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TOP 10 TOOLS 2007,
2008 & 2009
Thomas Stone

Tom
is Product Design Architect at
Element K .
He has been at Element K for over nine years, with much
of that time spent as a senior instructional designer
and manager of instructional design. He has a BA degree
in Philosophy from the University of Rochester, and also
did graduate studies in philosophy at Ohio State
University.
Tom Stone's Top 10
Tools as at 25 February 2009
-
OneNote
- This remains at the top of my list, now three
years running. Far too few people know about
OneNote. It is so simple, yet so versatile -- I have
completely eliminated the need for post-it notes,
scraps of paper, short text files, word docs, etc.,
to keep track of ideas, projects, goals, research,
websites to investigate, and much more. It
complements one's email/calendaring application
beautifully -- and don't get me started on all the
ways you can use it to implement David Allen's
"Getting Things Done" (GTD) principles! In addition
to personal use, it can be used collaboratively
through shared notebooks on a network share, or
storage in Sharepoint. By now I know many people
who use it, and I have yet to meet someone who tried
using it for a few weeks who didn't get addicted and
then swear by it going forward -- even some
Microsoft-haters and Mac-switchers (who say this is
the one Windows app they miss). Competitors in this
space, such as Evernote, Google Notebook, and Zoho
Notebook don't compare in terms of features, though
having it available "in the cloud" would be nice
someday.
-
Twitter -
Although I started using Twitter in 2008, this year
will be the year that really has a major impact for
me. I learn more from using Twitter than from any
other source, because by its nature it isn't a
single source of information, but X number of
sources… however many people you are following! The
trick to getting such a high value from Twitter is
to follow the right people -- smart people,
interesting people, experts/gurus in your field or
interest areas, and so on -- and most of all, people
who don't usually answer the Twitter question
literally (What are you doing?), but rather tweet
along the lines of "What good stuff are you
reading?" or "What interesting ideas are you
having?". Along with Twitter itself, I'll note that
I am currently using both Twhirl and Tweetdeck as my
desktop apps to access the tweets, until I settle on
which one I prefer.
-
Google
Reader - My preferred RSS feed reader and
aggregator. I've used several over the years, but
having it alongside the various other Google apps I
use makes this one the winner for me. Without RSS
and a good reader app, I simply wouldn't bother to
regularly read many sources of info and opinion.
-
iGoogle -
In 2008 this took over as my default browser
homepage. I have several tabs with lots of widgets,
but the key ones for me are Google Bookmarks,
Weather, Google Search, and Search Wikipedia. Most
others are rotating quotes or images, stuff that is
"for fun" mostly.
-
Facebook
- Like so many millions, I am hooked on Facebook. I
use it for both personal and professional
connections, joining groups for both aspects of my
life as well. As Facebook continues to grow, the
line between it and the more "purely professional"
LinkedIn is getting very blurred. I refuse to join
any other general social networking sites besides
those two, though I've joined several L&D industry
networks (e.g., LearningTown, CLO Magazine Network,
Training Magazine Network).
-
Snag-It - A
light-weight, easy to use screen-capture tool that
I've been using for many years.
-
Adobe
Presenter - Useful for adding audio to a
PowerPoint presentation and outputting Flash for the
web. It is actually very similar to Articulate
Presenter, as both are plugins for PowerPoint and
they have nearly identical feature sets. But I
prefer Adobe Presenter, for several reasons, but in
part because its interfaces are similar to Adobe
Captivate -- so once you learn one, you are well on
your way to learning the other.
-
Adobe
Captivate - The easiest tool that I know for
creating software demos and even interactive
simulations. It has many features, including
customizable callouts, prompts, and so on. It makes
it relatively easy to integrate audio with the
demo/interactive, or to create quizzes. Output is
standard Flash. Keeps getting better with each new
version.
-
Adobe
Connect Pro - My preferred webinar delivery
platform. I've attended many webinars over the
years, on just about every platform imaginable, and
they all have their pros and cons. But overall I'm
happy that at Element K we use Adobe Connect Pro.
-
PureText - A very small utility that sits in
your Windows System Tray, and will strip out any
formatting from text in your clipboard memory. This
is great for copy/pasting text from the web or
elsewhere into another application where you just
want the text, and none of the formatting included.
I use this probably dozens of times a day -- far
more efficient than opening up Notepad, pasting
there, then selecting all and copying again.
NOTE:
In revising my list this year I've decided to exclude
any tools that are so common-place that they seem like
saying you find it beneficial to drink water. Many of
these I use every day, and more often than some in my
Top-10 list, such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or
Outlook; Lotus Notes (email at work); the Internet
Explorer and Firefox browsers; and Notepad for that
matter. I've also excluded popular websites such as
Amazon, Google (the basic search functionality), eBay,
YouTube, and Wikipedia: these are all critical to me and
provide me with learning opportunities almost daily, but
preferred my Top-10 list to focus on apps and also
include some of the "less obvious" tools that are so
valuable to me.
Tom's Top 10 Tools
as at 10 February 2008
-
OneNote - This
is easily the most important application I use. It
is so simple, yet so versatile -- I have completely
eliminated the need for post-it notes, scraps of
paper, short text files, word docs, etc., to keep
track of ideas, projects, goals, research, websites
to investigate, and much more. It complements one's
email/calendaring application beautifully. Few
people besides students and Tablet PC users are very
familiar with it -- even though it is great for all
computer users, and even can be used collaboratively
through shared notebooks on a network share. By now
I know many people who use it, and I have yet to
meet someone who tried using it for a few weeks who
didn't get addicted and then swear by it going
forward. Online competitors from Google and Zoho
don't compare in terms of features, though having it
available "in the cloud" would be nice someday.
-
Outlook
- I had been a
long-time Eudora user, but in 2007 I switched to
Outlook (when Office 2007 came out). Outlook has so
many useful features, and I really like the new
Office 2007 ribbon interface (although Outlook only
implements it partially). Outlook and OneNote are a
very solid combination for keeping all the info I
need organized.
-
Google
Search - Always
my first stop for searching online. I rarely use
other general search engines, though I do make use
of niche and subject-specific search sites and link
directories.
-
RSS
- A technology, not
a particular tool, RSS feeds are obviously hugely
valuable for keeping up with all the content
providers -- blogs and others -- that I care about.
Without it, I simply wouldn't bother to regularly
read many sources of info and opinion.
-
Wikipedia
- What can you say?
Simply amazing. Flawed to be sure, but that is the
nature of beast. You just have to know when to trust
what is there and when to get second opinions. I
sometimes use Wikipedia as a first source for info,
before doing a Google search. And a hat-tip goes to
MediaWiki too, the software that runs Wikipedia (and
that I've used for corporate wikis as well).
-
Adobe Presenter
- Useful for adding audio to a PowerPoint
presentation and outputting Flash for the web. It is
actually very similar to Articulate Presenter, as
both are plugins for PowerPoint and they have nearly
identical feature sets. But I prefer Adobe
Presenter, for several reasons, but in part because
its interfaces are similar to Adobe Captivate -- so
once you learn one, you are well on your way to
learning the other.
-
Captivate
- The easiest tool
that I know for creating software demos and even
interactive simulations. It has many features,
including customizable callouts, prompts, and so on.
It makes it relatively easy to integrate audio with
the demo/interactive, or to create quizzes. Output
is standard Flash.
-
Blogger
- There are lots of
great blogging apps available. I still use one of
the standards here, though others have more
features.
-
Amazon.com - I'm adding this to my list in 2008,
because in recent years it has grown to be much more
than just an online store. Because of its Web 2.0
features, most notably user ratings and reviews, I
don't make any major purchases without first going
to Amazon (and a few other such sites) to read the
good, bad, and ugly from others who have bought the
particular product.
