The Transient Workspace

What are signs that you have a transient workspace? When you do not have an office or space that is yours alone. When you find yourself having to pack up all of your papers, computer, etc. so the family can have dinner or if you tend to work out of a tote bag most of the time, you fit this profile. It is difficult to keep things organized when you are transient, but I have a few ideas for you. You need a file cabinet to keep your work together and help you organize, think creatively as where to put it; it can find its home in a closet, under the stairs, or in the laundry room. The main point is to have a place that you organize articles and keep your papers in one space. 

You also may want to consider a tote bag, basket, or box where you keep your materials that you are currently working on. Keep your pens, paper clips, calculator, and any other small items that you may need in a small box or bag so you can find them easily. Consider having some brightly colored folders that you can use as a color coding system (e.g., red folder has articles on self-efficacy). 

When you are at the data collection/ analysis stage keeping organized becomes even more important for the transient workspace user (I will call you a "transient" from now on). If you have paper copies of data and or consent forms, you must keep them confidential and secure. I suggest using manila envelopes to categorize them and having a locked file cabinet or other locked space that you keep them. Yes, it seems like over kill in some ways, but for the transient you must make a special effort to protect the confidentiality of your participants. As you do not have your own space, you are using public areas that anyone entering your home has access, make the effort and have some locked spaces- there are small lockable filing boxes available, that would be quite adequate. 

The transient has to rely a great deal on keeping their laptop organized, I will discuss more on this in a later post. 

Next time I will look at the shared workspace and make some suggestions. Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you like to be a guest writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu