I've always been a big fan of organizing and re-organizing the small world in which we live and work. This appreciation for a clutter-free, well-sorted space extends to all things digital, as well. In an increasingly computerized world, it is important to understand how things like mailboxes, bookmarks, files, and subdirectories serve the same roles as real life objects and containers. If you do not keep these things in some sort of intentional and well-defined order, you might just find yourself swimming through and un-navigable ocean of junk information. It is the opinion of this author that the quality and efficiency of your computing experience will suffer should you fail to maintain some order in your virtual environment.
Sounds great, but how do I do it?
After a survey of several sites, some common advice seemed to stand out:
1. Delete unnecessary files and other information.
- Are you done with the document? Do you actually use/enjoy it? Can you access it someplace else, where it is already backed up, organized, and doesn’t take up YOUR digital space?
2. Reinforce good habits by being thorough, consistent, and regular. Develop a routine.
- Once you have a system, stick to it. If you want all of your bookmarks sorted, do it everyday. If you want your email read and emptied, do it every day. Getting organized can be a bother, but staying organized is much simpler once it becomes an responsive behavior. Understand that and action lies behind every reaction and intent ought to lie behind each one of those.
3. Be specific and customize your environment.
- Everyone has a system that works for them. Try to find it, while retaining a certain discipline about it. Such excercises are about self-improvement, not self-acceptance. Be as complete and orderly as possible when naming, labeling, and sorting information.
4. Backup everything.
- Enough cannot be said about this, so just this sentence should suffice. If you don't have an external hard drive, there are options to host the really important stuff online and you might even looking at moving toward cloud computing. If you don't know what any of that means or don't have access to such things, invest in an external hard drive of some sort.
Further Reading:
Feel free to browse the blog posts and other articles below. My quest for a more harmonious journey through cyberspace is never ending, but there are ways to make the ride a little less bumpy.
How To Organize Your Computer
Tackling Emails, Digital Photos & Media
by Dena Pasis
Very straightforward, with some basic advice on getting organized in the digital environments we utilize most: email, music, and other media.
How to organize your cluttered desktop and regain your sanity
by Chanpory Rith
Very specific post with a meticulous (but universal) system for big clean-up projects that might seem out of control (have confidence, you can do it!)
Geek to Live:
Organizing “My Documents”
by Gina TrapaniVery tech-aware post that distills some essential ideas and advice from personal computing preferences. Ms. Trapani, editor of the wonderful website Lifehacker, writes frequently about personal organization and productivity. I believe her posts about filing and other real world forms of organization can also be a big help in understanding digital information management. Use whatever you can to visualize and streamline the systems you want and require and implement them. Hopefully, this will bring a little more order into an often rampant and aimless (though still important) activity to which we devote an increasing amount of time and attention.
From the sidecar
of a motorbike,
-- Tsuri
