This is the third part in a series about my note-taking tools and system. In Part 1, I expalined how I use OneNote 2010; in part 2, I explained the role paper plays in my system, and how I use a pen tablet. Now in this section, I’ll explain why I think backups are so important for any system, and how I accomplish some peace of mind.

Backups are critical for any important data. That goes for anything that you or I want to keep. While digital backups are frequently discussed these days–who hasn’t heard horror stories of someone losing all their work?–paper can be lost just as easily. I don’t know about you, but I often misplace documents. Spending time searching for them is lost productivity time. And since paper only exists in one place at one time, if anything ever happens to that physical item, it is lost forever. Therefore, I believe going digital offers a potentially much safer alternative to paper, provided I take some procautions.

One step is done via Dropbox. This free service allows you to syncronize a folder on your computer (My Dropbox) to their online servers. Yay cloud computing! This is done seamlessly anytime a file is changed. By saving all my academic work in my Dropbox folder, it is automatically backed-up every time I change a file. Not only that, but I can set up Dropbox on additional computers (remember my desktop and netbook?), and I can access all the files online. This gives me incredible flexibility. I can work on a paper anywhere with internet access. It also duplicates my files in three different places (desktop, netbook, and dropbox servers), thus providing some protection should something happen to one of my computers. Oh, it gets better too. Dropbox also saves previous versions of a file. This means that if you accidently do something stupid, like say save over your important paper (don’t laugh, I’ve done it!), you can simply restore an older version. More peace of mind. Did I mention it’s free? You get 2 GB of storage, more than sufficient for documents, and you can pay for additional storage if you need it. Sign up via this link, and I get additional storage space when you join. Ok, sales pitch over. I’d highly recommend it even if I didn’t get any extra space out of the deal. Dropbox. Great. Period.

OneNote 2010 also addresses some of my backup concerns in a similar way. It can automatically sync my notebooks to Microsoft SkyDrive (such an inspiring name, isn’t it? Life in the cloud…), which nearly seamlessly syncs my notes on both my desktop and my netbook and even my iPod touch. As with Dropbox, I can also view the notes online, though editing is limited.

I also have some built in backup by having my notes in both paper and digital form. If something happens to one, I should have the other. The internet isn’t failproof, and I do run into situations where I don’t have internet, the internet is down, my batteries aren’t charged, or some other electrical mishap occurs. It’s always good to be able to cope with these setbacks. I also try to save important work (i.e. term papers) on a flash drive, external hard drive, or some other medium. In the even that these cloud services dissapear, I like the idea of having yet another duplicate around.

That’s it from me! Hopefully you enjoyed a glimpse of my organizational life. If you enjoyed this, I have plans to write about my experience with Microsoft speech recognition (it was amusing), and perhaps some other things as well. And of course I’ll continue to post about my experiences in grad school and life in Belfast.

In part 1, I laid out my tools, and discussed the primary component of my note-taking system, OneNote. Now, I’ll discuss the role paper plays in my system, and one of my favourite toys, the pen tablet.

While most of my notes originate in digital form, I still use paper. In class, for instance, while I could use my netbook, I’ve opted to stick with a trusty pad of paper. Or more specifically, a Moleskine notebook. I don’t really like having a computer open in class, and as great as digital is, I still just like pen and paper. When I get back, I scan my notes into OneNote. They are still in the notebook if I need them, but I refer to them onscreen usually after that. I also take a highlighter and make a mark on the top left of the page once I’ve scanned it. A quick way of remembering what I have scanned in and what I haven’t.

