Software
for Futurists---Scanning
by Verne Wheelwright
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SUMMARY: Various
environmental-scanning software programs are reviewed. Software such as Biblioscape,
Bibliographica, and Scholar's Aid are designed to help scholars and researchers organize
their citations, references, footnotes, and bibliographies, and thus facilitate the
presentation of the scanning results in the form of articles, reports, lectures, or books.
You have always known that someday you would find a way to organize
your "scan hits". Some method that would allow you to enter them into your
computer easily with as much or as little information as you choose, yet let you find
those scan hits instantly, whenever you need them. Although it is possible to keep a log
of your scan hits in your word processor or your spreadsheet (many futurists do) it is
cumbersome, and retrieving an item you need at any given time is seldom easy.
There is a software solution, and it is available
now. In fact, you could download a copy today. There are at least ten established names
publishing this software and all offer at least a thirty day free demo that can be
downloaded from the publishers' web sites. There are versions available both for Windows
and Macintosh, and there are at least three versions (Biblioscape, Bibliographica
and Scholar's Aid) available as freeware. All of these programs are classified as
"bibliographic software" and have been around in one form or another for years,
which means that most of the bugs have been worked out. They are designed to help scholars
and researchers organize their citations, references, footnotes and bibliographies. They
also just happen to work beautifully for storing and retrieving scan hits.
Is there a need for software that manages scan
hits? In preparing for this article, I sent out a very informal poll to a number of
futurists, asking about their usage of software to store scan hits. The responses
indicated that:
• One third do not use software. They
use file folders, note cards, etc
• About half use Word, Excel
or Access and similar software to store can hits.
• The remainder of the respondents
store their scan hits in proprietary software including Web sites.
Several of these futurists indicated that they
were looking for something better than whatever they were using. This article is intended
to offer some solutions.
What is bibliographic software?
Bibliographic software is designed for
researchers to help them keep track of their sources, and to have the necessary detailed
bibliographic information available when they write up their research for publication.
Keeping track of sources is just as important to scientific researchers as it is to
futurists who do their research by scanning. All of us have had the experience of
remembering something important from an article or book, but not being able to find it.
This software goes a long way toward solving that problem. In addition, some researchers
must keep extensive notes and be able to relate those notes to their research. Some of
this software is designed specifically for that purpose. An example is Scholar’s
Aid which is divided into two programs, one for the usual bibliographic functions and
one to handle related notes.
Generally bibliographic software programs offer
three or four basic functions:
Storage -- this is usually referred to as
a database or a library, and is where individual records are stored and listed. You may
wish to set up several databases as categories for your primary areas of interest or in
the broad categories commonly used by futurists; Sociology, Technology, Ecology, Economy
and Politics.
Individual records
-- each journal
article, newspaper article, book, story from a Web site, or other source of information
can be stored in a format appropriate for that source. Within a record you can include
abstracts, extensive notes, and keywords. Records can easily be moved between databases,
usually using copy-and-paste or drag-and-drop.
Citations, references and
bibliographies-- whether you are writing a paper, article or a book, this software is
designed to work with your word processor to enter your citation correctly in a format
(style) of your choice. At a minimum, you will have MLA, APA and Chicago styles available,
and most programs offer hundreds of style choices to meet the requirements of (mostly
scientific) journals and publications. When you are finished with your paper, simply
instruct the software (with a few clicks) to create a reference list or a bibliography.
Internet searching
-- in the bibliographic
software programs that offer integrated Internet searching (not all do) you will find a
whole new dimension in scanning. From your computer you can enter search terms, then via
the Internet search major databases or entire libraries, including the Library of
Congress, in a matter of minutes.
If bibliographic software packages were limited
to providing easy storage and retrieval of scan hits, they would still be quite valuable
to futurists. The ability to organize citations, references, notes and bibliographies is a
substantial additional benefit, and the ability to do Internet searching of libraries and
databases is a very powerful bonus.
