4 Reasons Why Google+ is a Great Tool for Historians and Writers

Are you feeling overwhelmed by all of the different social media networks? Although you may belong to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pintrest, Four Square, and/or Instagram, I will give you 4 reasons why you should sign-up for one more: Google+.

Spoiler: Read to the end to learn about 2 new Google+ Communities for history, writing, and entrepreneurship.

What is Google+?

Google+ is more than just a social networking site. It is a communications platform and a forum for "passions."

4 Reasons Why Google+ is a Great Tool for Historians & Writers

Reason 1: Networking: Expand Your Connections & Your Reach

Facebook connects you with existing friends.

Google+ fosters the formation of new connections through shared interests and communications in the form of text-based chat, Hangouts, and Communities.

(More on these features below)

Reason 2: Circles: Every Communication and Person Has Their Place

Circles allow you to manage your relationships just as you would in real life, by placing people into different categories or circles.

With circles you have the ability to communicate with specific groups of people rather than everyone you follow; you can post an article about "Revolutionary News: 10 Breaking Stories" to your "history" & "writing" circles without communicating it to the people in your "friends" & "family" circles.

Reason 3: Hangouts: Face-to-Face Interaction

Hangouts allow you to interact face-to-face with other Google+ users. You can use hangouts for both personal and professional reasons.

Whether you want to host a virtual meeting with your writing coach, attend a web chat about how to apply for fellowships, catch up with friends and family, or discuss your passion for Elizabethan dress, hangouts will allow you to see and speak to people as long as your computer/smartphone/tablet has a webcam and a microphone. (The service is free.)

Reason 4: Communities: Places for Passion

Communities connect you with other people who share your passions. In a community, you can share useful articles, post interesting questions, give advice, and interact with other community members.

Communities are places for conversation.

Extending the Conversation with 2 New Google+ Communities

I am excited to announce the creation of "The Historian's Craft," a new Google+ community dedicated to the discussion of history, research, writing, and teaching.

"The Historian's Craft" community will allow us to supplement our discussions on Uncommonplace Book with extended conversations about how we work as historians. This Google+ forum will also enable us to vary our methods of communication: Community members can post helpful articles and videos, host discussions with traditional text-based comments, or participate in video chats via "Hangouts."

Additionally, my friend Jennifer Polk and I cofounded "PhD Business Owners, Entrepreneurs & Freelancers," a Google+ Community for PhD-holders who thought of "Plan B" as "Plan Business."

The "PhD Business Owners, Entrepreneurs & Freelancers" community is a forum to share resources and advice about starting, running, and growing our businesses. (I plan to launch Missing Advisor Consulting next month.)

Easy to Join

You can join these communities in 2 mouse clicks: First click on "The Historian's Craft" or "PhD Business Owners, Entrepreneurs & Freelancers." Second click on the "Join Community" button at the top of the Google+ Community page.

What Do You Think?

What is your preferred social network? What do you like about it & How do you use it?

Click to connect with me on Google+.

Wanted: Guest Bloggers

Dear Reader, Are you a historian? A writer? Do you have publishing experience, writing techniques, historical research, or tips for historical research that you would like to share?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above questions, please consider becoming a guest blogger for Uncommonplace Book.

I started Uncommonplace Book as a place to share my passion for early American history, writing, and the historian’s craft.

I want the blog to be a useful resource, which is why I try to focus on the ins-and-outs of working as a historian.

I would also like Uncommonplace Book to be a forum where historians and writers can come and share their knowledge about how they work, write, and overcome the challenges of obtaining paid work, fellowships, and access.

My knowledge and experience only go so far, and while I still have advice to share on how to “Get Access” to digital records, improve writing, and tips for book/research project management, I would LOVE to extend the discussion.

Therefore, I invite you to share your advice, tips, tricks, and experiences for how to work better as a historian and/or writer with others at Uncommonplace Book.

If you are interested in sharing your expertise, please send me an e-mail at lizcovart [AT] mac [DOT] com.

My inbox is always open, so please feel free to contact me anytime you have a suggestion for content or features that you would like to see addressed in or added to Uncommonplace Book.

With sincere appreciation for your consideration and continued readership,

Getting Access: JSTOR JPASS

Welcome to Getting Access, a series devoted to helping you obtain the digital records you need.

