #
  • The Math & Technology Workshop tomorrow is COMPLETELY full … 35 participants. This should be fun! #
  • Best conference idea from Scottsdale TechTools: A “bingo” stamp at each session, full card enters you in a drawing for $5K tech grant. #
  • Is Second Life just Twitter with higher bandwidth requirements and cool graphics? #
  • Humor me, give me an example or two, would you? Research or collab that would ONLY work in Second Life. #
  • Great example: Use SL to model disaster response in a physical space. #
  • Good SL example: use it to teach programming, loops, if then, all there … Good programming produces OH WOW! Results #

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Tech Tools 2010

February 6th, 2010

Today I was the keynote speaker for Tech Tools 2010 in Scottsdale AZ, which was really fun!

I survived the twitter backchannel (I “called out” the tweeters, according to @soul4real).  This seemed to work really well and I’ll write more about what I did later.  I also got “best dressed presenter ever” for wearing my magic doc martens with silver swirls.

techtools2010-poster

Here are the links to today’s presentations and resources.

GE Plug into the Smart Grid (Augmented Reality)

Teaching & Learning in the Digital Age Mindmap

Careers in the Future

Have PRIDE in what you TEACH. (What did you learn this month?)

Interdisciplinary Studies

Organize Your Digital Self  (Slides or Mindmap)

For future reference, you can find all of my mindmaps, slide decks, and past recorded webinars under Resources in the menu bar on the top of this blog.

Several of you asked this afternoon about the magnifying program I used to magnify web URLs.  It’s called Virtual Magnifying Glass (free, PC, Mac, or Linux).  If you teach anything from the Internet to a room full of people, you should consider using it!

I was also surprised to discover that many participants who are Second Life regulars had not read Neal Stephenson’s book Snow Crash.  Stephenson basically describes “Second Life” (called the metaverse) in Snow Crash, written in 1992.  So if you want to speculate about what Second Life will become, reading Snow Crash would be a good place to start!

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Digital Organization: Create a clickable resume!

February 1st, 2010

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In Michigan, unemployment is somewhere between 15 and 20%, depending on who’s collecting the data.  Consequently, there are a lot of stories in the news about job fairs, interviewing techniques, and resume advice.  After reading several of these articles this week, I thought clickable resumes would be a good topic for this week’s OYDS task. A clickable resume (CV or portfolio) is not only a great way to increase your visibility on the web, but it will also provide you an easy to access place to store all the little pieces of information that you need to keep with your professional history.

Ideally, you would start this project with an updated paper-version of your resume or vita, but chances are you don’t have one of those laying around just waiting to be used.  In that case, at least begin setting up the structure so that you can begin tracking your professional history online from this point on.  To “fix” the missing information, you can simply place a disclaimer on the bottom of these pages for now, and finish updating them at some point in the future.

clickableresume

Perhaps you’re not convinced … you think you don’t need to keep track of your professional history online?  Consider the following list:

  • Conferences that you’ve attended (with web links to the conference pages)
  • Presentations that you’ve given (with web links to the presentations and/or event websites)
  • Publications (with web links to abstracts, or full-text versions, or a place to buy the publication)
  • Design Portfolio (with web links to sites or projects you’ve designed)
  • Contact information (Twitter, LinkedIn, email, etc.)
  • Educational background (with web links to the departments where you graduated, links to thesis or dissertation information, links to capstone projects)
  • Teaching Experience (with links to course webpages or departments at colleges where you’ve taught)
  • Work Experience (with links to companies you’ve worked at and major projects you’ve been involved with)
  • Professional Activities (the stuff that doesn’t fit well elsewhere, courses you took, conferences you organized, etc.)
  • Community Service or Volunteer Experience (with links to the appropriate organizations and events)
  • Awards and Honors (with links to appropriate press releases, articles, or websites)
  • Featured (sometimes you get a mention in some video or article, in which case, wouldn’t you like to have that on your resume complete with link to the item?)
  • Endorsements (I often ask participants in workshops to write a short blurb to recommend the workshop or presentation to others, I collect them on this page)
  • Frequently Asked Questions (because you can only answer the question “Do you sleep?” so many times before you just want a web page that answers the question for you!)

