Thing 14 Part 2: Mendeley

Thing 14 includes not only Delicious but also Mendeley.

Mendeley is a free online reference manager software and on first impressions it gets a thumbs up. I will say at this point that I haven't actually tried using it but I watched the series of 'Mendeley Minute' help guides and I was very impressed. I didn't create an account partly because I don't actually need to manage any references, and partly because I read the warning that installing the add-on might interfere with Endnote, which I do have to use for work.

The reason I use Endnote is to import references from reading lists but that is all I do; I'm not the one who uses the data once it's in there and my feelings based on my very limited experience are that I don't like it. It doesn't feel user friendly, the interface does not appeal to me, and the methods of import seem clunky compared to other systems I have used, such as ePrints.

However, I see the value in reference manager software and if I was to set out on a research path I would try Mendeley. From watching the help videos it looks straightforward and logical; easy to import and sort references, easy to insert the references into your work, and easy to arrange the bibiography in the style that you need. I did a quick Google search on Endnote v Mendeley (that was not my actual search query!) and the only downside to Mendeley that I came across was the inability to use a modified referencing style, for example those used by several University of Southampton departments.

I came across this blog post on the University of Warwick PhD Life Blog which gives a nice summary of the positives of Mendeley.

So although I am not planning to use Mendeley it looks like a useful and user friendly free tool that I would definitely choose over Endnote.

I did read through the optional extra task of looking at Endnote Web and although I would like to do it so I can more fairly compare Endnote with Mendeley I don't have time this week.

Thing 14 Part 1: Delicious

Slightly embarrassed to admit that although I only set up my Delicious account on Monday I have already forgotten what I used as a username so can't actually access it at the moment...

Before setting up the account I did try to use the 'Sign in with Twitter' option when I first looked at it (thinking it would save me having to remember yet another username/password...) but using Internet Explorer it didn't work at all. I switched to Chrome, and although it still didn't work it did kindly inform me that it was in a loop so I gave up on that idea.

So what is Delicious? In their words:

It was easy to add links, and add tags to them, but I haven't got as far as seeing how you can then organise your links - it's going to take some time to get a feel for it and find out what it is useful for (once I've successfully signed in of course...) but for now I see it as similar to Netvibes; interesting to know about and I will explore it further when I have time. I would like to find a way to organise all the Open Access weblinks that I've found and Delicious could well be the way to do it (at the moment I email them to myself which probably isn't the most efficient way of doing things).

Verdict so far: cautiously optimistic and I will hopefully use Delicious over the next few weeks and then report back before the end of the 23 Things.



(Update, 17/4/13: I haven't gone back to look at Delicious and I'm probably not going to. Shame on me, I could be missing out on a useful tool here.)