TOP 10 TOOLS 2007, 2008 & 2009
Joan Vinall-Cox

Joan is a social media and communications consultant. In her business, JNthWEB,  she is a writing coach, an editor, and a speaking-skills trainer. Joan develops courses and lectures on communication skills, the social media, and web 2.0. She is constantly exploring the web's communication and learning possibilities

Joan's Top 10 Tools as at 20 April 2009

1. Firefox - I use Firefox almost constantly, because its many plug-in possibilities allow me to maneuver quickly and easily for my work and my personal playing.

2. Wordpress - I use WordPress for my blog, WebTools for Learners -  - and for my consulting website - jnthweb.ca  I find the basics easy enough to use and the more advanced aspects challenging enough to compel me to learn more. I like the way I can get it to look and work.

3. del.icio.us - Social bookmarking is one of the most useful tools on the web. I can save, tag, and easily re-find sites that are useful, and I can see what others with similar interests to mine are saving. It's almost a research assistant!

4. Skitch - I take screenshots or photos and edit them in Skitch, plus add arrows or text, and then embed the new image online. Very easy and handy.

5. iPhone - the computer in my purse. I can read on the web, play games, record visuals and/or sound, post photos, phone, check and/or add to my calendar, and much more, and it's always with me. The only shortcoming is that adding text is slow and somewhat awkward.

6. Twitter - I get to know the people whose blogs I follow a little better by following them and others on Twitter. I can harvest useful URLs, and get help when I'm struggling with learning how to create something online, or trying to fix a misperforming application. And it's just fun!

7. Nambu - This Twitter tool allows me to watch my Twitter stream, immediately see answers I've received, messages I've sent, etc. This allows me to enjoy riding the train or waiting for a friend or client by fitting Twitter into the cracks in my schedule.

8. Google Reader - which I've added to Bloglines as one of my RSS aggregators, using each for different collections. Both are essential for my ongoing learning about what's happening and what's available onthe web.

9. FileZilla - a free FTP application to transfer files to my hosted domains. Useful for updating my domains and those I set up for others.

10. Gmail - All my addresses are forwarded into my gmail account, which makes it convenient for checking my mail. I also use the gmail Tasks app to help me keep on track and avoid forgeting essentials

Joan's Top 10 Tools as at 21 July 2008

1. Firefox -  All the wonderful attributes of Firefox 2 plus I can now close then re-open Firefox and it opens all the tabs from before closing

2. Wordpress - a very sophisticated but relatively easy tool for my blog and e-portfolio - joanvinallcox.wordpress.com/ 

3. diigo - I'm trying this out to see how it compares to del.icio.us. So far, it's excellent

4. InstaPaper - currently my temporary step before saving to Bloglines, (where I'm SemioticExplorer.)
5. Skitch - take screenshots or photos and edit them, plus add arrows or text, and then embed the new image online. Very easy and handy.

6. Zotero - a free, academic, easy-to-use Firefox extension for collecting, managing, and citing research sources. Very useful.

7. Wisdomap - an attractive mind-mapping tool where I can also attach videos, images, files and sites. Good for planning, and early stage research assignments.

8. TweetDeck - allows me to follow several Twitter threads simultaneously. I'm at twitter.com/JoanVinallCox

9. WetPaint - another wiki platform that I'm trying out to compare with the excellent Wikispaces and PBWiki

10. Wordle - fun, fun, fun, and a good discussion starter.

Joan's Top 10 Tools as at 29 January 2008

1. Firefox -  I spend a lot of my day online, and this free downloadable browser is the one I use

2. Google -  When I have questions, I click on Google

3. Gmail -  my email of choice since my computer crashed and I lost all my computer-based contacts. Now I really like how tagging my messages works, and that I can access my messages and contacts through any online computer.

4. del.icio.us - I collect and tag lots of sites for future reference and use. My del.icio.us account is del.icio.us/shiftingsemiosis - if you are an educator or an academic, you might want to check out my tags.

5. Bloglines - This allows me to follow many educational blogs and learn about WYSIWYG applications that might be useful for my own learning or for my teaching. My Bloglines account is under the name, "SemioticExplorer" and my blogroll is on this blog of mine -webtoolsforlearners.blogspot.com/  

6. Twitter is microblogging and I love the brevity, immediacy, and the way I can organize it for my interests and collect interesting URLs through it. You can follow me at twitter.com/JoanVinallCox

7. Wikispaces is WYSIWYG and the easiest for non-techies to use, so I use it with my classes and other organizations.

8. Zotero is free, easy-to-use Firefox extension to help collect, manage, and cite research sources. I'm finding it very useful.
9. kwout -  a very handy way to capture text and images for quoting in blogs and elsewhere online.

10. Skitch lets me take screenshots or photos and edit them, plus add arrows or text and then embed the new image online. Very easy and handy.

Joan's Top 10 Tools as at 26 July 2007

1. Firefox - I spend a lot of my day online, and despite a brief flirtation with Flock, this is the browser I stick with.

2. Google Search, Google Scholar, Gmail, Google Calendar, iGoogle, Blogger – I use all these parts of the Google empire.  I search through my university's library with Google Scholar; I use gmail since my computer crashed and I lost all my contacts and now I really like tagging my messages; we use Google Calendar at home so we don't double book each other;  iGoogle lets me keep my important bookmarks online; and I keep one of my blogs on Blogger.

3. del.icio.us - I collect and tag lots of sites for future reference and use. Furl is good, but del.icio.us and tagging fit me better

4. Bloglines - This allows me to follow many educational blogs and learn about WYSIWYG applications that might be useful for my own learning or for my teaching.

5. PB Wiki and Wikispaces.  Pbwiki was beautiful in appearance before it was WYSIWYG in use, so I set up my business website using it. Wikispaces has been WYSIWYG longest and is the easiest for non-techies to use, so I use it with my classes and others.

6. Eduspaces - This is my blogging community, filled with my peers. I started blogging there when it was Elgg, and have created Community Blogs there for classes because even early on my students could add audio files as well as discuss readings there.

7. Explode - My social network; it comes from Dave Tosh, Ben Werdmuller and Misja Hoebe, who created Elgg (now Eduspaces) and so much more. I am grateful to them.

8. Backpack - I like it because it sends me emails reminding me of monthly or yearly events I tend to forget, so I don't get overdrafts or miss birthdays. I use it for To-Do lists too.

9. Box - Since my computer crashed, I have been using Box as an online backup for my most essential files. It's also handy for sharing large files with clients or friends. Some of my students have used it to link files to their blog posts.

10. Engrade - Wikis and blogs replaced everything I used to get from using WebCT, except being able to privately share marks online. Now Engrade lets me post students' marks privately.