Some writing & reading tools – Scrivener & Evernote

Posted on September 10, 2014 by A Dreamer

In readings for my classes, I’ve seen photos of stacks of index cards and post-it notes used by academics to compile their books, and heard complaints of the inability to keep notes and ideas and actual writing all in one place electronically.  Well, let me tell you something – I have a tool that does that!

It is Scrivener by Literature and Latte. It is not a word processing program, it is a writing tool that you use and then you can export your work to an word processing program, A .pdf, or other formats including eBook formats.  My favorite features are:
— The ease in which you can split up a document and then rearrange it in any way you want.  Just drag and drop.
— If you decide to cut something out of your writing, you can just move it to your research/notes section. The “cut” piece will no longer export as part of your finished piece of writing, but it will still be there in the scrivener file if you ever want to put it back or just refer to it again while you’re writing.

It does have some mobile apps that it can sync with, but I’ve not used those, so I can’t say anything either way about them.  I have been using it for a couple years now, for everything from 5 page papers on up.  When I was doing my final paper for my research seminar, it saved my sanity with the amount of adding, subtracting and rearranging I was doing while working on it.  I don’t even like to think about trying to do that in Word.

The only downside is that it doesn’t connect directly to Zotero for citations.  You can add footnotes and such, and I just do author/page and then when I’m done and have exported it to Word, I just use Zotero there.

It’s $45 for the Mac version and $40 for the Windows version, and both versions have a 30 day free trial.  It has a very good tutorial and I recommend that anyone that downloads the program to take the time to go through the tutorial.

On the reading side – well, more the reading & marking up side – Evernote has finally upped their game when it comes to marking up pdf’s.  You can highlight, underline, drop arrows, add text notes – and it works beautifully on the iPad.  I just drop the pdf’s into Evernote on my laptop, and they’re on my iPad waiting for me, I mark them up six ways from Sunday and when I sync again, there all their with all their marks on my laptop.  I discovered I was not the only one looking for a markup ability like this until I was sitting at a bar reading and gleefully marking things up and the gentleman next to me leaned over and asked, “Please tell me what you are using to mark up your pdf’s like that!  I need it!”

It can create a summary page of all your annotations, but I advise against it – it combines them all in to one very large page at the beginning of the document.  (You can turn it off, the option is in the dropdown next to the Save option in the upper right corner in iPad, and if you forget, you can just go back in and uncheck it and it removes the summary page.)

Evernote syncs across platforms, I’ve used it with Windows, OSX and Android with no problems.  It is free, and the Premium version is $5 a month or $45 a year.  (I have the Premium version for offline access.)

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Online reading – how do you manage it?

Posted on September 10, 2014 by A Dreamer

In my digital history class, we had some readings on web design and content and in one of the articles, it talked about how a lot of websites shy away from lengthy texts and go with “chunking” the information into smaller bits that are more suited for web reading, and basically that historians should just say, “We’ll just make long texts our thing, attention spans be damned.” (I am paraphrasing a bit here.) But they also specifically say, “More people are reading ever longer passages on a computer screen, and for better or worse that trend will continue because a greater and greater percentage of our lives involves digital media.”* They attribute this at least in part to improvements in display technology. (Mind you, this text was written in 2005. The iPad was just a vague itching in the back of Steve jobs brain at that point.)

While I don’t discount the improvements in technology, and I can definitely speak personally to one piece of tech that has helped me, I think a part of it is also a generational shift.

Someone born in 1993 when AOL started their mass mailings of coasters cd’s is now 21 and has always known online digital media. I didn’t get an AOL account until 1996 when I was 24. (I did have Prodigy before that, but I can’t really count it as being online, because it was terrible.). If you’ve always known online digital media, reading extensively online is hardly a foreign concept. And young people DO have good attention spans. There is a lot of lengthy fanfiction out there being consumed by young readers, and they can’t all be reading novel length treatises on their phones. Every year that goes by, that percentage of the population gets larger and larger.

But for me, 24 years of reading books as books kind of gets stuck in your head. I’ve never been able to effectively read anything of length on a computer, and it’s not an attention span issue. (Pretty sure I wouldn’t be closing in on the last book of Game of Thrones after starting the series in July if I did have attention span problems.) That being said, I can’t even read long magazine articles on my laptop. It’s not the display, it’s not my attention span, it’s just something that I am really, really bad at, and I think there is just part of my brain that has never adjusted to being able to read a book on a laptop screen.

What has been a boon for me for reading online/digitally has been my iPad. As soon as I got it, I activated the digital option for my subscription for The Economist. I could read it. (Which I’d never been able to do on their website.) The whole thing. Digitally. Same with GQ and Vanity Fair. Got the Kindle app. Found I could read for hours on my iPad. I don’t know if it is the display (it is quite nice) or the fact that the physical structure of an iPad feels more like a book or magazine in my hands and therefore my brain accepts it more readily as a “book” or “magazine” and processes it accordingly.

I will definitely be inquiring as to optimizing digital history projects for tablets in class. Because I can’t be the only one that has found the iPad to be the solution for being able to read anything of length online, and if digital history is going to involve long texts at times, I’m thinking that the producers of these digital projects should probably be taking tablet readers into account.

So…out of curiosity – can you read anything more than say, 5 pages long on your laptop or desktop computer? Or do you have to print it or switch to a tablet to be able to read it? I really can’t be the only one, right?

*Source:
Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving, and Presenting the Past on the Web Paperback – by Daniel J. Cohen and Roy Rosenzweig
http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/designing/2.php

Posted in Digital media, Grad School | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

And another semester begins…

Posted on September 6, 2014 by A Dreamer

Which means if you see me reading comic books or attempting to finish Game of Thrones (I’m 84% done!) rather than perusing some serious journal article on archiving or digital history, it is because I am trying very hard to be kind to my brain and let it have some time thinking that maybe dragons are real and/or that kit-kat clocks can walk and talk and bake cookies.

Two weeks into class and I’m more than happy with my choices.  I’m really wishing I had realized how much I would like the applied classes a ton sooner, but better late than never.*  We had to set up a blog for my digital history class – it’s at Not Just Books – feel free to follow along.  So far it’s basically posting our class assignments online, but those assignments are going to get more involved as the semester progresses, so there should be some interesting stuff there along the way.  We’re still knee-deep in theory in archives administration, but I’m opting for the practicum final, so I’ll be able to walk away for that with some hands-on experience and I’m really looking forward to that.

In a weird turn, I realized that I am older than both of my professors this semester.  (Not by much, but still…) Don’t get me wrong, it is not their age that bugs me – it’s mine.  How the hell did I get so old?!  My self-perceived elderly status was compounded this week with a minor technological hiccup in one class. I consider myself fairly comfortable with new (to me or everyone) technology and I like to think that I can flatten out learning curves within a reasonable amount of time.  Some days it doesn’t work out and now it makes me wonder of that will now be the new rule rather than the exception.

The archives class has a wiki page, mainly because Blackboard, for all it’s potential, is cluttered and cumbersome and not particularly intuitive and as I like to call it – a clusterfuck.  So, yes, I can completely understand going for a different web resource to communicate with students. We had to add our names and first essay topics on one of the wiki pages. “Add below here” it said. I near wore out my mouse looking for a link to a form input or dialog box or *something*.  Found out in class that we were to edit the wiki page to add the information – I didn’t feel too bad about that, as I’ve not had a class with a wiki page, or had any reason to edit any wiki page.  Then I tried to log in with the automated credentials that came with the class.  Nope.  Hit “lost password” for a reset.  Nope.  Have I become the person that breaks technology?!?  Having initially gotten 2 sets of credentials, that was probably the fly in the ointment, I still felt bad that my professor had to manually reset my login so I could complete the assignment…

Cross your fingers that the technology goddesses are looking over my shoulder with kindness this semester.

*I am genuinely wondering if it is too late to withdraw my graduation application so I can also take digital history II and find an internship in the spring so I can officially exit as an Applied Studies student…  

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Ferguson

Posted on August 15, 2014 by A Dreamer

Where to even begin.  I have wanted to write about it since it started, but I was honestly too consumed by the changing events to be able to stop and say anything about it.

It’s bad enough that an unarmed teenager was shot by a police officer a week before that teen headed off to college. Worse that the Ferguson authorities still have not even released the name of the officer and are in charge of investigating one of their own.

But to then respond to the completely understandable community outcry over the death of Michael Brown with riot gear, tear gas and rubber bullets? It shows a complete lack of basic understanding that when a member of a community dies a violent death at the hands of the police – people don’t just want, but need answers, and if you cannot provide those answers, you need to be willing to listen.

Ferguson PD and St. Louis County PD proved themselves beyond inadequate for the task at hand. I am sure that there are a few members of these departments that are positively seething at the fact that they were relieved of command duties in favor of the State Police.  Captain Johnson did what was needed at a critical moment. No riot gear, no tactical vehicles, no tear gas, no “get out of town before sundown” bullshit.

He walked with people. He talked with people. As did the men under his command. He respected the fact that the community needed to grieve and be heard, and he listened.

Fighting the community that you are sworn to protect doesn’t end well, as we have seen. Listening to them and speaking with (not at) them works much better.