Every item on the list above has a digital trail.  If you’re only keeping track of these things on paper, you’re missing a lot of information.   If you’re not carefully tracking all these links somewhere, you’re going to start losing them.  Incidentally, you can find examples of almost all of these types of pages under the ABOUT menu on my website/blog, TeachingCollegeMath.com.

clickableresume2

If you already have a clickable resume/vita/portfolio online, then you should consider this a gentle nudge to make sure (a) that it’s current and (b) that you’re not missing some of the details of your professional history that you could be tracking.

Even if you’re just a student with little work experience, you should start a clickable resume/portfolio.  As you create work you’re proud of, you can include it in your online portfolio.  You might find that the need to fill up your pages creates the urge to volunteer to help at events and activities that will beef up your “experience” section.

If you don’t already have a resume/vita online, you need to decide on a format.  The most commonly used platforms are websites or blogs (although I think a wiki would work well too).  If you’re nervous about creating your own webpage, I’ve found that Google Sites is extremely easy to use.  In one of my math classes last semester, every student had to create a clickable resume/portfolio as a final project - we used Google Sites (here’s an example) and it took about 5 minutes of lab time to get everyone using it.

So, get started on your clickable resume, CV, or portfolio.  Your site doesn’t have to be finished, it just has to be set up so that you can begin collecting new information from now on.  At first this is a task under Digital Organization, but after that, it moves into a Digital Maintenance task - something you should keep up with as you get new information.

You have a week to get this task done before we move on to the next Organize Your Digital Self (OYDS) task.  New assignments post each Monday.

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Twitter Weekly Link Roundup for 2010-01-31

January 31st, 2010

Some thoughts about conference presentations:

  • What if … a conference began giving preference to presenters who had completed a short web course in giving good presentations? #
  • Come to think of it, let’s separate conference PAPERS from conference PRESENTATIONS. Why not award them separately? @mcleod #

Miscellaneous …

  • I am absolutely thrilled to see my Calculus students THINKING deeply about that Wolfram Alpha integration assignment. http://bit.ly/60RQcv #
  • Just got new set of cartoons from my favorite illustrator. Everyone should have an illustrator for their whims. :) #
  • “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who can’t read and write, but those who can’t learn,unlearn,and relearn”-Alvin Toffler #
  • I now have an Amazon.com author page! That’s kind of exciting! http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0035Q2SYW #
  • RT @mitchkeller: Girls in elementary school taught by women with math anxiety have greater math anxiety: http://bit.ly/5rQHZw #
  • What will education will look like in 2020, 2030, 2040? Scary, but possible: http://bit.ly/7u9sTJ #
  • I slept on the living room floor with my dog last night. I didn’t want her to be alone. #
  • Halley, 1997-2010 #

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    Watch my AMATYC 2009 Presentation

    January 26th, 2010

    In a “pilot” program, we used Camtasia to record several sessions at the 2009 AMATYC Conference in Las Vegas.  Several of these recordings are now available on the AMATYC 2009 Conference Proceedings Website.

    In particular, you might want to check out my live presentation “Best of the Educational Technology Freebies” … at least, you can check out the first 24 minutes of it (before my spectacular graphics-overload-induced red-screen-of-death computer crash).  The live presentation starts approximately 1 minute into the video.

    2009-amatyc-talk

    There is a Part II (audio with a few PowerPoint slides - all my computer was capable after burning up the graphics capability temporarily), but I guess they haven’t put it up yet.  Update: Part II is now also available here.  Incidentally, this incident sealed the deal on my getting a new tablet PC (I was running with the memory capacity and hard drive maxed on the old one).

    Word to the wise: You should not attempt to simultaneously record new audio narrative for a Camtasia video project running in the background, while running that video in a player on the notebook and projecting to a screen.  Sure, it works for 5 minutes, but will it work for 60? [no, unless you have a really powerful computer and graphics card]

    The easy way to find all the recorded videos from the 2009 AMATYC Conference is to search the Conference Proceedings website (Ctrl-F for find) for the word “flash” (as in Flash video).

