The first event in our “Digital Tools Bootcamp” series was a success.
I was really pleased that I was able to share Evernote with people who
hadn’t already been introduced to it. Evernote, for those of you that
don’t know, is a cloud-based  data organizing program. For the free
version there is a monthly upload limit, but I don’t think I have ever
come close to reaching it. You have to be connected to the internet to
use it, but you can upgrade to the pay version if you plan on needing
it offline.

The organizing principle of Evernote is “notes” (text, images, pdfs,
audio) and you organized into “notebooks” (Anthro class, Haiti
research, wedding planning). These can organized further into
“notebook stacks” (school, event planning, teaching and research).
Right now I use it mostly for keeping track of all my class notes and
readings, as well as all the events and projects I am working on. The
whole database and as well as individual notebooks are searchable, and
you can also use tags to label individual notes and search them that
way as well.

One of the coolest and most innovative features of Evernote, in my
opinion, is the seamless way a “web clipper” integrates into my
browser (I use Chrome). When I am doing research, looking at recipes,
or whatever, and I find something that I want to save and keep for
later, I can click the Evernote add-on in my browser and a little
window pops up, allowing me to select either a selection, the article,
or the entire full page the website, and decide which notebook I want
to store it in. Then the webpage is stored in my Evernote account.
Even if the original website is removed, the clipping in my account
will remain.

I hope you get a chance to explore Evernote and decide if it is a
useful tool for you. I know it has made a big difference in the way I
organize my notes and my research.