7 things I love about Evernote

In the Web 2.0 era I don't really use a lot of desktop applications anymore - everything is on the web, right? But there is one application that I just can't imagine living without (even though you can also use it on the web): Evernote.

You might have heard of Evernote before - after all, it now has over 4 million (very happy) users. At its hearth, Evernote is a simple note taking app that works on almost every computer, phone and mobile device out there, and can instantly sync your notes across all your devices. You can use it as a repository for all your ideas - not just in shape of simple text notes, but also as webpages, photos, audio recordings and various files. For a nice overview of the service, check out the intro video below:

How can you not love a service that includes hard working cloud elephants? ;) If the video hasn't convinced you to give Evernote a try yet, here is my list of 7 things I love about Evernote:

1) Available anywhere

I love the fact that I always have access to Evernote, regardless of which computer or mobile device I'm using. And with the desktop version, I don't even have to be online to work with Evernote (very useful on train trips!). Most of the time, I use the Mac OS X desktop version, but I sometimes check notes on my Android phone or iPod Touch. And yes, there's also a Windows version, a web version and custom applications for major smartphone platforms (see the list of available downloads).

2) Free for basic use

Oh, did I mention it's free? You don't have to pay for basic use or any of the apps. But in case you need more space or want awesome features like Note history, you can go Premium for $5/month or $45/year. I'm still using the Free version, which has plenty of space for all my text notes, but I'm thinking of going Premium just because I find the service so useful.

3) Capture ideas, prepare them for publishing

With Evernote I finally have a single place to store all my ideas and little notes. No more sticky notes all over the desk, no more .txt files on the desktop, just one app. And I also find it great for transforming ideas I collect into drafts that I can move to blogs, text editing software etc. for final design and publishing. And yes, I also wrote the draft for this post in Evernote and only moved it to Blogger when it was nearly finished. I really prefer to write in the simple, clutter free Evernote window - I usually double click the note I'm working on and leave just that note window open.

4) Easy sync

I always use Evernote to take notes on my laptop during meetings. No more wasted paper and illegible hand written notes! And if you still need to draw something on paper or whiteboard, you can just take a picture of that and add it to your Evernote meeting note. The best part is getting home after meetings to find the latest notes already waiting for me on my desktop computer. In other words, no extra time needed to sort and read through notes, as I can start working right within Evernote.

5) Image recognition in the cloud

The cool part is that Evernote is not just a simple backup service for notes. In fact, the Evernote elephants in the cloud also do image recognition on any photos you add, so that it's easier for you to find your stuff. You can for instance use Evernote to scan and save images of business cards and Evernote makes sure all the text becomes searchable.

6) Different ways to search and sort

There are many different ways to sort notes in Evernote. I like to create new notebooks for major projects or areas of interests, and you can use tags to sort your notes even further. I must admit I'm pretty sloppy when it comes to using tags, but that's ok - Evernote doesn't mind that, and helps me find what I'm looking for through Search.

7) The magic Evernote Trunk

And if you're looking for ways to improve Evernote, look no further than into the Evernote Trunk! The Trunk, also accessible from the desktop applications, is basically a showcase of apps that work with Evernote and can enhance your Evernote experience. The Trunk has only been launched this summer, so I'm really looking forward to seeing more apps added in the future.

Nearly perfect for remembering everything

The only two feature requests I have for Evernote are better sharing/collaboration options within the desktop app and color coding for notes. But other than that, I really think Evernote is a great product that is simple, yet incredibly flexible and usable in all sorts of situations.

So, if you're not using Evernote yet, I suggest you give it a try and see how it works for you. Keep in mind that there is no right or wrong way to use it - be creative and start adding your ideas in any format into your digital notebooks. And if you're looking for new ideas on how to use Evernote, check out the Tips and Stories section on the Evernote blog.

If you've got any good Evernote tips, let me know in the comments!

Google Wave: First impressions

I recently got my Google Wave invite* (thanks to Jure) and I wanted to share some of my initial impressions. As most of you probably know already, Google Wave is an online real-time collaboration and communication tool, which combines elements of e-mail, instant messaging, social networks and wikis (watch the overview video for more info).

It was first announced in May, with a big promise of reinventing e-mail for the 21st century. It has been in private beta for some time now, and it's been getting mixed reviews with many people marking it as overhyped. So I was really curious to try it out on my own and see if it can live up to its (big) expectations.

I've now been using Google Wave for about a week with various existing and new contacts. Currently, one big limitation is that you don't get any invites when you start using the service, so your pool of contacts is initially quite limited and therefore you probably won't be able to immediately use the tools in that many real-life situations. Overall, I still believe this tool has a lot of potential to replace many collaboration tools (don't think it will replace e-mail in the near future though), but it still needs some important features before if can go really public.


