TOP 10 TOOLS 2007, 2008 & 2009
Karyn Romeis

I am an independent learning consultant/designer operating under the name Learning Anorak Ltd. I blog at Karyn's erratic learning journey. In all honesty (if it isn't too cheesy to say so) I think my top ten 'tools' would be people's names/role descriptors. People are my greatest resource and all these other things come a distant second. Looking at the list, at least 6 of them are tools which facilitate communication and the exchange of ideas. I am reluctant to omit my aggregators from this list, but they fit in better with my top ten tools for my own learning... although I struggle to draw the line between the two!

Karyn's Top 10 Tools as at 6 May 2009

1. Yahoomail. At some point I will have to buy my own domain name and set up an @learninganorak email address. But for now, this is the primary means by which I communicate with my clients.

2. PowerPoint. I still like to create conceptual prototypes in PowerPoint for clients to see. I also use it as my primary design tool when working with a development team. Showing them what I'm after works so much better than trying to tell them!

3. Skype. Such a useful tool for holding review meetings!

4. Dropbox. Being able to upload stuff to the ether, where the client is able to access it is very useful when you have a Yahoo mail account which limits attachment sizes.

5. Freemind. Such a useful tool for organising my thinking. Not just during the design stage, but also, during seminars and meetings.

6. Twitter. A great space in which to ask a question of the ether and get feedback.  I am @karynromeis

7. Ning communities. A wonderful tool for exchanging ideas, soundboarding and such. When you're a solo act, spaces like this replace what would normally happen in a shared office space.

8. Articulate. Because this is a suite, it might be breaking the rules, but I can't see myself ever using only one component, so in it goes. Not quite the ubiquitous tool some would claim, but a useful one, nonetheless. Studio 09 is a vast improvement for the less techie designer - empowering me to control far more aspects of look and feel than previous versions.

9. Karyn's erratic learning journey. Having this blog enables me to put my fledging thoughts into words and step back from them to see how they hold up. Even more effective when 'my peeps' engage and give me feedback.

10. iStock. Having once been a repository for very cheesy, grinning corporate types, iStock now offers a wealth of conceptual graphics and pictures of more believable, imperfect people who don't always wear ties and smile! At £1 a time, what's not to like?

Karyn's Top 10 Tools as at 26 October 2008

1. Firefox. Still in top spot, this is my window on the world. It comes with all sorts of add-ons, widgets and gadgets that I stumble across from time to time in my technically inept fashion..

2. Google search. Any time I need to know anything, Google is my means to an answer. This is even more true since I ventured out on my own, and no longer have access to a "bloke at the next desk"

3. Wikipedia. Most of the time, my Google search will list a wikipedia hit among the top few returns. Sometimes I go straight to wikipedia, without going via Google, although I am less than impressed at the increasingly authoritarian attitude of 'wikipedia towers' towards the contents of the resource - the model has moved away from its originally democratic approach. Nevertheless, it remains a valuable resource.

4. Google Reader  This is the means by which I keep up with new posts by my favourite bloggers and new articles in my preferred journals.

5. Freemind. Going independent meant I had to find alternatives tot he software previously laid on by my employer. Freemind is (as its name implies) a free alternative to Mindjet's Mind Manager.

6. Skype. This is a wonderful way to keep in touch with people - especially those in other countries, when the alternative is often and expensive phone call or even more expensive international flight for a meeting. I use it to chat to my dissertation supervisor, to my suppliers, to my clients. Having a webcam puts faces to voices/names and makes it even more personal.

7. Twitter. I would never have thought that this tool would find its way into my top ten. I used to loathe it. Now it provides access to conversations I might never otherwise have been party to. It also provides a stepping stone to many valuable posts I might not have discovered.

8. Open Office Impress. PowerPoint has always been a valuable tool for me when mocking up 'look and feel' prototypes, but it's expensive. I now use the free Open Office alternative.

9. Facebook. I originally joined Facebook as an experiment for my dissertation. My friends list includes a melting pot drawn from all areas of my life, and these have begun to overlap. I recently 'friended' my dissertation supervisor, only to discover that she and I have other friends in common. Via FB, I have joined several learning-related groups and get invited to all sorts of learning and networking events that I might never otherwise have known about. The discussion boards for thesemake for interesting reading.

