I was seriously starting to have reference nightmares! I was enjoying everything I was reading and being exposed to, but how was I ever going to find it again when I needed it? Let’s face it I’m an 80’s kid, books, highlighters, sticky notes, and flags, that what I knew.
However the masters degree in Information Learning Technology through the University of Colorado Denver is an online program which is not only a perfect match for me as a working professional, and a perfect match with regard to subject matter, but it also presents a good deal of the material using online references and collaboration. It didn’t take long to realize that since a majority of the material presented is accessed online I would need a way to track what I’d read, highlight and sticky note the content, and find an easy way to locate the material again as I was working through the program or just wanted to read it again! I thought it shouldn’t be too difficult to find my chosen tool with the way technology has advanced. However with the speed the information was coming into my mental library I needed it fast! I thought I was in for a short project, it was a bit more involved than I thought.
I started looking for my new reference manager. I knew a few of the things I was looking for including that ability to manage the numerous articles, videos, and .pdf’s in the ways I mentioned previously. I was not prepared for subscription fees for tools I’d never used, I had no idea if they were what I wanted, nor was I prepared for Add In’s and downloads that weren’t working. I admit I was getting a bit frustrated with payments, download issues, confusing interfaces, etc. So I derailed myself and went to my happy place, to play with some creative things, but finally I had to face my mission again and dive back in.
So far I’d tried RefWorks and Endnote, now I figured I’d head out to the internet and see what else I could find. I settled on giving Diigo a shot. It’s pronounced dee’go, and how could something that stands for Digest of Internet Information Groups & Other stuff not be just the ticket. I kind of wish they had added the “s” on the end of the name, the stuff part was really what caught my attention. I wasn’t sure what it was referring to but it got me to bite.
Working with this technology is a new concept for me but so far, so good! I could get it working to give it a test try for free, that was the biggest plus yet! And I could save websites, video’s and .pdf’s. I could highlight and make sticky notes if I liked, and I could even tag important concepts to make finding the articles easy to find later. The hardest part about tags is deciding on the words you want to use, then it suggests them for you later which is a real time saver once you’ve built your library! One bummer is that you get a limited amount of space to store .pdf’s, I ran out after a couple of documents. But it gave me enough to play with and get comfortable with the tool. I’m not sure if it’ll be the tool I ultimately settle on but I’m happy so far.
I still have to check out some other tools before I settle on anything and I’d love to hear suggestions if anyone else has found one they really like! Until I find my match, I’m off for more hunting, and playing. I really do need to make a decision soon, the number of documents I’ll have to go back and get into my archives will soon be out of control!
So I’m off to check out Zotero and Mendeley for now while I wait for you to send other suggestions. Happy Exploring!
February 22, 2018