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    Digital Organizers: Set up Alerts!

    January 25th, 2010

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    Have you ever wondered how some people seem to know instantly when you’ve mentioned them (or their website) in a blog post?

    Every activity in the digital world leaves a digital footprint (like it or not).  There’s a great video called Digital Dossier that explains the kinds of actions that leave your mark on the web (and it’s mark on you).

    If you haven’t ever googled yourself, try it.  Put your name (as you normally write it online) in quotes and search yourself.  [Example: "Maria H. Andersen"]  Ideally, you want to be happy with the first 10 search results (most people never click through to the second page of results).  If you’re not happy with what you see, then your only choice is to start working on a larger digital footprint that will eclipse what’s there (a website, a blog, a google profile, etc.).

    In the meantime, it’s relatively simple to monitor what your name is doing on the web.  Set up a web alert that will notify you when a new occurrence of your name goes into the search engine.   The most common alert systems are Google Alerts and Yahoo Alerts.  You can set it up alerts to come to you instantly, daily, or weekly.  To minimize the digital clutter, I’d go with weekly alerts (unless you find yourself in a media hot seat, in which case, switch temporarily to receive alerts more frequently).

    google-alerts-2

    At the very least, I’d set up an alert for your name and for the place where you work.  I find that my weekly alerts about my college are informative.  Often, they’re just reports about which team won what event, but sometimes I discover what my colleagues are up to in the real world too.  I know information about my college faster than most people on campus.

    google-alert-email

    The other way to use Alerts is to start searching for keywords in your field of interest.  For example, I have a Google Alert set up for the words innovation and math whenever they occur together in a new web item.   Here are a few suggestions for alerts you may want to set up:

    • Your name
    • Your blog URL and blog name (Example: teachingcollegemath.com and “Teaching College Math”)
    • Your twitter account name (Example: busynessgirl)
    • Your place of employment (Example: “Muskegon Community College”)
    • Your professional fields of interest (Example: math innovation, future education, etc.)
    • Your personal fields of interest (for example, if you have a child with autism, you might set one up for research autism)
    • Your publications (the title of your book or a recent article to see who’s talking about it)
    • Your competitor (it’s always good to know what they’re up to … why stop at your place of employment?)

    At first, it will take you a while to sort through all the alerts you receive each week.  They will all be new to you.  But after a few weeks, you’ll begin to recognize websites you’ve already visited and you’ll have some insights about which items are going to be worthy of clicking.  You may want to tweak your alerts in a month or so to make the wording more precise on general alerts you set up today.

    Even if you already have alerts set up, when was the last time you updated them?  Maybe it’s time to eliminate some, tweak them, or create some new ones?

    So, set up a few alerts and start living on the tip of the cutting edge of the Internet.  You have a week to get this task done before we move on to the next Organize Your Digital Self (OYDS) task.  New assignments post each Monday.

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    Twitter Weekly Link Roundup for 2010-01-24

    January 24th, 2010

    A collection of random links and comments:

    • RT @suehatwilkes I’d like to invite you and your readers to join an online Math 2.0 unconference Feb. 12-19. http://bit.ly/7zw6T8 #
    • Wow, a lot of the MAA PREP programs this year are running online. http://www.maa.org/prep/2010/ #
    • If the first question on the survey isn’t clear, then I’m not taking the survey. End of story. #
    • It’s official. I get to move to the office next door (bigger, and a window in the door, door can be CLOSED during office hours = quiet). #
    • We’ve been trying to figure out a name for the ‘perfect math classroom’ we’re trying to put together. Contenders: Math ELITE and GITMO Room (joke) #
    • Math ELITE: Engaged Learning Interactive Technology Environment (circular tables, whiteboards on 3 walls, smartboard, doc camera + more) #
    • RT @lrnchat: This week on #lrnchat > Facilitating Learning with the Non-Wired Workforce: What’s New? What’s Not? http://j.mp/lrnchat #
    • Finished reading “The Overflowing Brain” while we may not be good at multitasking initially, we may be slowly training our brains to do it. #
    • Using soft skills sims? Help master’s research: take online survey (& circulate to users): http://bit.ly/4ABFE7 #
    • What will the Internet look like in 2020? Short answer: We wouldn’t recognize it today. http://bit.ly/8gmDgX #
    • The cover of my new book, Algebra Activities (1000 pages): http://screencast.com/t/ZTgyZGRiYz #
    • Just set up my Amazon author page. It’s not available yet, but it sure was fun to do it! (21 Algebra Activities workbooks now listed) #
    • RT @tomwhitby: PLN If the Interactive Whiteboards are for kids to be interactive shouldn’t they be able to reach them? Duh!!! #