10. Open Office Writer. Inescapably, I capture my thoughts and put forward my ideas by means of a word processor. Writer is easy.... and free!

Karyn's Top 10 Tools as at 4 February 2008

1. Firefox - the open source browser that brings the world to my desktop

2. Google search - the means to find out what I want to know, when I want to know it

3. PowerPoint - while I loathe being subjected to what some people delight to call PowerPoint presentations ;-) I love what PowerPoint enables me to do. I can use it for look and feel and it is a powerful tool by means of which to get my ideas across to the production team, and to test the client's reaction to my ideas before starting the actual build work.

4. Google Reader - the means for to keep my finger on the pulse without having to break a sweat!

5. Yahoomail - My private email accounts are both through Yahoo. Convenient, easy to use, and free (apart from the monthly broadband fees, of course). I'm torn between deciding whether it is a blessing or a curse that I can't access my emails offline. Much as I feel deprived, I suspect it's probably a Good Thing!

6. Mindjet Manager - I use this to make notes of meetings and to map out the architecture of solutions I am designing for clients. Empowering and easy to use. There are no doubt free/open source alternatives, but this is what is on offer through my employer. If someone had told me 3 years ago that I would become a mindmapping-type, I would have laughed in their face, but, blow me down, I have - and I don't regret it for a moment!

7. Del.icio.us - This has been the way I have kept track of all the articles and posts I have found that I expect to find useful for my dissertation. What a boon! Not only that, but other people are able to mark things for me, and I can search for things that may be useful using keywords. Much better results than a visit the library - although I don't mean to diss libraries, by any means!

8. Skype - Free international calls, with the capacity to record while you're at it! Does it get better than this? And if you prefer to use text chat, you can always refer back to a chat history to pick up links or to remind yourself of what was said/decided.

9. Second Life - now this is a bit of a cheat, since my exposure has been severely restricted up to now. 2L is blocked at work and my connection at home isn't fast enough for me to use it to any great effect, but my mind is boiling with the potential of this space for learning: formal, informal, corporate, secondary, tertiary...you name it!

10. Wii games - this is also a bit of a cheat, since it's probably more like a hardware answer. I am convinced that there is enormous potential for learning, sports coaching and occupational therapy in this arena - maybe even speech therapy. And since the interface is so intuitive, it doesn't exclude older users as much as other gaming devices. Can't you just see a tennis match between two sliver haired post-stroke patients in a nursing home?

Karyn's Top 10 Tools as at 24 July 2007

1. Firefox.  Well duh! The door to the online world.

2. Google Search.  The means to an end. If ever I want to know anything at all, the kneejerk reaction is to Google it.

3. MS Office XP (Word / Excel / PowerPoint) and Outlook 2003. Grouped together because they are so interconnected. These tools are chosen for me by my employer, but I have no complaints - they do the job and I think Excel is the finest application Microsoft ever produced.

4. Bloglines.  This is the first aggregator I ever tried and, to be honest, I've stuck with them due to lethargy: if it ain't broke... This is how I keep up to date with the 40-odd feeds I read each day. I try to keep the number of feeds manageable, or I find it becomes meaningless.

5. CoComment.  For all its flaws, this keeps me (more or less) up to date with the conversations that arise from the various posts I read. It isn't always reliable, but I haven't found anything that works any better.

6. Yahoo Mail.  For my personal email account. My previous private email account got so splattered with spam that I switched. After a few years, the spammers are slowly finding me again, but the built in filter seems to work pretty well. As an expat far from home with family and friends spread across the world, my personal email is critical to my sanity.

7. Blogger.  The first blogging tool I encountered and still the most intuitive to use, in my opinion. I have been blogging for a shade over 2 years now, and so far, so good.

8. Mindjet Mindmanager.  I use this to plan the structure of online learning resources. It's easy to move bits around and I can work on content at the same time. Sadly, not many of my clients "get" it, so I have to export to Word document when submitting structure and content for review.

9. del.icio.us.  I am studying towards an MA at the moment and find useful bits and pieces in the most unexpected places. It is so great to be able to tag these for future reference with a little "note to self" as to why I found it interesting.

10. Skype.   Invaluable for keeping in touch with colleagues as well as with the far-flung family and friends referred to in #6 above.