Every police department needs a Captain Johnson.  And a refresher course on the appropriate use of lethal force.

Sadly, Ferguson PD seems to have had neither.

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Well, that’s one way to end a marriage

Posted on July 23, 2014 by A Dreamer

So, you may have seen this in the past day or so – as she is on her way to the airport for a 10 day business trip, a woman receives an email from her spouse with a spreadsheet detailing all the excuses she used for not having sex for the previous six weeks.

Now, I don’t know if it’s real or not – it came from Reddit, and folks can pretty much post anything, so I tried to read about this with many, many grains of salt. However, it still hit me with a bit of a kick to the gut because it’s the exact type of thing my ex husband would have done. And I know Mrs. Excel can’t possibly be the only woman who has been presented with a list of her supposed marital failures in the sexual arena.

So, Mrs. Excel (and any other Mrs. Excels out there) – when you get back from that business trip, get a lawyer and divorce his ass. This is not a man interested in a happy marriage. If he’s not cheating on you already, this list is his justification to do so in the future. Cut your losses and go have a good life without him.

Mr. Excel – where to begin? First, congrats on taking something that should be fun and enjoyable and turning it into a complete chore. Second, just because you are married does not mean you get sex whenever you want. Being married doesn’t actually entitle you to sex at all. If you can’t handle that (and it certainly seems that you can’t) then you really shouldn’t be married. Finally, if she’s turning you down that often, you might just be terrible in bed.

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351 days til the return

Posted on July 17, 2014 by A Dreamer
Cindy on the deck with a beer.

Cheers

350 days if I chicken out over trying to drive on Friday the 3rd of July and get a hotel on the 2nd.

Another wonderful escape to the Outer Banks is coming to a close, and once again, I have to count it as a partial failure as I have not discovered a way to teleport my cats here, found a high paying full0time job and a place to live.  But that’s a lot to figure out in 13 days.  Other than that, it’s been quite the successful getaway.  I have spent a ridiculous amount of time reading, relaxing and recharging.  (This has been greatly helped by the fact that the Carmenator has not spent the time apart hissing at Sarah, the most patient petsitter on the planet.)

Hit all our old haunts for terrific food and a few new ones (trust me, I will expound upon all of them in the next few days) and the weather conspired to provide a perfect mix of beach days, deck days and covered porch days.

Can’t wait to get back next year.

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Some things don’t change, even at the beach

Posted on July 10, 2014 by A Dreamer
Moxley on the deck

Moxley on the deck – no this isn’t same photo as last year.

Much like at home, I recognize the dogs in the neighborhood long before I recognize the people.  Some are the same as last year, some new.

On the other side of the circle, there is a little sand-colored dog at one of the year-rounders houses.  He’s so well camouflaged that it took me a few minutes to see him in his driveway.  He was very cute, with a look of “Don’t make me come down to the street!  Cause I really don’t want to come down to the street.”  He was so relieved when his owner realized he was out and came dashing out with his leash.

A few doors down from there is a golden retriever that spends the bulk of his vacation on the deck.

Then there is the 4 month old pittie puppy that came dashing at us the second day we were here.  Fortunately, she just wanted very badly to make friends and every other time I have seen her, she’s been on her leash.

The standard poodle from last year is back – and still dumber than a sack of hammers.  (As is his owner, who was just letting him wander around off leash and really didn’t seem to understand my concerns.  At least the sand-colored pup and pitty puppy parents were “Aw, shit, I am getting my dog, sorry!” about it.)

I’ve heard about the Yellow Lab on the corner named Sunny from her itty-bitty person, and today we met her grandmother’s Corgi on our morning walk.

Well, Moxley is in love.  Seriously, when he sees other dogs, he usually gives a glance and then we continue.  He saw the Corgi and stopped dead in his tracks and refused to do anything but head over and see her.  I called out to the lady to let her know, and she said it was OK because the Corgi really wanted to see Moxley, too.  (Maybe because they’re almost the same size?  The Corgi has to get mildly tired of the Lab.)

They spent some time happily nosing each other, and I had a nice chat with the Corgi’s Mom and they went off and I thought Mox and I would resume our walk towards the dune deck.  Nope, he decided he wanted to be creepy stalker dog and follow the Corgi.  They finally turned down a side street and I was able to convince Moxley to continue on without her.

For a dog that has never really paid much attention to other dogs, he was smitten.  Must be the ocean air.

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Dear Mother Nature

Posted on July 3, 2014 by A Dreamer

image

I am OK with my beach trip being delayed a couple days – just don’t hurt anyone and try really hard to leave all the buildings intact, OK?

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So, I seem to have developed a small comic book problem.

Posted on May 23, 2014 by A Dreamer

And I blame Noelle Stevenson and Neil Gaiman. Last summer, Amazon offered Sandman Vol 1, #1 as a free download. It’s Neil Gaiman and it was free, so why not? Very good decision. It was very entertaining and I definitely wanted to read the rest of it, even if I was 25 years behind. But classes started up again and reading for fun kind of went out the window.

Fast forward to this spring – that is where Noelle Stevenson comes in. I’d been following her on Tumblr and loved her webcomic, Nimona. (It’s winding down, so you should go read it from the beginning. Seriously.) Noelle announced that she, Grace Ellis, Brooke Allen, Maarta Laiho and Aubrey Aiese would be producing a comic with Boom! Studios – Lumberjanes. Well, sign me up – literally – I went to Laughing Ogre comics and preordered that sucker. (As did a lot of people, between preorders and purchases, it sold out and is getting a second printing.)

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When I went in for the preorder, I discovered they had all the Sandman volumes! So I’ve been building up that inventory.

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In my defense, 4 & 7 belong to my brother.

And by sheer dumb luck, stumbled on Sandman:Overture #1. (I am setting these aside until I am done with the rest of Sandman, as I’ve been warned that there are spoilers.)

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Now, to get a pull list, you need 5 titles. I had 2. I really didn’t think I’d come up with 5 anytime soon, but I didn’t mind the idea of going to the shop as soon as the new titles came out, so not really a problem.

I started skimming comiclist.com every week to see when the next Sandman was coming out. And found Edge of Empire #1. Looked interesting and I didn’t have to worry about jumping in the middle of a series. So, when I went to pick up Lumberjanes, I was up to 3, sort of – Edge of Empire is only a 2 issue series.

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Then when I went to get Lumberjanes #2, I spied Dead Letters 1&2 and Evil Empire 1&2 on the shelves. (I was very happy to get 1&2 together on both of these. You read along, thinking “yeah, this could be good, I like it so far” and then you hit the last page and go, “Oh, shit!” and scramble for the next issue.)

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Looking through comiclist.com this week, I found The Last Broadcast.
Urban Exploration? I’m in.

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So, today I went to the comic shop to pick up Last Broadcast and start my pull list. And found Starlight. (Retired superhero is back in action.) United States of Murder, Inc. (Staff pick I remembered seeing on Laughing Ogre’s blog.) And then Shutter, about the daughter of the world’s greatest explorer, on a staff recommendation seeing what I had already bought.

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So, in the space of just over two months I’ve gone from 2 comic books to a pull list of 8. I really shouldn’t be surprised that it spiraled out of control so fast – a comic book shop is just like any other bookshop – I shouldn’t be left unsupervised in them.

Other things that have accidentally leapt into my arms at the shop:

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My Internet friend died this week.

Posted on April 18, 2014 by A Dreamer

I’ve been a bit hit or miss on the TMF boards in the past few weeks – impending finals, Easter, whathaveyou.  It happens.  But I logged in earlier today and discovered that TMFPMarti, aka self-named “Uncle Phil” had gone on to his great reward day before yesterday.

Despite being only a state away from each other, I never met Phil in person – though he would excuse that, as he acknowledged that the Potomac River might as well be named the Potomac Ocean.   (He seemed to be as averse to traffic as I am.)

While I can’t exactly say where I “met” Phil – it was definitely on The Motley Fool message boards – I’m just not sure which board.  Probably the Baby Boomers board, which I technically don’t belong to on a strict age range, but no one there really cared.

Where I got to know, adore and appreciate Phil was on the Taking Care of Parents board.  I was taking care of a grandparent, and going slightly nuts in the process – and Phil was there with experience, wisdom, encouragement, reassurance, and a good dose of, “Suck it up, Buttercup!  This sucks, but it’s not the end of the world, and you can and will get through it.”

He was also an election volunteer, and every November would regale us with stories of trying to keep democracy alive and well despite all random not-even-remotely-political attempts to the contrary.  (Note to self: Volunteer for the next election day.)

I knew he had some health issues, but I never realized they were life-threatening.  That was Phil.  He’d make a joke about his health, but you’d never in a million years know that it was serious.  Again, that was Phil.

For anyone that says that “Internet friends” aren’t real friends, I have to say that you are wrong.

Phil Marti was my Internet friend and now that he is gone, my world is far worse off.

If there is a heaven, Phil will get the best room with the best view, and he will spend a good amount of time getting in arguments with those in charge.

Phil, thank you for everything.  I will miss you so very much.  And I should probably retitle this as, “My friend died this week.” – “Internet” should no longer be a qualifier.

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