Thursday, May 28, 2009

Zotero 2

Zotero 2 (a stable beta, at least) has been released, and you will want to check out some of the highlights noted on Dan Cohen's blog. To highlight just a few things:

  • The syncing of collections works great and is done automatically on the Zotero server. This means that you any additions or changes you make on one computer will be reflected on another one you use. It also means that you can access your library data from any computer by logging in to Zotero and checking your library on that web site.
  • You can create your own free account and then complete a profile to make yourself visible to other Zotero users. As of today, 156 users list themselves as working in the "Religion" discipline. You can search for other labels. E.g., I find 16 users associated with "seminary." This works a bit like Academia.edu as a way of finding others with similar interests, but Academia.edu has done more for organizing by schools and/or disciplines.
  • Perhaps more interesting is the Group colloboration to create library collections. There aren't too many at this time, but as an example, I started a "Parables of Jesus" group. You can view the bibliography of books I've started to organize here. You can also join the group (if you are logged in to Zotero), and then the resources will show up in the Zotero frame in your own collections. I have set this group up so that others can add resources to it. This looks to be a very promising way to build collections that appears to be more group-friendly than some of the other library management tools.
In any case, check out the updates and let us know what other ways you are using Zotero.
From the comments: check out additional info at nerdlets.

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for this! It's great to see others using this fabulous tool.

    There is some discussion along these lines on my blog as well. http://nerdlets.org/2009/05/14/zotero-20-launches-what-a-pleasant-surprise/

    It includes a little discussion about some new comers to the bibliography software field. You comments would, I'm sure, be welcome.

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  2. I thought zotero 2.0 was still in beta.

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  3. It is indeed in beta, but I have found it to be fully reliable. Here is more info: http://www.zotero.org/support/which_version

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  4. Have you checked out Archivd? It stores all your bookmarked pages into a central database, so you can access everything from everywhere (no syncing necessary!) Check it out sometime!

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