THIS PAGE IS AN ARCHIVE. GO TO THE HOMEPAGE TO FIND OUT WHAT TO DO NEXT.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. arch emisou panton
	Phil's Blogservations Tuesday, April 20, 2004 Posted by philgomes 2:32 PM Look Inside My Mind: The Busy Tech PR Person's Desktop Look Inside My Mind: The Busy Tech PR Person's Desktop Thought I'd share a glimpse of my computer desktop with all of you. Note that, day-to-day, the desktop usually has about a dozen or more windows open — several IE windows, lots of emails-in-progress, IM sessions, MS-Office documents, RSS aggregator, etc. These screenshots weren't snapped during regular working hours, and have been pared to provide a simpler view of my digital working environment that, for some silly reason, I feel compelled to share. Here's the plain version: As you can probably tell from this screenshot, I'm a big fan of the movie Hellraiser. I consider it one of the best horror films ever. I use this theme while I'm working at home. I always select something more staid and boring when I'm at a client's location or otherwise out-and-about on business. When I'm doing guest lectures, though, the students don't seem to mind. XP's desktop theme manager makes this switch very easy. 1. Basic Windows Icons: My Computer (I call mine "Cenobite," another Hellraiser reference), My Documents, and Network Neighborhood. Nothing new save for the custom icons. I also have some cool systems sounds. For instance, this plays whenever Outlook delivers a new batch of emails. This plays when I shut down the computer. 2. IE and Outlook: Like I have much of a choice? Anyway, I have Linux running on another machine as my stop-gap between my current full-time computing environment and a full Linux changeover. 3. VNC: This allows me to create a window that lets me see the desktop on my Linux machine. 4. ideas.txt: This is just a plain-text document that I use to put down random ideas I get throughout the day. Some of them even wind up on this blog. This little feature you're reading right now was actually tapped into this file bit-by-bit over the course of a few evenings. 5. My Shortcut Tray: No big surprises here. Based on what I've seen on other people's desktops, though, mine is more populated than most. It takes the burden off of the desktop and helps keep things cleaner. 6. Current Projects: Another way I try to make my desktop as clean as possible is to keep folders (and shortcuts to same) of either frequently accessed information or topics/ideas that I'd just like to have handy. These items range from client-related to artistically related. 7. Game Shortcuts: For the after-hours... *8-) 8. Template Shortcuts And Timeslips: Necessary. 9. Recycle Bin: Empty, of course, 'cause I never make a mistake and, thus, never need to delete anything. Har, har, har... 10. Email: Don't bother squinting at it to get the inside track on my clients' news. It's a totally bogus email to my friend Richard. You'll notice the signature file with the Feynman quote that has been a fixture of my outgoing emails for almost as long as I've been in PR. 11 & 12: Instant Message and Webcam: Working from home, you miss the water-cooler talk. My Yahoo IM and webcam help to approximate this kind of office environment. It's also helpful if I need quick answers to something and the idle timer shows whether the person who has the answer is at his or her desk. As more and more people work from home, I argue that some degree of presence detection (and even some metadata on that person's responsibilities or field of expertise) will become fairly standard. We're talking something like "Is there anyone within my personal network online right now at a certain level of NDA clearance who knows anything about polysilicon deposition?" RSS Aggregator: I use Awasu. Hell... I'll totally say that for free. An RSS aggregator is absolutely essential for a tech PR pro, since you have to get up to speed on the day's news and opinions quickly in order to be as effective as possible. Thanks to my aggregator and the information processing network it pulls to my desktop, I figure I consume more data in the first half hour of my day than most people consume in a week. Please know that I'm not saying this to be arrogant — after all, Robert Scoble famously subscribes to 1,300+ feeds — but I see it as simply just a necessary requirement of my job. Finally, here's a look at Beavis, my Linux box, through VNC. As you can see, I used GIMP to art up these screengrabs. Beavis is not only useful for this kind of noodling, but also stores my MP3s, which I access via Samba. I prefer to listen to classical or ambient electronic music while I work. Sometimes jazz. I save the goth, indie, and metal for the after-hours. HOME | OBSESSIONS | FAQ | HEROES | CAREER | BLOG | CONTACT Note that the views expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect those of Phil's employer, its business partners, its clients, or anyone or anything that doesn't come from Phil.	ABOUT THIS BLOG This blog not only discusses PR and media matters, but Phil's everyday observations about a variety of topics. EMAIL phil[at] philgomes[[dot}]com SYNDICATE Feedburner ARCHIVE YAHOO! IM SKYPE WISH LIST PITCH POLICY MY PHOTOS www.flickr.com Photostream RSS Enter your Email Powered by FeedBlitz COMMENT AND TRACKBACK POLICY Comments and trackbacks are unmoderated, though I will delete the patently offensive ones. Any comments and trackbacks are the opinions of the individual writer of those comments and trackbacks, and not those of Phil Gomes, his employer, its clients, or its business partners. If you have a bone to pick, bug the people who wrote the comment or trackback.