Doc Edward Morbius ⭕​Jul 4, 2021

After four months or so of daily use of a large-format (13.3") e-ink device, my view on PDFs has shifted strongly.

It's not that PDFs suck for online reading. They're actually often optimal.

It's that most online reading displays and mechanisms suck. Horizontal 4:3 or 16:9 glossy displays, or palm-sized devices, are awful.

A largish display (starting at about 6", though I'd suggest 8--10 and am really loving the 13.3" I've got), portrait mode, e-ink, B&W, and decent bookreader software are excellent.

#pdf #eink #bookReaders #OnlineReading #reading #documents #ItsJustMyOpinionManButTrustMeImRightAndYoureWrong

Show threadLibrarian socialist
@dredmorbius how do you process what you read on that eInk? 13.3" sounds great. I often work with highlights > c&p > process further. Reference managed through Zotero.
Jul 4, 2021 at 8:12pmWeb
Show threadDoc Edward Morbius ⭕​Jul 5, 2021

@syndikalista Poorly, as seems par for the course.

I've never gotten on the Zotero train. For numerous reasons. I don't grok the workflow, and its Android apps seem to presume a desktop presence rather than being free-standing. My inclination is to create my own system, which is probably several degrees of insanity, but yo, I do me.

#ebookReaders #Workflow #bibliography #LiteratureManagement #cataloguing

1/

Show threadDoc Edward Morbius ⭕​Jul 5, 2021

@syndikalista My workflow such as it exists:

  • Identiitfy materials of interest from numerous sources, though online references, citations in other works, and catalogue / index searches are principle methods.
  • Sourcing is typically LibGen / Sci-Hub / Archive.org, with a few others. These are downloaded to the device.
  • I try to loosly organise materials by topic, in a vaguely-ish LoC classification top-level grouping. Those are implemented as directories ("folders") on the device filesystem.
  • I also try to keep tabs of what I'm currently principally reading or planning to read, though this is among the weaker parts of my "system".

#cataloguing #LiteratureManagement #bibliography #Workflow #ebookReaders

2/

Show threadDoc Edward Morbius ⭕​Jul 5, 2021

@syndikalista I'm hampered, as is typically the case, by the lack of consideration e-reader tools give to any level of organisation or metadata (the BOOX lacks even the ability to edit file metadata: author, title, pubdate, serial, etc.). I tag most of these into the filename if possible, though that's painful and slow.

Also by the lack of sufficient storage on the device. 64 GB is large for an eBook reader, but barely sufficient. 512 GB would probably be the scope of no concern, for now. (I follow numerous podcasts as well as books, audio takes up far more storage, even when limiting downloads and removing items after listening.)

I'd be quite interested in how others manage.

My catalogue is rougly 10--15k items stored in Pocket (also a fucking disaster), and another 10--15k articles, books, and misc documents managed under bookreaders (PDF, ePub, DJVU, and similar formats).

#ebookReaders #Workflow #bibliography #LiteratureManagement #cataloguing

3/

Show threadLibrarian socialistJul 5, 2021
@dredmorbius oh i do zotero for almost one thing only: a synching citekey across devices and platforms. The zotero DB is Downloaded vor reachable Form devices and so are the citekeys.
Files is a complete different mess (that I do not have a gold solution for).
Often works this way:
Enter stuff into pad/document that sounds interesting/resonates. Review doc every now and then, fire up zotero when still resonating and create citekey and add metadata.
(1/?)
Show threadLibrarian socialistJul 5, 2021
@dredmorbius Highlight what is resonating in the document and extract highlights into file + citekey (obsidian works as markdown vault for clippings currently), tag related topics, people and add keywords for retrieval(works like folders of interest)
Process just-in-time or search related into own words through added layers of summaries. Create own words from processed goo. (2/?)
Show threadLibrarian socialistJul 5, 2021
@dredmorbius since March I work again with an eink-kindle for reading, but a bigger one would make thinks easier I suppose. Work a lot with split screens. Eink makes reading better but I fear less practical highlight extraction from different models.
Kindle is a shit, but works well integration wise for me...
Show threadDoc Edward Morbius ⭕​Jul 5, 2021

@syndikalista The BOOX supports highlight, though I'm not entirely sure how highlight export works.

(There's some capacity for it.)

The device also supports split-screen: two views of same doc, multiple docs, multiple apps (if the apps support it). Also 2-up view of the document itself.

There's an overview "light table" view that supports 4, 9, or 16 page views for quick scanning. (Modulo that actually painting the thumbnails can be slow.)