Upgrade StorageSupporting Zotero on public computers
We have been using/teaching/promoting Zotero as a bibliographic management tool for 2 years. I love the software and the students find it extremely easy to use. One challenge we've faced is how best to deal with the data storage issues because students move between public computers to their own laptops. All students have network storage but it requires that they have to change their preferences in Zotero each time they sit at a public computer. The syncing option seems like it might be too clunky because entire libraries would have to be synced every time a new student sat down.
We also struggle with keeping the software up to date on our public machines which are controlled to keep them cleaned up, preventing the regular updating that happens on an individual computer. When updates happen on a student's laptop, they can't open their library from the public computers until that software gets updated.
Has anyone solved these issues at their institution? I'm curious to hear if anyone has come up with something more elegant than our rather clunky workarounds.
Thanks,
Susan Kimball
Amherst College
We also struggle with keeping the software up to date on our public machines which are controlled to keep them cleaned up, preventing the regular updating that happens on an individual computer. When updates happen on a student's laptop, they can't open their library from the public computers until that software gets updated.
Has anyone solved these issues at their institution? I'm curious to hear if anyone has come up with something more elegant than our rather clunky workarounds.
Thanks,
Susan Kimball
Amherst College
At the institutions I've been at, your data (including your Firefox profile) is never stored on the local computer (which is whiped after each log-off), but on a remote, central harddisk, which is accessed when you log-in.
Specifically for Zotero that means that each user has her library and Zotero settings come up every time they log-on to any campus computer. Obviously they still need to sync with their laptops, but that's no different from having a home and a work computer.
There are other advantages, most importantly that backups are easy to do automatically and frequently.
As for updates, once again wherever I have been it's been possible to install and update Firefox plugins for individual users. If your IT people don't like that, send them a couple of links to Mordac, the Preventer of Information Services:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/kaiaxford/archive/2007/11/17/mordac-the-preventer-of-information-services.aspx