A slightly more 'techie' Impact Improver this week, containing information about a new approach - and a couple of new tools - that help enormously in terms of filing and sharing web-based information. Don't be concerned if you're not a geek - this stuff is designed to make your life easier and I honestly believe it does.

What are the problems that need solving

The basic issues all relate to finding, bookmarking and sharing information on the internet. In summary:

• Traditional browser bookmarks note the address at which information is located - or rather, was located when it was first found - and that's the basic issue. As it is the address that is noted, as opposed to the information itself, the bookmark will fail if the information is moved to a new internet location.
• The more bookmarks you create, the more untidy your bookmark structure becomes, unless you really keep on top of it - and frankly, I don't think any of today's browsers (Firefox included) make this really easy.
• Aware that bookmarks may fail in the future some people use straight forward copy/paste to capture information they want to preserve. This works as regards the basic content, but can make a mess of the overall layout - so complex layouts (like tables, for example) can become a bit of a hit-and-miss affair.
• To get an accurate screen capture, I believe you need a decent screen capture tool, like SnagIt for example - and even then you may be capturing more than you really want, leaving you with another editing job.

So it would be really useful if we had access to some free, internet based tools that 'beefed-up' the traditional concept of browser bookmarking - and that's exactly what this Impact Improver is about.

Welcome to 'iCyte' and 'Iterasi'

Both the above tools address the difficulties outlined in the previous section. Both are internet based and both are free, and in fact, both share a similar approach, in terms of allowing users to capture, file and then share web-based information. Here're the URL's:

www.icyte.com
www.iterasi.com

You'll find videos on both websites that introduce the basic concepts and illustrate how the products work.

What you can do with these tools

Once you've created an account, both of these tools allow you to do similar things, albeit in slightly different ways, for example:

1. Capture web pages
When capturing a web page, you effectively take a snap shot of the page at that point in time - useful if you're dealing with dynamic information and want some form of time-stamped record.

2. Capture specific parts of pages
If you just want a few paragraphs of a page, then it's equally easy to select specific parts of a page.

3. Annotate information
There's a useful notes feature which allows you to record notes alongside your captured information.

4. File captured information
The filing systems are particularly powerful, allowing you to create an easy, online file structure for your information.

5. Share information
You can elect to keep captured information personal, or share it with others.

Sounds sort of interesting, but so what?

Here's one simple example of how this could really benefit your admin:

• Create an online file structure for each month of your financial year.
• Whenever you make an online purchase, capture an image of the online receipt, (train ticket, air ticket, whatever), annotate it with any explanatory notes you want and file it away in "this month's" file.
• At the end of the month/quarter/year, it's a piece of cake to share these files with your accountant or bookkeeper and, hey presto, everybody has easy access to all the information they need to do their job.
• Best bit? It's all free.

Just to clear - my normal disclaimer - I have no relationship, commercial, personal, social or otherwise with iCyte or Iterasi and nor do I guarantee or warrant in any way their effectiveness or anything else to do with them. I came across them in my research, liked them and am freely passing on the information to you. It's entirely up to you what you chose to do with this information.

That's it folks for this week - as usual, your comments welcomed and appreciated, particularly with reference as to what you'd like to hear about. I do get quite a few emails by the way, and I read them all, so please don't feel shy about getting in contact.

Best wishes for the coming week.

Chris Davidson
Editor, Professional Speakers Journal
editor@professionalspeakersjournal.com

 

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