JPASS

On September 19, 2013, JStor introduced JPASS, an individual access plan to its database. A subscription service, JPASS allows subscribers “unlimited reading access and limited downloading” privileges to the articles contained in JSTOR. JSTOR bills JPASS as “an expansion of our ongoing efforts to reach individuals…[and to] continue JSTOR’s mission of helping people discover, use, and build upon trusted scholarly content.”

Content and Limitations

JSTOR grants JPASS subscribers access to “roughly eighty percent” of its archive. JSTOR specifically excludes “current journals, books, and primary sources” from its JPASS subscription. This exclusion is not unlike those experienced by users who access JSTOR through their local libraries. Here is a list of the JPASS History Journal Collection.

Subscription Plans

JSTOR offers 2 JPASS subscriptions, monthly and annual.

Monthly

Cost: $19.50/month

JSTOR designed the monthly JPASS plan for scholars who need JSTOR access for a short period of time. Monthly subscribers can read an unlimited number of articles and download up to 10 articles per month. Subscribers can roll over any unused downloads into their next monthly subscription period if they renew their plan prior to the expiration of their initial month.

Annual

Cost: $199/year

JSTOR designed its annual plan for scholars who need frequent JSTOR access. For their annual membership fee, subscribers can read an unlimited number of articles and download up to 120 articles per year. JSTOR will roll over any unused article downloads to the next year if subscribers renew before their year ends.

Subscription Comparison

Although JSTOR offers 2 JPASS options, the two plans are not all that different. Both plans allow users to read an unlimited number of articles during the subscription term and download a maximum of 120 articles per year.

Annual plan subscribers save $35 a year over their monthly counterparts. This limited savings may mean that users who find $199 for the annual subscription difficult to come by may opt to pay the extra $35 to enjoy JSTOR at a more manageable $19.50/month.

Price Breaks and Alternatives

Savvy scholars may be eligible to save money on JSTOR access.

As part of its “Alumni Program,” JSTOR offers access through participating “Alumni Libraries.” This program allows universities to make JSTOR available to dues-paying members of their alumni association. (Many of the schools in the JSTOR Alumni Program offer their alums additional library access as well. See Getting Access: Alumni Libraries.)

Many big city libraries also subscribe to JSTOR and they often extend access to residents of the same state. In many cases the access offered by these libraries will be just as good or better than what is offered via JPASS and it’s free. (See Getting Access: Big City Libraries for more information on what 'big city' libraries have to offer. Also see JSTOR institutions for a list of libraries with subscriptions.)

Some professional associations offer members a 50% discount on annual JPASS subscriptions. For example, the American Historical Association and the American Anthropological Association allow members to subscribe to JPASS for $99/year.

The Bottom Line

If you need JSTOR access but cannot access it via your public, alumni, or ‘big city’ library, than JPASS is for you. JPASS does not offer complete access to the JSTOR database, but it comes close. Subscription fees are high, but reasonable, especially if you can take advantage of an organizational discount.

What Do You Think?

Have you found any helpful ways for remotely accessing digital records or academic journal articles? If so please leave a comment or send me a tweet.

Getting Access: Big City Public Libraries

Welcome to Getting Access, a series devoted to helping you obtain the digital records you need.

Big City Public Libraries

Many big city public libraries have subscriptions to some of the same, expensive research databases as big university libraries.

The Boston Public Library has a fantastic collection of databases. They subscribe to America’s Historical Newspapers (1690-1922), 17^th-18^th Century Burney Collection Newspapers, Early American Imprints Series I (Evans) & II (Shaw-Shoemaker), J-Stor, and the Oxford English Dictionary, just to name a few.

As a library cardholder I can access these collections from my home computer. Chances are you can too.

The Boston Public Library is not the only public library to subscribe to these invaluable databases. A quick search revealed that the New York Public Library and the Los Angeles Public Library also subscribe to these and other databases.

Access Beyond Big Cities

The best part about big city public libraries: You don’t have to live in a big city to make use of their electronic resources. The Boston Public Library, the New York Public Library, and the Los Angeles Public Library will issue a library card to anyone who resides in their respective states.

This means that someone in Albany, New York can access the NYPL databases 150 miles away from New York City and that a resident of Lee, Massachusetts can access the databases of the BPL without having to drive two hours on I-90 East.

Variations in Access

My quick search of major metropolitan areas revealed that not all big city public libraries subscribe to the same databases. The Houston Public Library does not have subscriptions to the above named databases, nor does the St. Louis Public Library.

Additionally, not all libraries allow remote access to the same databases. For example, the Boston Public Library allows library cardholders to access the America's Historical Newspapers database remotely, the New York Public Library does not.

Regardless, it is worth a quick search to find out if the major metropolitan library in your state offers access to databases because chances are that as a state resident you are eligible for a library card.

What Do You Think?

Have you found any helpful ways for remotely accessing digital records or academic journal articles? If so please leave a comment or send me a tweet.

Work Flow: How I Organize My Research and Writing

On Friday September 27, from 10:30am to 1:30pm, I will teach an interactive course at Grub Street called “How to Organize Your Writing, Ideas, and Research.” This seminar will show writers how they can use Evernote, Zotero, and DEVONthink to better manage their ideas and research. Preparing for this seminar has caused me to think about how I use Evernote, Zotero, and DEVONthink to organize my research and writing.

My Work Flow

Zotero

Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool that helps researchers collect, organize, cite, and share their research.

In 2006, I started using Zotero as a bibliographic and citation tool, and as an organizational database for my dissertation research. I liked the fact that Zotero was free and that it was less tedious than the notecard system my advisor had introduced me to. I also liked that Zotero made my research portable via my laptop and searchable with tags and keywords.

Zotero served me well for my dissertation. It helped me organize my data, collect bibliographic information from the web, format my footnotes into the Chicago Manual of Style, and generate a bibliography.

However by 2011, I found that I wanted a more powerful program. Zotero became slow and ‘clunky’ to use as my database surpassed 16,000 entries.

Evernote

In 2010, I began using Evernote in conjunction with Zotero.

I use Evernote as my digital filing cabinet. In fact, I got rid of 5 physical filing cabinets by scanning my records and filing them into Evernote. Evernote is where I keep all of my journal articles, manuscript photocopies, teaching materials, notes from various projects, seminar and conference notes, and my research notebook. I also use Evernote to organize my household records.

The Evernote app for my smartphone allows me to take my filing cabinet with me wherever I go. The ability to carry my filing cabinet with me has been immensely useful. Not only can I look up an article on-the-go, but I can also immediately record any ideas I have or research leads I find into Evernote.

I believe Evernote is the “Goldilocks” of organizational tools. Users can electronically store their research materials and find what they need with a click of a tag or a keyword search. Evernote’s new enhanced OCR search can even locate some handwritten documents.

Despite its great capabilities, I have not been able to wrap my head around the idea of using Evernote as my research database. Part of the reason for that is that I need a database that allows me to manipulate my notes to appear chronologically or by topic.

After reading rave reviews about DEVONthink on the web and in the AHA’s Perspectives early last year, I started to play with DEVONthink Pro.

DEVONthink Pro

DEVONthink manages information. The program archives e-mails, PDFs, scanned documents, MS Word documents, PowerPoint slides, iWork files, and websites.

I started using DEVONthink in February 2013. I find that it excels as a large database. I use Smart Folders to manipulate my notes so I can view them any way I need to.

DEVONthink’s artificial intelligence feature helps me write. When I look up a note or document transcription, the A.I. feature recommends other records with like content that I have stored in the database. (Recently, Evernote added a “Related Notes” feature at the bottom of its notes that performs a similar function).

Also, DEVONthink is fast. DEVONthink searches faster than Evernote because it is based on my hard drive. Although I could use DEVONthink as a digital filing cabinet, I don’t because it lacks the portability of Evernote.

Summary of Work Flow

Presently, I employ all three programs to organize my research and writing. I use Zotero for bibliographies and citations, Evernote as my filing cabinet, and DEVONthink as my research database. My method may seem cumbersome, but my brain likes knowing that my research is separate from everything else. Moreover, by the time Evernote came out with its “Related Notes” feature and OCR search capabilities, I had already paid for and started to use DEVONthink.

What Do You Think?

What does your work flow look like? What software do you use to organize your research and writing?