University of Glasgow

Roderic Page

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Lately I\'ve become more and more interested in moving data off my
machine(s) and into the cloud. I\'m keen to do this partly to avoid
having data in one place (e.g., a machine at work) when I need it
someplace else (e.g., at home), and there are great tools for doing this
(such as the wonderful [Dropbox](http://www.getdropbox.com//)).  
  
As a developer, the cloud appeals, not so much because of the compute
power that some are salivating over, but because it may free me from
having to create my own software. For example, some time ago I have
created an [OpenURL resolver](http://bioguid.info/openurl) to help me
find articles online. I harvest a bunch of sources, such as CrossRef,
PubMed, some OPAI respositories, etc., but there\'s always times where I
find a reference online that I\'d like to add, and that reference
doesn\'t have an identifier such as a DOI.  
  
Typically I add these manually, or by importing a file. I could write
some interface code to add (and edit) a bibliographic reference (and,
indeed I did [some time back](http://myphpbib.sourceforge.net/)), but
wouldn\'t it be great if somebody else had done this for me?  
  

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Well, there are some tools out there for handling bibliographies online,
such as [Connotea](http://www.connotea.org),
[Mendeley](http://www.mendeley.com), and [Zotero](http://www.zotero.org)
(a Firefox add-on). Initially I was skeptical of Zotero (and I\'m not a
big Firefox user), but now that I\'m looking for a place to store
obscure papers it\'s rapidly growing on me. I like the fact that I can
add references *in situ*, and that I can upload PDFs (which can be
stored remotely on a WebDAV disk such as an iDisk). But what makes
Zotero even more attractive is that it generates an RSS feed of [my
bibliography](http://www.zotero.org/rdmpage/items), which I can then
harvest just as I harvest other resources.  
  
Using a resource like Zotero saves me the hassle of having to write my
own bibliographic editor, plus I benefit from using a tool that\'s a lot
more polished than one I could make. Because of this, and my [experience
with the Google Spreadsheets
API](http://iphylo.blogspot.com/2009/07/using-google-spreadsheets-and-rss-feeds.html),
I\'m ultimately aiming to never have to write a user interface again. If
I write services, and rely on third parties to make tools that can
either generate services I can use, or consume my services, then my life
becomes a lot simpler.  
  
OK, perhaps I exaggerate. I like making interfaces, such as my [eBio09
entry](http://iphylo.blogspot.com/2009/05/e-biosphere-challenge-visualising.html),
or the [experiment with
SpaceTree](http://iphylo.blogspot.com/2009/06/visualising-taxonomic-classifications.html).
However, I can imagine a situation where I don\'t have to write a **data
entry** interface ever again.


Lately I've become more and more interested in moving data off my machine(s) and into the cloud.

Messaggi di Rogue Scholar

Zotero: creating bibliographies in the cloud