    Some short 140-character rants about how Wolfram Alpha deals with logarithms and complex numbers:

    • The way @wolfram_alpha does logarithms is still driving me NUTS with regards to students. Why can’t they fix this? #
    • A logarithm is DEFINED as the inverse of an exponential function in every course below calculus. It is NOT defined for x<=0. @wolfram_alpha #
    • When you integrate du/u, the result is ln(abs(u)) … not log(u) … for heaven’s sake. Reference? About 20 calc textbooks. @wolfram_alpha #
    • Problem is not so much the ln vs log thing. I can explain that one. It’s inclusion of complex answers with no way to remove. @wolfram_alpha #
    • Don’t make me write a long and detailed blog post about how this is screwing up my students. @wolfram_alpha #
    • I just wish they would give us the option for results that include complex numbers and answers that do not. @wolfram_alpha @MikeCr #
    • W|A can be for educators, scientists, and “everyone else” if they just give us the two options … complex included or not. @wolfram_alpha #

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    Wolfram Alpha for Inquiry Based Learning in Calculus

    January 22nd, 2010

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    Now that all my Calculus II students know about Wolfram Alpha (I showed them), I have to make sure that the assignments I ask them to turn in can’t just be “walphaed” with no thought.  In Calc II, our topics list includes a lot of “techniques-oriented” topics (integration by partial fractions, integration by parts, etc.) and because of the need to keep this course transferable to 4-year schools, I can’t really get around this.  So now I’m in the position of having to reconcile the use of technology that easily evaluates the integrals with making sure that students actually understand the techniques of integration.  There are two ways I’m tackling this:

    1. CCC (Concept Compare Contrast) Problems: I’m writing problems that focus on understanding the mathematical process and the compare/contrast nature of math problems.  While Wolfram Alpha can evaluate the integrals for them, the questions I’ve asked require (I hope) a deeper level of understanding about what happens when the techniques are used.  Here’s an example from my recent problem set:

    There are two pairs of problems below that are exactly the same. You won’t see why until you do the integration, showing all the steps. Find the pairs and then explain how the matched integrals are fundamentally the same.

    wa-ibl-1

    2. Inquiry Based Learning: One appropriate use for any CAS (computer algebra system) is to use it as a way for students to explore problem types that they have not learned about yet.  Here’s a definition of IBL, in case you’re not familiar with the terminology:

    Designing and using activities where students learn new concepts by actively doing and reflecting on what they have done. The guiding principle is that instructors try not to talk in depth about a concept until students have had an opportunity to think about it first (Hastings, 2006).

    It is relatively easy to use IBL in the really low levels of math (K-6) where there is not as much abstraction of concepts.  However, with the introduction of variables, rules, theorems, and definitions that come later in math, the use of IBL requires either that the instructor act as the inquiry tool or the use of CAS.

    Back to the point (how to use Wolfram Alpha to do this):  I could have just taught the integral techniques straight up … here’s the technique, now apply it … repeat.  But learning the technique is not anywhere near as important (at least, in my mind) as learning to decide when to use a technique, i.e. what makes one integral different from another?

