Last Thursday, March 4, UBC’s ASIS&T student organization hosted another in its recurring student-led workshop series. Members Alex Garnett and Justyna Berzowska led 20-minute presentations on the open source citation management platform Zotero, and the collaborative wiki solution PBworks, respectively.
Approximately twenty SLAIS students were in attendance. Alex began with a functional overview of how to import several different resource types into Zotero, as well as how to make use of its built-in web annotation and PDF metadata lookup features. He concluded with a demonstration of the Microsoft Word 2007 Zotero plugin, using just a few clicks to compile a brief bibliography of the books, journal articles, and websites he’d worked through as examples.
Justyna began the workshop’s second half with an overview of best practices for using PBworks, including effective sidebar management and the logistics of embedding files in the workspace. She also provided a demonstration of some of the embeddable “gadgets” available within PBworks (e.g. a calendar), noting a favorite quandary of web design: “Is this useful or shiny?”.
Both students remained afterward to answer questions and engage participants with the software in greater depth. Cheers, guys!
