Social Tools and Resources for Research  

This site is a resource for finding new and best-in-class social tools for research. Tools are evaluated and annotated within the site.

The original social bookmarking software that Yahoo now owns. Tag bookmarks, search across tags, and access from any computer. While Yahoo assures Delicious users that the product will remain, there are other voices who speculate on its demise.

A file solution that allows you to save files, and then access them from a browser or your hard drive. Dropbox can be used on multiple computers, and files update automatically when you log on. Mac and PC compatible. Folders can also be shared with teams.

Evernote is a free service that organizes your information. Acess websites, photos, PDFs and even personal notes all in once place. The service works in FireFox and IE and is mobile compatible. A premium subscription is available for a cost.

Instapaper allows you to save an interesting read for later consumption. Read from your computer, the Kindle, or portable phones and tablets.

Mendeley is a platform to organize, store, work with and share your research. You can either create bibliographies directly in the software or import your Zotero citations. Like social bookmarks, research can be tagged and shared. There are groups to join, and a search platform allows you to find what others have already saved. Compatible with PC, Mac and Linux.

A mind mapping tool that allows you to create a visual map of your research topic. You can add notes and images. Creating group maps is also possible. Free and paid versions are available.

Pinboard is a social bookmarking service that compares with Delicious. Pinboard has a one time $9.21 start-up fee (as of 2/2/2011) and includes the ability to make bookmarks private.

Invoking the "wisdom of the crowd" theory, Quara provides a platform where questions can be asked and answered by those using the service. The goal is to have each question page become the best possible source for information on the query.

Look for the orange RSS logo and follow searches in databases, news media, and internet sites.

Look for a publisher, researcher or topic of interest, and follow it on Twitter. For example, Nature Materials can be followed here: http://twitter.com/#!/NatureMaterials.

Zotero is a citation management tool that currently works in Firefox. Download the software, then import citations directly from your browser.

The Hathi Trust is a partnership of major research institutions and libraries dedicated to preserving cultural records. Content collections cross the full range of subject fields.

Syllabi, lectures, slides, assignments and other materials used in MIT courses.

NDLTD is an international organization that supports electronic publishing and open access to theses and dissertations. The NDLTD Union Catalog contains more than a million records.

Technology, Education and Design talks. The speakers come from all over the world and give short talks or provide performances on cutting edge topics. Dee recommends: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/janine_benyus_biomimicry_in_action.html. Also check out TEDMed at: http://www.tedmed.com/what.

Worldcat is an online catalog of catalogs. Search for books, journals and media. Results will provide lists of libraries that own the item.

Online educational videos from schools, research institutes, and other educational resources. Content crosses all academic disciplines.