The cool features

These are the main things I like about Wave:

• the basic functions are quite easy to use and understand (although I was already familiar with the basic philosophy and interface from watching the hour long developer preview),
• easier to use than wikis because of a familiar e-mail like interface,
• the ability to collaborate in different ways,
• adding links with the Google Search function is really cool,
• you can get a lot of additional functionality with Wave extensions like the Mind Map gadget shown below.

Using the Mind Map Gadget in a wave: the initial mind map was created by me, other participants were able to add and vote on the elements

The missing features

And here are the main things that I don't like:

• you can't add new Wave extensions with one simple click (here is how you do it - ouch!),
• embedding waves on the web should be as easy as embedding YouTube videos,
• as a wave creator, you should have more control over who can edit your waves and in what way (currently every wave participant can edit everything in a wave),
• when using Wave you're always shown as online to your contacts and there's nothing you can do about it,
• participants in the same wave can see what you're typing in real-time and you can't change that; real-time typing is useful in some cases, but not always (a good thing about e-mail is that you can rethink and rewrite your message before it gets sent out),
• you should be able to organize contacts into groups,
• the ability to edit blips in a wave and adding in-line comments isn't very intuitive or easy to use, so most people just keep adding replies at the end of the wave, which easily turns waves into noisy chatrooms; as my friend Angela said in a wave conversation: "It's the same as IRC but with rich content",
• you can't delete waves.

Bottom Line: Not there yet, but certainly useful in the real world

So, Google Wave provides a lot of great functions, but it lacks many privacy/permissions settings, plus a lot of features are still too difficult to use. A lot of users also complain that it can also be quite slow (especially if you add a lot of extensions in a long wave). But let's not forget that Wave is still in beta, so I hope that some of the main annoyances get fixed before it opens up to the public. I browsed through Product Ideas for Google Wave today, and I think most users agree on the basic improvements that Wave needs.

Even though my list of missing features isn't short, I'm still a Google Wave believer and can't wait to try it out in the real world. For example, I really like the idea of using Google Wave at conferences and in classrooms or the ability to use Google Wave widgets in Moodle courses (I'm also looking forward to an activity module for embedding whole waves into Moodle).


Links that can get you started

If you're just getting started with Google Wave and still feeling a bit lost, I suggest you check out the 5 minutes overview of 15 key Google Wave features and Mashable's Google Wave Complete Guide. If you're on a Mac, you can also try out Waveboard, a desktop app for Google Wave. Personally, I keep Waveboard always open, so I can see when new waves or changes are made. And there is also Waver, an Adobe AIR Wave client, which works on all operating systems.


Let me know about your first impressions in the comments or let's talk about it in Google Wave! (my username is alja.sulcic (at) googlewave [dot] com)


* Sorry, don't have any invites to send out yet, will tweet when I do.

Join us at Bloggers Cafe!

In case you haven't heard yet: edubloggers now have a new place to get together in Second Life at the brand new Bloggers Cafe.The Bloggers Cafe is an attempt to keep the conversation that started at this year's NECC going (and it is of course a great opportunity for all of us that missed NECC to join in the conversation). You can visit the Bloggers Cafe on Eduisland II, on land that was kindly offered by Ryan Bretag (aka Existential Pain). Also, don't forget to join both the SL and the RL group (set up by Jennifer Wagner) and have your blog added to the virtual blogroll at the Cafe.

The virtual blogroll wall at the Cafe

For more info about how the Bloggers Cafe started and where it is going see Ryan's blog. See you all the Bloggers Cafe! :)

Wikis in plain English

Common Crafts does it again: this time they've made an interesting and entertaining presentation of wikis (in the style of the video RSS in plain English). Again, a useful video when you've only have a few minutes to present the concept of wikis to colleagues or friends. Keep them coming Common Craft! :)

Click To Play

Digital Ethnography group on YouTube

Remember the Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us video that presented the Web 2.0 concept under 5 minutes (I also posted it on my blog)? It got a lot of (deserved) attention in the edu blogosphere and recently the final version of the video was posted on YouTube. As it seems, we can expect more great videos like this from the Digital Ethnography group, guided by Michael Wesch at the Kansas State University. They've just released a new video: Introducing our YouTube Ethnography Project, in which the students and their professor present themselves and invite all of us to interact with them through YouTube. Take a look:

A visit to their blog is also suggested.

