Low-barrier doc sharing/bibliography tool for small activist group
January 24, 2020 5:09 AM Subscribe
Currently the group shares things by email, and relies on one person (who does not want to share permissions) to upload stuff to folders in a google drive. We've all got permission to view and download. They've asked me to tidy things up, but I think it's a lost cause. So migrating to a Zotero group might be one option? - But am I missing something cool and easy here? Anyone done anything else? Thanks!
Things are getting lost, so I'm thinking about options for a more structured approach, while acknowledging that this may also require a little initial getting-up-to-speed from some group members. There are different levels of comfort with using technology. As I said they want me to reorganize the google drive, but it's a maze of (sub-sub-sub-)directories, filled with cryptically named files. I'd rather have an online repository, where you can upload documents and descriptions, and some basic structured description (e.g. a real doc title). I guess I'm just wondering if this is a path I should be going down at all - and if Zotero is a good option here - and if there are any alternates as well (I'll add suggestions to the tags). Thank you!
Things are getting lost, so I'm thinking about options for a more structured approach, while acknowledging that this may also require a little initial getting-up-to-speed from some group members. There are different levels of comfort with using technology. As I said they want me to reorganize the google drive, but it's a maze of (sub-sub-sub-)directories, filled with cryptically named files. I'd rather have an online repository, where you can upload documents and descriptions, and some basic structured description (e.g. a real doc title). I guess I'm just wondering if this is a path I should be going down at all - and if Zotero is a good option here - and if there are any alternates as well (I'll add suggestions to the tags). Thank you!
Response by poster: Thanks, rockindata, your distinction is very helpful! It definitely will be bibliographic data management.
posted by carter at 7:31 AM on January 24, 2020
posted by carter at 7:31 AM on January 24, 2020
Zotero would be my suggestion as well, but another mostly free option to check out is Mendeley
posted by kbuxton at 1:44 PM on January 24, 2020
posted by kbuxton at 1:44 PM on January 24, 2020
Mendeley got acquired by Elsevier in 2013. They still attempt to talk a good game about openness, but made it extremely difficult to export your data. I'm no longer a fan.
posted by momus_window at 2:56 PM on January 24, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by momus_window at 2:56 PM on January 24, 2020 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Many thanks all! I downloaded Zotero (rhymes with hero? or aero ...?) and have been playing around with it. It looks super useful. Next step - to see if anyone else in the group wants to take a look at it as well ...
posted by carter at 11:29 AM on January 28, 2020
posted by carter at 11:29 AM on January 28, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
Also, you need one or two people to be metadata management nerds, and fix the data that Zotero’s importers mess up, catalog orphan PDFs, etc. otherwise it’ll just turn into another morass.
posted by rockindata at 6:06 AM on January 24, 2020 [3 favorites]