Firefox Scholar 2.0: Building the Next Generation Scholarly Research Tool

Firefox Scholar 2.0: Building the Next Generation Scholarly Research Tool

Firefox Scholar 2.0: Building the Next Generation Scholarly Research Tool

Although we are excited about our progress on Firefox Scholar 1.0, it was only intended as a pilot—one that would not work with all the major research collections and one focused on libraries in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Moreover, as originally formulated, Firefox Scholar was essentially a personal silo for information. Recently, however, we have grown increasingly convinced that this development is really only a
first step toward the real promise of Firefox Scholar—the truly groundbreaking nature of this tool will only become evident once we are able to connect individual users’ collections with each other, and with the world (and web) at large.

11/01/2006

10/31/2009

Dan Cohen

Roy Rosenzweig

Josh Greenberg

1) We will connect Firefox Scholar with other semantic web technologies and initiatives to increase the value of all of these projects, and to allow for more sophisticated data analysis and display.

2) We will create a centralized server for data exchange that will enable users of Firefox Scholar to share their individual collections, annotations, and knowledge, as well as leverage network effects to work with the aggregate of all user collections.

3) We will create export tools so that, like EndNote, Firefox Scholar can export in a variety of formats (Chicago Manual of Style, APA, MLA, etc.) to a variety of locations (word processors, web-based text editors, HTML, etc.).

4) We will ensure that Firefox Scholar natively recognizes the fullest possible range of scholarly resources

5) We will use Firefox’s embedded system for skinning to ensure that Firefox Scholar meets the highest level of accessibility.

6) We will test and disseminate Firefox Scholar on a national, rather than local (Virginia) basis

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation