What do you use LittleSnapper for?
The Internet is always changing, which is both great and annoying for an academic! Websites that illustrate a particular point that you wish to address in a paper disappear, or text is changed, or approaches are changed. I find this particularly common in ethics, since often companies can change things that are considered dodgy after they've been "named and shamed".
LittleSnapper lets me keep archives of these sites in their original form, and easily post them to a place which can then be referred to in papers as permanent archives of case studies or articles that might otherwise disappear.
What is your favourite feature?
I like how it saves entire screen captures of webpages. This is so much more useful than taking a screenshot, scrolling a bit, taking another screenshot, then having to stitch them all together. Also, integrated uploading is fantastic.
Which features have been the most useful?
“LittleSnapper lets me keep archives of sites in their original form, and easily post them [online]
The "Snap from URL" feature, and the uploading to Ember (though I might start uploading to my own site now that SFTP has been implemented). It's important for me to have an online record of these sites so that I can point references to them.
How has your workflow improved?
It has allowed me to find that Website I was looking at that said X or Y, or showed an example of Z, and quickly prepare screenshots of it for my thesis. This isn't probably how LittleSnapper was originally intended to be used, but it's made my life that little bit easier.
Anything else you'd like to add?
I know I'm not the usual graphic or website designer who might use this sort of tool, and when I started testing it I was not really sure what I'd actually use it for, but this idea popped in my head one night when I was lamenting the fact that a company had changed their EULA page (again!). I really think that this is quite useful for me, and maybe other academics or writers in technology areas might find it useful for this sort of activity too.
Academic: Catherine Flick
Profession: Academic
Website: www.cappe.edu.au/
Interview Date: 11th December 2008
About Catherine
I'm Catherine Flick, a PhD candidate at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics at Charles Sturt University, Australia. My area is technology ethics, which I find very interesting and exciting, especially as the world gets smaller and technology gets more powerful. Every time I tell people about my research, they have some story to tell me about their personal experience with ethical situations in computing or other technologies. I'll be submitting my thesis soon on informed consent in IT, and hope to pursue further research and practical application of my thesis work by improving End User License Agreement experiences for computer users.
Prior to doing a PhD I worked in the IT industry as a Linux/Solaris sysadmin, Web programmer, tech support person, and freshmeat.net editor as well as finishing an Honours degree in Computer Science and History & Philosophy of Science.
Outside of uni work I'm an avid knitter, snake owner, and spend far too much time procrastinating.
Related Links
- Catherine's Ember - Catherine's Ember account.
- CAPPE - Centre For Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics