Technologies Researchers Use

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Academia.edu

Free social networking website and collaboration tool for academics and researchers.

Adobe Photoshop

Industry standard photo/image editing software

Adobe Premiere

Industry standard video editing software suite (Pro/Studio)

Adobe Reader

Allows users to view, search, print, manage security for and comment on PDF files.

Animoto

Tool for constructing video animations using images, text, audio, and theme graphics.

App

Any small-scale software application designed to be run on a mobile platform.

Apple Numbers

A spreadsheet software program developed by Apple.

ArcGIS

A geographic information system for working with maps and geographic information.

Astrid's tasks

Free web-based task management service.

Atlas It

A qualitative data analysis software package.

Audacity

Free audio tool, does everything short of professional quality music/audio production.

Augmented Reality (AR)

Real world experiences enhanced by access to context-specific digital information such as sound, text, video, images or geographical data.

Basecamp

An online project management tool.

Bazaar

A time-based project and document management system.

bit.ly

Allows web links to be shortened for ease of reference e.g. in a tweet (see twitter) or presentation.

Blog

From the term weblog, a website in the form of an online journal. Posts include links to other media. Readers can comment on posts, and entries typically appear in reverse chronological order.

Blogger

Online blogging platform/service.

BoardEx

An online business intelligence service often used as a source for academic research.

Bristol Online Surveys (BOS)

Online survey tool, allows data to be downloaded to a range of analysis software. Free version with limited number of questions/respondents.

British Library

The British Library has many online collections and services for researchers.

C++

A general-purpose programming language.

Calc

A spreadsheet program.

CiteULike

Social reference management site, allowing users to search, organize, and share scholarly papers.

Cmaps

Concept mapping software.

DART (also DART-Europe)

Online e-thesis portal.

Data Logger

Portable electronic device that records data over time or in relation to location. Interfaces with a laptop or computer for data upload and analysis.

Data.gov.uk

UK Government project to open up non-personal data acquired for official purposes for public use and re-use.

Datastream

An extensive database of historical financial numerical data.

Dedoose

A inexpensive web application that enables researchers to analyse text, video and spreadsheet data .

Delicious

Social bookmarking site, allows researchers to build a shareable 'stack' of bookmarked resources on a topic, and to follow others.

Digg

Allows users to share and recommend web contant. More social/news than academic.

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

A directory of open access journals – see also JSTOR

Doodle

A free, web-based tool to help schedule meetings and other appointments.

Dragon Naturally Speaking

A speech recognition software package.

Dropbox

A web-based file storage service. Files can be access from any device with an internet connection and can also be shared.

Elgg

An online service for easily creating a social network or hub.

eMinerals Toolkit

A set of grid computing-based tools to support scientists creating simulations.

EndNote

A reference management system sold by Thomson Reuters. Free, cut-down version available for the web.

ERIC

Education database – the world’s largest digital library of education literature.

Ethnograph

A qualitative data analysis software package.

Evernote

Collates materials of all kind including tweets, posts, documents, audio recordings, notes, references, photos. Includes optical character recognition (OCR) reader so written notes are quickly converted to electronic text.

Facebook

The world’s largest social network.

FaceTime

A video calling software program.

Faculty of 1000

An online review service.

Freemind

Mindmapping software

Final Cut Pro

Industry standard video editing software

Flickr

An online photography and video management and sharing application. Allows tagging and following.

FreeMind

A free mind mapping tool.

Geographical Information System (GIS)

System for analysing, using and managing maps and geo-locational information e.g. ArcGIS.

Geotagging

Adding geolocational data as a 'tag' to a data set or item; using such tags to map data.

GenStat

A general statistics package.

Gnumeric

A spreadsheet software program.

Google Alert

Email updates of the latest relevant Google results based on past queries.

Google Books

Specialist google search focusing on full-texts and tables of contents from published books.

Google Calendar

A free time-management web-based application.

Google charts

A range of free online data visualisation tools, the outputs of which can be embedded into web sites.

Google Docs

A suite of online office-based tools allowing remote file storage but also supporting file sharing and near-real-time collaboration on documents.

Google Earth

Virtual globe, map and geographical information program serving satellite images of the Earth's surface. Past records of the same locations can also be viewed through Historical Imagery. Can be used to display geo-tagged data.

Google Forms

Allows online creation and distribution of surveys along with collation and graphical analysis of results.

Google Maps

Zoomable maps focused on an address, map reference or post code.

Google Scholar

A web search engine for scholarly literature across many disciplines and sources including theses, books, abstracts and articles.

Google+

A social networking tool with growing academic interest: allows sharing of events, photos, articles, blog posts.

GoToMeeting

An web-based conferencing tool that allows researchers to run online meetings.

HootSuite

Twitter management tool.

