Zotero Workshop : Basics
This workshop will provide a brief basic introduction to installing Zotero, but it will also focus on problems of use, including finding references in a large library, adding notes, inserting Zotero references in to Word documents, sharing libraries, tagging, and automatically storing attached data files. A follow-up workshop will review the invaluable automation tools provided by two extensions: Zotfile and Google Scholar Citation count. The workshop will assume that you have successfully installed Zotero (https://www.zotero.org/download/), and that you been through the Quick Start Guide.
Zotfile is the extension of Zotero that will automatically extract your pdf highlights, and control the movement of pdfs to and from your tablet. The software and the installation instructions are available at http://zotfile.com/.
Zotero is an Open Source digital research platform developed by the Centre for History and New Media at George Mason University. The software and documentation, including video tutorials, are available at http://www.zotero.org. Zotero is a powerful tool for gathering, analysing and sharing materials of all kinds, and it has been specifically developed to help scholars keep control of digital materials that can be found online. But Zotero also provides invaluable scaffolding and annotation support for the cumulative reading that all students need to learn to undertake successful research.
The key features of Zotero include:
- The ability to automatically harvest references from libraries, newspapers and online catalogues (including Google Scholar, the Wits Library, and South African National Archives repository)
- Full text downloading and indexing of pdf files
- Document types (like video, letter, manuscript) that match the research materials of humanities researchers
- Tagging and infinite rich text annotation
- Automated synchronisation and backup of data in the Internet Cloud
- Powerful sharing and collaboration tools
The workshop will be hosted in the WISER seminar room.
(The tutorial will be much more useful if you have already downloaded and installed Zotero on a machine, and registered for an account on http://zotero.org.)