Drafts: The EasyBib Blog

EasyBib on Amazon's Cloud

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:33:54 -0500

We’ve made some changes that we are proud to report. If you were up early this morning you would have noticed that we were down for a few hours of “scheduled maintenance” from 6:30AM to 9AM Eastern.

During that time period, we switched our servers from where they are located (here in NYC) to Amazon’s Web Services cloud. If you’re familiar with that term, you’ll know that there are a significant number of Web startups and services moving in that direction.

If you’re unfamiliar with what I’m referring to, Amazon Web Services is a “cloud computing platform” by Amazon (yes, the books company) that allows Web sites to easily adjust their server infrastructure to meet the needs of their Web traffic.

That means as more people use EasyBib, we can add more servers to keep things speedy. We’ve cut down a process that used to take days: ordering a server, getting it shipped, then installing it - to a few minutes: clicking a button to launch a new server.

There are additional benefits like better data backup, cheaper access to storage, and more, which we like too. We’ll discuss that more in a future post.

Anyway, this is our first day in the Amazon cloud. While things certainly will not always be smooth (Amazon has had it’s fair share of downtime), right now we’re pretty thrilled. If you experience any hiccups let us know.

Shoutouts: CouchDB (thanks Jan for all the debugging/erlang-rewriting help), Rightscale (for the countless support back-and-forth emails), Amazon (for existing and continually innovating), and of course, thanks to all of you bibbers out there, the fuel of our fire.

New updates

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:25:26 -0400

Hi everyone,

You may have noticed, but we’ve deployed a couple of minor changes across the site.

New help fields: We’ve placed a help caption next to every field on EasyBib’s citation forms. This way, if you’re confused on any particular source field, you’ll be able to learn more about that item in the help section. The help fields used to be placed at the bottom of our page, but we’ve received a lot of feedback and decided to update the positioning.

New APA 6th Edition reference guides: If you’re a teacher or librarian and like our reference guides, take a look at our newly updated versions!

Best,

The EasyBib Team

Database recovery process

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:07:00 -0400

Everyone,

We experienced a database crash tonight.

We do have backups, and are working to restore citations.

You can continue making citations, the new ones will be saved.

It will take us several days to restore old citations, but they will be back.

We will continue to update you with our progress.

Update (1:19AM 9/18/2009):

We should be able to restore access to citations this weekend. However, we may not be able to recover the last two weeks’ worth of data. We are looking into this now.

Update (12:51PM 9/18/09):

The recovery process is underway. Citations made before August 31st, 2009 will be recovered over the next few days. Our database backup is monthly, so we cannot recover any citations made after 8/31/2009.

We apologize profusely for all of you who have been saving your theses, dissertations, and other bibliographies on our site. We value your patronage of our site, and thank you for your patience in this process. If you are a MyBib Pro user and we just messed up your assignment, please contact us for a refund.

Again, the backup process takes a few days to fully re-populate our database. Data should be restored by early next week.

Update (9:49AM 9/19/09):

Some people have been asking whether there were any security compromises. The answer is emphatically no. This was specifically a hardware related failure.

The database importation for citations prior to 9/1/09 is continuing on schedule.

Update (10:14AM 9/21/09): Recovery process completed.

The database recovery process has completed. As stated earlier, we were able to recover citations until 9/1/2009. If you have any questions about this process, please contact us.

New features for the new school year!

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:16:00 -0400

Hey bibbers,

Here’s the latest update.

APA 6th Edition: Updated to support the latest style guidelines from the APA 6th edition guide. If you’re a MyBib Pro user, you automatically have access. If you’re not a subscriber and need APA for your classes, check out our free trial. Updates include:
- Addition of Digital Object Identifiers (DOI), which now take the place of online publication information where available.
- Streamlined Web site and database publication
- Contributor formatting changes (now we show eight contributors, or an ellipse if more).
- Other changes across the board to sources and forms.
Faster page loading: We’ve updated our code to make the pages load faster. We hope it makes your EasyBib experience even smoother!
Minor fixes to Chicago style & footnote formatting.
If you’re a school, take a look at our School Edition product - we updated our pricing over the summer to make it even more affordable for schools.

Cheers all!

The EasyBib Team

ZDNet posting about EasyBib

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:03:37 -0400

ZDNet posting about EasyBib:

Chris, glad you’re happy with our service!

Andy, an EasyBib user. It’s that Easy.

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 11:33:00 -0400

Andy, an EasyBib user. It’s that Easy.

Bibbin' just got better: Better pricing for schools!

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:16:00 -0400

Hi everyone,

We’ve released some summertime updates:

Easier institutional subscriptions: we now provide a free trial for schools that want to use our institutional product, now called School Edition. If you’re a teacher or librarian, please take a look at the exciting features we offer at very affordable prices.

Knowledge base: We’ve completely revamped our help section. You can now easily find any bibliographical or account related information you’re looking for. Not only that, but it’s completely searchable so you can find what you need.

