Nelson's Blog: Useful Tech for Political Scientists

I tend to find many ways to "usefully" avoid working on my dissertation. But one thing I seem to do a lot is to think about ways I can get computers to do my work for me. Total success still eludes me but I thought I would start sharing what I have learned along the way. Topics in this blog should especially appeal to social science researchers but may appeal to geeks of other persuasions as well. UPDATED WEEKLY (sort of).

Saturday, January 01, 2005

Category: Miscellaneous

This is a category page. This is the catch-all category I use for all articles that seem to fit nowhere else!

The idea for these category pages comes directly from the blog "theatre of noise".

Category: Getting Organized

This is a category page. All articles on this page relate to the topic of Getting Organized and GTD.

The idea for these category pages comes directly from the blog "theatre of noise".

Category: Other Computer Hardware and Accessories

This is a category page. The articles on this page all consider other computer hardware (such as the Tablet PC) and accessories that may be useful for social science researchers.

The idea for these category pages comes directly from the blog "theatre of noise".

Category: Pocket PC

This is a category page. The articles on this page all involve use of the pocket pc.

The idea for these category pages comes directly from the blog "theatre of noise".

Category: Web Tools

This is a category page. The articles on this page all deal with web tools I have found that aid my research. These include search tools and tools that help organize information found on the internet.

The idea for these category pages comes directly from the blog "theatre of noise".

Category: Reference Management

This is a category page. The articles on this page all deal with tools I have come across that are meant to help researchers manage their references. This includes the well-known tools (such as EndNote) as well as the lesser-known tools (such as Biblioscape).

Using EverNote for Academic Research - From GTD Wannabe

The idea for these category pages comes directly from the blog "theatre of noise".

Category: Office Software

This is a category page. The articles on this page all deal with issues related to office software.

The idea for these category pages comes directly from the blog "theatre of noise".

Category: Note Management

This is a category page. These articles all deal with tools, tricks, and tips I have come across for managing research (and other) notes.

The idea for these category pages comes directly from the blog "theatre of noise".

Category: Cool Tools

This is a category page. These articles deal with cool tools I have found to make my computer experience neat.

The idea for these category pages comes directly from the blog "theatre of noise".

About This Site

I tend to find many ways to “usefully” avoid working on my dissertation. Throwing a party for grad student friends so we can all forget about the difficulties of academic life, fixing a piece of furniture for my wife, and using my new cell phone to keep in touch with old friends are all recent examples. But one thing I seem to do a lot is to think about ways I can get computers to do my work for me. Total success still eludes me but I thought I would start sharing what I have learned along the way. Topics in this blog should especially appeal to social science researchers but may appeal to geeks of other persuasions as well. Those topics include a range of items from reference managing software to web tools to cool toys for your pc. Most solutions are for Windows systems and Pocket PCs, but I have started playing with Linux as well so who knows?

Categories on This Site:

Let me also put a little disclaimer out there. I am not a computer expert, and have no special training. This is all stuff that I am gradually figuring out myself!