“I found the mouse I was using was really uncomfortable and I was getting RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury) so I used some Blu-tac and moulded it to fit precisely under the palm of my hand.”
10 Tips for Using a Computer Mouse
Fiona – Multimedia and Design
“I use the free university iPhone bus timetable and map app when I am in a hurry and need to find my way about. It also has my timetable and modules.”
Nicole – Engineering
“A problem of using a laptop in class can be the light given off by the laptop’s display. I found sitting at the back of the class stopped a lot of this unwanted attention, but this also had the disadvantage that you might not be able to see/hear what the lecturer was saying. Instead, I found a simple remedy which is free. 99% of laptops have the ability to dim the screen’s brightness, either by using the function keys (FN + F6 & F7 on some laptops) or from the graphics display properties available in control panel – under the display settings. Some laptops also offer dimming as part of the Power options in Windows.
Dim laptop screen
By dimming the screen you will reduce glare – reducing eyestrain, reduce unwanted attention and will also save your laptops batteries from being drained – advantages all round!”
Jim – Information Technology in Organisations
“I have discovered that the Kobo e-reader can open protected (DRM’d) epubs from libraries. They are synced by connecting the device to a PC with Adobe Digital Editions installed. But as far as I know it has no TTS.”
The Kobo wifi has adjustable fonts and views but these can depend on the book that has been downloaded.
Using the free Calibre ebook management service is another alternative when documents need to be converted to an accessible format
Neil – Psychology
“I would find that when I am reading poilicies which have so much text to read, I go to the summary and then use the find and just go to the specific bit. If you know you need a specific item such as ‘consent’ – then use Ctrl +F [Command +F], add the word to the search box and find it directly.”
Amber – nursing.
This week, I talked with Dan Russell, a search anthropologist at Google, about the time he spends with random people studying how they search for stuff. One statistic blew my mind. 90 percent of people in their studies don’t know how to use CTRL/Command + F to find a word in a document or web page! I probably use that trick 20 times per day and yet the vast majority of people don’t use it at all. (Alexis Madrigal)