Comments on: Mendeley http://savageminds.org/2009/08/15/mendeley/ Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:00:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Matt Lee http://savageminds.org/2009/08/15/mendeley/comment-page-1/#comment-628780 Matt Lee Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:14:22 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=2688#comment-628780 Just a note to say that I think Mendeley is definitely improving and I'm finding it reasonably efficient at integrating web-research into a bibliographical and dtabase tool. Of course the websource has to have some sort of citation source embedded. There's also a useful little app for those of us who use Chrome over here: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/dcekngoadbakijofhmkeddpbeagodnmj Just a note to say that I think Mendeley is definitely improving and I’m finding it reasonably efficient at integrating web-research into a bibliographical and dtabase tool. Of course the websource has to have some sort of citation source embedded. There’s also a useful little app for those of us who use Chrome over here:
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/dcekngoadbakijofhmkeddpbeagodnmj

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]]> By: Savage Minds Rewind: The Best of 2009 | Savage Minds http://savageminds.org/2009/08/15/mendeley/comment-page-1/#comment-627252 Savage Minds Rewind: The Best of 2009 | Savage Minds Sat, 02 Jan 2010 22:33:03 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=2688#comment-627252 [...] This year, SM is it unethical to say something about someone that they cannot understand? And could the Henry Louis Gates affair be considered an American rorschach test on race? And there were plenty of opinions. Chris took a dressed-up call for the dismantling of the university to task, while Rex crowned the worst postmodern titlemaker. And Kerim compared Mendeley and other bibliographical tools. [...] [...] This year, SM is it unethical to say something about someone that they cannot understand? And could the Henry Louis Gates affair be considered an American rorschach test on race? And there were plenty of opinions. Chris took a dressed-up call for the dismantling of the university to task, while Rex crowned the worst postmodern titlemaker. And Kerim compared Mendeley and other bibliographical tools. [...]

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]]> By: matt http://savageminds.org/2009/08/15/mendeley/comment-page-1/#comment-619997 matt Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:41:48 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=2688#comment-619997 @Steve Piccolo: Do you have an example URI that does not work in Zotero? Have you watched the screencasts to know how to use the icon in your address bar to automagically import references from selected sites? If a site isn't supported, have you tried to import the "EndNote" file the site produces? Zotero's ability to capture references is second to none. @Steve Piccolo:
Do you have an example URI that does not work in Zotero? Have you watched the screencasts to know how to use the icon in your address bar to automagically import references from selected sites? If a site isn’t supported, have you tried to import the “EndNote” file the site produces? Zotero’s ability to capture references is second to none.

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]]> By: Jon EP http://savageminds.org/2009/08/15/mendeley/comment-page-1/#comment-619576 Jon EP Sat, 17 Oct 2009 01:48:01 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=2688#comment-619576 Mendelay does look like it will be a great program once it is really up and running. The interface looks a lot more friendly than the zotero interface currently. Of especial interest is the annotation feature and the PDF viewer window. One note that may be especially relevant to folks here at savageminds: In all reference management and 'digital library' management software now available, there is no ability to tag selected portions of text or to add tags to notes. Ideally, tagging and analyzing one's paper collection should be similar to coding and analyzing fieldnotes. I'd really like an interface that was more like NVIVO-- a hierarchical tag structure, and the ability to pull up text sections across multiple documents using searches and filters. A.nnotate.com is currently the only program that allows something like this, but the interface is still more like a web-tagging program, and is not robust enough for good analytical work. Currently, users of Mendeley (or Zotero) only have the option of coding the entire PDF. However, with the event of Google Books (love it or hate it), and as e-readers begin to allow PDF format and annotation/note-taking (and as tablets with touch-screens provide an option for digital reading and note-taking, I now have whole volumes in digital format that require analysis. It is not much use to tag the entire Moby Dick with the label "whale." Rather, we need to be able to analyze the text itself using tags, and to be able to draw together thematic content from various parts of multiple texts, in order to look for correspondences. I hope that the software will catch up to the vision! Warmly, J Mendelay does look like it will be a great program once it is really up and running. The interface looks a lot more friendly than the zotero interface currently. Of especial interest is the annotation feature and the PDF viewer window.

One note that may be especially relevant to folks here at savageminds: In all reference management and ‘digital library’ management software now available, there is no ability to tag selected portions of text or to add tags to notes. Ideally, tagging and analyzing one’s paper collection should be similar to coding and analyzing fieldnotes. I’d really like an interface that was more like NVIVO– a hierarchical tag structure, and the ability to pull up text sections across multiple documents using searches and filters. A.nnotate.com is currently the only program that allows something like this, but the interface is still more like a web-tagging program, and is not robust enough for good analytical work.

Currently, users of Mendeley (or Zotero) only have the option of coding the entire PDF. However, with the event of Google Books (love it or hate it), and as e-readers begin to allow PDF format and annotation/note-taking (and as tablets with touch-screens provide an option for digital reading and note-taking, I now have whole volumes in digital format that require analysis. It is not much use to tag the entire Moby Dick with the label “whale.” Rather, we need to be able to analyze the text itself using tags, and to be able to draw together thematic content from various parts of multiple texts, in order to look for correspondences.

