An app that may help you re-find papers you know you’ve read

[veka]

Hi everyone,

I'm a PhD student at Monash University and as part of my research we developed a software application named Papertrail. It is designed to help us, academics, re-find papers we know we've read (any PDF we lost, misplaced or viewed online).

 

The app allows us to search by anything we know about the paper, like:
- any colours,
- the paper's layout (one or two column),
- what we did at the time (did we use any software like Endnote?),
- any documents we worked on (were we writing a paper at the time?)
- or any other papers we were reading at the time..

We can also specify stuff that we did with the paper, for example:
- whether we printed it,
- perhaps we copied text from the paper to clipboard (cut and paste),
- or if we annotated it..

We can also search by all the usual keyword and metadata stuff, along with 'temporal' and 'spatial' cues such as:
- the date and time we viewed the paper,
- the amount of time we spent reading the paper,
- or how many times we've read the paper..

You can continue using your favourite PDF viewer as Papertrail runs as a windows service.

 

I am looking for participants who would use the software and optionally provide feedback via the feedback button in Papertrail. You do not have to provide any feedback however. Participation is fully anonymous.

 

You may download Papertrail at http://usepapertrail.com/

 

Please read the explanatory statement at installation before you consent.

 

Thanks,

Veka

[Cookie]

It seems like a great idea! I will use it and provide feedback. Thanks!

[zupgiusto]

Wow! I love this idea. I am a mac user but will pass along to my Windows friends.