A quick post to share my current top 5 favourite tools & apps (this isn’t a post about new apps, more those tools I’m using a lot):

*ifttt – With the tagline: ‘Put the internet to work for you’ – is a brilliantly simple yet clever idea which automates your use of the web.  For example every time I post to Instagram, ifttt saves it to Evernote for me.  Every time I favourite a tweet, it plugs it into Instapaper.  There are some fantastic ‘recipes’ from other people you can use or you can create your own.  Which bring me on to….

*Instapaper – Save web articles to read offline.  Brilliant on the iPad and equally useful on the laptop.  I constantly come across interesting stuff on twitter and elsewhere, now I tend to store them up and read them in a bunch, and (obviously) you don’t need wifi access.

*Feedly - I still use RSS loads, to catch up on new stuff.  Feedly remains my favourite way to sort through my google reader subscriptions (although yes, Flipboard is very pretty), particularly as I can switch between views – from ‘latest’ to individual topics ‘history’ or ’saved’ stuff.

*tweetbot – twitter client for the iPhone.  Very slick and intuitive UI.  Miles better than official iPhone (although who remembers how much we loved tweetie?)

*Evernote – Note taking on steriods.  After years of persevering, I’m finally starting to get real value out of this.  The more you use, the better it gets.  Although I still feel like I’m barely scraping the surface of all the ways I could be using it

What are your current favourite tools & apps?

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/indiamos/

I’ve just done something that I haven’t done for over three years, well 10 years depending on which way you look at it.
About three weeks ago I was coming out of the gym, pulled my iphone out of my pocket and wham, dropped it on the floor and completely smashed the screen.  So it had to go away to be repaired with the words buzzing in my ears from the insurance company that it could take “up to 10 days to be fixed”.  10 days?!! Were they out of their minds?

Now I pause at this point to acknowledge that I fully realise not having a phone for 10 days is hardly catastrophic in the scheme of things but it’s given me a short sharp shock into the reality (positive and negative) of a life lived in the thrall of the small screen.

So what did I find?

*I am utterly and completely addicted to tapping away on my bloody iphone.  There I said it.  Obvious, right? Well yes and no, I did realise how much time I spend swiping up and down timelines, checking in, checking emails, sharing photos, looking at photos, commenting on photos, updating, sharing, searching, listening to podcasts, checking the weather and numerous other trivial and not so trivial actions but when it’s not there anymore you really feel the gaping hole that was there and appreciate just how much time you waste spend on it.

*Without the phone, I let go of twitter since without the real-time aspect, I lost interest.  It just didn’t have the same grip.

*The three things I missed most: Instagram, mobile search and my beloved This American Life podcasts, particularly while travelling.

*For a couple of days when I was out and about I borrowed my son’s, basic to the core, Samsung (see the pic).  And for a brief time there was something nice about having a phone that only does two things: make calls and send texts.  Without any clutter on the phone, I didn’t have the ever present, unconscious ‘tap tap’ in my head, that causes me to launch twitter, check email, browse Instagram and on and on (from the minute I wake up until, quite literally, the moment I go to sleep).  I’ve always been someone with a surfeit of nervous energy.  In that respect technology is bad for me, it compounds my tendency to be constantly fiddling with stuff.  Without my phone I was, stiller.

So, I missed my phone and…I didn’t miss my phone.  I was inwardly ashamed at how utterly delighted I was when it turned up a whole three days early, you’d have thought I’d was being reunited with a long lost love. It was interesting (although I don’t want to repeat it). I’m trying to learn from the experience and be more mindful of how technology can seep under your skin without you really noticing how deep it has embedded itself into you.

This week I spent two days collecting stories with @Documentally (well he did the collecting, I shoved him in and out of taxis and generally acted as his caddy).

It was a fascinating couple of days and we got some really interesting content, which will be available on Creative Tourist soon.

Talking to such a variety of different people and asking them to tell us their stories, made me think more about how story telling is at the heart of us all. Our own stories are a fundamental part of what makes us human, it’s how we connect with others and what defines us as individuals. I think story telling will also increasingly become a part of how organisations, brands, businesses reach out to their audiences, since in telling a story you create a resonance that can’t be replicated in any other way.

Some other things I learnt this week:

• -Everyone, whoever they are, has a story to tell.
• -Anarchy is actually just good organisation
• -The City of Salford has some very passionate taxi drivers
• -As with most things in life, the best stories come when you’re least expecting it
• -We must capture the oral story telling of our older generation, they tell the best stories of all

I’ll be working on a project next week with @Documentally for creativetourist where we’ll be looking to capture stories of the people, places and history of 5 areas of Manchester: Northern Quarter, City Centre, Spinningfields/Deansgate/Castlefield, Oxford Road and Salford & the Quays.

Who do you think we should be talking to?  It might be artists, creatives, historians, long time residents or someone who has worked in an area for a long time and watched it change, cafe or shop owners, writers or just interesting characters with a story to tell about ‘their’ particular area of the city.

Which, do you think, are the special, treasured buildings and places that we should be featuring?

Do you know of any secret art or hidden gems?

Tell us via @creativetourist @katiemoffat or email me.

Exciting times.

I’ve just become a shareholder and director in Pyjama Drama, a fantastic company that offers drama, movement and creative play classes to two – seven year olds.  A bit of a departure from what I’ve been doing until now?  Well yes and no.  I’ve always loved drama and although I didn’t take it any further than A-level, I’m completely convinced of the value that children get out of learning drama skills; namely creativity, communication and confidence. I should probably make it absolutely clear, that this isn’t about teaching children how to become a ’star’ a la Britain’s Got Talent, it’s about helping them to develop their creativity and imagination.

Pyjama Drama has been going a couple of years and has 11 franchises across the UK.  There is an absolute ton of potential and it’s really exciting to come onboard and help grow and shape the business.  As we’re still effectively a start-up and everything will be ploughed back into the company, I will be carrying on with my other work for now and dividing my time between the two.  Hopefully some of my pr and social media skills will help us to raise the profile of the business.

I’ll still be keeping this blog running but do have a look at Pyjama Drama, (we’ll be giving the site a complete overhaul very soon) and if you know anyone who has drama skills and is looking for a new venture, then send them our way.

In honour of my new site, for anyone who has arrived here without knowing me, I thought I’d do my own. It’s pretty accurate and if nothing else, Wordle always make a lovely picture….

Also very timely.  A bit of a rant coming up but I'm getting an increasing number of requests to provide information/advice for free, along the lines of "could you just send me that list of blogger details you mentioned?" or "what's the best way for us to measure xyz and could you just let me see how that works?"

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to provide advice, input, suggestions for existing clients and indeed with peers, potential clients, others in my network.  But there comes a point where knowledge sharing turns into getting stuff for free.

I'm a freelance consultant, that means my knowledge and skills are how I earn a living. The proliferation of content for free on the web, especially around social media and PR, seems to be resulting in people thinking that these kinds of requests are OK.  But really it's like asking your lawyer or accountant to give you some free advice.  And I can imagine the response you'd get to that.

Image by mezzoblue

Dilbert sums up the new world as perfectly as ever.

Incredible times.