Managing references…

I’ve been using Endnote for some years now, and I must say it has been a very useful tool for me for recording and recalling references and also as a tool for locating and checking whether I have electronic copies of an article in my computer. As soon as I come across a reference of interest, I download its citation to Endnote (or type it out if not too long, or use GoggleScholar) and save the PDF (if available) of the actual article in a repository of literature, where my endnote database file also resides. I save the PDFs with consistent file names too, as they would appear in my writing as a citation – for instance, O’Brien_et_al_ 2007.PDF etc etc. That way it is easier for me to recall what the PDF is about and can sort files alphabetically too. If I have more than one author’s work of a the same year, I use “a” “b” “c”, e.g. O’Brien_2007a.PDF and O’Brien_2007b.PDF, etc.

So far, this system has worked quite well for me. However, as with many things in life, there is always room for improvements. For instance, finding a better more consistent way to enter details on book chapters or authors and book sections within an edited book…I’ve come across some inconsistencies in the way I save these files and how I’ve recorded these in Endnote, and perhaps I need to make myself a rule and stick with it before the number of files grows and then it becomes a chore to try and fix.

Am I making the most out of EndNote? I would like to think I’m! …but I always find myself learning something new, especially playing with setting up my own styles and templates too just recently. Other tips I’d like to work on (in my to do list!), is to add a field entry in Endnote, where I can record whether I have the article in electronic, hardcopy or both (or neither! and needs chasing up).

When it comes to filing hardcopy of literature sources such as journal articles, I’ve tried using topic and theme categories to file my hardcopy printouts of articles, but I soon found myself feeling a bit overwhelmed and spending too much time trying to decide under what theme I would file each article – particularly when dealing with interdisciplinary stuff, which in a way goes against creating silos. So, I’ve just simply stuck with one rule….file alphabetically under the first author’s last time – the same way I save their PDF versions electronically in my computer. I created Tabs for each letter of the alphabet, and filed articles accordingly. It has been very easy fr me to find articles this way, and also to find duplicates. Not sure how best to improve this system, other than to try to print only what is necessary – articles that I’ll actually use, rather than print straight off in the hope that ‘one day’ I’ll get the chance to read fully.

While we’re on the topic of literature – I’ve noticed I’ve become a bit of an articles ‘hoarder’ but very little time is actually spent reading these sources and making notes on each as I go. I often find myself skim reading later on and creating notes, but I’d like to be better organised and write notes as I go – and too elaborate notes either, just enough for me to be able to recall the most useful information with some reflection thrown in for completeness. I guess the best way to ‘catch up’ with my reading and note taking is do single batches of 2-3 articles a day or so, during over a couple of hours. I really do need to make this commitment.

E-mailing and the web…

When it comes to my email management, perhaps being more consistent with my use of mailboxes would be a big improvement , as I do tend to let my inbox swell and then spend time re-ordering messages to mailboxes…best deal with these as they come in.

And just as many emails in my inbox are just as many (if not infinitely more!) mailing lists and discussion boards for me to subscribe to all let alone keep up with their content. I have subscribed to a few that are quire strategic for me in terms of networking, and they’re the ones I tend to really make an effort to keep up with and also contribute. I also like RSS feeds, just to browse and glance on what’s out there without having to have emails inundating my inbox (I use Google Reader, so it is like a website full of news and latest content from pages and websites of interest to me – fantastic, thanks a lot Google.

While we’re on the topic of all things internet, I like the idea of creating a research blog, I think it comes across a lot more informal and personal than a structured website. It has a real organic feel, as the research process tends to be (for me anyway). In addition to recording thoughts and experiences, perhaps I would also add (or make explicit in its own section of the blog) the following:

• A “news” section, outlining what’s new in my research or activities, travels etc.
• A publications list (in prep, submitted, corrected proofs, published, etc etc).
• Facilitate feedback from others, such as “leave a comment” feature or the like. Having links and emails that work.
• A section which lists a brief summary of my CV (with links to those institutions or places of employment, associations I belong to, etc etc).

Well, at least that is what I’d like to see doing one day, but best not use this as an excuse for even further procrastination. Simple and effective is the key, nit a piece of art!

