I received my bound dissertation copies after we got back from a conference this week and … it does feel a little surreal to see the work printed and bound in a physical artifact. I am used to working in the digital realm that having something like this to hold in my hands is just a little bit different.
In mid-February, after more than four years, I successfully defended by dissertation and completed my PhD in Leadership program at the University of the Cumberlands. As a break, I am taking some time to think about what this might mean for what I do with my research, this blog, by career, etc.
However, I do want to share a picture from right after the defense. I was not expecting my coworkers and family to be there to celebrate right after I had completed the degree and it was a really touching, if unexpected, gesture.
I am unreasonably happy about the future public release of Zotero for iOS. I have been using Zotero for years to manage my doctoral research as I continue through my PhD program, but finding a decent workflow for reading, annotating, and then cataloging has been very elusive.
However, Zotero for iOS may, MAY, just fix that issue for me … and not a moment too soon. As I stare my dissertation in the face, Zotero for iOS should allow me to have access to my entire Zotero library, reading PDFs within the application, annotate that PDF, add notes, etc. and then have those changes synced to my Zotero app on my various other devices. That’s a potentially game-changing addition to my workflow.
So I have been able to get on the Zotero for iOS Beta and I am working with it on my iPad Pro right now. If you are interested, I recommend signing up as well and seeing what the future may hold!
I have been asked to write some short posts here on campus in the future and part of that work will include doing some scholarly research and utilizing it instead of just regurgitating my own personal thoughts and passing them off as useful and wonderful!
It had been recommended to me to try out Zotero for managing my research while I was in grad school, but I used Papers instead for my capstone project since it seemed to provide a really good experience across all of Apple’s device lineup. However, I have installed Zotero across my Macs and on work’s Surface Pro 4 and have decided to give it a spin to see if it will fit my needs while also being cross-platform.
Only downside so far? No installer for openSUSE.