Login. Biblio Zotero. Using WordPress as a Book-Writing Platform. I’ve had a few people ask about the writing environment I’m using for The Ivory Tower and the Open Web (introduction posted a couple of days ago).
I’m writing the book entirely in WordPress, which really has matured into a terrific authoring platform. Some notes: 1) The addition of the TinyMCE WYSIWYG text-editing tools made WordPress today’s version of the beloved Word 5.1, the lean, mean, writing machine that Word used to be before Microsoft bloated it beyond recognition. 2) WordPress 3.2 joined the distraction-free trend mainstreamed by apps like Scrivener and Instapaper, where computer administrative debris (as Edward Tufte once called the layers of eye-catching controls that frame most application windows) fades away. If you go into full-screen mode in the editor everything disappears but your text. 5) I’ve done a few tweaks to WordPress’s wp-admin CSS to customize the writing environment (there’s an “editorcontainer” that styles the textarea).
Easy sync Zotero with Dropbox. Zotero recently released the beta of version 2, which allows users to remotely backup their libraries to the web.
Unfortunately, users have to own (and know how to use) WebDAV space to back the library up. This version also does not sync attached files. Thankfully, there’s an easy way around all of this using Dropbox, everyone’s favorite automatically syncing backup storage service. Install Dropbox on the computers you will be using regularly.Install FireFox Portable into your Dropbox folder.Install Zotero on Firefox Portable. That’s it! Now when Dropbox syncs, it will automatically syncronize your Zotero library (including all the attachments) to the web and all your computers. Caveat: Because Zotero stores files in a directory and file structre that is unreadable to humans, you won’t be able to access your Zotero files or attachments directly from Dropbox’s web interface.
Let me know how this works for you! Zotero and your legal research. Digging into digital research « HeyJude. Over the past few weeks, I have been leveraging Zotero heavily in my work and general information curation.
With deadlines knocking on my door I know I have to be organised. So while I make extensive use of Diigo and Delicious, as well as Evernote, when it comes to the serious academic stuff Zotero has to come up trumps. Zotero is a citation management system, which allows for tagging, searching, note taking, collections, and shared libraries. I admit, I don’t share my libraries with anyone – but I could if I was collaborating on a research paper of some kind. Our students at CSU are introduced to Endnote, but I much prefer Zotero as it is a Firefox addon that collects, manages, and cites research sources from all my computers. Sync your Zotero Library with Dropbox using WebDAV. About a year ago I wrote a post about Dropbox - a free, awesome, cross-platform utility that syncs files across multiple computers and securely backs up your files online.
Dropbox is indispensable in my own workflow. I store all my R code, perl scripts, and working manuscripts in my Dropbox. You can also share folders on your computer with other Dropbox users, which makes coauthoring a paper and sharing manuscript files a trivial task. If you're not using it yet, start now. I've also been using Zotero for some time now to manage my references. Les acquisitions avec Zotero. Zotero est un outil formidable donc les potentialités sont malheureusement assez mal fléchées, mal échangées, bref, mal connues.
Originellement destiné à la gestion de bibliographies, l'outil du CHNM devient au fil de ses évolutions (bibliothèque de groupe synchronisée de la version 2, version "standalone" détachée du navigateur, partenariat avec l'Internet Archive et OCRisation de la version 2.1,...) un logiciel de traitement de documents, quels qu'ils soient. Ce qui a depuis quelques temps attiré l'intérêt des bibliothécaires (comme Lully) dans leur recherche éternelle d'automatisation des chaînes de traitement des ouvrages achetés par les bibliothèques. Le billet de rappel de ce dernier m'incite à communiquer à mon tour sur les expérimentations laborieuses pratiquées depuis quelques temps, à travers deux étapes (à priori...).
Chaque bibliothèque est spécifique et si certaines procédures sont transposables dans un contexte proche, certaines ne le sont pas.