In early April, Adam Wilson posted a status update on the social networking Web site Twitter -- just by thinking about it.
Just 23 characters long, his message, "using EEG to send tweet," demonstrates a natural, manageable way in which "locked-in" patients can couple brain-computer interface technologies with modern communication tools.
Open Office - free, full-featured M$ Office alternative Google Docs - online wordprocessing, spreadsheets, presentations, and forms Zoho Notebook - more fully feature alternative to Google Docs Wordpress.com - great hosted blogging service
Data Collection & Analysis
Google Docs Forms - see example Survey Monkey - survey tool ($) Zoomerang - survey tool ($) Delicious - social bookmarking - How to Get Started Diigo - social bookmarking with annotation - How to Get Started Atlas.ti - qualitative analysis ($$$$) NVivo - qualitative analysis ($$$$) SPSS - quantitative analysis ($$$$$) Transana - analysis for multimedia. PSPP - free/open source alternative to SPSS? MountieTab - open source program for elementary statistics. Evernote - Allows easy capture of information, synched from multiple devices. DevonThink - research management tool, "personal information assistant" ($$) Google Visualizations - API to create statistically-based visualizations. Swivel - another data visualization tool. R - open source statistics project.
Visualization Tools
Freemind - mindmapping software. CMAP Tools - concept mapping software. Gliffy - web-based for flow charts and diagrams. Mind Meister - online mind mapping tool. Bubbl.us - online mind mapping tool. MyWebspiration - concept mapping tool.
Communication & Social Network Tools
Skype - popular text, audio, video communication tool. Yugma - share screens easily. Twitter - microblogging, excellent tool for your personal learning network. Facebook - online social network, good for creating connections. LinkedIn - a more professional social networking service. iLeonardo - a social network specifically for research communities. ooVoo - free and easy video chat. mebeam - free and easy video chat
Bibliographic Management
Refworks - available by subscription to some educational institutions ($$$) Endnote - popular personal reference management software ($$) Zotero - free Firefox plugin, demo. Bibme (fast Bibliography maker) Citeulike - (for managing and discovering scholarly references)
Dissemination & Presentation
Scribd - Youtube for documents. Issuu - self-publish your documents. SlideRocket - great presentation tool. Wikispaces - easy to use wiki tool. Slideshare - a great place to post presentations.