The desk and work environment…

Funnily enough, it was only last week that I decided to take measures to fix the situation with my desk at uni – ergonomically, it wasn’t working. After lots of physio for the neck, the culprit was narrowed down to the desk – it being too high and therefore resulting in me having a slight ‘chicken wings out’ pose while typing. Ergonomically, I think it all works better now – moved to a desk that has a detached keyboard platform that can be lowered or raised, and works great.

Having done that, the next thing would be to sort through and file (or whatever needs to be done) the 15cm. high pile of paper on my in-tray….it looks “neatly” piled, but it needs sorting – I believe they’re mostly articles and things that I wanted to keep close to be able to deal with, but after a couple of months now I do need to revise that.

When it comes to how I organise my electronic documents files, I’m fairly happy with my filing system and perhaps does not need much tweaking – I manage to find things fast at a glance. Provided that I don’t spend too much getting organised, which inevitable I did in setting up my system.

When it comes to protecting my work and electronic files, I do a daily back-up of my whole PhD project (which sits in its own drive as a subset of the C: drive in my laptop) – a copy of the backup goes in my university network drive, and the other in a USB I carry with me everywhere. I also do a daily sync of my laptop computer with an external hard drive, which comes home with me every night and use it to sync all the files contained in it with my PC at home. Whilst I find I can keep up with the routine and so far has worked really well, I wonder about my system’s sensitivity and robustness – I should prioritise in testing it and having more reassurance that this works efficiently and effectively….for instance, in system or files recovery.

Personal Management Strategies…

Here we are asked to reflect on Topic 2, titled “Personal Management Strategies”, starting with learning strategies with respect to computing skills.  In thinking about what learning strategies might I adopt in order to continue to expand my computer skills, I would have to say quite simply ‘Try it out!’ – that has always been my motto. I love exploring new software and seeing what it does, however the key for me would be to watch the time I spend trying things out! especially when it comes to personalising settings – the less choice and controls I have available the better for me in avoiding ‘procrastination’ – I’m being entirely honest with myself here, telling it like it really is.

So, what steps could I take to improve my computer proficiency? I mentioned in the unit’s discussion forum that I’d like to try and use macros more, not sure I’ve really tried that (never quite realised its value in automating tasks, really). Other proficiency issues in my computing would include better use of short cut keys “Ctr+…+…” etc, as well as my typing skills to learn to use all fingers rather than stressing the same few fingers all the time. I’ve had some experiences with repetitive stress injury (RSI) before, and I guess the best way to reduce the chances of tha returning is to become a little more ergonomic with my computing, just as important especially now that I enter the final stages of this research and writing (typing!) will become the daily norm.

The other aspect of personal management strategies, involves recognising one’s own organisational weaknesses – I  know very well what those are, but it is hard to admit them, especially so publicly which is what we do as a class for this unit. Quite confronting. One of my principal organisational weakness, above all others I feel, is the time I spend getting organised (i.e. labelling, shelving, filing, re-organising, etc etc etc). However having been made more ‘aware’ of this has allowed me to become more cognisant of that time spent … I’m really now learning and practising to just ‘let go’ once the task achieves effectiveness, rather than going beyond that with too much aesthetics. It’s hard, but becoming more aware of its importance in becoming more efficient (and reduce my stress levels!).

Another strategy, centres on time to complete tasks – I very much liked Covey’s four quadrant matrix for prioritising tasks (Figure 3.1, p.38 Ch.3 of the book). It would give me a better idea of what needs to be done first (and why), rather than just one log list. I have a small sized whiteboard by my desk, perhaps one way would be to draw the actual quadrant on it and use it to list things or stick Post-it notes (as I often do) in the relevant quadrants based on urgency and importance. I in fact used this strategy as a ‘case study’ for assignment 1, and I found it very useful to go have to think through and apply my assessment criteria to see just how well it works (or not!).

Finally, we were asked about mind mapping software and how it might be useful to me in my research – Frankly, I’m not sure. I have tried using mind mapping tools before, but I dislike the often ‘messy’ and unstructured look – it confuses me more than clarifying a concept, I find. Maybe I need to try again.