Multivolume works: We’ve made it possible to now cite sources that are multi-volume works. It was one of our most requested additions!

New subscription options for MyBib Pro: Now, if you just need a month or 6 months of access (if you’re in summer school for example, or just need EasyBib for a semester), you can sign up to be billed in those periods. Of course, you can still sign up for our annual subscription.

The 7th edition of MLA is now our default format. If you still need MLA 6th edition, just click the MLA6 button (it’s still free!).

Lastly, we’ve created a publication placeholder toggle. One of the more confusing rules in the newest MLA format is the addition of publication placeholders (n.p. for no publisher, n.d. for no date). We now let you choose whether to add or remove these placeholders. We wanted to provide the most flexibility for users that also maintains our accuracy and ease of use. By default, we do not show placeholders (which is the consensus we’ve received from feedback from educators.)

Many more exciting developments are in the works for the start of the school year.

Take care bibbers,

The EasyBib Team

The easiest site on the Web? Google thinks so!

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:36:57 -0400

According to Google, when people think of “easy” they’re looking for EasyBib!

If you go to http://www.google.com and start typing “easybib,” by the time you finish typing “easy” you will see us pop up to the top of their auto-suggestion list!

(According to some readers, it helps if you’re in the US, and possibly logged out of your Google account). In any case, thanks Google!

Bibbin' just got better: MLA7 and public sharing!

Fri, 29 May 2009 11:09:16 -0400

Hey bibbers,

Over the last month we’ve gotten a number of requests to support the latest edition of MLA. Well, we’re happy to announce that EasyBib now supports the 7th edition of MLA, free for all users!

To format your list in MLA7, just click the “MLA 7” button at the top of your list.

By default, your lists will continue to be cited in MLA6 unless you click this button. We’re supporting both formats because there are still some schools making the transition and may be confused by the new style. We’ll switch to MLA7 by default over the summer.

Also, for you Twitter / Facebook fans. You can now share your bibliography with your friends by clicking the share link located at the bottom of your list. We’ll give you a short URL that you can quickly paste into your Twitter or Facebook profile. Your friends & colleagues will be able to see your citations, save them to their own list, or even email & print them out.

We’ve also included a wide assortment of bugfixes, including our Parenthetical Citation Wizard for MyBib Pro users, and some backend changes that should make the sites run faster and more efficiently. Again, thanks for using EasyBib - your support & continued usage of our service keeps us in business =)

You rock, Sharon!

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:08:03 -0400

At EasyBib, we’re always happy to help you out with all your bibliography needs! And every so often, there are fans who help us out! We love it!

Check out the following presentation done by Sharon Elin! Thanks so much! :-)

Citing Sources with easybib.com

View more presentations from Sharon Elin.

200,000,000 citations!

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:36:54 -0400

That’s how many we hit earlier today. Or rather, that’s how many you bibbers have typed in over the last several years.

For more numbers, check out our stats page.

And of course, keep citing! Next up, three hundred million =)

Some bib updates

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 19:05:49 -0400

Hey all,

We’ve pushed a few minor changes to the site.

Clear list from homepage: If you’re in a public setting (like the library) and someone has previously used EasyBib to create a list, you can start fresh by clearing the list right from the home page.

View online formatting: Copying and pasting from the View Online page led to some text color inconsistencies, which we’ve resolved.

There are some other minor bugfixes throughout. We’re prepping for a bigger release later this month - stay tuned.

New source added

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:13:59 -0400

Hey bibbers,

Just wanted to let you know that we’ve added a new source to EasyBib - check the source list to find out .. :D

New help features!

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 12:12:00 -0500

Hi guys,

We are happy to announce that we have released new EasyBib help features. While EasyBib expedites bibliography creation, there are many small rules, such as how to properly capitalize titles, that our service could not automatically fix. Now, when a data field is selected, you will be provided details and guidance on how to properly enter information, ensuring that your citation is properly formatted. If you find that you do not need the additional help, you can always close the EasyBib Help bar. We hope you can continue supporting our free services by spreading the word on EasyBib!

Bibbin' just got better

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:57:45 -0500

Hey all,

Another fresh round of updates, including Chicago style!

First, features we’ve launched for everyone:

Email your bibliography: This has been a major feature request for some time now. After you’ve finished your bibliography, you can now email it to yourself. In the email, you not only get your bibliography, but we also include a link to the RTF file if you want to download it.

Advanced editing: If you want to add custom information to your citation, you can use our advanced edit form. To get there, just click “Edit” on any citation, and then you’ll see the advanced editing link.

Sorting options: We’ve always ordered bibliographical citations in alphabetical order. Now, you can choose to sort your list differently - either by date ascending (oldest first), or date descending (newest first).

MyBib Pro updates (learn more):

Chicago style: We’ve implemented Chicago Notes-Bibliography style (15th edition), also known as Turabian style (7th edition). If you’re a Bib4School or MyBib Pro user, you automatically got the updates. If you regularly use EasyBib but have been waiting for this style, it’s now available for you.

