After the Brainstrom
October 10, 2009 at 6:37 pm 8 comments
Sometimes I see people cling to old habits, even though there are clearly easier ways to do things. I am not talking about something that would require a new computer system and a large IT project. Just day-to-day stuff. Here is one example…
I love whiteboards. I love to use them to brainstorm ideas. Once upon a time SmartBoards were popular. They were a way cool, but expensive, way to capture those notes on paper. They are no longer necessary. An average digital camera can capture a large whiteboard with enough detail to preserve and share your moments of inspiration. I find a camera needs to be at least 5 megapixel to get the desired resolution, so cameras on mobile phones (including BlackBerrys and iPhones) are less than ideal. Like most gadget lovers I upgrade cameras frequently. So my former primary shooter becomes my work phone.
While the .jpg files straight from the camera work fine there is a free web service that will make those images even better. You can upload your images Qipit.com, which will turn them into PDF files that are much more readable. [Update: on 25 October 2009 I received an email from Qipit stating that they were shutting down their online service.]
This tip applies to those giant easel pads. Don’t carry out all that paper. Your digital camera is a great way to capture those too.
Bonus tip: if you have a whiteboard in your office, keep whiteboard wipes on your desk.
1.
Ed Bennett | October 11, 2009 at 7:20 am
This is a great idea – this technique also works with Evernote, which can provide text search on the converted images.
2.
Oscar | October 12, 2009 at 10:52 am
We use whiteboards all the time, and we usually do what you mentioned. Take a picture to save it, I’ve not tried the converstion to PDF yet, but it seems like an interesting approach.
3. Smartphone Tip: Photograph Whiteboard Notes | October 13, 2009 at 2:02 pm
[...] more on photographing a whiteboard read this post from CandidCIO var addthis_pub = 'gfriese'; var addthis_language = 'en';var [...]
4.
Mark | October 14, 2009 at 2:53 pm
I notice that you really love drop.io. I just read about the under 25 year old owners of that company in BusinessWeek’s top 25 under 25 article. As coincidence would have it the reason I know about drop.io is because I was reading the article to see my friend’s company, IdeaPaint.
Similar to you article about preserving whiteboard space, IdeaPaint is a paint that you apply to ANY surface and it instantly becomes a dry-erase surface. So, the entire wall in you conference room is now a usable whiteboard.
Pretty cool idea, check them out: ideapaint.com
5.
hospitalcio | October 20, 2009 at 9:34 am
I had heard about this. I think it is an awesome idea. I plan to try it out.
6.
Alvin McCoy | November 21, 2009 at 1:17 am
Good idea with the jpeg to pdf conversion, but still it becomes too many pdfs if you have to do this on a daily basis. I prefer OneNote, you can integrate everything into it all at once.
7.
Glass Dry Erase Board | December 9, 2009 at 2:11 pm
A high end Glass Dry Erase Board is for sale online at http://www.GlassDryEraseBoard.com. Great for the corporate clientele.
8.
hospitalcio | December 9, 2009 at 9:40 pm
This is blatant product promotion. But, it is kind of cool so I will let it slide. I love whiteboards.