Organizing Resolutions

I'm working my way through a book called, One Year to an Organized Work Life by Regina Leeds, Da Capo Press, 2009.  I highly recommend this book, because it is a whole system already set up and designed, and you can jump right in and implement as much as you like without having to think too much about what you should or should not be doing.  So far I have been tackling my calendar, address book and contacts.

Here's a link to an article I have been using to help me weed through all my business cards and cryptic notes, "23 Ways to Organize Business Cards for Effective Follow-up"  It's an article by Stephanie Calahan from her blog which is about being "productive and organized."

My home office is in a state of transition, to say the least.  I had a "puffback" event with my furnace which covered a lot of things in my basement with oily soot, and I am in the process of transitioning to a life that is more on-the-road than ever.  So I am experimenting with taking some of my work "into the cloud" so to speak, and using Google as an easy starting point.  According to a NY Times article I read, "Meet the Life Hackers," productive people don't have any one common organizing system they all use (paper vs. electronic systems, for example) but they do have one common organizing trick--they find one flexible system and use that to organize all their stuff.  Which makes sense from an efficiency standpoint, since that way you're not wasting time shifting back and forth among media.  I've always been a paper gal, but I'm experimenting with cloud-based applications.  (The "cloud" means a Web-based, login system where somebody else stores all your data and software interface on their server computer somewhere in a "mystical cloud," and you can access it anywhere and anytime as long as you have an Internet connection and a device to display it.)  Don't kid yourself, the cloud isn't up there with Avalon, it is an office building somewhere and somebody is maintaining those computers and the data they store, and making money off of it one way or the other.  A "cloud" can go out of business, loose all your data, or get hacked, so we'll see what the future holds for this way of delivering data.  Always have plan B is my motto as far as that goes!)  And for my choice of Google--what can I say, it's free.  Yes, I know, they are spying on me.  I pity the poor guy or gal at Google who has that job!  I won't completely give up paper, because I don't want to be chained to a plug, but the new electronic management tools do have their perks-- such as potentially being "all in one" delivery systems.

I've been reading through the research I did in 1999 for my masters thesis, "Using the Internet in Environmental Education" while simultaneously trying to upgrade my technical skills to incorporate some new "best practices."  Two areas I've carved out to master are understanding news feeds and online video.  This is my first shot at the news feed part.  I'm going to blog, and I'm going to follow blogs.  I'm not sure how to follow them, because there are a variety of ways--e-mail, facebook, RSS feeds, Twitter, etc.  I'd be interested in hearing from fellow teachers out there on how you manage your interactions with the world of media.