A bit of doodling and google-calendaring...(Things 5 and 6 Cam 23)

I've used Doodle twice before (both times since going to the Cam23 launch)..I'd never heard of it before. The main plus I've observed with Doodle is that it gives you the ability to organise any kind of meeting (be it for professional purposes or a friendly gathering) all without the "so when are you free?" cycle that unavoidably crops up sometimes when organising over email or the telephone. It's simple. You create a list of possible dates and a list of possible times and then email them to the participants where they then fill out which dates and times they can/cannot do. You're then left with a really clear list of who can do what and the best time which would suit all (or the majority). While in the past I've used Outlook to schedule meetings within a team, Doodle seems to be a great idea for organising meeting up with those not using Outlook and/or you have a range of dates to play with. It beats a lot of 'umming' and 'ahhing' anyhow! I also took a brief look at Meet-O-Matic but it didn't seem to perform so swishly so I think if I do use this kind of tool in the future, I'll definately stick with Doodle...I think I should start making a poll everytime I go to dinner with friends (we're all incredibly indecisive when it comes to choosing a restaurant).

I'd never used Google Calendar before as in both my current and prior workplace, I've used the calendar on Outlook and that always seemed to work pretty well. Again though - the major plus of Google Calendar seems to be that you can access it easily on the go, from your phone or from home. Like Gmail and all other Googley things, the calendar is well set out and easy to navigate. I especially like how you can make a task list and add other calendars. Also, a theme which seems to be occuring with me, it looks pretty! Much prettier than Outlook. I'm still a bit of a fan of the paper diary to be honest, but that's just me. I can see how Google Calendar could have the potential to be effectively used and I'd happily use it at work if we weren't already using something else.

Real Simple Syndication - was it?

This week we were asked to explore RSS feeds. RSS is something I've used in the past but for some reason tend to dip in and out of. I used to avidly use Googlereader but logging in today I noticed that for some reason I must have decided to neglect it at some point over the past two years. I have no idea why! For the past couple of months I've been saving any interesting blogs I find into my favourites bar and then clicking on them randomly whenever I feel the need. Now I'm thinking about it, this is both (a) time consuming and (b) makes following posts more difficult than it really could be if you remembered about the simplicity of RSS! I think my favourite option of the three tested was definately Google Reader. One of my favourite things about it is that it marks the posts so that you know when you have read them (just like emails)

Thing 5 To the right you can see 'Thing 5'

My virus troubles last week prompted some good advice from Emma about using Firefox so this was my browser of choice.

Thing 6 - My google reader (starring all of you lot!)

Thing 7 - My NHS MyLibrary RSS reader. I can see how this could be a really good resource for NHS staff as its just one place where they can search for journal articles, keep on top of current health news items etc.

This task has been a great reminder of just how 'simple' RSS can make things! No more trawling through the favourites bar for me then...