This got posted on the Wednesday thread, but as that thread didn't get the sticky spot (due to a fine AMA going on) it was kinda quiet! So this is a repost.

Zooniverse has a project going on called Operation War Diary where they are crowdsource tagging scans of WWI diaries with metadata like names, places, dates, and so on. This is in partnership with the UK National Archives, and should be a great aid to historical research. So if you've got some idle time and you want to do some history in honor of the WWI centennial, please check out the project.

In the past, I have seen a number of discussions of which piece of software individual historians prefer for writing and for keeping track of notes. In the past, I have used a mixed bag of systems. I would transcribe portions of sources that I wanted to quote into Notepad or another plain text file. I would then use legal pads to create a very rough outline of what I wanted to say, and give myself a rough word/page budget on that document. Then, I would use physical notecards to plan out each paragraph of what I was going to write, especially since I could shuffle them as needed. I would use those notecards to make a more detailed outline on another legal pad to make sure that my argument made sense. Then and only then would I switch to a word processor. Usually MS Word was what was available, though I have always had a soft spot in my heart for my first love—Word Perfect 5.1 for DOS. (Get off my lawn)

Recently I have been working on a novel. (No, I will not tell you what it is, or what name it would come out under) I thought about what method I would use to compose it, and my wife suggested Scrivener. It sounded interesting from her description, especially with its ability to save in the various ebook formats. Then I watched this video that gives an overview of how you can use the product. (The video is roughly 10 minutes long) The first thought that leapt to mind was ‘baby, where have you been all my life?” This one product would have saved me so much heartache and frustration.

First, Scrivener does just about everything that a word processor does, and there are both Mac and PC versions (and a not officially supported Linux community), and there are free trial versions available for both operating systems. Format your work however you like. I have not tested them personally since I no longer write history, but it has footnote, endnote, and bibliography options. Pagination and other notations are also available. All the standard functions are there. One neat option is the ability to split your screen so you can view two different parts of your document at the same time. If you are concerned about word or phrase repetition you can have two sections of your writing side by side for easy comparison. Were I still writing history, I would also use this to compare different quotes that I was deciding between.

The interesting part for me was how you could break up a document while still having it compile as one document. Basically, you can get as granular as you want. You can ‘split’ your document as many times as you like. For fiction, I like to break up my work by chapter, with a few phrases as prompts for what I am going to write. With Scrivener, I can break up my document into each of those little pieces. Then, Scrivener automatically attaches a notecard to each part of your document. This notecard contains the title for each ‘split’ part of the overall document, as well as an area where you can provide a synopsis. Then, you can switch to a view that only shows these notecards. You can shuffle them in whatever order you like. If I had this option in college, I would not have had to contend with my own terrible handwriting, and I could have been much more organized. You have no idea how many times I would drop my notecards while reordering them. I would sometimes tire of my own clumsiness, so I would number the notecards. I would then usually want to reorder them again, requiring crossing out the old numbers and recalculating new ones. Again, and again. With Scrivener, you can reorder them whenever you like, however you like. And if you particularly like an order, save it off as a backup so you can go back to it. The notecard utilization is shown very well in the video, and this feature alone would have sold me on the product.

Now, in parallel to the notecards, there is an outline mode that can be used. The notecards can seen instead as elements of a traditional outline. The title shows up as the main element, and the synopsis appears as the description. You can set up a hierarchy to organize your elements, with as many sub points as you like. Whatever changes you make to the outline are reflected automatically in the notecards—and your document. This flexibility was very impressive to me. Also, in outline mode you can assign a target number of words you would like to achieve for each segment of your writing. When you go back to your document, it not only can show you your current workout, but it can also show you a progress bar showing you how close you are to your target. This keeps me from going over on a particular item. You could also use this to either stretch what you have when you’re short on a segment, or use it as an opportunity to find more information to insert into your argument.

So far, I have described a fairly useful word processor with some neat organizational options. The feature that took Scrivener from ‘useful’ to ‘must-have’ for me was the Research option. Built into Scrivener there is a folder for your research. In that folder, you can place just about any kind of file you want—images, text files, web pages, PDF’s, etc. You can then split your screen between For fiction, I put in character sheets, images of actors I have ‘cast’ in the role, images of locations, pdfs or webpages of research information, and other items. You don’t have to alt-tab between a number of different windows, using a number of different programs. They’re all available right next to your active document. For describing something physical, the only thing that could be better is having the object in front of you. For instance, if you wanted to describe a historical figure, you could import a number of photographs of the person and have them open directly next to your text. While this function can be approximated by resizing windows and alt-tabbing, the convenience of having all of your sources in one program is quite nice. For writing answers on /r/AskHistorians I am beginning to compile my own sources into folders in the Research area. I have started organizing quotes from books that I have typed up into their own documents so I can use them easily in the future.

