How To Split An Atom

Get more articles like this and Register for our Forum.

Web 2.0 has brought us wonders, take pastel color schemes and rounded corners for example. What would we do if we didn’t have those? Unfortunately, it has also brought some less than pleasant side-effects. Information overload, the “wisdom” of the crowds, and troll control. Today I tackle information overload in this edition of How To Split An Atom’s, Web 2.0 Survival Guide.

What is Web 2.0

I tend to subscribe to a very loose definition of what constitutes Web 2.0. Just so we’re all on the same page let me share it. Web 1.0 was a purely push medium where information was given to us and we consumed it blindly, Web 2.0 opens up room for feedback.

Encarta was Web 1.0 while Wikipedia is Web 2.0.

Google Classic was Web 1.0 and iGoogle is Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 transforms the web from a monologue to a conversation.

Before I tell you how to survive the new web, you need to recognize where you fit into the scheme of things. If you write for a blog, read blogs, participate on social bookmarking sites, edit Wikipedia articles or use Twitter or Jaiku then you Web 2.0, and as a result you have realized that Web 2.0 can be a hard place to live.

Information Overload

Simplify the complex.

There is vastly more information available than you could possibly get through on a given day. However, you don’t have to feel consumed by it. If you religiously make your way across the barren wastelands of the webosphere, stopping off at your 50 favorite sites, unable to get anything done because you are too busy trying to figure out the stupid comment box, take a breath. It’s time to get off your espresso drip for a moment, slow down and read these tips.

A Better Feed Reader

The first step to getting your information under control is to find a RSS reader that can handle your information needs. For those of you who don’t know what RSS is, you should. A lot of people suggest Google Reader and mind you, the integration with iGoogle is useful but if I were going to give you the hands down best RSS reader I have ever come across it would be News Hutch. News Hutch makes reading RSS feeds fun again, it’s filled with AJAX goodies, a news paper style interface, and easy feed import through OPML.

Why I like this reader is that it lets you move through your feeds in a more casual fashion than Google’s solution. When you’re finished with one set of stories it disappears from your list, giving you a real sense of accomplishment. It’s organized, clean and best of all free.

Follow The Meme

You probably read too many sites, in general. A secret to Web 2.0 is that it should more aptly be called the Repetition Web. Chances are, any story that you are currently reading has been written twelve times before with slightly different spins. Don’t get buried in the slush, let someone else do it for you.

If you are a technology junkie like me, instead of searching aimlessly for the most “accurate” version of today’s hot stories, visit a site like Techmeme. Techmeme scours the web for the most talked about stories and presents the headlines, along with all the major blogs that have written about it. One flaw with Techmeme is that it excludes smaller sites that might provide valuable insights that the larger media sources have left out. Even so, Techmeme is a far more efficient way to quickly find information than anything else that I have stumbled across.

Integrate

The first page you see when you open your browser should be your window to the world. At a glance, it will be where you discover the very latest in relevant content. Whether that is a newly posted Flickr image or just your email, being able to scan the world from the safety of your homepage will save you a ton of time.

If you are going customize your homepage, might I suggest either NetVibes or iGoogle. Since the vast majority of my email is forwarded to my gmail account, I just find iGoogle to be the more convenient portal. I have some of my favorite RSS feeds in the feed Reader widget, I have my email, movie times and all sorts of other errata taking up the remaining slots. Netvibes lets you do a similar trick, allowing you to generate a useful homepage for component parts.

Productivity

Use your tools!

If you don’t already use Firefox, you should. It’s more secure, more versatile and it opens an entirely new world of productivity tricks. Once you have taken a moment to install this wonder, let me introduce you to extensions.

Extensions are Firefox addons that give the browser additional functionality. For the sake of this article, I am going to describe a few tools that you can use to help manage your information and become more productive.

Greasemonkey

Greasemonkey is the tool that will become the platform for your new, more productive life. It allows you to rescript the behavior of Firefox, and gain a lot of really great functionality. Greasemonkey is pretty useless by itself, once you have it installed you have to “add on” to the addon with scripts. I’ve simplified the task, so click here and then here — once you’re done installing those come back to the article.

Top 5 Greasemonkey Productivity Scripts

Time to Go

This is for those willing to quit procrastinating Cold Turkey. Install the script and then the timer starts. When your time runs out, you are redirected to a blank page. If you absolutely, positively must finish that article on the latest Microsoft rumor you can click on the timer and give yourself another ten seconds.

This is the shotgun of productivity tools. Install this, and you simply can’t waste time cruising your favorite news portals because you are giving your browser the willpower the you don’t possess.

Look It Up

Highlight a word, right click on it and this script will allow you to look it up in the information source of your choice. A fantastic little addon for anyone who has ever wondered what syzygy was.

Gmail Conversation Preview

This is incredibly cool. Right click on a message in Gmail and this script allows you to see a preview. This is for anyone who receives a lot of “almost junk” email in a day. Give it a quick read, and then junk it without having to click around.

Google Reader / Gmail Integration

Just like the title says, this script allows you to integrate your Google reader feeds with your Gmail, so while you’re reading the latest memo about how your department’s productivity has decreased by 24% this quarter, you can be enjoying your favorite RSS feeds.

RSS Quick Subscribe

Never go to the silly “subscribe to feed” page again. Using this script, all of your subscription options will appear on the page itself. When you click to add, it will automatically appear in your feed reader. No muss, no fuss, no problems.

Top 3 Firefox Extensions

Now that we have Greasemonkey squared away, next on the list are a few more Firefox extensions that might come in handy on your journey to greater productivity. Extensions are a snap to install — follow the links, reset Firefox, and then come back here for more.

Customize Google

CustomizeGoogle enhances Google search results by adding extra information (like links to Yahoo, Ask.com, MSN etc) and removing unwanted information (like ads and spam).

BugMeNot

Tired of registering for every site that you run across, only to realize that you plan to go there maybe once or twice in your life. Well, BugMeNot takes away some of that hassle. By tapping into a database of pre-made registrations you can bypass almost all of those pesky login screens with a simple right click.

Auto Fill Form

Most of my non-productive hours are spent filling out the same tired data in registration forms. This little extension takes care of that for you. You can fill in the data that you wish your forms to default to, add custom rules and apply encryption for the security minded. If this doesn’t save you time then nothing will.

Top Productivity Software

By now you should have your web life under control (and I should be the CEO of Enron…) and if you used the rest of these suggestions effectively you will have a lot more time to actually get work done. You may be wondering if I can offer any suggestions on how to efficiently use this new found time. The answer is a resounding yes. Get a better word processor.

Let me introduce you to Darkroom. Darkroom is a word processor without any of the hassle.

It’s just you and your text — no toolbars, no menus, no distractions. The color scheme is a very nostalgic green and black, and there is even a blinking cursor to boot. If you can’t focus with this baby on screen, then you’re productivity problems have nothing to do with your technology (Mac users, follow this link).

Web 2.0 Roundup

There you have it, I have given you the tools, the techniques and the time you need to become a highly productive Web 2.0 warrior. If you would like to share any tips that you have found, either comment to this post or drop me a line. These tips won’t change you overnight, but they are a few big steps forward in your battle to survive Web 2.0.

[Thank you Hawk Wing for the pic]