    This semester, I’m doing it backwards.  In the problem set before we look at specific techniques of integration, the students will use Wolfram Alpha to evaluate twenty integrals.  Then they will look for patterns in the answers and the problems, and try, on their own, to make sense of what kinds of problems solicit different answers.  After they understand what characteristics make one integral fundamentally different (in technique of integration) from another, then we’ll look at how each technique works.  Below, you see a few examples of the integrals the students will explore.  You can view the whole assignment here.

    wa-ibl-2

    For years, we’ve had CAS tools like Derive, Mathematica, Sage, Maple, etc. However, the use of these programs traditionally required so much coding minutia that the IBL often got lost in the coding.  How do I know? Because this was my experience as a student.  I had instructors that tried to teach me this way.  All I remember is how painful the coding was.  I followed the directions in the labs, I typed what I was supposed to type, and I answered the questions that were put forth to me.  But in the end, I never sat down at a computer and generated my own inquiries.  The details of using the programs were so painful that I just didn’t have any desire.

    Here’s the sum total of the directions that were necessary for me to teach students how to evaluate integrals in Wolfram Alpha:

    For example, here’s how to do the first one: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=integrate+10/(x^2-16)

    wa-ibl-3

    I think Wolfram Alpha is a game-changing CAS (and no, I’m not being paid by someone to say this).  For better or for worse, my students are now using W|A on their own, without any prompting from me.  Their evidence of usage is showing up in emails, in discussion board questions, and in questions they ask in the classroom.  Maybe my class is unusual because I’ve given them the first push… but it’s just a matter of time before W|A is discovered by your students too.

    NOTE: If you’ve missed all the other posts I’ve made about Wolfram|Alpha, you can see all of them here.

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    How to give a (good) webinar

    January 21st, 2010

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    If you’ve been to two webinars, chances are you’ve seen at least one that was not very engaging.  I don’t mean to pick just on webinars - chances are if you’ve been to two conference presentations, you’ve seen one there too.  However, most people won’t walk out of a boring conference presentation.  In a webinar, participants can remain “in the virtual room” without actually being anywhere near the computer or presentation.  As a webinar presenter, how do you ensure you don’t end up speaking to a ghost crowd?

    If you’re going to give a good webinar, you first need to make sure that you actually design your presentation for the webinar format (don’t plan to just do the same presentation that you normally run in person).  You need to know what kinds of tools are usually available in the webinar platforms, and how to keep the audience engaged when you’re missing those facial cues you normally get from a live in-person audience.

    Presentation design is a whole other topic in itself (I taught a 9-hour course in digital presentation design last fall), but I can help a bit with the details of how to redesign for a webinar format and how to be prepared for all the details.

    I wrote an article for eLearn Magazine (just published today) called Tips for Effective Webinars.  In it I go through a “Before, During, and After” set of tips for giving a good, effective, and engaging webinar.

    elearn-tips-for-effective-webinars

    Here’s topics list for the tips that appear in the article:

    • Recording and distribution
    • Presentation design
    • Engage often
    • Animation
    • Hyperlinks
    • Video clips
    • Trial run
    • Arrive early
    • Clear directions
    • Desktop sharing
    • Webcam sharing
    • The echo
    • After the Webinar

    Head over to the full-text of the article Tips for Effective Webinars at eLearn Magazine.  When I gave my first webinar, the folks at the UW Extension office were nice enough to give me some training and advice, but not every new webinar presenter gets that.  So please, forward the article to anyone you know that could use a little training on how to give an effective webinar.

