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Academic Note Collection Project
caseykoons | Apr 18 2006
I'm a comparative religion student headed for grad school this coming fall. I've been thinking about and exploring a projected I'd like to do that I think would greatly benefit me both in grad school and in an academic career generally. I would like to create some kind of collection (I avoid the use of the word database deliberately) of all of my notes, papers, and other academic work that has: 1) Fairly easily assembly. The documents are in various forms (word, rtf, stw, even some Word Perfect files) 2) Easy update and the ability to edit these entries. 3) Powerful search and organization features, such as the links of a wiki or a concordance. I've explored various wiki options, such as MoinX and Instiki, but I've been turned off with how much time it would take to convert all of these documents into something the wiki could use. Especially those documents with footnotes. I recently heard about DEVONthink and while it looks interesting, I can't afford to buy any software that doesn't meet the projects goals exactly. Is there anyone who has faced a similar challenge? What tools (for the Mac OS) may I have overlooked? 24 Comments
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 If you already have a...Submitted by wood.tang on April 18, 2006 - 4:03pm.
If you already have a Mac, you could just rely on the file system and Spotlight. Come up with a sensible file naming convention, throw everything in one folder, make liberal use of the Spotlight Comments for tags, tack on some Smart Folders, and let the OS do all the work. This wouldn't give you fancy reporting options, but it would be endlessly flexible (and free). I recently dumped all my documents, notes, papers, etc into one folder and haven't looked back. To me it's much more intuitive to tap out a few letters and retrieve a file list than navigating a bunch of folders or learning a new database-y app. Also, your school may provide some free research project software. I'm a grad student at Northwestern, and while I haven't made much use of it, we get a free copy of EndNote. » POSTED IN:
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