Greenflame » Writing & Research Tools http://www.greenflame.org Jottings on science, religion, technology, pop culture and faith from the Antipodes. Sun, 17 Aug 2008 09:55:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 en Bean: An OS X Word Processor http://www.greenflame.org/2008/03/30/bean-an-os-x-word-processor/ http://www.greenflame.org/2008/03/30/bean-an-os-x-word-processor/#comments Sun, 30 Mar 2008 08:05:11 +0000 stepheng http://www.greenflame.org/2008/03/30/bean-an-os-x-word-processor/ To add to my mostly Mac OS X based list of writing tools -
Bean: An OS X Word Processor.

(Oh, and I think I left NeoOffice (based on OpenOffice) off the original list too.)

]]> http://www.greenflame.org/2008/03/30/bean-an-os-x-word-processor/feed/ Fernando on writing http://www.greenflame.org/2007/08/27/fernando-on-writing/ http://www.greenflame.org/2007/08/27/fernando-on-writing/#comments Mon, 27 Aug 2007 11:14:39 +0000 stepheng http://www.greenflame.org/2007/08/27/fernando-on-writing/ A while back I wrote an increasingly long list of (predominantly Mac-based) writing tools - Greenflame · Thinking about writing tools.

Fernando has recently written some more on than theme and on one of those tools (Scrivener), including some comments on how it helps manage his writing processes. See Fernando’s Desk » Getting It Down On Screen.

]]> http://www.greenflame.org/2007/08/27/fernando-on-writing/feed/ New media literacies and collaborative work in academia and ministry http://www.greenflame.org/2007/07/05/new-media-literacies-and-collaborative-work-in-academia-and-ministry/ http://www.greenflame.org/2007/07/05/new-media-literacies-and-collaborative-work-in-academia-and-ministry/#comments Thu, 05 Jul 2007 03:04:14 +0000 stepheng http://www.greenflame.org/2007/07/05/new-media-literacies-and-collaborative-work-in-academia-and-ministry/ A selection of links that intersect around the role of new media in educational environments. Henry Jenkins has an essay (in two parts) that looks at the tension between participatory media and traditional educational models, and in particular emphasises the critical application of the following skill set:
  1. Collective Intelligence — the ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with others towards a common goal.
  2. Judgment — the ability to evaluate the reliability and credibility of different information source.
  3. Networking — the ability to search for, synthesize and disseminate information.
  4. Negotiation — the ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and respecting multiple perspectives, and grasping and following alternative sets of norms.

See:

Connected to this, is Mary Hess’ post about a review of her book on theological education promoting this type of critical engagement with new media by teachers and students. See:

Then AKMA has this post on reflecting on a meeting to discuss related matters - AKMA’s Random Thoughts - Retrospect and Prospect.

And then Tim chimes in with this post (connected to AKMA’s) - SansBlogue: Bible, Babel and Web 2.0. (Some long comments there - including some from Mark which he refers to here: E-BCNZer: Brighouse - “On Education”).

The integration of digital technologies, with existing pedagogues and technologies, will be here for a while yet. I know that I’ve found it frustrating as both a student and teacher that the roles I’m being trained for/are training people for are collaborative - they stand or fall based upon healthy, dynamic relationships (both in IT and religion) - and yet the systems promote individualism (for assessment particularly) and work to stamp out collaborative efforts (it’s called cheating). Intellectual property discussions (esp. academic ones) also connect here. There must be a better way.

]]> http://www.greenflame.org/2007/07/05/new-media-literacies-and-collaborative-work-in-academia-and-ministry/feed/ The Type Stuff http://www.greenflame.org/2007/06/28/the-type-stuff/ http://www.greenflame.org/2007/06/28/the-type-stuff/#comments Thu, 28 Jun 2007 00:21:47 +0000 stepheng http://www.greenflame.org/2007/06/28/the-type-stuff/ AKMA has some gentle reminders about the need for typographical simplicity when selecting typefaces, and has some helpful links to some related typeface resources. See AKMA’s Random Thoughts: Type Trove.

]]> http://www.greenflame.org/2007/06/28/the-type-stuff/feed/ Thinking about writing tools http://www.greenflame.org/2007/05/24/thinking-about-writing-tools/ http://www.greenflame.org/2007/05/24/thinking-about-writing-tools/#comments Thu, 24 May 2007 11:45:31 +0000 stepheng http://www.greenflame.org/2007/05/24/thinking-about-writing-tools/ Over the years I’ve used lots of different text and word processors to support writing I’ve needed to do:
  • nroff and similar on UNIX systems for writing documentation
  • View on the BBC Microcomputer in the 1980s
  • Something on an Apple II+ which only displayed 40 characters per line
  • WordStar, MS Word and WordPerfect under MS-DOS (pre-Windows)
  • Nisus and MacWrite on my Mac Plus and Mac LC to write my Masters thesis
  • MS Word 2.0, Word 95, Word 97 and Word 2003 on various Windows computers.
  • MS Word 3, 4 and 5 and ClarisWorks on my Apple Powerbook 150 and 520c and PowerMac 6100 (Still have a set of Word 5 install floppies somewhere)
  • AppleWorks and MS Word v.X on the Mac OS X G3 iBook (the latter for the PhD thesis)

Of all of these, MS Word 5 on the PB150 and PB520c offered the best system for just blatting out text without getting distracted by the bells and whistles of the software. The black-and-white display and keyboard of the PB150 seemed to work for me, plus with no internet connection etc. I only turned it on to write. Word v.X was okay (and it supported EndNote) but it didn’t really inspire me to write.

