Potentially linking in with (perhaps preceding) Thomas Beebee’s session on new projects for the NEH grant, I would like to hold a session on current digital projects. I am contributing to a couple of (open access) web resources within my field and would be interested in hearing about digital projects that others are involved with. I think it would be fruitful to discuss the benefits of collaborating on such projects—both on a larger scale and best practices from specific examples. Then we could troubleshoot the challenges—namely obtaining funding, new modes of working (as scholars in the humanities frequently have less experience with collaboration than scientists), and balancing the pressure to publish in more traditional forums with the various draws of digital projects.

As a relatively recent convert to Scrivener, I feel that I am only starting to scratch the surface of some of the features that it offers. Despite its lack of a seamless interface with Zotero (another tool with which I could not do without), I have found myself using Scrivener increasingly over more familiar word processing tools for projects both small and large. But after seeing a post (or a comment on a post? or somewhere else entirely?) on ProfHacker, I have now started to use Scrivener for other purposes including course management. And now I can no longer imagine organizing a course and teaching it without the program. I am interested in traveling further down this slippery slope and talking with other members of the Scrivener cult to discuss how you are using it. Ideally, this session would provide a venue for hardened Scrivener vets and newbies alike, allowing us to share best practices for the use of the tool for writing and for whatever else people have found themselves using it.

4/12/14 Update
Links mentioned in session:
1. Overview of Scrivener Features
2. Tutorial Videos
3. A fantastic post by Ryan Cordell on ProfHacker discussing academic use of Scrivener
4. Case Studies
5. Using Zotero and Scrivener

I’m very interested in how people research, read, and write together, and I”m also an avid user of Zotero. I’m proposing a session where Zotero users (both new & old) talk about ways to use the tool to do more than just collect and manage citations.

This would include strategies for using Zotero in writing and collaboration, approaches to using Zotero in the classroom for projects and for syllabi, practical tips and tricks for reading & note-taking, and ways of visualizing, understanding, and enhancing Zotero libraries. I’d also like to discuss the plugins that extend Zotero and, time permitting, provide a brief introduction to how one may write a Zotero translator to import citations from a source  not currently supported by the tool.