Now, I have only used Scrivener for less than a month. Also, I am using it for fiction, and I simply do not know how well the nonfiction elements work. Also, I have not used any of the other programs that have been recommended by others. It is entirely possible that these other programs are much better suited for other people. However, since Scrivener offers a free trial, there is little barrier to entry and low risk in giving it a try. I have been enthralled with the product. I have made several custom templates for making outlines. I am sure I have only scraped the surface of the various features available, but if anything above intrigued you I would highly encourage giving Scrivener a look.

Here again is the product’s webpage

Here again is a ten minute video explaining some features

I have no connection to the company that sells Scrivener, and I receive no compensation for promoting the product. I am merely an enthusiastic user of Scrivener, and I thought others might be interested in it for writing. I would be more than happy to answer any questions that anyone has.

I started teaching again last week, for the first time in a couple of years, and this week was the first week full of real "content." It's been nice to get back into it. It reminded me of some of my favorite lesser-known historical stories. I put one of them up on my blog for this morning — the story of how Harvard's future President, and a future big-wig on the Manhattan Project, got his start making poison gas during World War I. Before Los Alamos, there was the "Mouse-Trap." Before the bomb, there was Lewisite. Conant's war: Inside the Mouse-Trap.

Historians, do you find yourself frustrated (or outraged/annoyed/disappointed, etc.) by the people you study?

I'm researching early contact in North America and the Caribbean. With a few exceptions, the accounts of the first recorded contact along the Eastern Seaboard (and into the interior) reads like a rap sheet of Europeans behaving badly. I know we can't hold early explorers/fishermen/colonists to modern standards of morality, but sometimes I push my chair away from my desk, throw my hands up and yell, "Why did you have to be such a dick?!"

Anyone else feel this frustration?

I already posted an announcement about this, but our Historical IAmA with Gen. Bill Slim just went live in /r/HistoryNetwork. Come check it out!

Hey all! I recently became mod of a small sub that I'm hoping to spread awareness about: /r/NYCHistory. I really love learning and writing about history, and I wanted to share that with people in a dedicated sub (when I'm not posting about history here or on /r/nyc). It's just getting off the ground, but I thought that some of you folks would be interested in knowing about it and perhaps submitting some cool content! I try to update it frequently, as there really are so many great resources out there to share. Hope to see some of you there!

I posted another ActiveHistory article this week, it's called "Going Local: 'Stronger than Steel' and Progressive Locality. In it, I explore one commemorative event in Sydney, Nova Scotia and reflect upon what it means to do "globally informed" local history.

In other news - after that article was up for a few days, I was contacted by a Toronto journalist who is interested in interviewing me about my research on deindustrialization and working-class history. I have a telephone call on Friday to delve into the specifics and I believe they're sending a team down in a few weeks to conduct the interview. I'll post it here when it goes live.

Is there a list of reliable history-focused Tumblr blogs?

Well this is not as impressive as completing a thesis or publishing on a journal, but I just finished writing the Wikipedia article for the History of the Great Wall of China from scratch. I know Wikipedia isn't exactly vogue on this sub, but I'd be kidding if I say I'm not proud of it.

As the paraphrase usually goes, I'd like to be more of an expert, so I should learn more about logistics.

What's a good book to learn the basics of modern military logistics?

I'm currently writing an assignment on the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the English Civil War, focusing specifically on propaganda, and it's really interesting to see the different blatant biases of the news from 1640.

Oliver Knight's "The Grand Remonstrance" is a great explanation of the Parliamentatian bill-that-was-actually-propaganda that helped set off the First War, and Gary Rivett "English Newsbooks, Storytelling and Political Criticism" has a really interesting analysis of the Mercurius Aulicus, the weekly Royalist newsbook of the 1640s. In particular, I love the fact that it had an ongoing spat with the Mercurius Britanicus, the Parliamentarian newsbook until 1646, especially when you see newspapers of today going at the same thing too.