WR214 Online Tools

This is a great website that allows you to save your bookmarks online, give your bookmarks multiple subjects (tags), and share your bookmarks with others in your network. It also has a plugin for some browsers so that you can easily bookmark your favorite websites.

This is OSU librarian Laurie Bridge's del.icio.us website. She's saved 312 (or more) websites that you might want to search through by subject as you research for your proposal and group project/report.

Google Docs allows you to upload word or excel documents you've already created so that you can work on them online, share them with others, and collaborate. You can also start new documents online. There are drawbacks, such as difficulty formatting, but it's still a useful collaboration tool.

Zoho is similar to MS Office, only it's a free online collaboration tool. It has a word processor, spreadsheets, presentation tool, database program, and more.

bubble.us allows for an individual (no collaboration) to create simple mindmaps. It's useful if you are writing something that is organized hierarchically or linearly and need to map it out visually.

Unlike bubbl.us, Thinkature allows for you to invite collaborates and allows for other features while brainstorming and mindmapping. On Thinkature you can have stand-alone thought-bubbles, add images, and use a free-moving pen to write words or make connections.

If you are looking for a service to help track your citations, CiteULike is a free option.

Similar to CiteULike, Zotero offers a free citation software and includes a plugin for your Firefox web browser.

Slideshare is a place where you can post your PowerPoint or other presentation software online for others to see.

SlideRocket allows you to create presentations online.

Zentation is another presentation software available online. I haven't explored this one much yet, so I don't know what all it offers.

Trailfire, the program I am using to show this, allows for you to make a presentation through a series of websites. Pretty nifty.

Many professionals are turning to using blogs for a variety of reasons, including communication within the corporation or to create a public image. This wiki keeps track of various blogs in a variety of academic disciplines. You might check it out to see what blogs are out there for your major.

If you want to start your own blog, there are a variety of ways. Wordpress.org offers blogging software you can dowload and then upload to your OSU webspace. Other sites, such as Wordpress.com and Blogger.com, offer their own webspace for you to blog on.