I think their project is a really interesting one - not just for the fields of ethnography and anthropology. For educators that are exploring possible uses of technology in education this project is a great example of what a powerful tool Web 2.0 has become. These students are now able to interact with a global audience and get valuable feedback on their work from all around the world in different media formats. Wow! All I can say is - thumbs up for the Digital Ethnography group! I hope to see (and also participate in) more projects like this in the future.

Living the Web 2.0

The video Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us by Michael Wesch that I posted last week made me think quite a lot about my personal relationship with Web 2.0 (or the Read/Write Web as some prefer to call it). I think that the concept of Web 2.0 can really be understood only if you use and explore its technologies and apply it on your own life. And I also think that reflecting on how Web 2.0 technologies affect our lives can provide additional valuable information. In this post I'd like to share with you my personal account and thoughts on what Web 2.0 means to me and what impacts it's having on my daily life.

My typical day starts with a cup of coffee and a click on my browser icon. It's strange now that I think about it, but the first thing I do in the morning (no matter what I have to do during a particular day) is to start my browser - Safari. I don't stop to think - oh, I need my browser now! - I just do it. Just a few years ago I'd then type in the address of a news site, but now the first thing I check in my browser are the web feeds. I regularly try to organize and reduce the number of feeds I'm subscribed to, but usually I'm stuck between 50 or 100 feeds (and here I'm counting just the feeds I regularly read). I have my feeds organized in folders in Safari's bookmark bar that is always visible. That allows me to see how many unread feeds I have at any given movement. It is a bit intrusive, but that's the way I like it (most of the times). I've tried using applications and web sites to keep track of my feeds, but I always come back to Safari's bookmark bar because it's always there, always telling me hey! click on me, I've got news! And sometimes I do feel the pressure of all those unread feeds; I feel like I'm missing something if I don't click them right away. Reading web feeds and following links they provide in a ways makes me feel connected. It gives me the feeling that I know what's going on right now and what the most interesting topics on the net are.

The number of feeds makes me read a minimum of 10 posts a day (on a calm day that is), but it doesn't just stop at reading and clicking links. Fact is that whenever I find an interesting post or link I immediately feel the need to share it. A few years ago I'd perhaps email or IM the link to family or friends, but now it's just much more. I feel the need to share it with the world - I don't want just friends and colleagues to read this link, I want to give everyone in the world that might be interested in a certain topic a chance to read it! And so I always make sure to share the really interesting posts/links at least on TeacherShare.org or/and Moodle.si. Isn't that interesting?

Checking web feeds and sharing interesting links is just the beginning of my Web 2.0 connected day. Both activities continue throughout the day, no matter what I do. My browser is always with me, showing me new feeds, offering opportunities to share, to connect. During the day I of course do other things - research, write, create, innovate - and I think that now more than ever I also actively think about what I do, try to find meaning, try to extract valuable lessons etc. and what for? To share them on this blog.

Keeping a blog makes me an active seeker of content that will be interesting and relevant for you: the readers of my blog. I am now the editor of my personal channel and for this reason I feel a big responsibility for the "life" of my blog - it is up to me to keep it interesting, current and worth reading. And all this also makes my primary work as a researcher more engaging, and even more valuable and meaningful to me. I feel that I can do much more than just the task in front of me. I am constantly learning, collecting experiences and thinking about how they could be shared for others to read. I try to write at least one post per week about what I currently do, what I am thinking about, what questions I am trying to answer... and I love the way my blog "obligation" is keeping me busy and active. If I can't find any new valuable ideas in my work I am motivated to go elsewhere. On other blogs, where I can even interact with the authors and readers of those blogs. I have in fact became an active seeker or ideas that I try to transform into new content that can be shared with the purpose of inspiring new ideas. Wow!

And though a lot of my usage of Web 2.0 technologies is work related, it certainly doesn't stop when I stop working or thinking about work. In the evening when I try to relax and get away from the computer, usually my activities involve watching a movie, reading a book, playing games or just having a great conversation with my dear ones. One would think I forget Web 2.0 at this point - well, think again. The Web 2.0 is always at the reach of our hands. When deciding upon which movie to watch we go and check IMDB, see what other users say, or check out the list of the highest rated movies. The same happens when choosing books or games. It seems so normal that you look anything up on the net and see what others say - and in most cases what matters most is not the opinion of professional critics, but of ordinary people (though all persons of the year 2006 according to Times magazine).

I'm really amazed at what big part Web 2.0 plays in my life (and I in its life). In just a few years it has entered our lives from different doors and it's growing stronger and more powerful days by day. And for this reason I agree with what Michael Wesch pointed out in his video - we really need to rethink a lot of things. Among these things I think that rethinking ourselves is one of the key points. We are being linked in previously unthinkable ways and our lives are being changed. What kind of changes is that bringing us? Are the changes improving our lives or crippling the social aspect of our analogue real lives as some fear?

