Research Notes Tool Chuck Connell, Tufts Univ.

Tufts University Computer Science22 Two Research Problems References… Many types – books, articles, web sites, conferences, blogs Hallway conversations: “You should look at XYZ paper.” Some already read, some not seen yet Some highly relevant, others less Need to remember all over long period. Ideas / connections… Some references relate to each other Some support your ideas More hallway conversations, “Maybe you could do X using the ideas in paper Y.” Traffic jam brainstorms Even harder to remember over long period of time

Tufts University Computer Science33 How Do You Do This Now? Existing tools? Personal methods?

Tufts University Computer Science44 My Solution A software tool that solves both of these problems. For reference / idea phase of research Not an authoring tool Written for Lotus Notes platform. But no learning curve

Tufts University Computer Science55 Demo Sources Fields Views Export full cites to your paper Summaries Fields Views Links to sources from summaries And source to sources Attachments Could do manually with web authoring But this is easier

Tufts University Computer Science66 How to Use It Install free copy of Notes. From / Lotus downloadswww.notes.net Create free IBM acct Windows, Linux, Mac Basic version, single-user install, not default mail, no server, no IM, no other services Get application from me (one *.nsf file). Put *.nsf into “data” directory of Notes. Start Notes. File / Application / Open.

Tufts University Computer Science77 Going Forward The application can be run as a web (browser) app. Requires Notes server (Domino) More complex set up But it is already coded to do this. Suggestions for improvement? I would like someone to port to a more standard web platform, since as RoR. “Create new instance” required Security required