Lifehacker: Tracking offline media?

There is a question over at Lifehacker about what to do when you encounter–gasp–hard copies of media. How do we tag them, save them, organize them.

I read the Wall Street Journal and several trade pubs, and I often find ideas that I want to retain. If theyÕre online, I can tag them with del.icio.us. But if not, I can only clip and file. Any ideas?

Since comments at Lifehacker are invite only, I’ll answer here. It is simple. A pen and a notebook. You can even get fancy–I have a fountain pen and a Moleskine. After that, all you need is to learn how to properly cite something, a skill you were supposed to learn in highschool/university. For magazines or newspapers in hard copy, the author, article title, publication title and date should be enough.

Then, take notes, think, brainstorm.

The real trick comes later. At the end of the day/week/month, depending on how productive and anal you are, you have to input the notes into your system. I use the lovingly simple OS X app Mori. If you want a full-text clip to go with your notes, then you have to move fast. What publication doesn’t have an electronic version? If you are an academic, most likely you have access to every publication out there. If not, many are free, and it is totally legal for you to photocopy. Buy filing cabinets.

I’m surprised people don’t have a notebook with them 24/7. It is a necessity.

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