I hope that the software will catch up to the vision!

Warmly,
J

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]]> By: Steve Piccolo http://savageminds.org/2009/08/15/mendeley/comment-page-1/#comment-619574 Steve Piccolo Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:31:09 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=2688#comment-619574 Thanks for the review. Maybe it's just my stupidity, but I have tried Zotero twice, and both times have ended up frustrated. The simple task I cannot accomplish is to browse to a journal article and add it to my library. It doesn't seem to parse the page and wants me to enter the bibliographic information manually. Like I said, maybe I'm doing something wrong, but it was frustrating that I couldn't get a simple example to work, so I moved on. Also, I often use a Netbook with a small screen, so the user interface incorporated into Firefox itself is a little difficult to work with. Plus, I also use Chrome as mentioned here. I have enjoyed working with CiteULike and have hundreds of papers referenced there. Mendeley is intriguing enough that I will give it a try. It seems that since it is a hybrid of Web and Desktop software that it might be the best solution overall. But I'll have to see how it works in real life. I find it very intriguing that I can annotate PDFs. Thanks for the review.

Maybe it’s just my stupidity, but I have tried Zotero twice, and both times have ended up frustrated. The simple task I cannot accomplish is to browse to a journal article and add it to my library. It doesn’t seem to parse the page and wants me to enter the bibliographic information manually. Like I said, maybe I’m doing something wrong, but it was frustrating that I couldn’t get a simple example to work, so I moved on. Also, I often use a Netbook with a small screen, so the user interface incorporated into Firefox itself is a little difficult to work with. Plus, I also use Chrome as mentioned here.

I have enjoyed working with CiteULike and have hundreds of papers referenced there.

Mendeley is intriguing enough that I will give it a try. It seems that since it is a hybrid of Web and Desktop software that it might be the best solution overall. But I’ll have to see how it works in real life. I find it very intriguing that I can annotate PDFs.

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]]> By: Jason http://savageminds.org/2009/08/15/mendeley/comment-page-1/#comment-617980 Jason Wed, 23 Sep 2009 02:55:03 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=2688#comment-617980 My university subscribes to Endnote. Since I am about to graduate soon, I decided to try out free reference managers like Zotero, Biblioexpress, WizFolio and Mendeley. I have to say that Zotero is better than Mendeley for me because it is much simpler to retrieve information off the web. I can't give much comments about WizFolio and Biblioexpress as I have yet to really try them. Biblioexpress seems simple to use and WizFolio's interface looks neat though. My university subscribes to Endnote. Since I am about to graduate soon, I decided to try out free reference managers like Zotero, Biblioexpress, WizFolio and Mendeley. I have to say that Zotero is better than Mendeley for me because it is much simpler to retrieve information off the web.

I can’t give much comments about WizFolio and Biblioexpress as I have yet to really try them. Biblioexpress seems simple to use and WizFolio’s interface looks neat though.

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]]> By: Monomorphic — Bibliography tools (2) – Mendeley http://savageminds.org/2009/08/15/mendeley/comment-page-1/#comment-617717 Monomorphic — Bibliography tools (2) – Mendeley Sun, 13 Sep 2009 10:28:06 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=2688#comment-617717 [...] Savage Minds blog recommends that you don’t use Mendeley as your main tool yet due to its relative immaturity, but I have seen no showstopper bugs so [...] [...] Savage Minds blog recommends that you don’t use Mendeley as your main tool yet due to its relative immaturity, but I have seen no showstopper bugs so [...]

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]]> By: Four Stone Hearth #74 « Natures/Cultures http://savageminds.org/2009/08/15/mendeley/comment-page-1/#comment-616321 Four Stone Hearth #74 « Natures/Cultures Wed, 26 Aug 2009 06:40:17 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=2688#comment-616321 [...] a survey, so click through and chip in. And Savage Minds, the meta-daddy of us all is covering reference-management software, what it means to browse as opposed to surf, and of course How Professors Think.  Now, why are we [...] [...] a survey, so click through and chip in. And Savage Minds, the meta-daddy of us all is covering reference-management software, what it means to browse as opposed to surf, and of course How Professors Think.  Now, why are we [...]

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]]> By: MR http://savageminds.org/2009/08/15/mendeley/comment-page-1/#comment-616135 MR Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:30:56 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=2688#comment-616135 Thanks for the reviews. I am an Endnote user but I just started work at an institution that has no Endnote license but uses RefWorks... and I was aghast at how horrible the interface is! I will certainly try out these other options. I've only used Zotero for keeping track of websites so far. Thanks for the reviews. I am an Endnote user but I just started work at an institution that has no Endnote license but uses RefWorks… and I was aghast at how horrible the interface is!
I will certainly try out these other options. I’ve only used Zotero for keeping track of websites so far.