-
The written word - I see others have already
included this, so I will too. As much time as I
spend online, listening to my iPod, using Tivo, or
whatever, I do still find the written word --
magazines and newspapers in particular -- to be very
valuable and convenient. And I very much prefer
those printed items that are also freely available
online (e.g. Wired, BusinessWeek), so that I can
easily link to articles in my blog, quote from them
in emails, and so on
Honorable mention (in no order): GoogleMaps, iTunes,
LinkedIn, YouTube, eBay, Word, PowerPoint, Instant
Messaging, SnagIt, Notepad
Tom's Top 10 Tools
as at 11 August 2007
-
OneNote
-
This is easily the
most important application I use. It is so simple,
yet so versatile -- I have completely eliminated the
need for post-it notes, scraps of paper, short text
files, word docs, etc., to keep track of ideas,
projects, goals, research, websites to investigate,
and much more. It complements one's
email/calendaring application beautifully. OneNote
must be one of the most poorly marketed applications
ever, as few people besides students and Tablet PC
users are very familiar with it -- even though it is
great for all computer users, and even can be used
collaboratively through shared notebooks on a
network share. By now I know many people who use it,
and I have yet to meet someone who tried using it
for a few weeks who didn't get addicted and then
swear by it going forward
-
Outlook
-
I'm a
long-time Eudora user who
recently switched to Outlook 2007 when Office 2007
came out. Outlook has so many useful features, and I
really like the new Office 2007 ribbon interface
(although Outlook only implements it partially).
Outlook and OneNote are a very solid combination for
keeping all the info I need organized
-
Google
Search
-
Always my first
stop for searching online. I rarely use other
general search engines, though I do make use of
niche and subject-specific search sites and link
directories
-
Wikipedia
-
What can you say? Simply
amazing. Flawed to be sure, but that is the nature
of beast. You just have to know when to trust what
is there and when to get second opinions. I
sometimes use Wikipedia as a first
source for info, before
doing a Google search.
And a hat-tip goes to
MediaWiki
too, the
software that runs
Wikipedia (and that I've
used for corporate wikis
as well).
-
Captivate
-
The easiest tool
that I know for creating software demos and even
interactive simulations. It has many features,
including customizable callouts, prompts, and so on.
It makes it relatively easy to integrate audio with
the demo/interactive, or to create quizzes. Output
is standard Flash.
-
Adobe Presenter
-
The easiest tool
that I know for adding audio to a
PowerPoint
presentation and outputting Flash
for the web. It is actually very similar to
Articulate Presenter, as both are plugins for
PowerPoint and they have nearly identical feature
sets. But I prefer Adobe Presenter, for several
reasons, but in part because its interfaces are
similar to Adobe Captivate -- so once you learn one,
you are well on your way to learning the other.
-
Blogger -
There are lots of
great blogging apps available. I
still use one of the standards here, though others
have more features.
-
RSS -
A technology, not a
particular tool, I find RSS feeds
to be hugely valuable to keeping up with all the
content providers -- blogs and others -- that I care
about. Without it, I simply wouldn't bother to
regularly read many sources of info and opinion.
-
Internet Explorer
7
-
Like Blogger in that space, I realize that many others
have moved on to other, arguably better browser
applications (Firefox most notably). But I still use
IE, and with the new features in IE7 (many of which
pre-existed elsewhere), I have little reason to
switch right now.
-
The
written word - I see others have already included this, so I will
too. As much time as I spend online, listening to my
iPod, using Tivo, or whatever, I do still find the
written word -- magazines and newspapers in
particular -- to be very valuable and convenient.
And I very much prefer those printed items that are
also freely available online (e.g. Wired,
BusinessWeek), so that I can easily link to articles
in my blog, quote from them in emails, and so on
Honorable mention (in no order):
iTunes,
LinkedIn,
YouTube,
eBay,
Amazon,
Word,
PowerPoint,
Instant Messaging,
Notepad
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