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    Digital Decluttering: Get Control of Your Unruly Data

    January 18th, 2010

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    This week, I tackled a non-digital task that has been driving me nuts for years.  I had one spice rack and two spice drawers, but whenever I needed to find a spice, I ended up looking in all three places. Even worse, I had to pull out every single jar to read what was on the label.  During this process, I often discovered that I had  duplicate spice jars or that I was completely out of the spice I was looking for.  Over the winter break I purchased a 48  little glass jars with white tops, and yesterday I moved all the spices into these jars, labeling the side and the top of each with the name of the spice.  Sure enough - there were duplicates, there were empty jars, and in the end, I got this unruly collection down to one drawer of neatly organized spices.  Now that it has some uniform structure to it, I can find the spice I am looking for easily and quickly check for the spices I need when I am making a grocery list.

    spicedrawer

    What would be the equivalent of this organizational task in our digital world?  For me, the digital spices are all the miscellaneous and unruly pieces of information about professional trips I take during the year, including flights, presentation titles, speaking fees, lodging, who I’m meeting for dinner and on which nights, who is reimbursing me, etc.  This information is all over my computer and the Internet (in email, on websites, and in files).  Every time I got ready to go on a trip, I found myself in a panic, hoping that I’ve got all the right information and that I hadn’t forgotten something crucial (like booking a hotel room).  Like the spices, the details for each trip are fairly similar in structure, but they lack the proper “container” to hold all the information.

    In the last year I’ve begun using TripIt (which is free) to hold all the travel and lodging information for trips (you can just forward your emailed confirmation bookings to TripIt and they are all imported into one place).  Using TripIt has definitely improved how I track trip information, but I’m also worried about losing information about whether I’ve registered (if I need to), when my presentations are, who my contact persons are on the trip, etc.  Maybe there’s a magic web tool to organize all of this (ConferenceIt?), but I haven’t seen it yet.

    tripit

    During the next year I will be traveling out-of-state on at least ten trips, giving different presentations at each.  Just like with the spice drawer, it was time to get control of this information too.   So I made something of a checklist/table document that lists everything that I would possibly want to know about every trip I take:

    • Event name
    • Location
    • Event date(s)
    • Travel date(s)
    • Funding for event (who’s providing the conference fee?)
    • Funding for travel & lodging (sometimes this is different)
    • Speaking fee (if applicable)
    • Contact info (who is your main contact at the event?)
    • Event website
    • Event Venue (it might not be where you’re lodging)
    • Presentations, times, and technology (Internet, projector, etc.)
    • Other events during this trip (dinners, breakfasts, meetings)
    • Registration (and date paid, if applicable)
    • Travel (flights, mileage, and/or car rental information)
    • Lodging
    • Meals (costs to be added after event)
    • Invoice (how and when did I submit for reimbursement / payment)
    • Payment / Reimbursement (when did I receive reimbursement / payment)

    digital-spice-drawer

    I’ve gone back through every trip I plan to take in the next six months, and filled out all the data that I currently know for each event.  These are all filed in the appropriate folder in my mega folder called “Conferences” (which also includes miscellaneous speaking engagements).

    conference-folders

    Now, when I get new information about an event (like a dinner invitation or a change to my presentation time), I don’t have to try to file it away in my personal memory somewhere, I can just open the data file and update the file with the new information.  This blank table is my digital equivalent of the empty glass spice jars with the uniform white tops.

    In this case, it was important that I be able to access the data from any computer, so I have the files folders stored in my synced Dropbox (see Sort those Files!).  Another wise place to store these kinds of files would be in a web-based document application like Google Docs, since it would be accessible anywhere with Internet access.

    For me, the “digital spice drawer” was my cluttered and hard-to-find trip information, but for you it might be something different.  As you’re going through your normal week, keep an eye out for some aspect of your digital life where you need to get control of some unruly data of your own.

    Once you’ve found that “digital spice drawer” in your life,  take the time to bend it to your organizational will.  I would love it if you’d share the examples of your own “digital spice drawers” or other tips on ways to organize them.

    You have a week to get this task done before we move on to the next Organize Your Digital Self (OYDS) task.  New assignments will post each Monday.  This is just the tip of the digital decluttering iceberg.

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    What I'm Doing...
    • Is plotting some way to see the Space Shuttle launch in March. 12 hrs ago
    • Has anyone else noticed that they jumped up to an enormous number of tweets? Suddenly I have 16,000+ tweets. Was recently 5000 or so. 1 day ago
    • I wonder if I can imbed a twitter rss feed inside the webassign announcements panel. Going to try tonight. 1 day ago
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