Online Research Toolkit

I mentioned Portable Thunderbird in the Email post. The same person who allows us to carry our email around on a USB drive has also developed several other portable versions of applications. You can download them individually or as a whole collection in the Portable Apps Suite (http://johnhaller.com/jh/useful_stuff/portable_apps_suite/0 ). Imagine carrying around an email program, a web browser, a calendar, an office suite, a chat/IM client, even a web editor and FTP client, all on a USB drive to plug into any Windows computer. (more…)

If you’re the type to carry around a notebook and jot everything down, you’ll like TiddlyWiki, http://www.tiddlywiki.com/. Wikis are editable online documents–you make the edits right online and the changes appear right away, no tedious uploading. TiddlyWiki is a wiki on a selfcontained HTML file. All you need is a single file and a web browser. It doesn’t have to be online, either. You can use it right from your desktop or USB drive. Which also means that your notes aren’t live on the web for everyone to see. (more…)

Email is a true case of “familiarity breeds contempt”, but it is also indespensible. Email is the one tool that I will say that you cannot do without when doing online research. Not only will you need an email address for registering for various services and resources, but you will at least occassionally want to email yourself notes, links, and attachments. It is possible to use email for organizing your entire research process, especially with a large memory service like Gmail. (more…)