Thing 8 :Calendar

I’ve decided to skip Thing 7 and come back to it later, so here’s Thing 8.

I wrote about using Google Calendar for 23 Things for Professional Development in 2010. Back then I didn’t have a smartphone so my use was restricted to my desktop. I've just added Google Calendar to my smartphone but at the moment it doesn't seem to sync with my desktop (Outlook) calendar.  At work we use Google calendar to add events to the library website. Unfortunately it doesn't display well on smartphones as we don't have a mobile website at the moment. (However the website is being redesigned this year so hopefully that'll be something they incorporate then). We also add this calendar to our Library Guides.

Another useful app is Eventbrite which is being used a lot now for event bookings. This is useful as it allows users to add the event into their calendars so there’s excuse to forget!

Personally I tend to use my calendar just for work and related stuff, but I can definitely see how having your calendar on a smartphone could help a student to be more organised. Or is that wishful thinking?

Thing 8: Google calendar

Since I’ve begun a new job recently, I’m finding that I have to be more organised than I was, so I thought Thing 8 would be useful. In the past I’ve just used a paper diary, which was a bit useless as I always forgot to check it!  However I’ve had a look Google calendar, and to be honest I can’t really see myself using it. I already use Outlook Calendar to keep myself organised at work and it doesn’t seem to offer anything different. Also, the new team I’m part of all share our Outlook calendars, so we can easily see what everyone is doing.

Google calendar is used in the library to advertise events, and I used it a little for that. However, personally I’m quite happy to stick with my Outlook calendar.

I've only had a brief look at Evernote, so I'll try and post something on that later this week.