TOP 10 TOOLS 2007 & 2008
Michele Martin

I'm a freelance consultant who combines career development, learning best practices and new technology tools to help individuals and organizations construct learning and development systems. I blog at The Bamboo Project.

Michele's Top 10 Tools as at 30 March 2008

1. Netvibes - This is my online portal. I use it to read feeds, to access my most commonly used sites (like an HTML reference list) and to manage my To Do lists and my calendar.

2. TypePad - Blogging is my chief way of making sense of things. I have a premium account because it gives me maximum functionality, access to a lot of cool widgets and the ability to create unlimited blogs, which I do for many of my clients to test out ideas and prototype websites.

3. De.licio.us - Love the tagging function. I also get a lot of information I wouldn't normally find by subscribing to my Network as a feed in Netvibes. This way I can see what other people I admire are turning up in their web browsing

4. Wikispaces--I have about 20 wikis here that I use to organize my online portfolio and to support various learning projects.

5. Google Notebooks--a great way to organize notes and websites and to create handouts for training events.

6. Slideshare - Can be a nice resources for getting ideas and finding presentations for remixing and re-using

7. Jott--I can use my cell phone to send myself email reminders, add to my Google Calendar and post to my blog.

8. Jing--I use it to record quick "just in time" screencasts showing people how to accomplish specific web tasks, like organizing a wiki or signing up for a blog account. Much easier  and more effective than trying to coach through email or over the phone.

9. Gmail--I couldn't function without this. The search and tagging functions are invaluable, especially as I try to implement Getting Things Done. And although I use it daily and have begun to email files to myself as a back-up for my hard drive, I'm still only using 9% of my available storage.

10. Google Alerts--I use it to keep track of terms and issues I'm researching at the moment, as well as to monitor ongoing stories and topics in my niche.

Michele's Top 10 Tools as at 28 July 2007

1. Firefox - I love the tabbed browsing and the wide range of useful add-ons that are available

2. Netvibes - This is my online portal. I use it to read feeds, to access my most commonly used sites (like an HTML reference list) and to manage my To Do lists and my calendar.

3. TypePad - Blogging is my chief way of making sense of things. I have a premium account because it gives me maximum functionality, access to a lot of cool widgets and the ability to create unlimited blogs, which I do for many of my clients to test out ideas and prototype websites.

4. De.licio.us - Love the tagging function. I also get a lot of information I wouldn't normally find by subscribing to my Network as a feed in Netvibes. This way I can see what other people I admire are turning up in their web browsing

5. Wikispaces and PB Wiki - This is a tie, as I tend to use them both, depending on my mood and the project. I like some of PBWiki's more advanced features, like being able to add a YackPack chat to the wiki and the option to easily create a portfolio. But I find Wikispaces easier to use when I'm putting together a really down and dirty brainstorm or I'm doing some project planning.

6. Artists Sketch Book - Although I do a lot of work online, I really need offline journaling. I use freeform, stream of consciousness writing to find solutions and it's still the best place for me to quickly map out and brainstorm different ideas. It's also invaluable for capturing information when I'm away from my computer

7. Slideshare - Can be a great resources for getting ideas and finding presentations for remixing and re-using.

8. Stumbleupon - This lets me find new websites at random. Excellent when I need a creativity boost or an idea for a blog post.

9. All things Google--It may be cheating, but this is so tightly integrated that it's like one tool once I have an account. I use Google Search for obvious reasons. I also use Google Alerts to get emails on topics I'm following and Gmail is my email tool of choice because of the tagging for organization and the availability of hacks. I also use Google Calendar --both for myself and with versions for various team projects