With so many online programs, apps and other tools available, and new ones being created everyday, it can be impossible to choose what to use or even to know what’s available. I thought it would be a good opportunity to walk you through three online tools that I am using frequently. There are many that I use, but these three I will show you are the most popular and are relevant to knowledge translation and researchers.

Typeform

This is an easy to use form and survey builder. The forms look great and are appealing to use which means people are more likely to fill in your survey. You have most likely used survey monkey for your survey needs to date, but I highly recommend you give Typeform a go. It has advantages over survey monkey in that it is supported on Linux platforms and they have a mobile web app.

A big advantage of Typeform is the ability to use visual elements in the survey making the forms  easier to digest than paragraphs of text. As the name suggests Typeforms are forms done awesomely!

Check out the video here http://www.typeform.com/tour/ 

Canva 

Amazingly simple design software. This online graphic design platform has six million users in 179 countries. Canva, founded by a young Australian female entrepreneur, is considered a graphic design disrupter. Canva allows you to create graphic designs from scratch or using any of the hundreds of templates available. It provides both free and paid templates, but there are so many free options you won’t need to worry. If you do need to purchase an image from them it will cost only $1 per image. You can download your creations as jpg’s in different qualities or as a PDF ready for print. The options on Canva are seemingly endless. It is particularly useful for creating posters, social media images, and well really just about anything you need (even the picture for this post!). Check it out today!

Here is a quick video tour of Canva

Evernote

The workspace for your life’s work! This is a great application that you can add to your internet browser on a desktop computer, and also to your phone as an app to capture things on the go. Evernote is like a digital filing cabinet to store websites or pages, PDF’s, images, or to clip things on your screen to save. The options of how to save and what to save are endless. You can save your files in different workbooks (folders), add tags to find things later and group relevant articles, and share with your colleagues. You can even use it to capture your own notes on the go. With the phone application, you have the ability to take photos and capture voice recordings straight into Evernote. It even has a business card capture capability to help manage your new connections.

There you have it, three great tools that you may find useful in your day to day activities. The best thing about all of these is that there is an option to use them for free without limited functionality. If you have other tools you find useful I would love to hear about them.

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Tamika