The answers to these questions are many - and there should be. For me the most important changes are the feeling of connectedness, the feeling of responsibility, the need to share and the trust systems that the users of Web 2.0 are building among each other (just take for example Wikipedia). These are the changes I find most valuable and that I hope I (and others) will be able to keep and use not just for a better and more useful Web 2.0, but also to build a better future - together, by connecting are ideas and constructing new worlds.

Why are our teachers afraid to share?

The Time Magazine chose you, me and everybody else that is building the new global web community with collaboration on a scale never seen before the person of the year 2006; but I wonder how many of our teachers really fall into that category?

The Internet offers many opportunities to collaborate and share knowledge, and I'm really happy that there are many teachers around the world that are embracing this technology not just for their their teaching, but also to connect with fellow educators worldwide. However, what makes me sad is the fact that there aren't many teachers in Slovenia that are actively sharing their teaching knowledge and experiences on the web. The main way to share experiences and findings for our teachers still seem to be by attending conferences. Nothing wrong with that, but we're in the 21st century and we have the tools to connect virtually without having to gather together in one physical place (although that still is a valuable experience!). But why aren't we doing more?

Lately, the number of Slovenian companies that offer "e-learning" solutions seems to be growing, but they mainly focus on providing e-learning materials and only a few of them include online teaching or tutoring as part of their solution. And there also doesn't seem to be any online community for teachers in Slovenia! The fact that I know more about how e-learning is being dealt with in the USA than in my own country worries me. I know that many of our schools are playing with e-learning, but I can't find much more about it on the web: no e-learning blogs, just web sites that are telling the world they are doing e-learning, but it's practically impossible for an outsider to know how.

We sensed that gap at our faculty, so we launched Moodle.si - an online community for Moodle users in Slovenia with the goal to bring people together and provide all of us with an opportunity to discuss current Moodle and e-learning issues in our native language (more about the project). Now, a month after the opening, I can say that we managed to attract a decent number of users, but not many reactions. People signed up, took a look around - many of them returned again, but only a few actually posted anything. At this point we practically have no feedback about the site or the resources that were freely provided to all teachers. The only enthusiastic response came from a person that isn't actually a professional teacher, but still uses Moodle to share his knowledge. Ouch. Well, perhaps it is too soon to speak, perhaps we did something wrong - we can't know that because nobody wants to tell us! :-( But I do find it odd that our teachers don't seem to be willing to share their experiences online. So why is that so?

The main feeling I've got (and at this point I can only rely on my feelings as there is practical no verbal feedback) is that our teachers are afraid that someone might "steal their ideas" (that's also a concern we got from some of our students when delivering online courses in Moodle - they were actually worried their classmates might steal some of their ideas!). And that's also a concern I often heard (and actually still do sometimes) when I started this blog. I don't know what that really means: Does it mean that we don't think others are able to respect copyright? Does it mean that we go online just to collect ideas, but are reluctant to share our own for somebody else to collect? Does it mean that we don't believe our ideas are good enough?

I still can't answer these questions. Maybe the true answer is hidden somewhere else. But, what I do believe is that even if somebody goes around "stealing" other's ideas, he/she will have A LOT of trouble turning these ideas into real learning. It takes much more than just an idea to do learning. It takes people that know what they are doing, are passionate about what they are doing and know HOW to really do it - not just in theory, but also in practice. And that's the really, really hard part. In today's digital world there are many opportunities for being really innovative, many resources on the same topic, and although it all seems so great, it usually stops when you've got to do it, not just dream about it. Just an example: we've all been dreaming about Minority-Report-style touch screens for years, but it takes a genius to really bring that technology to the market (compare what Apple did and what Synaptics did - same idea, same principle, but such a difference in the actual product!). Just reading about e-learning doesn't make you an e-learning expert and it doesn't prepare you for all the real challenges of e-learning you will have to face in real situations. But I do think that discussing your ideas, comparing notes, sharing failed or successful experiments etc. can help you to improve your strategies and consequently improve your practical work.
At least that's what I believe. Maybe I'm still too young and too naive; I don't know - I hope you can tell me. I sure hope that more and more teachers will decide to share their knowledge with others and in the process help to construct new knowledge that will make education better and more fun not just for the students, but also for the teachers. No, you don't get any points or awards for doing that, but you can learn many, many valuable new things that are in fact priceless - both for you and for your students!

And please feel free to post a comment or write me an e-mail if you've got any additional thoughts, ideas or suggestions regarding this topic :-)