App Report: Soundscapes for Working and/or Chilling

Dear Soundscapists, Sound Escapists, and Escapers of Sound,

Cassette tape recorded circa 1985-86 by my
6th-grade self & labeled/preserved by my Mamaw

As an anthropologist, my workflow fluctuates between social engagement in the world (i.e., participant observation, conducting interviews, attending meetings/events, presenting research) and more remote and potentially solitary efforts (i.e., writing funding proposals and reports, conference abstracts, field notes; scheduling/transcribing interviews). Depending on the activity, soundscapes such as audio notes, background music, and community radio play various important roles in both defining my work environment and informing/documenting the content of my research. So this App Report focuses on some of the tools and methods I use in different fields and contexts.

App Report: Other Apps for Research & Writing

Dear Anthro & Other Academic Appsters,

In my first App Report,* I expounded on the wonder of OneNote as a useful all-around and academic notebook app for research and writing. Because of my extended enthusiasm about OneNote and related "powertoys" (and the resulting length of that post), I promised to follow up with additional resources that I have gradually gathered, including some useful apps that I use regularly or am starting to explore. I have previously discussed some of these briefly in my AnthroDashboard of general resources, and I also shared some lessons learned with a previous version of EndNote. I have posted questions and exploratory comments about some of these in other social media venues without much response, so I thought I would share them to invite a wider discussion about academically useful apps. This is a fairly long and detailed list, so I've also included links below to skip ahead to particular sections.

App Report: OneNote for Research & Writing

Dear Nerdy Wordy Academic App-O-Philes,

Recently a fellow PhD graduate student in the University of Kentucky Department of Anthropology posed an email inquiry to our grad anthro list-serve about “writing apps for dissertating,” and there was a lively email discussion among several ABD PhD Candidates from the same or similar cohorts about several go-to applications they use. Given my nerdy love for digital tools and archives, I joined the conversation and offered some of my experience and satisfaction working with OneNote.

Activating Library Mind

Dear Academically-Inclined HumanKind,

I have meant to correspond more regularly, but this past spring semester entailed a time-consuming yet rewarding milestone for my current graduate student career: I am finally a PhD candidate, AKA ABD (all but dissertation), in the University of Kentucky Department of Anthropology. As follow-up to this process, I promised some folks that I would share some of the tools and strategies that I found useful along my long and windy way. None of this is intended as an exhaustive list of resources or a comprehensive how-to tutorial, but nonetheless it may serve as an occasional guidepost or light for someone else's path.

Departmental T-shirt by Karen, Katie, & Lydia