Sourcing / Citations management in Multimedia docs

[bonniegaia]

Problem: no longer able to do unlimited Misc. Notes in Reunion 10 (apparently a bug in v9 allowed me to do this in past)

Solution: Reunion staff recommends attaching a document via MultiMedia. This excellent solution allows many options impossible to put directly into Misc. Notes.

But...
Need ideas: How do I enter sources in, say, an attached Pages document (my extension to Misc. Notes) and keep them (a la Reunion's Source list) usable across many other documents? I've heard of -- but never used -- document management software like BookEnds. Since this costs as much as Reunion, I'm hoping there are less costly alternatives. A large number of sources we all use are not from published sources, but are manually created citations. Any ideas out there?

Thank you!

[mchenoweth]

Re: Sourcing / Citations management in Multimedia docs

Problem: no longer able to do unlimited Misc. Notes in Reunion 10
Need ideas: How do I enter sources in, say, an attached Pages document (my extension to Misc. Notes) and keep them (a la Reunion's Source list) usable across many other documents? I've heard of -- but never used -- document management software like BookEnds. Since this costs as much as Reunion, I'm hoping there are less costly alternatives. A large number of sources we all use are not from published sources, but are manually created citations. Any ideas out there?

I've got another potential resource for you to consider. You might consider using Bento 4 - now on sale until end of July for $29 ($20 off regular price) and some Genealogical Research System templates (free through Bento's Template Exchange). it is a whole system based on Eliz Mill's Evidence:Explained source citation system, and moves you through citing sources to gathering your evidence to analyzing it to making a conclusion and moving proven results to Reunion.
Here are some websites you may want to check:
To buy Bento:

http://www.filemaker.com/products/bento/mac.html

To download Genealogical Research System Bento templates:

http://solutions.filemaker.com/datab...ial=2551723658

Author of the template system, Kathleen Tesluk, has a blog with very helpful information on using the templates:

http://voicesfromadistantpast.blogspot.com

Above is from a previous post of mine, that may relate to your question. Good luck!
Marscha

[Michael Talibard]

Re: Sourcing / Citations management in Multimedia docs

How do I enter sources in, say, an attached Pages document (my extension to Misc. Notes) and keep them (a la Reunion's Source list) usable across many other documents?

You could simply put the document in the Multimedia tab of a new Source (not the person's Multimedia). Citations of this source (and therefore ability to view the document) can then be attached here and there as often as you like. And since the document itself remains where it was, you can reference it from any other software, or just go and click on it where it is.

[bonniegaia]

Re: Sourcing / Citations management in Multimedia docs

Two excellent ideas. I like the simpler one, but the suggestion for Bento got me looking into that and realizing the many ways I might make use of that... like keeping track of memorabilia.

Thanks again to both of you, Michael and Marscha, for taking the time to respond with such helpful suggestions!

--Bonnie, getting used to Reunion 10, slowly, but finding much to like

[AE Palmer]

Re: Sourcing / Citations management in Multimedia docs

I've heard of -- but never used -- document management software like BookEnds. Since this costs as much as Reunion, I'm hoping there are less costly alternatives. A large number of sources we all use are not from published sources, but are manually created citations. Any ideas out there?

Thank you!

There are other document management apps out there. One of the best I have seen and used is called ZOTERO. It comes in two flavors -- as a standalone version and as plugin for Firefox and other browsers. The best part is Zotero is FREE!!!!!!!!!!

I use both versions -- very powerful as it can track many types of documents (more than Bookends.) And it can create both biblographs and footnotes within Word and other WP apps.

[suzivegemite]

Re: Sourcing / Citations management in Multimedia docs

There are other document management apps out there. One of the best I have seen and used is called ZOTERO. It comes in two flavors -- as a standalone version and as plugin for Firefox and other browsers. The best part is Zotero is FREE!!!!!!!!!!

I use both versions -- very powerful as it can track many types of documents (more than Bookends.) And it can create both biblographs and footnotes within Word and other WP apps.

I had a quick look at ZOTERO, and I'm really interested. What is the difference between the two versions and why do you have both?
S

[sdengle]

Re: Sourcing / Citations management in Multimedia docs

You might consider using Bento 4 - now on sale until end of July for $29 ($20 off regular price) and some Genealogical Research System templates (free through Bento's Template Exchange). it is a whole system based on Eliz Mill's Evidence:Explained source citation system, and moves you through citing sources to gathering your evidence to analyzing it to making a conclusion and moving proven results to Reunion.

I purchased Bento 4 a few days ago and was pleasantly surprised to discover it allows "cvs" and tab-delineated "txt" as well as Excel "xls" spreadsheets as ways to import into Bento. I am experimenting with the above-mentioned templates as a way to improve the way(s) I have been doing sources over the past ten years, some using E. Mill's formats and many done "on the fly" with intent to go back and do a better job.

As a user of Filemaker for several versions through version 7 - OLD and barely runs in Snow Leopard - Bento is easy to use and to customize for your own needs, and it works beautifully in Lion! With Nisus Writer Pro and iWork's Numbers as substitutes for my old versions of Word and Excel, I am nearly ready to get rid of my Snow Leopard partition that runs Rosetta for these OLD programs.

Susan D. Engle

[Michael Talibard]

Re: Sourcing / Citations management in Multimedia docs

The general subject of how and whether to use Bento or other data software alongside Reunion has been discussed quite often (because it is interesting). For example, Bonniegaia may like to read this:

http://www.reuniontalk.com/showthread.php?t=5921

My inclination is just to use the file structure of the Mac.

[AE Palmer]

Re: Sourcing / Citations management in Multimedia docs

I had a quick look at ZOTERO, and I'm really interested. What is the difference between the two versions and why do you have both?
S

I originally got the plugin version of Zotero for Firefox as the standalone version was not available at that time. As for having both versions, I find that the standalone version to be slightly better at recording traditional source material while the plugin version is really designed to work with web based material. And since I my data is automatically synch'd via the Zotero web site, it makes little difference which version I use as the data shows up in both equally well.

YMMV.

[Louisa]

Re: Sourcing / Citations management in Multimedia docs

You could simply put the document in the Multimedia tab of a new Source (not the person's Multimedia). Citations of this source (and therefore ability to view the document) can then be attached here and there as often as you like. And since the document itself remains where it was, you can reference it from any other software, or just go and click on it where it is.

Bonniegala, I organise my files this way and it works really well. I use the multimedia tab in sources when I have large blocks of text (mostly transcripts of certificates and stories)....... BUT there is a bug in version 10 that wasn't there in version 9. The link to the multimedia source is dropped when you make web pages. I am looking forward to the fix will for this.