doctoral journey

Experimenting with Zotero beta 1.5

2009-03-14T03:19:00.000-07:00

Just realized whilst helping a colleague that Zotero, the nice firefox addon for research assitance, has released a new 1.5 beta version... which promises to scan PDFs and download their citation info from Google Search!! wow!

This is a different approach from Mendeley, another great promising tool for researchers, which I am experimenting with also. Mendeley scans the PDF and decides the citation information from the scan results. it does not check with any other source. Maybe thats why it seems to have errors.

Not that my test run with Zotero didnt have errors. but it seemed lesser. I still need more time to test both the tools to come to any conclusion!

Technorati Tags: Zotero, Mendeley, Research

New tool for research paper/citation organization

2009-03-03T01:55:00.000-08:00

From my blog feeds I came across a promising new free tool called Mendeley. It is an offline-online combination tool. what it promises is amazing - it will automatically extract metadata (like authors, journal, dates, other references) from your downloaded PDF papers and build a citation library for you. You can then use it to add references to your paper. Through a MS Word addon you can directly paste the references into your research paper.

It is too good to be true - yes (it still isnt perfect - they claim that the more number of us using it the more accurate the extraction tool will be).

Once the library has been created you can share it online via your Mendeley account with fellow researchers. You can even share your own published articles with whomever you wish. So this makes for a good potential collaborative tool too.

My evaluation is that the tool is still unstable - it fails to get through my college proxy server and subsequently the offline version acts a bit cranky. But my eyes are fixated on this tool and I will definitely be trying out the updates as and when they come and I think you should too.

Technorati Tags: Mendeley, research, doctoral, collaboration

Using freeware in research

2009-02-19T04:42:00.000-08:00

I recently presented to my colleagues my experiences with use of freeware software to help me with my research. largely its about personal KM and that is how I structured the presentation. I have shared the presentation on slideshare.net and am embedding it below. I plan to keep updating the same as I keep trying out newer software as and when I learn about it. If you have any ideas about new freeware for research and collaboration do pitch in..

Using Freeware for research work

View more presentations from srinitata. (tags: freeware research)

proudy peacock

2007-12-24T06:10:00.000-08:00

i dont know whether my doctoral research program will lead me to any paper publications, but my photos are already on their way.. some solace for me!!

1. one of my pictures got selected and exhibited in a museum for a short while. [i will edit this post and provide details/a link shortly!]

2. travel sri lanka magazine picked up one of my guava pictures for publication. see it below (top right image):

3. schmap.com online tourist guide has selected (yet to be finalised)

one of my milan street pictures for publication in their new edition of the milan guide. see it to the right:

the curse of literature

2007-12-24T06:04:00.000-08:00

phew!

two terms have gone by and backlog has literally piled up. i had to write 3 term papers by the end of this month, with deadlines on various dates. and one more paper with no end date!! (this is something new to me, but its a regular feature of a doctoral :)!)

thus far have managed to cure the curse of two papers! makes it one to go in the next week. the two papers have been my attempt to dabble with spirituality, OCB, group performance and knowledge sharing.

the next one attempts to look at innovation process using the complexity sciences. we already ran a presentation through the profs, so its a question of typing and forming the body! hopefully it will be an easier task.

here's wishing my invisible readers a very happy new year and seasons greetings!!

so far and not so good :)

2007-12-05T22:30:00.000-08:00

its been close to 6 months since i started my doctoral journey.. and what a journey its been so far!!

have learnt things, have only started to understand the reality of being a researcher...

here are some of the words that have floated through my mind so far

independence .. .freedom .... individual ....motivation ....bureaucracy ...infrastructure ...guidance ...research ...literature ...fun ....hobby ...family ...duration

may not make much sense to you, the reader, but am sure if you have dared to walk this path before you might see some similarities :).

there is so much more than what meets the eye. it has the makings of a long journey. but i have differences of thought. i have always aimed to be different from the junta. that is what i am going to aim for. what that exactly means and what it takes to achieve that? i dont know, at least, as yet.

to get down to the reality part... courses are on, full swing. havent had a breather (other than those skipped readings for some course ;)) and now am at a peak where backlog demands action.. inspite of that i have dared to kickstart this lifeless blog... i have lots to say, to note down, but this is a humble start. i only hope others will join in with useful comments... thats what will make this journey easier for all :)

the first step of the thousands to come....

2007-06-20T03:45:00.000-07:00

Today was my first day actually as a student (class-like) interactions with prof. so i thought its a good time to launch a blog that will be my aide in capturing my thoughts and ideas along this journey. hopefully some other people in my field will help me distill, correct and improve my thoughts and learning...

i am doing my ph.d in the area of organizational behaviour and human resources. my tilt is more towards the former as i have always liked the working of the human mind, the emotions, behaviour, creativity, motivation, leadership etc.