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]]> By: Victor http://savageminds.org/2009/08/15/mendeley/comment-page-1/#comment-616077 Victor Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:05:47 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=2688#comment-616077 Hi Karim, thanks for the nice review. At the moment, our focus is on polishing, stabilizing and speeding up the software - we want to leave the beta status this fall. The ability to add/edit own citation styles is also on our roadmap, though I don't have an estimate for when this will be available (most likely later this year). Regarding the CiteULike sync: You can set this up by initiating the sync from your Mendeley profile (in the settings). You will then be taken to CiteULike to confirm. At the moment, the sync only works one-way (CiteULike > Mendeley), but both our teams are working on making it two-way. The next major Mendeley release, due in 3-4 weeks, will also include a Zotero > Mendeley sync. All the best, Victor Hi Karim,

thanks for the nice review. At the moment, our focus is on polishing, stabilizing and speeding up the software – we want to leave the beta status this fall. The ability to add/edit own citation styles is also on our roadmap, though I don’t have an estimate for when this will be available (most likely later this year).

Regarding the CiteULike sync: You can set this up by initiating the sync from your Mendeley profile (in the settings). You will then be taken to CiteULike to confirm. At the moment, the sync only works one-way (CiteULike > Mendeley), but both our teams are working on making it two-way.

The next major Mendeley release, due in 3-4 weeks, will also include a Zotero > Mendeley sync.

All the best,
Victor

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]]> By: Kerim http://savageminds.org/2009/08/15/mendeley/comment-page-1/#comment-616064 Kerim Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:43:51 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=2688#comment-616064 Fergus: Very nice! C.R. Sorry, I don't know. I've found that the best thing to do is to find a citation format close to the one you are looking for and to tweak it, rather than starting from scratch. In many cases Chicago is a good starting point. Arvind & Jason: Glad to hear Zotero works for you. I tried many times to get it to work, even setting up a clean Firefox profile just for Zotero. I still found Firefox performance degraded, and sync issues. But a bigger issue for me is the ability to use Chrome or Safari if I want to - Mendeley's browser agnostic approach seems inherently better for this reason. I should add that Mendeley offers built-in CiteULike synchronization of some kind, although I'm still a little unclear how well this works. Fergus: Very nice!

C.R. Sorry, I don’t know. I’ve found that the best thing to do is to find a citation format close to the one you are looking for and to tweak it, rather than starting from scratch. In many cases Chicago is a good starting point.

Arvind & Jason: Glad to hear Zotero works for you. I tried many times to get it to work, even setting up a clean Firefox profile just for Zotero. I still found Firefox performance degraded, and sync issues. But a bigger issue for me is the ability to use Chrome or Safari if I want to – Mendeley’s browser agnostic approach seems inherently better for this reason.

I should add that Mendeley offers built-in CiteULike synchronization of some kind, although I’m still a little unclear how well this works.

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]]> By: arvind http://savageminds.org/2009/08/15/mendeley/comment-page-1/#comment-616055 arvind Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:12:50 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=2688#comment-616055 i'm quite impressed by mendeley - esp the folder monitoring and the internal pdf viewer w/ annotations. however, i'm finding that i'm increasingly citing blog posts, videos, pictures, and other online articles and for that, Zotero still beats everything else. and the sync has worked perfectly (on win, mac and linux). too bad you're having problems with it. choices, choices... i’m quite impressed by mendeley – esp the folder monitoring and the internal pdf viewer w/ annotations.

however, i’m finding that i’m increasingly citing blog posts, videos, pictures, and other online articles and for that, Zotero still beats everything else. and the sync has worked perfectly (on win, mac and linux). too bad you’re having problems with it.

choices, choices…

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]]> By: Fergus Gallagher http://savageminds.org/2009/08/15/mendeley/comment-page-1/#comment-616054 Fergus Gallagher Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:10:09 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=2688#comment-616054 “download all activity since your last download.” We've just added a feature that goes quite a bit of the way: http://www.citeulike.org/groupforum/1502?highlight=14898#msg_14898 This is "download stuff since " so not exactly right, but if you know the date you lasted added stuff from CiteULike to Sente, it's a pretty good approximation. (Fergus@citeulike) “download all activity since your last download.”

We’ve just added a feature that goes quite a bit of the way:

http://www.citeulike.org/groupforum/1502?highlight=14898#msg_14898

This is “download stuff since ” so not exactly right, but if you know the date you lasted added stuff from CiteULike to Sente, it’s a pretty good approximation.

(Fergus@citeulike)

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]]> By: C.R. http://savageminds.org/2009/08/15/mendeley/comment-page-1/#comment-616052 C.R. Sun, 16 Aug 2009 20:45:46 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=2688#comment-616052 Wonderful. Do you know of a resource to import a pre-edited bibliographic AAA format for Sente? I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out the bibliography format editor. Wonderful. Do you know of a resource to import a pre-edited bibliographic AAA format for Sente?
I’m having a bit of trouble figuring out the bibliography format editor.

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]]> By: Kerim http://savageminds.org/2009/08/15/mendeley/comment-page-1/#comment-616045 Kerim Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:18:46 +0000 http://savageminds.org/?p=2688#comment-616045 Yes, Sente (as well as Bookends and Zotero) all allow editing of bibliographic formats. Only Mendeley doesn't (yet) have that feature. Yes, Sente (as well as Bookends and Zotero) all allow editing of bibliographic formats. Only Mendeley doesn’t (yet) have that feature.

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