This blog has been merged with Spread Good Practice Blog

From 1st October 2010 this blog has been merged with Sarah Fraser's Spread Good Practice blog which will be expanded to include a variety of resources for change agents beyond only that which covers spread and large scale change.

Thanks for finding this and please go to the other blog to find the latest information.

Popplet; easy way to share graphic data

Popplet is a way to take notes in a mindmap form, scribble on the screen, add a map and a few notes - anything really. There is a separate version for the iPad.

It is currently in Beta so you have to request an access code. Mine turned up within a day. Creating your graphic is an entirely intuitive process. I suspect it will be more useful when tablets are used more, however, it works well with a keyboard. It is much easier to use than trying to sketch something on PowerPoint and then emailing round the file.  To share your notes just click on collaborate and you get a weblink.

How to record a phone call

Worried about that phone call with a staff member or client? Need to record your audio training session so it can be replayed at a later date? The reasons for wanting to record a phone call are various. The ways to carry out the recording are equally various.

One simple way for UK residents is to use Record Your Call.  After registering on the site, to record a call you dial an 0871 number then enter the number of the person you want to speak to. To replay the call you dial another 0871 number.   You can sign up for an incoming 0871 number which can record all calls.

The disadvantage is the cost of the 0871 number which is a premium line (approx 10p/min from a land line, mobiles will be higher).  However, for that one off call this methods is quick, easy and requires no technical knowledge or equipment.

Lillilooloo.com Information and community for consultants

Lilliloo is an interesting new website designed for consultants. It works as a community as well as a place to get downloads of resources and templates.

I'm not convinced about the name of the site but it is memorable!

Social networks for Lifelong Learners

Social netwokring is more than Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

There are a number of excellent networking sites designed specifically for those interested in and developing communities with an educational feel. They come in all shapes and sizes.

Education writer Karen Schweitzer has written a guest post on Mission to Learn which includes reviews of over twenty different sites.

New LinkedIn Group for Facilitators

If you're not yet on LinkedIn, then you may like to sign up. This is a professional networking site.

There is a new group on there for change facilitators that you may find interesting. It is called "Facilitating Change" - you can search for it when you are are on the site, or go to this link.

Convert scanned file to a text file

Got a scanned report in image format and want to edit it? Then use this online conversion service to get it into text. Probably not something you need every day but when you need it you need it.

Simple, quick, no fuss.

Simple way to do Market Research

This website offers anybody a ready chance to do market research and have it analysed, without having to incur into significant expenses. You can avoid having to spend an inordinate amount of time designing forms, collecting results and analyzing them to arrive at satisfactory conclusions.

In their own words, Requestio: "Flexible yet powerful, this web based survey software allows you to collect responses and data from your survey target audience. You can then run this data through our reporting modules to interpret the results of your online market research campaigns. With Requestio you can create, customize, deploy and promote your online market research campaigns in a few minutes."

It's all on the web, nothing to download and you can integrate with social media sites easily.

Staffguardian; keeping track if a distributed team

At first I thought this was a bit too Big Brother'ish. Bu then I got to think how useful it would be to keep tabs on fellow team members who are travelling about. This website called Staffguardian provides the facility to show the location of everyone in the team. It is easy to use, though there is a small monthly fee.

How about community nurses using something like this to keep connected with each other. Or project managers who may be working across a variety of sites.

If I knew where people were, and their availability, I think I might more often have phonecalls and I might do less email.

Show your screen and comment

Sometimes I am asked to review smeone's website or a page they are developing. Or I might have a problem using part of it. I end up sending emails with descriptions - all very long winded.

Owely has developed a very simple solution where you capture the screen, then use their functions to annotate the capture - like put an arrow and a comment on the picture. Then all you have to do is email your contact with a link and they then get to see your comments.

Easy. Productive.

carryouttext.com Converting text to audio

I like this facility as I can use it to convert papers and the like into an MP3 file so I can listen to it while I travel, Good for shifting paperwork in a different way.

Try it out here

HTML to PDF Converter

Ever saved a web page and then discovered on opening it later that it is a mess of code looking little like what you expected. This site provides an online converter of a webpage (just put in the page address) into a PDF. Best thing is there is no registration. I loved it.

pushtocustomers.com; have your own branded iPhone app

Twitter and Facebook may be a good way to connect with customers. Even better is if you can have your own branded app for the iPhone and apps for other phones as well such as Android ones - in development. This would then help link your customer to your community much more efficiently and effectively. If you want to read more about how one company is offering to do this then check them out.

There is cost to have this done as well as an ongoing subscription. However, until the price of developing apps comes down this may be the most cost-effective option.

