Monday, April 22, 2013

Technology That Isn't Digital

George reminded me over the weekend that I hadn't updated this blog in a year, and this morning, I saw something that looked like a perfect topic to talk about, namely, the use of non-digital technology for genealogical research.  What prompted this was a blog posting this morning on a blog that I read, namely, UncluttererThat posting highlighted some new products, and I was especially taken with two of them: the Staples® Better® Binder with Removable FileRings™, and the Rubbermaid® All Access™ Organizers storage containers. I can imagine using both of them for my genealogical filing.

The Better Binder idea seems to solve my endless internal debate on whether to use binders or file folders for my organization. At the moment, I have been compromising by using 3-tier stand-up racks made by Eldon® and plastic folder for my current projects, and then transferring the contents from the plastic folders to regular folders and placed in a 4-drawer file cabinet when the project is archived.

Now I'm thinking about using Better Binders (different colors for different research projects) and transferring the ones I'm not active with to my file cabinet.

As for the All Access Organizers, this would be a good solution for the garage and closets, especially for things that aren't file-able papers.  I have a lot of loose office supplies in my home office closet that would benefit from this.

Anyone out there using either of these products?