With this many capabilities, you would expect
bibliographic software to be expensive, and at first glance some of it is. In reality,
pricing may be less than you would expect. List prices range from free to about $400, but
most of these packages can be ordered from dealers at substantial discounts. There are
also special prices (under $100) for students both on the Internet and at university
bookstores.
Using bibliographic software
Now that you know that good scanning software
exists, how do you go about putting it to work for you? Here are a few steps.
Step 1- Create Databases or
libraries for your scan hits.
If you expect to have a sizable volume of scan
hits, you will probably want to create several broad category databases such as
"Technology" or "Economics." If you expect your volume of scan hits to
be somewhat smaller scale you could store everything in one database, for example
"Scanning". Later, as your database grows, it can be divided. If you scan for
clients, you can set up databases for each client.
One caveat here. Although all of these programs
offer the ability to import and export databases to and from competitive programs, none of
these exchanges were as easy to complete as I thought they should be. They work, but there
is a learning curve. Which raises the question, what do you do with all the scan hits
you’ve stored in Excel, Access or other programs? The good news is that with a
little massaging, those hits can be exported to your bibliographic database as comma
delimited files, but it will take a little time.
Step 2 -- Create an individual
record (or reference) for each scan hit.
Whether your scan hit comes from a newspaper,
magazine, journal, dissertation, web site or even a conversation with somebody you
consider to be knowledgeable, you can put that information into a record. In most cases
you will be asked to select a category for the record you are creating (magazine, journal,
dissertation, book, etc.), and allowed to make your choice from a pull down menu.
Generally, the record form will be tailored to your source. When you enter your first few
records, pay close attention to how the record is saved. Some programs save automatically,
but others require you to save each record individually.
The blank record will provide you with spaces to
enter the name of the author, title, source, date, publisher, abstract, notes, and
keywords. There will be additional spaces to add more detailed information if you wish,
including space to add several pages of abstract or notes. You can copy and paste into
these spaces, or you can use dictation software to make large entries. Biblioscape
provides a page ("Document") where you can paste graphic images (up to 256K in
one record) related to your record. That would be enough to scan and store most hits. As a
test, I scanned and pasted 40 pages into one record and could have added more. Scholar’s
Aid also permits virtually unlimited space for graphics in the " Notes"
area. Generally speaking, copy and paste works very well in these packages. (If you have
copied something to paste into a record, and don’t find a "Paste" button on
the tool bar, right click your mouse). You can also copy between most databases, and in
some cases, you will be able to use drag and drop to move records between databases.
Some programs will also have a space for
"Location" in the record form. If you keep a copy or clipping of an article,
this is a good place to remind yourself where to find that original copy (which file
folder you put it in and where you put the file folder). You can also list a database name
or a library here. If there is not a heading named "Location", you may be able
to add or change a heading or use one of the other spaces that you won’t need.
The time to give some thought to planning your
keywords is before you start entering records, because keywords will probably be your best
avenue to finding your information again when you need it. Many of these software programs
include an index of keywords and the ability to search for them, which can be a very
powerful tool. If all your scan hits are in one database, then you nay want to include
broad category keywords as well as very specific keywords. That will also make it easier
to divide your database into categories if it ever becomes too bulky.
If you use dictation software such as Naturally
Speaking, you will find it compatible with all of these programs. Dictation will allow
you to quickly read lengthy abstracts or extensive notes into your records in situations
where you can’t import or paste directly into the record.
Step 3 -- Finding scan hits
(records) that you have stored in a database.
Bibliographical databases generally store records
under headings of "Author", "Date" and "Title", with the
option to add additional columns in some cases. In most programs, if you click on the
column heading "Author", the entire database will immediately be sorted
alphabetically by author. A second click will reverse the order from ascending to
descending. If you click on "Date" the database will be sorted numerically by
date. In some programs, you can add headings ("Keywords" for example).