HyperRESEARCH

A software package for conducting qualitative research and qualitative data analysis on an Apple platform.

iCal

Apple’s personal calendar application.

iCloud

Internet based file storage service specifically for Apple devices.

iMovie

Video editing software bundled with Apple computers. Easy to use with good range of output formats for consumer-level product.

INFOMINE

A virtual library and reference tool for academic resources.

iVisit

A software program for video conferencing, instant messaging, presentation and desktop sharing.

JISC

Joint Information Systems Committee, an independent body that works with further and higher education in the UK, providing strategic advice and guidance on the use of ICT and funding innovation projects.

jiscmail

Free service for UK academic communities and interest groups to share ideas and information by email. There are thousands of groups covering many categories.

JORUM

National repository of open educational resources shared by teachers and educational designers in the UK HE and FE communities.

JSTOR

Not-for-profit UK service that gives scholars, researchers, and students access to published content from academic journals, primary sources, and books. Typically available through a university library subscription.

Keynote

Standard mac-based presentation software, more inspired by graphic design than powerpoint

KoBo Toolbox

Suite of linked open source research tools including data collection and analysis, mapping, graphing, and questionnaire design.

LabVIEW

A graphical development environment for the programming language 'G'

LinkedIn

A social networking website designed for professionals. It allows to share work-related information, join professional interest groups, and develop contacts.

LiveMesh

An Internet based file synchronisation application.

manyeyes

Data visualisation tools from IBM. Allow many users to produce visualisations from shared data sets.

Maple

A computer algebra system.

MATLAB

A technical and numerical computing language and interactive environment for algorithm development, data visualisation, data analysis and numerical computation.

MAXQDA

A qualitative data analysis software package.

Mendeley

Free online reference management service allowing researchers to organise references, annotate PDFs, collaborate in private or open groups, and securely access research from any internet connection.

Microsoft Excel

A spreadsheet software package.

Microsoft Outlook

A personal information manager that combines e-mail, calendar, contacts and tasks.

Microsoft Powerpoint

Presentation software, well known for bullet pointed text but capable of embedding and displaying a wide range of media and basic image/animation creation.

Microsoft Project

A project management software program.

Microsoft Paint

A simple to use graphics tool that comes as standard with microsoft packages.

Microsoft SharePoint

A web-based collaboration and document management tool. A web-based intranet.

Microsoft Visio

A software program for creating graphical diagrams.

Microsoft Word

Standard word processing software. Advanced functions support offline collaboration, indexing, reference management.

MindGenius

A mind mapping software program.

Minitab

A statistics software package.

Mozilla Thunderbird

A free software program for managing email and news.

myExperiment

A virtual research environment where researchers can share digital items with colleagues.

myGrid

A multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary international research group focussing on the challenges of eScience. The consortium specialises in data and knowledge-intensive e-Laboratories.

National Monuments Record

An online archive of English heritage that includes photographs, plans, drawings, reports and publications on social history.

NGS (National Grid Service)

Provides access to a broad range of computational and data based resources.

NIDAQ

Enables researchers to acquire data directly into a powerful programmable data analysis environment.

Ning

An online service for creating a social network or hub.

NVivo

A qualitative data analysis software package exclusively for the Windows platform.

OMII-UK

Provides and supports free, open-source software to support the UK e-Research community.

ooVoo

A free video chat and conferencing tool.

Open access journal

Journal for which no subscription is required, with articles freely available online (see also DOAJ)

OpenOffice

An open-source software suite very like the MS suite, which includes tools for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics and databases.

Open research

Research conducted in the spirit of free and open enquiry, with the methods, data and findings all made freely available for others to use. Allows for massively collaborative research projects in all subject areas.

Open source software

Software that is both freely available and for which the source code is made open for others to use, copy, study, change, and improve.

OpenThesis

Free repository of theses, dissertations, and other academic documents, coupled with search, organization, and collaboration tools.

Origin

A software program for interactive scientific graphing and data analysis.

Oxford Bibliographies

Online bibliographic database and high-level encyclopedia, designed for scholars.

Oxford Reference Online

Bring together language and subject reference works into a single cross-searchable resource.

Paint

A simple graphics painting software package.

Paintshop Pro

A professional standard graphics editing program.

Portable document format (pdf)

Widely-used, interoperable, printable and annotatable format for documents such as research papers, articles etc.

PebblePAD

A web-based personal learning environment or portfolio system.

Perseus Digital Library

An evolving digital library with information and a database of art and archaeology images.

Photofiltre

Http://pixlr.com/

Posterous

Web service for collating and sharing a wide range of media – visually clean design, not suitable for large amounts of text.

Prezi

Cloud/web-based presentation software and storytelling tool for exploring and sharing ideas on a virtual canvas.

