Show Me Your Dock Series! Part 17
David Cleland is a Blogger, Educator, Photographer, ICT Co-ordinator and Mac writer and enthusiast based right here in Northern Ireland.
David’s blog focuses on technology in education and digital creativity using photography and video and has a strong Apple focus (which we love). He was also nominated this year for Best Technology Blog at the Irish Blog Awards.
I asked David if he would give us the lowdown on the applications he relies upon as a teacher and blogger on a daily basis.
The Intro…
I moved over to using a Mac about four years ago and haven’t looked back since. Last year I invested in a 24″ iMac primarily for editing photos, the screen is amazing.
My Mac has improved my workflow massively. In education we focus on creativity and communication and there is no doubt Macs are the perfect ICT solution for both.
The Dock…
- iChat – I used iChat two or three times a month to communicate with friends and family generally. I have used the application in education when we video conferenced with the writer of the Tim Burton Film Big Fish.
- Mail – I tend to check my email far too often but have moved to creating ‘Smart Mailboxes’ to manage the throughput of email, mailing lists, urgent or general twitter chitchat.
- Safari – I tend to use Safari as my default web browser (although I do have Firefox installed) as it allows me to sync bookmarks with my work computer and my iPhone.
- Tweetie – Definitely my twitter client of choice. Multiple accounts, Growl notifications, saved search and a brilliant user interface make it a total no brainer.
- NetNewsWire – I have been using NNW for a year or so now. I have subscribe to over 300 RSS feeds and given NNW now works with Google Reader I now have a perfectly synced news list on both Macs and my iPhone.
- Things – I’d like to say I am efficient but I really fall short. I would hate to see what I would be like I didn’t let Things manage my daily tasks. All my work projects and requests arrive in the inbox and eventually get done. iPhone sync is handy.
- Photoshop – I use photoshop to manipulate images for the school website. I do use it as part of my teaching but sadly I am not scratching the surface of what it can offer. Photoshop is on my list of ‘learn to use’ applications.
- Photoshop Lightroom – I have been using Lightroom for a few months to process my photos (most of which end up on Flickr to flixelpix.com. It is an amazing photo management and processing application, easy to use and endlessly powerful.
- Dreamweaver – Well I have to teach it so the latest DW always sits on the dock. I find I use a text editor more and more for code edits but DW is perfect for the complicated work as an application for students to learn.
- Transmit – The best FTP application for Mac. Easy to use, drag and drop ideal for backing up websites or general file management.
- Flickery – My new favourite Flickr management application. Easy upload, photo, sets and group management. Flickery is the perfect desktop Flickr management application.
- iPhoto – I have a few years of family photos in there and despite moving to Lightroom I still use iPhoto for family photos so we can produce the annual photo book.
- VisualHub – Sadly discontinued Visualhub is the Moving Image Arts teacher’s perfect software partner. Drag any video file into the VH interface and it converts to any and every other format. Brilliant.
- XMind – Opensource Mind-managing application. Again used to teach project management and to develop ideas and concept.
- Littlesnapper – Website and application screen grabber with an inbuilt browser. Paparazzi is still in the apps folder though.
- Address Book – Well, everyone I know is in there.
- EyeTV – Definitely one of the best television recording systems on a computer. They have thought of everything. Easy to use, simple recording, I use it every time I am at the computer. Perfect for education.
- iTunes – Music, Podcasts and Films.
- Billings – I reviewed this application a few years ago and love it. I just wish I had a reason to actually use it.
- iCal – Manages my time, appointments and classes. We have a number of school based calendars that we can subscribe to and sync with. iCal makes life management easier.
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A huge thanks to David for taking time out to take part in the Dock Series.
As usual if you would like to share your dock, just leave a comment with a brief description of your dock apps and a link to a screenshot of it. Or take to your blog and write up a description of your dock as several others have done.
Other Creatives in the Series:
- Part 1 – Grace Smith
- Part 2 – Khoi Vinh
- Part 3 – Matt Brett
- Part 4 – Veerle Pieters
- Part 5 – Tim Van Damme
- Part 6 – Ian Stewart
- Part 7 – John Boardley
- Part 8 – Adii Pienaar
- Part 9 – Ben Bleikamp
- Part 10 – David Airey
- Part 11 – Jonathan Snook
- Part 12 – Antonio Lupetti
- Part 13 – Niki Brown
- Part 14 – Jon Phillips
- Part 15 – Sarah Parmenter
- Part 16 – Tony Chester
With more amazing creatives lined up, make sure to check back every Tuesday for the latest Dock Series installment. If you would like to be featured please leave a comment below.
Related posts:
- Show Me Your Dock Series! Part 20
- Show Me Your Dock! Series – Part 5
- Show Me Your Dock Series! Part 13
Grace Smith is owner of the small but perfectly formed web design studio Postscript5, in Northern Ireland. To keep up to date with the latest designalicious content, then please consider subscribing.