26 Jul 09 How to Build a Home Office

In the last article, we talked about why a freelancer need to have a home office, and I guess, I succeeded in building case in favor of a small home office. Hence, in this article, we will see what all we need to have in our no-frills small home office to help us work efficiently. Before we begin with buying stuffs for our home office, let us first unclutter the space where we want to create our imagination-pod.

Get a lonely unused corner

The first step in establishing a functional home office is to leave your bedroom, and search for an unused space, not necessarily corner, to setup your home office. By shifting your works to one designated area, you will free up your personal space and time, and the home office will send a signal to your unconscious mind that as soon as you start moving towards that special area, your body should get prepared for work.

By separating your work place from your bedroom, you can also control the inflow of distracting stimuli to your work space. I would suggest you to keep the decoration of your home office to painting the wall with a darker shade of your favorite color, and having a clock or clocks, depending upon the geographical locations of your clients.

The agenda of this article is not to tell the rich kids about what all fancy stuffs they should keep in their home offices, but the goal of this article is to provide a list of basic things that you must have in your home office.

Must-have Home Office Tools

Well, if you are building your home office to impress your friend, family and relative then go for the latest hi-tech gadgets, but if your intention is to do some real work in there then invest your hard-earned money in buying the tools that you cannot do without. The following list includes the things you should keep in your home office:

Personal computer, or a laptop
All-in-one printer, fax, copier and scanner
At least a landline or a cell phone
Stapler, pen, pencil, blank sheets, glue, adhesive, tape, sharpener, eraser, scale and other stationary.
A portable Hard disk for data backup
A coffee-mug holder to save your desk from coffee spills
Visiting card holder
Blank Media
Bulletin Board to affix to-do list
Ideation board
Stickies, and
Dictionary

Can you come up with more must-have office tools? Well, help me out in making this list exhaustive.

Tags: Adhesive Tape, Blank Sheets, Building Case, Fancy Stuffs, Favorite Color, Friend Family, Geographical Locations, Hard Earned Money, Hi Tech Gadgets, Inflow, Must Have Home Office, Office Tools, Painting The Wall, Pen Pencil, Rich Kids, Scal, Space And Time, Unconscious Mind, Unused Space, Work Space

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14 May 09 Getting Writing Ideas

In the last article, Writing When You Can’t, we discussed about getting out of writer’s block. In this article we will discuss about from where to get an idea or ideas to write upon. This is important as it was the lack of ideas only that pushed you into this dark well.

There is not any particular set location in space and time where you can look for writing ideas, rather you can get writing ideas from almost anywhere and at anytime. Magazines, books, blogs, periodicals, forums, movies, questions asked by others, answers to those questions, old blog posts, old articles, or your immediate physical surrounding can be a good starting point. However, there are many ways to get ideas to write upon, you should only choose the idea that fit into the bigger picture keeping in mind the nature of the medium and the expectation of the target audience from it. If you are just starting out with writing then avoid taking any complex topic, and try to keep the sentences short.

Be a voracious reader. Books can be a good source for sourcing writing ideas. Try reading books from different genre and as many as you can. Blogs can also be effective in sourcing writing ideas. Do not confine yourself to reading blogs from your niche only as reading blogs from your niche alone will limit your ability to see the bigger picture, the context in which your readers see your blog. Reading blogs from different niches will also infuse freshness to your thinking. Writing updated versions of old articles can also be considered. This will open many writing avenues for you.

The bottom line is to be observant. Keep close eye on the surrounding and see what is changing and what effect will it have. Try to look for small changes; these are the things that at times have bigger impact. Always keep a pocket notebook with you to write down the observations you make and the ideas that come to you. This repertoire will keep you away from getting into the writer’s block.

Tags: Array, Avenues, Bottom Line, Expectation, Freshness, Genre, Good Starting Point, Magazines Books, Niche, Niches, Periodicals, Pocket Notebook, Reader Books, Reading Books, Sentences, Set Location, Small Changes, Space And Time, Target Audience, Voracious Reader, Writing Ideas

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29 Dec 08 Information Technology and Communication (ITC) Features

The Information Technology and Communication have helped bring the world of global communication, facilitating networking among individuals and institutions worldwide, and eliminating barriers in space and time.

They are called Information Technology and Communication to the set of technologies that enable the acquisition, production, storage, processing, communication, registration and submission of information in the form of voice, image and facts contained in nature acoustic signals, optical or electromagnetic. ITC include electronics as a technology base that supports the development of telecommunications, computing and audiovisual.

2.1 Features

• ITCs make the information traditionally subject to a physical environment, in immaterial. By scanning is possible to store large amounts of information, small physical devices (disks, CDs, USB memory sticks, etc.). In turn users can access information located in remote electronic devices, which is transmitted using communication networks, in a transparent and immaterial.

This feature has come to define what has been termed as “virtual reality”, that is not really real. Through the use of ITC are being set up groups of people interact according to their own interests, forming virtual communities or groups.

• Instantaneousness. We can transmit information instantly to places far removed physically, through the so-called “information superhighways”.

Have coined terms like cyberspace, to define the virtual space, not real, which puts the information, not to assume the physical characteristics of the object used for storage, acquiring that degree of immediacy and immateriality.

• Multimedia applications. Multimedia applications or programs have been developed as a friendly interface and easy communication, to facilitate access to ITC for all users. One of the most important features of these environments is “Interactivity.” Possibly the most significant feature. Unlike more traditional technologies (TV, radio) that allow for interaction unidirectional, an issuer to a mass of passive onlookers, the use of interconnected computer networks using digital communication, provides a two-way communication (synchronous and asynchronous) -person and person-person group. There is therefore a shift towards communication between people and groups that interact according to their interests, forming what is called “virtual communities”. The user of ITC is therefore an active subject, sending their own messages and, most importantly, makes the decisions about the process to follow: sequence, rhythm, code, etc..

Another of the major characteristics of multimedia applications, and have greater impact on the educational system, is the ability to transmit information from different media (text, image, sound, animation, etc.). For the first time in the same document can be transmitted multi-sensory information, from an interactive model.

CONCLUSION

As conclusion we can say that with the use of ITC in education can be achieved arouse interest in students and teachers in scientific research and enable the enhancement of creative skills, imagination, communication skills and be able to access collaborative much information and providing the means to a better comprehensive development of individuals.

We can also add that the use of ITC in education is becoming a reality that requires education systems to take positions before the same.

Tags: Acoustic Signals, Communication Networks, Cyberspace, Electronic Devices, Environments, Global Communication, Immediacy, Information Superhighways, Information Technology, Itc, Multimedia Applications, Physical Characteristics, Physical Environment, Production Storage, Space And Time, Technology Base, Usb Memory Sticks, Virtual Communities, Virtual Reality, Virtual Space

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26 Jul 09 How to Build a Home Office

Get a lonely unused corner

Must-have Home Office Tools

14 May 09 Getting Writing Ideas

29 Dec 08 Information Technology and Communication (ITC) Features

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