Wired for Action

Fiona Baldwin

University College Dublin

Now, I don’t profess to be an IT guru, but I love any kind of tech that makes my life a bit easier. Whether it is a set of headphones to listen to music or a handy little app that will improve productivity, I am all over it.

Genius Scan

My favourite - and hardest working - app is Genius Scan (download from the App store or Google Play). This tasty little app is my BFF in the library. In essence, it is a pocket scanner that allows you to photograph paper documents on the go, saving the results as PDF files that you can email or share via WhatsApp, Dropbox, GoogleDrive, OneDrive or even print. It will even optimise a particular crop when you point it at the page. In a matter of seconds, you get a legible scan of one or more pages. This is particularly useful if you need to digitise restricted volumes, such as manuscripts, for private study (clear this with library staff first!). It is also fantastic for people (like me) whose eyesight may not be the best, as it allows you to zoom in on sections that are hard to make out, without having to stick your nose right into the book and looking like some kind of crazed loon in the library. Regardless of why you use Genius Scan, you should always respect copyright guidelines - copyright lasts for the author’s lifetime plus 70 years (for more information, check out www.icla.ie/more-information-on-copyright/).

Desk Hacks

In the current pandemic, I seem to be spending way more time than usual at my computer. This has led to my exploring ways to make my set up more productive and more comfortable. As I use video conferencing (Zoom and Webex) several times a day for meetings and teaching, I have found my gaming headset with built-in mic to be a life saver. The earpieces are super comfortable, the mic can be moved out of the way when not in use, and the sound quality is pretty sweet too. Best of all, however, is the fact that it gives the calls a certain level of privacy; they also leave my smallish desk space considerably less cluttered than it would be if I was using an external mic and speakers. 

If you are spending long periods sitting in front of a PC, then I would also recommend doing an ergonomics self-assessment. There are several sites online that offer this for free. Following on from doing mine, I invested in the following pieces of kit to go with my laptop: a full-size external wireless keyboard and mouse (I hate using a trackpad); a decent desk lamp with adjustable light source; a BRÄDA laptop support (Ikea €4.50); a Wacom digital tablet and stylus (this wasn’t really a necessity to be honest, but if you like to draw, or need to do customised art work for your research – such as funky maps – then this is a very useful device). 

I have also added the extension Take a Break Reminder to Google Chrome. This forces me to take regular breaks helping to prevent RSI and eye strain. It takes seconds to add to your browser and settings can be adjusted to suit your preference length of breaks.

Of course, none of these items are really necessary for research and they haven’t – to date – generated any additional words or chapters, but as the queen of procrastination, I have found taking some of the excuses off the table to be a positive thing.