In smaller databases you can probably find the
information you're looking for by simply scrolling down the "Titles" column. As
your database grows you will be more likely to search by keyword, and most programs
provide for Boolean (AND, OR, NOT etc.) searches. Some programs will also permit you to
establish links (similar to web page links) between records and some offer quick access to
an index list of keywords that you have already used which will provide clues as to
keywords you should include in your search.
These first three steps accomplish the most
important requirements for scanning. The next steps are very important if you wish to do
more detailed research or if you wish to write about your research and include citations,
references and a bibliography.
Step 4-- Conducting deeper
research on your scan hits -- libraries and journals.
A very powerful tool that is included with about
half of the software packages I tried allows you to search libraries, publication
databases and scholarly journals over the Internet. Thanks to the Z39.50 protocol
(pioneered by the Library of Congress) you will be able to access the Library of Congress
and hundreds of university libraries around the world after simply putting in your search
parameters and operators. For example, if you have seen a recent article written by or
referring to an expert in a field that is of interest to you, you could then enter the
author's name, search the Library of Congress, and receive back a list of books by that
author with complete bibliographic information and, in many cases, abstracts. You could
then select the items that are of specific interest to you and save them in your database.
Next, you could enter a book title or the author's name and search to see if that
publication is actually available at nearby library. You can also access journals through
organizations like a Medline or Cambridge Journals (free) to search for the latest
articles on your subject or search for an author. Usually you will find an abstract that
will give you enough information to let you know if you need the whole article, and in
some cases you'll be able to acquire the full text.
In each case, the software recovers all the
pertinent bibliographic information and places it in the record format (book, journal,
etc,), just as if you had typed it in. You select which records to add to your database
and the rest are discarded. This last is important, as one search may bring back thousands
of records! Sometimes a broad search is helpful to let you know what is available, then a
search with tight parameters will bring back exactly what you need.
Biblioscape, EndNote, Pro Cite,
and
Reference Manager all include Internet searching capability based on the Z39.50
standard. Some of the bibliographic programs which do not include an integrated Internet
search tool (Bibliographica, Citation, Library Master, Scholar's Aid) are
designed to work with an independent search program such as BookWhere which is
offered separately.
Step 5-- Writing papers,
articles or books based on your scan hits.
From your text in your word processor, you will
be able to locate and insert citations for your scan hits. You can search by keyword,
author, title, date or other terms, and the software will locate your hit instantly. If
you now wish to cite your scan hit in a paper, one or two clicks will place it there. If
you expect to use your scan hits as references for your writing, a feature available on
some of these software packages is an internal spell checker. Very helpful in keeping your
notes and abstracts accurate.
One of the critical requirements for writers of
articles based on references is meeting the many different style requirements of various
publications. Each of these software programs offers a wide variety of styles (Citation
supports over 1000 styles!) plus the ability to create new styles. Many scientific
journals require that writers submit articles in a style that is specific to that journal,
thus hundreds of styles are available. Style selection in most of these programs requires
only a few mouse clicks.
After looking at these steps, it is obvious that
each of these software packages offers a lot of power, and more importantly, that power
can be very effectively used for scanning projects of any size. Whatever your scanning
needs, whether for your personal interest, for clients or for a multinational
organization, a good bibliographic software package can simplify the storage and retrieval
of scan hits. If you are detecting and monitoring trends or conducting competitive
intelligence, good software can help you organize the information you collect. Most
importantly, it can help you find that information when you need it. All of the packages
discussed here will perform those basic scanning functions very well, but they are also
professional quality research and writing tools that can assist you well into the future.
About the Author
Verne Wheelwright is a graduate of the University of Houston Clear Lake, Studies
of the Future. He is currently enrolled in a doctoral program at Leeds Metropolitan
University and is engaged in research relating to personal futures for older people. He
holds a BS in business administration from the University of Oregon.
He spent over 30 years in
international trade, primarily exporting paper. He is now in transition to a new career in
futures research and writing. His research centers on life after retirement age and new
tools for personal futures.
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