Alternative Apps to Google Notebook

Wednesday, March 18th 2009 by Wes FryercloseAuthor: Wes Fryer Name: Wes Fryer
Email: wes@isteconnects.org
Site: http://www.speedofcreativity.org
About: Wesley is an international learning consultant, author, digital storyteller, educator and catalyst for educational reform focused on blended learning, differentiated instruction, and creative engagement. His bio is available on www.wesfryer.com/bio and complete vitae on www.wesfryer.com/vitae.See Authors Posts (74)

I’m over a month late getting this news, but since it’s a surprise to me it may be to others as well. Google is closing the door on new development and new users of Google Notebook. This is a REAL shame, in my view as well as others, since Google Notebook is a fantastic way to conduct online research in our web 2.0 world. An online petition is available to try and change Google’s mind about Google Notebook, and I encourage you to sign it electronically.

Bye, bye, Google Notebook

What alternatives exist today which offer comparable features and functionality to Google Notebook for student researchers? Being able to highlight text or images in a browser, right click / control click to save it to a notebook, and thereby readily “hunt and gather” web resources in a single location is SO valuable. Evernote is the primary alternative to Google Notebook which comes to my mind right away. In the announcement on the Google Notebook blog SearchWiki, Google Docs, Tasks in Gmail and Google Bookmarks are suggested as alternatives. Perhaps the Google Notebook extension right-click functionality could be added to Google Documents? If so, and the “web clipping” would automatically copy and save the originating URL just like Google Notebook did, that would be GREAT. To date, however, I haven’t seen that functionality.

Have you used Evernote with students conducting independent, online research? If so, how do you think it compares to Google Notebook? Are there other web applications in addition to Evernote you think can be considered “replacements” for Google Notebook? I’d love to know if there is any type of open source project which offers similar functionality to these programs.

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