Footnotes wizard: We’ve made creating footnotes on MyBib Pro a lot easier. Now, you can enter in the specific page you are citing, and we dynamically create your footnote for you. Also, you can keep track of your citations by saving them in your footnotes history.

Thanks again for supporting us everyone!

Cheers,

The EasyBib Team

MLA 7

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:45:06 -0500

EasyBib currently provides free MLA formatting based on sixth edition of the MLA handbook. In April though, MLA will be releasing their seventh edition of their handbook. We plan to incorporate these new rules for the 2009/2010 school year, as to not confuse any users by changing our system in the middle of the year.

Some interesting rules to note with the new edition:

No more underlining. Instead, MLA will recommend italicizing titles of independently published works.
No more URLs. While you will have to provide the core data for online sources, a URL is not required. However, you are encouraged to add the URL if the citation data provided does not let the reader easily locate the source

In the meantime, we will continue to improve our core services. Always feel free to contact us if you have any ideas or suggestions!

Citing the Inaugural?

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 01:08:00 -0500

We’ve received a few emails asking how to cite Barack Obama’s Inauguration speech, so we’ve included a suggestion below:

Obama, Barack H. “Inaugural Address.” 2009 Presidential Inaugural. Capitol Building, Washington, D.C. 20 Jan. 2009.

If you missed the speech, check out the video on YouTube or the full text at the BBC.

Cheers!

EasyBib just got better

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:57:20 -0500

Hey Bib users,

We know you’re probably winding your semester down and prepping for the holidays but we wanted to introduce you to some cool stuff we’ve been working on over the last several weeks.

New Web Site Autocite: If you’re familiar with our book ISBN search, you may like our new Autocite tool for online sources. Just enter in your URL, and the page title, site title, and date accessed fields will be filled out. This is just a start - we’ll continue to update the service to make it more efficient for you to cite online sources on EasyBib.

Online database-only source: With the earlier version of EasyBib, you could only cite sources indirectly found in a database, like magazines, newspapers, and journals. Now, if you need to cite something from say, the Opposing Viewpoints database, you can cite it directly through our online database form.

Updated forms interface: We’ve had a lot of questions about how to cite sources in online databases and other indirect publications, and so we’ve updated the forms to make it cleaner and clearer to use. Now, there are tabs for each publication type, and options on whether the source was found directly or indirectly.

Easy copy and paste: Some of our users just create one citation on EasyBib for their projects and have asked to make it easier to see their latest citation and copy and paste it into their paper. Well, now when you create a citation, we show you your latest citation right up top. You can highlight this and copy and paste it immediately.

Delete all: If you use EasyBib in a multi-user setting, this button may help. It clears all the citations of a list that someone prior to you has been working on, so you can start anew.

More prominent export features: We’ve had questions on whether EasyBib can export to Microsoft Word. Yes, we can =) We’ve now added icons to make it easier to find.

Some backend stuff: To make your experience faster and more reliable.

Happy holidays from the EasyBib team!

EasyBib partners with TrialPay

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:29:00 -0500

If you guys are anything like we were in college, money wasn’t exactly lining our pockets.

Of course we understand, when you do come across some extra coin, the first thought in your mind may not be upgrading your EasyBib account to our premium MyBib Pro service.

We make every effort to keep our paid service at a price point we hope is affordable for everyone. At $7.99, our goal is to provide the best citation service online, at a price that will pay for itself after one use.

Times are tight, and since school comes first, we want to bring you another option to get MyBib Pro.

We’ve partnered with TrialPay who works with trusted companies that like Ebay, Blockbuster, Amazon, and GAP who will pay for your upgrade to MyBib Pro, if you sign up for one of their services.

If you’ve ever considered upgrading to MyBibPro but didn’t want to pay for it directly, here’s your chance to get around that. As always, thanks for using EasyBib, we appreciate the support.

More efficient web browsing w/ ChunkIt

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 19:14:00 -0400

EasyBibbers,

I’m sure it seems like every website you visit these days is loaded with
fairly pointless advertising.

At EasyBib, our goal is to bring our users the most complete, and accurate citation service, period. Though advertising is a part of our site, we make efforts to partner with companies offering services that we feel can actually benefit our users.

While working on your bibs, you may have noticed some banner advertising
ads for a tool called ChunkIt!, a recent sponsor of EasyBib.

You know all those links you have to click and manually scan on Google searches, and academic database like LexisNexis, JStor and Science Direct? ChunkIt! automatically does that work for you.

With a single click it will instantly search and extract the relevant “chunks” of information hidden behind the links on any web page, and bring them forward with all your keywords highlighted.

Beyond academic databases, I found that ChunkIt! works well on sites that contain a lot of links I’ve used it on Yahoo, ESPN, and Wikipedia and it really helped me find relevant information.

We know EasyBib users appreciate efficiency, and ChunkIt! will make searching for relevant sources that much easier. It¹s free, and can be download here.

Thanks,
Emry