My Favourite Tipples from a Freelance Business Researcher
Jinfo Blog

By Sophie Alexander

Abstract

My Favourite Tipples are shared by Sophie Alexander, freelance business researcher. She shares some of her favourite online resources, from those which help her best organise and synchronise research across different devices to investigative intelligence sources, plus creative outlets in the architecture and design field.

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Working as a business researcher on a freelance basis, I don't specialise in one particular industry but these are some of the resources that help me gather and organise information.

• Instapaper: During the course of the day I come across a lot of interesting articles that I don't always have time to read and this lets me save them all in one place to read later. Whether I'm working on the laptop, iPad or mobile, I can synchronise my reading across all my devices. You can sort articles into folders and choose from different fonts, sizes and views to make it easier to read articles and read articles offline too. They've recently introduced a useful highlighter function - all your highlights go into a folder making it easy to find everything.

• Feedly: I used Google Reader until it was discontinued last year. Although there are lots of RSS readers out there, I like Feedly. It has a nice clean layout and is simple to use. It ties in with services like Instapaper, Pocket and bitly and you can save articles to read later. It has several viewing options including tile or list view. It's also free and works well on an iPad. It has a search feature or you can browse categories or read articles including the Editor's Choice. You can also switch easily between several languages, currently including French, German, Italian and Spanish.

• Journalism.co.uk: I've been reading this for a few years and although it's aimed at those who work in journalism it's equally useful to researchers. It always has useful practical articles and the "How To" guides are especially helpful.

• Toddington International: I have a particular interest in investigative research and Toddington maintains a useful list of online Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) resources on their website which includes language tools, meta and mega search tools, deep web resources as well as proxy servers and online privacy and security tools which are updated on a regular basis.

• On a lighter note, when I need a break and a dose of inspiration I head over to Dwell, Dezeen or Design Milk. If you're interested in architecture or interior design and want to feed your creativity then take a look at these.

An article in FreePint which I found particularly interesting:

• Decimate Your 'To Do List': Get Things Done. Having to manage so much information on a daily basis can be a bit overwhelming at times and this article has some useful tips on how to better organise your work and become more productive.

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