I have kind of lost my enthusiasm for trying a large number of new apps and programs. I see this as a sign of maturity. After a significant amount of experimentation I have identified categories and made choices within categories. There is a cost in switching and there need to be significant benefits before a switch is worth the effort.<\/p>\n
Here is a thought – if you do similar work to what I do, making an effort to identify categories I recognize may be as important as listing my “go to” apps. Here is an example – “storage and organization” of pdfs. Most folks probably have little need to purchase and learn systems for organizing a collection of pdfs, but I would bet most academics immediately recognize this challenge. I need to store and organize hundreds, maybe thousands, of pdfs. These are mostly journal articles I have downloaded as part of the research and writing process. I highlight and annotate these documents and then work from them in the writing that I do. You really need more than a file folder (virtual) into which you throw this stuff.<\/p>\n
My original choice in this category was a product called YEP<\/a>. This product allowed me to keep track of all of the pdfs on my computer. I actually preferred an older version that would copy a designated pdf into a YEP folder system rather than the newest approach which simply tracks all pdfs anywhere. From time to time I trash random pdfs I find floating around which I sometimes later regret. The only problem with this system was that it was specific to a given device. I had to decide where I would locate my resources – home, office, desktop, laptop.<\/p>\n I abandoned YEP to use Mendeley<\/a>. The major advantage of Mendeley for me is cloud storage. Device-based versions of Mendeley synch through a common cloud account. This ends up being a great advantage I find outweighs other issues. I find that Mendeley has less than ideal highlighting\/annotation tools. I also have issues with the pricing model. Simply put, there are not enough categories. I want more than free, but the jump to the lowest paid version is what I regard as substantial. I want more capacity, but not \u00a0the other capabilities that come with the upgrade are not of great value to me.<\/p>\n Anyway, this post was prompted because of an announcement that Elsevier (major journal publishing company) has made an offer to purchase Mendeley<\/a>. A feature of Mendeley I do not use but which might make sense to a publishing company is the potential for a social connection. Think of it as a way to suggest “other scholars who read xxxxx also read yyyy”.<\/p>\n I do hope this is not another of those situations in which a service I use gets purchased and then is no longer available – I still have not forgiven Apple for purchasing and killing lala<\/a>.<\/p>\n