PsychINFO

A bibliographic database for the field of Psychology.

PubMed

A free database of references and abstracts covering life sciences and biomedical subjects.

Qualtrics

Online survey tool.

Questia

An online commercial digital library of books and articles aimed at academics

R

R, also known as GNU S, is a programming language and software environment for statistical computing and graphics.

Reddit

A social news website where registered users submit content and other users rank it to determine its position on the site’s pages.

Reference Manager

A reference management software package sold by Thomson Reuters.

ResearchGate

A free network for scientists and researchers: connect with others, share scientific publications, and find jobs and conferences.

RSS feeds

RSS feeds send a notification when information is added or changed on a web site. Subscribe to each feed individually, and track feeds using an RSS reader such as Google Reader.

Science Direct

A leading source for scientific, technical and medical full text research.

Second Life

An online virtual world.

Sigmaplot

A software package for scientific graphing and data analysis that runs on Microsoft Windows.

SpiderOak

Easy, secure and consolidated free online backup, sync, sharing, access and storage solution for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux (2GB free).

SkyDrive

Free online/cloud storage for documents and photographs.

Skype

Service using Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) to allow communication by voice, video, and instant messaging over the Internet. Calls to other Skype users are free of charge. Skype can also be used for file transfer.

Slideshare

Online service for sharing presentation slides and other research/teaching communications. Options to follow other users, comment, and build contacts.

Smartsheet

An online project management and crowdsourcing tool.

SmartSurvey

Online survey software that allows users to create and publish their own surveys and view the results graphically.

SPSS

A software package widely used for statistical analysis. Can run a vast range of statistical tests and is used for data mining and text analytics as well as creating and managing questionnaires.

Storify

Web service that consumes blog posts, twitter feeds etc and uses them to construct the 'story' of a topic as it unfolds on the web.

StreetView

Street View is a service found in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides street-level views of many postcodes around the world.

Survey Monkey

Online survey software that allows users to create and publish surveys, collate answer, and download results graphically or as data for more detailed analysis.

t1B

(Thomson ONE Banker) an online database provided by Thomson Reuters containing a range of financial data.

Tagging

Adding keywords to data or media in order to support: searching and browsing; categorisation and management; data analysis.

TED talks

Inspirational and expert speakers talking about what they know best.

TweetDeck

Twitter management tool

Twitter

"Online social networking service and microblogging service that enables users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters. These posts are known as ""tweets""."

Typepad

Service for hosting and publishing blogs and photo albums/image collections.

UptoDate

An online review service.

Vimeo

Video hosting site similar to YouTube but more widely used by serious film makers and makers of academic content.

Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)

Suite of institutional administrative and teaching tools designed to provide course-related information and support a variety of computer-based learning activities e.g. through forums and wikis.

Virtual Observatory

A collection of interoperating data archives and software tools to create a scientific research environment for astronomical research.

Virtual Research Enviroment (VRE)

Suite of tools to support research activities including collaboration with other researchers across institutional boundaries, sharing data and resources, and common technical infrastructure.

Vischeck

Allows designers to see how images will appear to someone who is colour blind.

Vizualize.me

An online visual CV creator.

VoiceThread

Allows several types of document to be combined with voice over into a single presentation, and allows comments in various forms.

Web of Knowledge

An online academic citation index produced by Thomson Reuters.

Web of Science

An online academic citation index produced by Thomson Reuters.

Weft QDA

A free, open-source tool for qualitative data analysis.

Wiki

A collaboratively-built website which can be edited by anyone with access. Typically viewing is open while editing requires log-in and may be restricted.

Wikimedia commons

More than 12 million freely useable media files (check that licenses are open, e.g. Creative Commons).

Wikipedia

Vast collaboratively-produced and openly-published wiki encompassing most academic topics. 'Source' and 'History' tabs allow readers to track how a page has been constructed and the discussions among authors.

Wiley Online Library

Online editions of Wiley's 400+ scientific, technical, medical and professional journals.

Windows MovieMaker

Basic video editing package bundled with Windows OS.

WolframMath

Online mathematics resources.

Wordle

An online visualisation tool for creating 'word clouds' from a source text. Words that appear more frequently in the text are represented more prominently.

WordPress

Free, web-based software that can be used to create a website or blog. Blogs can be hosted on the WordPress site or the software can be downloaded and used to host a blog on any server.

Wrike

An web-based project management tool.

XMind

Mind mapping and brainstorming software.

yED

A free software program for creating high-quality diagrams.

YouTube

A video-sharing website which also has features of a social network.

Zetoc

One of the world’s most comprehensive research databases.

Zotero

Free reference management tool that allows researchers to collect, organise, cite and share sources. Sits inside a web browser and can reference or download many different types of file.