Zotero is an add-on for firefox that lets you organise an search references to papers, books articles etc.  I just realised it has a group feature for creating collaborative libraries of references.  So I thought I’d create one.

Zotero Focus Fusion Group

I have added a random selection of papers from my library - some more relevant that others.

I appreciate most most of this is highly technical, and so not necessarily of general interest.  Also a lot of the actual papers will be behind a paywall for those without institutional or other access to the specific journal sites.  However it seems a reasonable way to gather a catalog of reference material.

jamesr - 02 September 2010 02:22 PM

Zotero is an add-on for firefox that lets you organise an search references to papers, books articles etc.  I just realised it has a group feature for creating collaborative libraries of references.  So I thought I’d create one.

Zotero Focus Fusion Group

I have added a random selection of papers from my library - some more relevant that others.

I appreciate most most of this is highly technical, and so not necessarily of general interest.  Also a lot of the actual papers will be behind a paywall for those without institutional or other access to the specific journal sites.  However it seems a reasonable way to gather a catalog of reference material.

Great start!  Was that selection really ‘random’?

The group is set “Public, Closed” ie. anyone can view the group, but to add papers to it you need an invite to join.  I have send messages to a few who I have email addresses for, but if anyone else want to contribute send me a message and I’ll add you.

Thanks James!

I’ve joined, and added a link to the website. 

What are things we can do to get good use out of this?

While physics papers are probably above my level, I would suggest for others to read a classical book about scientific investigation, to get some background as well as to enjoy some interesting anecdotes and generalization of the investigation process: “The Art of Scientific Investigation”
http://www.archive.org/details/artofscientifici00beve

While those of you in the process might thing you know everything you need already, I think you might find some supportive ideas there still. It is public domain, so you can download it. I have an OCR version, but is not fully cleaned up yet (need to crop the edges a little).