Homescreens - Ben Showers - Jisc

Another in our ongoing series looking at what people have on the Homescreens of their mobile devices.

Who are you, and what do you do?

Ben Showers – Head of Scholarly and Library Futures, Jisc.

What’s on your iPad homescreen?

Which three apps couldn’t you live without?

Twitter – I use Twitter for professional interactions and content: I can follow and interact with people who talk about and share things I am interested in.
Netflix – This is a personal, more than a professional app, but it is the way I increasingly consume films and television, along with iPlayer, Amazon and Google play. I use Chromecast at home to ‘cast’ from my devices to the television.
Feedly – If twitter is a socially/peer curated source of information and content, then Feedly is my personal, ‘closed’ source of information and content. I read Feedly on the train as a way to quickly digest stuff I am interested in. Inevitably I then email myself lots of different things I might find useful as I go about my work.

TBH I could probably have chosen another 5 or 6 essential apps; next on my list would have been Evernote which is becoming an essential tool for me at work.

What app are you still searching for?

I’d love a good reminder/to-do app. I have tried a number, but I never stick to any – although this may be a reflection more on me than the apps themselves. I have recently begun simply using Siri to remind me of important tasks at the beginning of each day. I like being able just to dictate what I need to do and a time to remind me; although this can be embarrassing to do on the train in the morning!

What’s your top tip?

I like exploring the ways I can work seamlessly across different devices, from my work laptop to my iPad and iPhone for example. So I am beginning to use apps like Slingshot to share screens more and more. This is increasingly important as I want to work with people in real-time and share stuff that they can comment on and I can change as we talk.

The only other tip I have is that if you feel the need to moan about work then take a look at Secret: An app designed specifically for moaning to friends!

Another fascinating insight into how others use their mobile devices, and another mention for Evernote, making it one of the most popular apps shared in the Homescreen posts and at our App Swaps. For those Evernote users like Ben who are looking for a good reminder system, it might be worth highlighting the reminder feature in Evernote itself, which if combined with the webclipping tool makes for a rather powerful workflow.

To use the reminder function select the Reminder Alarm clock at the top of a note.

Select the time and date for the notification, which can be changed or cancelled.

You can tell if your note has a reminder set by the change in the Icon.

At the right time you will get notification from Evernote.

Thanks to Ben for sharing.
If you’d like to share whats on your Homescreen drop me a line at: r.englebright@brighton.ac.uk