Publish any video content on any mobile device: Thirdpresence

Obviously most videos we share are posted to the internet. However, sometimes it's good to be able to share videos that run on mobile phones. With mobile access becoming a major feature in our business and social lives it is becoming more important that our sharing is linked to mobile technology. The problem is there are all sorts of operating systems - iPhone, Android, Windows, Nokia symbian and so on.

Thirdpresence is a place where you can convert your video file into one which will work on almost any mobile phone. There is a fee for doing this though it starts from a very small amount.

I'm thinking this might become really useful in healthcare where we have instruction videos that staff need to be able to access on mobile tehnology.

Easy Gannt charts & project planning: Tomsplanner.com

So I've found an excellent way to very quickly create a gantt chart without resorting to a clumsy Excel Spreadsheet version or getting lost in the mist of MS Project.

Tomsplanner is an online version which is free. It is also amazingly simple to use, flexible and produces Gantt charts of high quality. It took me 60 seconds to sign up (though I think you can have a go without signing up) and then another 60 seconds to start creating a chart. You can export the file to most programs or store online - nice feature. I liked the symbols you can use of various tasks.

It's in beta and is free to use.

Generating a barcode

There are lots of places on the web where you can generate your own barcode free of charge

http://www.barcodesinc.com/generator/index.php Quick and easy, nothing fancy

http://www.barcoding.com/upc/ Choose your symbology and output format

http://www.idautomation.com/java/linearservlet.html for every option possible

I've been brainstorming ways to use unique personal a barcode (other than in retail)

1. When I go to the hospital I don't have to fill out forms - just swipe this

2. At conference registration and for entry to different sessions

3. To figure out who is eating what in the fridge (swipe and link to a database)

4. In case of emergency - it holds my name and a phone number

5. For entry / exit into clubs and cinemas

6. Entry / exit into festivals

7. Using up coupons, vouchers or cumulative things (swipe and count down)

8. On the machines down the gym, swipe and record my progress

Where I use a barcode now (though it is organisation specific rather than unique to me)

1. At the library

2. Supermarket loyalty schemes

3. Hospital forms (though I am still asked for information)

4. Drug matching in hospital

Screen Sharing; why we're using Glance

The annual invoice arrived for paying for our screen-sharing services. In these times of economic hardship we've had to do some testing to check out value for money etc. There are many screen sharing and conferencing tools available that are free. So why are we not using them?

Well, I spent the better part of a morning testing out a number of the freebies.

YUUGUU, Crossloop, Gotomeeting and a few others.

a) All those I looked at required the person accessing the conference to download software. I don't mind downloading it onto my computer. However, most of the businesses we work with have strict controls that do not allow employees to download software. So that was the biggest limiting factor.

b) A couple of the trials ended up with all of us losing the plot. Either the file conflicted with Google Chrome or some other rather minor yet annoying thing that didn't go to plan. I feel that it only takes 1 small irritation to put someone off web conferencing and I would prefer not to put participants though any hassle whatsoever

c) Some tools have more facilities than Glance. For us, the cost of those facilities outweighs the experience. They take longer to load, longer to log on and then everyone needs some degree of acquaintance using them. Unrequired hassle.

So like a really good washing machine - I need only those programs I will use, it needs to do the job I ask for it, and needs to be so blindingly obvious in it use that if I have to refer to a manual then there is something wrong with the design.

So, we'll pay the invoice for Glance now...!

Sharing emails: Moomeo

Well I am not entirely sure this is a good thing...

If you have an email or a series of emails and you want to share it/them then you can email it to post@moomeo.com. You then get a link which you then share (not by email - could have done that in the first place..). What this link enables you to do is to put the email onto social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

I can think of a number of ways this might be useful, especially if you don't have a blog or website you can easily update and then link back to. On the other hand, it could be a nightmare for corporate media and IT managers as emails find their way into a more viral social media system.

Trendmetr: find out frequency of search term in Twitter

I love Trendmetr http://www.trendmetr.com for providing a minute by minute updates on keywords I choose. The frequency shows as bars and you can add as many (it seems) keywords as you like.

This is a real time view on what is being said on Twitter. Useful if you want to know how trends are happening, as they happen, rather than rely on the Twitter "Top Ten".

Convert files online to make icons

If you are a web developer or just someone who wants to make some nice icons to use in your documents then creating these seems simple until you try. Reducing file sizes and creating the right type of file is sometimes difficult.

I've found an easy way which requires no software download and the process is really straightforward

http://www.converticon.com/ is a website dedicated to doing this - simply.