Once I’m digital, I use OneNote, as I described before, and my Wacom Pen Tablet. What is a pen tablet, you ask? Well here’s a picture from Amazon:

Basically, it is a pen and a tablet. It functions a bit like a mouse, in that it moves the cursor on the screen. Unlike your mouse, however, the pen tablet is a relative position input device. That means that when you put the pen at the top right of the tablet, the cursor instantly jumps there. That makes it really easy to move around the scree. It also, conseqentially, works much better for drawing, writing, and underlining than a mouse. In short, with my set-up, it’s about as close as you can get to handwriting on the computer. Within a few years, with the advent of touch screens, I suspect this will be largely obsolete–at least as I’ve described here. Fortunately, it is also a graphic design and art tool, and I have tried my hand a bit at “painting” with it. More on that some other day.

The pen tablet also serves as a touch pad, so when I’m not using the pen, I can use it just like a laptop touch pad. Plus I can do the cool swipe gestures (e,g. two finger scroll) that are becoming so popular these days, thank you Apple. All in all, it is a fun toy that, while not essential, I have enjoyed and grown to use quite a bit.

In part 3, I’ll discuss my backup strategy.

I have a weird interest in scouring the web for note-taking tips and ideas, as well as idea on how to keep organized with notes and such. Of course, have I ever thought to post my approach to the process? Nope! So, for anyone interested, I’ll share my current note-taking and organizing process. Enjoy!

I have tried a number of different ‘systems’ for note-taking while I’ve been a student, everything from a fully paper-based system to a (nearly) fully digital system. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. I also seem to enjoy changing on a regular basis. Like every semester. Which defeats some of the usability of any given system, but oh well.

My ‘system’ consists right now of:

• Microsoft OneNote 2010
• Wacom Bamboo Pen Tablet
• Ruled Moleskine Notebook
• Pens (duh)
• Pencils (for archive work)
• My desktop computer
• My ASUS Netbook
• Apple iPod touch (32GB)
• Dropbox

You can probably tell from that list that I am, at least partially, a paperless note-taker at the moment. I opted to go paperless, however, for several reasons. One is of course, saving paper. Less expense, less waste, etc. Another big reason for me is portability. Because I am living several thousand miles away from home, and often work from different locations in Belfast, a digital system allows me to access my notes anywhere, and that is very handy right now. The downside is that I do miss the tangible interaction with paper. Another downside is that I am dependent on having electricity and, to some extent, an internet connection. Some might argue another downside is that there is a potential for the entire digital collection to vanish. True enough. And of course, paper NEVER vanishes. Ever. Sarcasm, aside, I think backups are important with either approach. Paper can me misplaced, destroyed, misfiled, etc. Digital files can disappear on a faulty hard drive, be accidentally deleted, and so on. Save your work people, no matter what the medium.

The central piece in my system right now is Microsoft OneNote. Why OneNote? I’ve used similar product Evernote which I like and continue to use. For academic work, however, OneNote appeals for two main reasons. First, I find the organization structure of ‘Notebooks > Tabs > Pages’ to be very logical and flexible. Evernote only allows for ‘notes’ to be placed within ‘notebooks’. OneNote, to me, more closely imitates the way I use “real” binders. Second, OneNote installs a virtual printer on your computer, allowing you to send anything you can print to OneNote instead. For me, this means I can “print” articles and research into OneNote. This collects them in one place, gives me ocr¹ search abilities, and allows me to highlight and annotate them–more on that in a bit.

So anything that starts in digital form–articles, book scans, class readings–I’ll simply print into OneNote and I’m done. For paper media, I simply scan into OneNote (which is very easy to do) and I’m set. I can also type notes in as I’m reading books or thinking through an outline. I can then refer back to my notes on my desktop or my netbook, as OneNote 2010 can sync notebooks between multiple computers. More on that in part 3. It also syncs with the iPod touch, and I can read my notes on the go–also very handy. I can also (with a real printer ) print my notes out and take them to class, file them, mail them, wallpaper, or whatever I feel like. Very handy. OneNote probably has a zillion other features I could use and don’t. Screen grabs, Outlook integration, audio & video features…

That’s it for part 1. Continue on to part 2 to see how I use paper, as well as the Wacom Pen Tablet. Or skip to part 3 to learn how I backup my work.