Online physics collaboration tools

Question

I.e. online discussion with your friends. A forum is probably too overkill in this case.

Yet so far nothing can beat direct communication. Important feature: the ability to archive discussions. We don't want to retell our story to people who just missed the "conference" (let the newcomers dig through the archives by themselves).

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user pcr

Comments

I stumbled upon convore because I desperately tried to find a nice google wave replacement.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user pcr

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If this is to stick around, it has to be CW as there is no one correct answer. Also, it would be much better to remove the suggestions from the question and post each one as a separate answer.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user David Z

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related blogs.nature.com/mfenner/2010/08/09/…

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user pcr

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@pcr's link has rotted, here's the permalink: blogs.plos.org/mfenner/2010/08/09/what_comes_after_google_wave

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user Tobias Kienzler

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Tangential question over at TeX.SE: Latex live preview plugin for Tiddlywiki ?

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user Tobias Kienzler

Answer 1

I should mention the wonderful userscripts written by Valery Alexeev which utilize mathjax and allow you to render latex on any webpage, even if it does not support such rendering internally. Currently supported webpages include arXiv and gmail, though it should be easy to add your own to the list.

Used in combination with mathim.com and Tiddlywiki we have a powerful platform for online tex-enabled collaborations.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user user346

Comments

thank you for your userscript suggestion! with this, I could turn convore into "mathim.com" but with archive and topics.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user pcr

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@pcr have you succeeded in getting the userscript to work with convore? That would be sweet.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user user346

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yes! that's why I was so excited.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user pcr

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What did you do? Just include the convore website address in the userscript?

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user user346

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yes. I managed to do that because in convore "... everything is assembled at once: all messages, the sidebar, and the header are all rendered on the server instead of being pulled in after-the-fact with JavaScript"

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user pcr

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Nice. I'll get back to you if I have any trouble ;) Cheers.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user user346

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I still need to refresh my page in order to render new equations (not a big issue for me). hmm.. there seems to be a lot of hype around convore (especially among YCombinator hackers), so check it out. I think they'll implement the latex feature eventually, just like in quora.com

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user pcr

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alternative to Alexeev's script. it's cheaper bexause it uses another website to render the equations into images. also, I don't have to refresh my page anymore: new formula will be automatically rendered. quirk: they use [; and ;] as delimiter (I have to manually change it into $).

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user pcr

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Ok I just tried it here convore.com/sciphysics/formulas-showcase and it is pretty sweet! Thanks again.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user user346

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tiddlywiki+formulas+graph math.chapman.edu/~jipsen/asciencepad/asciencepad.html

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user pcr

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Hi @pcr. Asciencepad renders MathML which is extremely tedious to enter. Bob McElrath's jsmath plugin for TW, OTOH, allows you to enter latex directly into your text and renders it. For graphics I think MathSVG and Rafael are again better options. Asciencepad is a nice package but it does not seem suited for more technical and math oriented persons such as myself. Though, the jsmath plugin is getting to be four years old now and if it is not updated soon I might try another avenue.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user user346

Answer 2

http://www.mathim.com/

Latex based chatroom partially fulfills the requirement . The best scenario I can imagine is a mathjax/latex based wiki/website with an embedded $\LaTeX$ chat like M$\alpha$thIM.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user yayu

Answer 3

convore: $\frac1{\sqrt3}(|IRC\rangle + |mailing list\rangle + |chat\rangle)$

No built-in latex support yet, but this can be remedied by installing the display latex userscript (thank you Deepak Vaid).

A nice complement to convore: online whiteboard (e.g. scriblink, flockdraw).

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user pcr

Comments

you can easily display images too!

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user pcr

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dear pcr, you forgot a factor of $\frac{1}{\sqrt{3}}$ in the first line.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user yayu

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whoops! fixed. now it can freely evolve unitarily.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user pcr

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Convore has been replaced by something called grove

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user Tobias Kienzler

Answer 4

alternative to tiddlywiki: instiki

a simple wiki with latex support out of the box.

I haven't really explored it yet, so please share your experience.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user pcr

Comments

I like tiddlywiki because of its modular nature. It doesn't have separate pages for each entry as instiki does. Instead it has separate "tiddlers" (an unfortunate choice of terminology, I know) all shown on one page. You can fold (collapse) tiddlers, rearrange them in any order and using some of the plugins available for TW even arrange tiddlers in any 2D pattern you care for. Visually, I think this provides a much more accessible tool for learning and note-keeping.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user user346

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cool, I love TW's tag-based organization. Now I only need to convince my friend to switch to those new tools.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user pcr

Answer 5

Rather overkill, but you may want to try MediaWiki

Requires: php/mysql Install time:5 mins not counting download.

For math, there is an incredibly long procedure to set up the partially built-in png math renderer.

Alternatively, you can just install the mathjax extension. Quick process not including downloads.

Also, the LiquidThreads extension makes discussions easier and organized.

I'll post some links later.

This post imported from StackExchange Physics at 2014-04-01 17:40 (UCT), posted by SE-user Manishearth