A fix for the ERIC translator was recently pushed out. Your copy of Zotero should auto-update within 24 hours, or you can update manually by clicking Update Now in the General pane of the Zotero prefs.

To open the preferences pane click the gear icon, this will open the actions dropdown menu. Select preferences from that dropdown menu.

In my case Zotero isn't recognising ERIC pages as translatable i.e. no reference icon appears in the address window. I've already updated to FF3 (the problem originally suddenly started with FF2) and have have the latest updates and translators for Zotero. Other sites work fine e.g. pubmed. Here's an example of a 'failed' page:
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=inquiry+effectiveness&searchtype=keyword&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=kw&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&accno=EJ812134&_nfls=false

Any help resolving this would be appreciated!

The issues with the ERIC translator should be resolved.

Your copy of Zotero should auto-update within 24 hours, or you can update manually by clicking Update Now in the General pane of the Zotero prefs.

You can reach the preferences from the Actions drop-down menu, accessible by clicking the gear icon in the Zotero toolbar.

Correction: eric.ed.gov

What happens is that Zotero tries, and tries, and tries to import it - the little icon spins around and can only be stopped if I close down firefox.

Contents of the .ris file:


TY - JOUR
ID - EJ868798
AU - Zazkis, Rina
AU - Liljedahl, Peter
AU - Sinclair, Nathalie
TI - Lesson Plays: Planning Teaching versus Teaching Planning
PY - 2009/00/00
VL - 29
IS - 1
SP - 40
EP - 47
JA - For the Learning of Mathematics
PB - FLM Publishing Association. 382 Education South, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G5, Canada; e-mail: flm2@ualberta.ca; Web site: http://flm.educ.ualberta.ca
SN - ISSN-0228-0671
AB - We introduce Lesson Play as an imaginary interaction between teacher and students presented in a form of a dialogue or play. We suggest that lesson plays are a valuable professional development tool in preparing for teaching that can be juxtaposed with, or used as a replacement for, traditional lesson planning. The article begins with an examination of the historical roots of lesson planning and then presents limitations of this traditional mode of preparing a lesson. Then, we present an example of a lesson play and discuss the affordances of this novel structure. We illustrate how a lesson play directs teachers' attentions to potential student difficulties, to concept development and to the language of mathematics.
ER -

that certainly shouldn't be the case - on the contrary, Zotero should automatically open and import RIS files when requested to.
Not sure what the problem is here - but I remember a recent case where removing the .ris extension was also the solution. I don't know why.

I'm sorry, I meant the green line that goes from left to right when items are being imported.

I just tried several searches through ERIC and had no trouble grabbing items from both individual item pages and search results pages. For example this
item works fine for me. Can you post some URLs that are not working for you?

Another issue remains with Eric.

When I go to "My Eric," then "My Saved Folder," then go to "Export Citations," I am given two download formats to choose from (next text is from the Eric site, I have added the numbers):

_______
Select a file type to export:

Select a file type to export Citation Manager File

(1) Citation Manager File (will open in EndNote, ProCite, Reference Manager, RefWorks)

(2) Select a file type to export Text file (.txt) in format
_________

It is obvious to me that #1 (which turns out to be a .ris file) won't work in Zotero because Zotero is not mentioned.

So then I try #2. The .txt file absolutely does not work.

So then I experiment with #1. It is a .ris file that will not import with the .ris extension. However it WILL import after I experiment further and remove the .ris extension from a file that turns out to actually be formatted as a .txt file.

Perhaps the good people at Eric.Ed.gov could be persuaded to add Zotero to the choices for download file type #1 (which ends up being .ris). And ironing out the .ris file difficulty would also be great.

Eric is an important resource site for educators.

In order to help Zotero users who report challenges in working with eric.ed.gov (otherwise known as "Eric") in Firefox, I am posting the following:

SUMMARY OF HOW TO WORK WITH ERIC CITATIONS IN ZOTERO:

* Save references into a "clipboard" in Eric.
* Navigate to your clipboard.
* Check the articles you want to export.
* Go to "Export Citations."
* Then, choose the first option: (Citation Manager File (will open in EndNote, ProCite, Reference Manager, RefWorks)
* Click to export the citations.
* The result is a download through your browser of a file ending in .ris
* Change the type of that file from .ris to .txt. (In Windows Vista, after you change the file type to ".txt," ".txt" disappears. That's OK, the file will still work).
* Then import the file ending in .txt into Zotero.

This method works consistently for me. It's unfortunate that I unearthed it only after much experimentation.

Again, I think that the people at Eric should re-write their pages so that Zotero users aren't so badly confused.

I'm happy that joannealisonfox chimed in on this topic.

I just wish someone could do something about it.

Tjowens,

Eric files won't import to Zotero running in Firefox for me except if I change the .ris suffix to .txt .

It has been that way consistently ever since I started using Zotero, about 2 years ago.

My platform is Windows Vista.

All of my software is current, and I've gone through all of the Firefox updates.

I'm somewhat of an evangelist for Zotero, would like to see Eric users un-confused :)

ProjGeekette: I can't reproduce this using the RIS file from you (sent to us by ERIC). You'll need to provide a Report ID from after import stalls. If you can't access the gear menu, follow the Reporting Startup Errors instructions on that page and post (or e-mail to support@zot....org with a link to this thread) the errors you're getting during the import.

ProjGeekette: There are no relevant errors in the error reports you sent. The Report ID needs to be after the stall occurs and before restarting Firefox. Disable auto-sync in the Sync pane of the Zotero preferences, restart Firefox, attempt the import before doing anything else, and then immediately send in an error report and provide the Report ID here.

Also, there's no need to e-mail Report IDs—you only need to e-mail if you're unable to provide a Report ID (because, for example, you can't access the gear menu) and need to send actual error output as per the "Reporting Startup Errors" instructions.

but am not able to send an error report because Zotero is stalled with the green line going repeatedly from left to right as I reported earlier.

Right, which is why I said to follow the "Reporting Startup Errors" directions to see the actual errors and e-mail those to the support address.

Same here. Zotero seems to be broken with ERIC.