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Suggestions for future development
| Suggestions for future development |
|
Author: Marshall Feldman
Posted: Thu, 30 May 2002 12:35:53 -0400
|
Hi,
I just finished a rather long process correcting entries in an EndNote
library. Based on that experience, I have a couple of suggestions for the
future.
1. Add a "time stamp" field to each bibliographic entry. Record the
times
the entry was created and last modified.
2. Perhaps also add a "signature" of some sort to each record. The
purpose
would be to record WHO created the record, on WHICH computer, WHO last
modified the record, and on WHICH computer. To save space and allow
standardization, users could "log in" to Endnote, with their name and
initials or other identifier, and EndNote could ask for a machine name or
identifier during installation.
3. Allow fields to refer to the content of other fields. For
instance,
allow the Label field to include references to the record number. That way
if the record in imported into another library, there's a ready-made field
of information allowing you to go back and figure out exactly where the
record came from.
4. Expand the search feature. Allow a first search for records
having
certain content and then allow for a second search based on the results of
the first. For instance, Search 1 identifies all records with "Entered by
George" in the Label field; Search 2 finds all records with titles matching
the records selected in the first search.
5. Allow "fuzzy" searches -- similar but not identical records.
6. Add rules and something like regular expressions to the search
feature.
For instance, make it easy to find every record which has the first letter
of each word in its title capitalized.
7. Add record types, or make appropriate use of existing records
more
obvious, for (1) chapters in books (not collections, books written by a
single author), (2) papers presented at conferences (not conference
proceedings), (3) various sorts of photocopied material (forms, syllabi,
handouts, notes).
8. Add fields to identify the location of an item. For example, if
one owns
a particular book, it's on reserve in the library, and one also has
photocopies of 3 chapters in their files.
9. Allow for multiple copies of a single item. Include some way of
noting
if it's loaned out. (Without creating a custom field or duplicate records.)
10. Implement an email interface so that, for instance, EndNote can
send
you a reminder that Joe has had your book for over a year now or that you
need to renew the library book you took out. EndNote might also send Joe a
reminder.
11. Allow sub fields in some fields. For instance, allow the Label
field to
have sub fields. Provide an easy way for the user to set, search, and modify
sub fields. For instance, the Label field might have sub fields for the
reference's source, original record number, and the initials of the person
who summarized the item in the current record's Notes field.
12. Implement a macro language in something like VBA.
13. Provide OLE interfaces with common software: MS Office,
WordPerfect,
SPSS, SAS, ArcView, Adobe, etc. For instance, using Census data in SPSS, one
creates a scatterplot which is then linked to a figure record in EndNote
which, in turn, is used for a figure in a Word document. If the figure
changes in SPSS, it also changes in the Word document.
14. Provide a "fast entry" mode for citations, reminiscent of Refer
and Bib
on Unix systems. While typing a document, the user presses a function key to
toggle on "citation mode." The user then enters some words that will help
identify the exact record to use from the EndNote library (e.g., "Smith
Wealth Nations"). EndNote would then search the library to find the
appropriate reference. There could be two modes for doing this searching.
One would be manual: at some point the author stops writing and presses a
function key to initiate the search. The other would be "real time": after
the citation is entered, it turns yellow; EndNote then starts the search; if
it finds a single reference that matches, the citation turns green; if it
encounters a problem (e.g., reference not found, more than one reference
matches the search criteria, etc.), the reference turns red. EndNote
provides some way to search for problematic citations and fix them.
15. Improve Endnote's ability to import references from text files.
We've
discussed this before, and I know this is a non-trivial task which probably
cannot be completely automated. Nonetheless, there's quite a bit of room for
improvement. (E.g., let the user read in a few records and "train" EndNote
to recognize fields in the text file, move the records to a temporary
library, and (using the new macro language?) fix any errors from importing
the records.
Some of these suggestions are much easier to implement than others. I hope
at least some of them can be implemented.
Marsh Feldman
The University of Rhode Island
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| Re: Suggestions for future development |
|
Author: Jim Freeman
Posted: Fri, 31 May 2002 17:28:03 -0400
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Marshall,
Thanks for the suggestions. I agree with a lot of them, especially the
ones for managing my books/articles, less the multiple users
suggestions. I made suggestions about tracking books to ISI about a year
ago after trying a shareware app that did this. I would appreciate being
able to keep track of what I have, what I've loaned, what I've borrowed,
etc. I don't know how regularly ISI people read this list, but you
should make sure you forward it to someone there. I also think the
interface could use a major reworking.
Jim
On Friday, May 31, 2002, at 02:00 AM, endnote-interest-digest wrote:
> I just finished a rather long process correcting entries in an EndNote
> library. Based on that experience, I have a couple of suggestions for
> the
> future.
>
**************************
James Freeman
Geography Department
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94706
Tel: 510 642-3903
Fax: 510 642-3370
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