Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
Current News
Stop Wasting Your Time Making Filing and Deleting Decisions!
1/5/2005
Not so when I get a new laptop. I just hook 'em up and copy the files over. Some day, of course, there will be incompatibilities that will mean I no longer have the software to read some files, but I truly expect some genius to work on that problem, too. I haven't the slightest doubt that whatever computer I am using at the end of my life, I will still be able to display my jpg images.
But will I be able to find the images I want? I think so, and certainly the image files are the toughest to locate on a hard drive where things stand now in early 2005.
Not Filing Things Away
The first time I ever made a live presentation about the Internet, it was to a standing-room-only crowd of about 150 members of the Society for College and University Planning. I had reserved an Internet connection for the room as well as a data projector. I was nervous and, of course, neither the data projector nor the Internet connection was there when I began speaking. Imagine giving a voice-only presentation about the Internet to a room full of people, many of whom had never used it, in 1996. Not fun.
Anyway, about 25 minutes into the session the hard-working techies arrived and got it all working. When it went on I, looking out at the audience and speaking, heard and saw a huge collective gasp--all eyes were fixed on the projector screen. Here's sort of what they saw:
*Gasp!*
Actually, it would take a screen larger than the wall of my office to display all of the icons on my desktop. That's where I work: my desktop. When that term came out for what we see in the window, I took it literally. That's where I put everything I am working on until it's done. And when it's done I file it away mostly in "monthly" folders rather in topically labeled folders. Or, I simply create a folder called "Terry's desktop 110404" and put everything in it and stick it on the C drive.
Now, before you think I have always been this way ... it's not so. I used to be so "retentive" about hard copy files and prevision filing and indexing that the books I used in law school would have, by the end of the semester, hundreds of little glue-on tabbies so that I could find things quickly--and I had boxes full of detailed files.
But then something magical happened. Someone invented the "find" command! How wonderful! Why would I spend tens of minutes each day moving files up and down through hierarchical file structures when I can find things at the push of a button? My time is too valuable. So I basically do not file things away.
There are some problems with this, of course. One being that few people other than myself can actually find things on my laptop right now. (But that's a bonus sometimes, too.)
And now the latest from Google (and others) shows that, just like I was ahead of my time by never deleting digital files (because I would always have enough cheap storage space to keep them all) I was ahead of my time by not putting everything neatly away. The latest "desktop search" software is a predictor of much better tools coming in just a few years.
My bet: Five years from now more users will be like me, and refrain from wasting hours each work week laboriously dragging things "where they ought to be" and will just let them go where they will. And, the desktop search software will be ubiquitous, unobtrusive, and may well file things where they should be anyway, without anyone having to think about it.
Recommended Reading
- News Update :: Tuesday, August 26, 2008
:::::: NEWS
: Report: Green Efforts Improving on Campuses
: Polytechnic Institute of NYU Deploys Array Networks Equipment for Access Control
: Oracle Releases Student Administration Integration Pack
: Red Hat Hacked, Company Issues Security Advisory
: Sun Open Sources Mobile Toolkit LWUIT
: Vulnerability Management Needed for Security, Study Says
: Microsoft Details SharePoint-SQL 2008 Integration
: Higher Ed Growing into BI, Data Warehousing
: LectureShare Updates Free Course Management System - Campus Security :: August 22, 2008
:::::: CASE STUDY
: Corralling Identity Management
:::::: CAMPUS SECURITY NEWS
: Vulnerability Management Needed for Security, Study Says
: Wayne State Deploys Q1 Labs QRadar to Manage and Secure Network
: KU Medical Center Installs Real-time Beacon System
: Virginia Tech Tries 'Compliance Sheriff' To Improve Web Site Accessibility
: Microsoft, BearingPoint Team Up To Provide Risk-Based Compliance Solution
: Collaboration Key to Security, Microsoft Says
: IBM Unveils New Software Designed To Streamline eDiscovery
: Security Woes Up, as PHP and OSS Make the List - IT Trends :: Thursday, August 21, 2008
:::::: INTERVIEW
:: Higher Ed Growing into BI, Data Warehousing
:::::: IT NEWS
:: Microsoft Changes Virtualization Licensing Rules
:: Vorex Upgrades Web-based Data Collection Tool for Schools
:: AT&T 'Big Mobile' Grant Extended
:: U Illinois Implements New StorMagic SAN in 15 Minutes
:: OOXML Reaffirmed, ISO/IEC Reject Appeals
:: Butler U Deploys Virtual Proofpoint Messaging Security Gateway
:: Linux Application Checker Brings Distro Help - SmartClassroom :: Wednesday, August 20, 2008
:::::: INTERVIEW
: The Power of Wikis in Higher Ed
:::::: NEWS and PRODUCT UPDATES
: Sakai 2.5.2 Gets Performance Boost; New Modules Released
: Georgia Virtual Tech Moves to Angel LMS for Web-based Instruction
: Video Spotlight: Campus Technology 2008 Keynote Address
: AT&T 'Big Mobile' Grant Extended
: Colorado State Launches New Online School - Web 2.0 :: Wednesday, August 20, 2008
:::::: THE BUZZ
: Digital Arrays for Evidence-Based Learning
:::::: WEB 2.0 IN ACTION
: "That Which Weaves Together:" The NSF Cyberlearning Report
:::::: PRODUCTS AND APPS
: Sakai 2.5.2 Gets Performance Boost; New Modules Released
: Vorex Upgrades Web-based Data Collection Tool for Schools
: Colorado State Launches New Online School
: Collexis' Lawriter Debuts Social Network for Law Students - News Update :: Tuesday, August 19, 2008
:::::: NEWS
: Video Spotlight: Campus Technology 2008 Keynote Address
: Report Finds Dip in Microsoft's Browser Share
: Butler U Deploys Virtual Proofpoint Messaging Security Gateway
: VMware's Updates Cause Problems, CEO Apologizes
: Intel Releases Interface for USB 3.0
: Linux Application Checker Brings Distro Help
: Wayne State Deploys Q1 Labs QRadar to Manage and Secure Network
: SunGard HE Releases New Unified Digital Campus
: Higher Education Fertile Ground for 802.11n WiFi, ABI Reports