Now with the thesis all written up I’m wondering whether it’s time to look at trying some different things to aid the writing process in the next few months. Some tools that help organize the writing process as much as just allowing text entry and formatting. I’d like them to run on the iBook (which won’t be replaced in the near future) and to have some support if possible for bibliographic data. MS Word compatibility is less of an issue as I still have Word v.X and Word 2003.

From looking around the net these links look helpful.

Applications that help with note-taking and organising writing material

Bibliographic support

Some articles about Mac word processing

I wouldn’t be adverse to a Windows XP/Vista word processor and material organizer though, if they did the job. Just don’t have a Windows laptop to run it on.

Anyway, now feels like a good time to try something new, before I get caught up in not being able to change while projects are ongoing.

Updates

]]> http://www.greenflame.org/2007/05/24/thinking-about-writing-tools/feed/ Google Books - the good, the bad and the ugly? http://www.greenflame.org/2007/05/04/google-books-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ http://www.greenflame.org/2007/05/04/google-books-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/#comments Fri, 04 May 2007 10:39:30 +0000 stepheng http://www.greenflame.org/2007/05/04/google-books-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ Jo pointed to this article about Google Books. Food for thought.

American Historical Association Blog: Google Books: What’s Not to Like?

]]> http://www.greenflame.org/2007/05/04/google-books-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/feed/ Sente for references? http://www.greenflame.org/2006/08/27/sente-for-references/ http://www.greenflame.org/2006/08/27/sente-for-references/#comments Sun, 27 Aug 2006 11:42:43 +0000 stepheng http://www.greenflame.org/wordpress/2006/08/27/sente-for-references/ Does anyone know if Sente from Third Street Software is any good for managing bibliographic data and handling citations in word processing documents. I’m currently locked into the MS Word/Endnote system, but I wouldn’t mind having the option to try out Mellel for academic writing (which Sente supports as well as Word).

]]> http://www.greenflame.org/2006/08/27/sente-for-references/feed/ Footnotes or endnotes? http://www.greenflame.org/2006/03/20/footnotes-or-endnotes/ http://www.greenflame.org/2006/03/20/footnotes-or-endnotes/#comments Mon, 20 Mar 2006 08:49:28 +0000 stepheng http://www.greenflame.org/wordpress/2006/03/20/footnotes-or-endnotes/ I picked it up here at Faith and Theology: Footnotes or endnotes? but it started here at Frankly, Mr Shankly: TF Torrance, footnotes and endnotes. Then it evolved to here to Aaron Ghiloni’s poll pointed to by Faith and Theology: The footnote controversy.

At the end of the day - “Endnotes - just say no!”

]]> http://www.greenflame.org/2006/03/20/footnotes-or-endnotes/feed/ Transhumanist Fiction http://www.greenflame.org/2006/01/26/transhumanist-fiction/ http://www.greenflame.org/2006/01/26/transhumanist-fiction/#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2006 11:08:21 +0000 stepheng http://www.greenflame.org/2006/01/26/transhumanist-fiction/ Having returned from holiday with more books (see Greenflame: Back from holiday (with books)) we all went out a few days back to one of the local secondhand bookshops with a box of books to exchange. A successful trip with all 6 of us finding something amongst the volumes. To my delight I picked up a copy of Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days by a favourite author of mine, Alastair Reynolds.

Reynold’s ‘Revelation Space’ explores, among other things, how human society might shape itself with different responses to technology interfacing with the human body. As such it is a good example of transhumanism in fiction. Wikipedia has an article on transhumanist fiction as a genre, including links through to some works that are available for download.

]]> http://www.greenflame.org/2006/01/26/transhumanist-fiction/feed/ EndNote and SBL http://www.greenflame.org/2006/01/24/endnote-and-sbl/ http://www.greenflame.org/2006/01/24/endnote-and-sbl/#comments Tue, 24 Jan 2006 01:36:16 +0000 stepheng http://www.greenflame.org/wordpress/2006/01/24/endnote-and-sbl/ I see that EndNote now has a basic style for SBL which would have saved me grief a while back. Only problem I’d need to upgrade EndNote to a new version that requires a G4 as minimum. The poor old G3 iBook doesn’t make the cut even though it word processes just fine with EndNote 7. I’d really like an EndNote style for McIntosh too - anyone (Australians?) know of one?

One thing that really annoys me about EndNote 7 (I don’t know about later versions) is it’s handling of (book) reviews as a entry type is non-existent (or I just can’t see it).

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