DiRT is good for you

The Digital Research Tools (DiRT) Wiki is about eight months old now and seems to be going strong.  Lisa Spiro, one of DiRT’s creators, describes it this way:

“Although the acronym DiRT might suggest that it’s a gossip site for academic software, dishing on bugs and dirty secrets about the software development process, we prefer a gardening metaphor, as we hope to help cultivate research projects by providing clear, concise information about tools that can help researchers do their more work more effectively or creatively.”

I only wish I had found this earlier.  Sometimes it seems that wikis end up being more about the egos of the people writing on them than about sharing information.  That’s not the case with DiRT.  The information on DiRT is well organised, the reviews are truly informative, and it is written in a way that novices and experienced users will understand – an impressive balance to strike.

Exit reframe it

The idea of having all my notes attached directly to the webpages they refer to was irresistable.  So irresistable that I got overexited about ReframeIt.  To make a long, painful story short – ReframeIt was a mistake.  Good riddance to it.  Now that I’ve uninstalled it my computer is running at its usual just above sloth speed.  And I really did love annotating the webpages that I was reading, that is, until all my notes disappeared – this mystery is ongoing.  And then there is the level of uncertainty with having all my notes on third party applications.  I’m screwed if they fold, as has been the case with web annotation appliations in the past.

Despite all the rave reviews for ReframeIt (and leaving aside my mishaps with it), I just don’t think it lives up to the hype.  I found the collapsible sidepane became more of a nuisance than a help, and the comments just aren’t that easy to read.  I can see how ReframeIt would be useful for small communites of researchers for collaboration, but  this kind of existing community needs to be a prerequisite for using ReframeIt.  Trying to create a community by enticing people to sign up for ReframeIt is not so simple.

In my efforts to make some sort of public database for my research, I’ve shifted from delicious to Diigo.  It meets all my requirements of social bookmarking, tagging, and note-taking.  The annotation is easy with highlighting and sticky notes.  And so far, Diigo hasn’t lost any of my notes.  Really, it’s the little things that matter.

I guess this is just an example of trying to figure out the best way to do online research–it seems much more time is spent doing it wrong than getting it right.

(homebaked speech bubbles courtesy of http://wigflip.com/ds)

Journals on Sustainability

I’ve just stumbled into the International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability.

It is a broad, cross discipline approach to sustainability, which I haven’t encountered before.  I instantly liked that it recognises the interplay of the four main tenets of sustainability in its title; something that is usually implicit in studies of sustainability, but not often explicitly acknowledged.

And if you register with the publisher you can write a review of the article which would appear directly below it on the page.  My university doesn’t subscribe, but the electronic versions of their articles are only $5–much more affordable than most.  They have a blog as well; nothing earth shattering here, although they do publish short articles.  Ok, that’s enough of the mundane information.  What is really exciting is this, their 2009 conference in Mauritius.  I got a bit overexcited when I saw that they had the option to attend as a virtual participant, and envisioned group video conferencing and Q&A sessions.  Disappointment rained down when I found out that virtual participant just meant you could submit a paper that would be refereed by other conference participants and listed in the conference report.  Sigh.

I’m trying to broaden my horizons, journal-wise.  Has anyone encountered other journals with this approach to sustainability?

Seeing what condition my condition is in

I’m presenting a seminar to my faculty tomorrow, and this image from Jessica Hagy’s site has, very helpfully, made me laugh.