OSCOLA for Bookends

[Neil]

I have attempted to make a Bookends format for OSCOLA, a legal citation standard.

I am not entirely sure if this is going to work easily, since I created some custom types (well, renamed "user" types), with renamed fields, to make text entry more obvious, but the output formatting should work if you can work out what to put where! If someone is able to tell me how to export custom types, as part of this, I'll be happy to do so.

You can download the format for inport from here:

http://neilzone.co.uk/oscola_for_bookends.zip

Code: Select all

OSCOLA format for Bookends v.0.1
Last updated: 01/11/2013


This is an attempt to replicate the OSCOLA (Oxford University Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities) format for Bookends. It may not be perfect!

For more details on OSCOLA, see:

http://www.law.ox.ac.uk/publications/oscola.php



If you have any changes to this format for Bookends, feel free to send them to me:

oscola_bookends@neilzone.co.uk
http://neilzone.co.uk

[Jon]

I downloaded your format, but I don't know what you're trying to achieve. Give an example of how one Type (e.g. Journal Article, or whatever equivalent you created) should look and I can tell you how you might arrange the order field.

Jon
Sonny Software

[Neil]

I don't know what you're trying to achieve.

It's working pretty well for exporting references as OSCOLA so, so far, it's achieving exactly what I was hoping — I was really just wanting to share it, for others who might also need OSCOLA support


The part I explained with less than ideal clarity is rather hard to explain, I think...

My concern / clarification came about because, to make text entry easier, I renamed a user-specified type to, say, "Unreported UK case law (neutral)", and then renamed the fields:when I come to enter a reference, I can tell easily which fields need completing with what.

For example, my field labels for "Unreported UK case law (neutral)" are as shown in attachment 1.

1.png (17.54 KiB) Viewed 31660 times

This means that the GUI makes text entry easy, as shown in attachment 2.

2.png (68.17 KiB) Viewed 31660 times

When it comes to writing the output bibliography or citation format, everything is as it should be:

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t u2

where "t" is the case name, and "u2" the neutral citation.


However, whilst I can make these formats available for download, I cannot seem to make the types available for download: someone needing OSCOLA probably needs not just to format information in a particular way, but to capture particular information in the first place (e.g. case name and neutral citation).

Whilst the format I provided will work fine if someone knows which fields to type the information in, it's not as easy as would be the case if they could download the accompanying types too, and thus be presented with the same GUI that I have.

As it is, they would have to look at the format field order, work out which element equated to which part of the reference, and then make sure they typed in the right box. For example, they would need to know that "t" was "case name", and that, when adding a reference, they would need to put their case name in the "Title" box.

[Jon]

Ah, I see. You can include the field mapping in the Notes tab of the format. That is, explain that type Unused has been renamed to "Unreported UK case law (neutral)", the field label Title = "Case Name", etc. Then they can configure their preferences to match yours.

Jon
Sonny Software

[Neil]

You can include the field mapping in the Notes tab of the format. That is, explain that type Unused has been renamed to "Unreported UK case law (neutral)", the field label Title = "Case Name", etc. Then they can configure their preferences to match yours.

That might be it — thank you.

I have also installed Bookends on a second machine, via the Mac App Store, so that I have it available to me when I travel. The Bookends library which I am using is stored in a directory which I synchronise (via ownCloud), so that it is replicated on each machine I use.

I noticed that, whilst the references from the library appeared fine on my second machine, the types did not move with the library. I thus either need to create them by hand again on the second machine, or else find a way of exporting them from the original machine and importing them on the second machine.

Are the types stored in a configuration file somewhere (perhaps in ~/Library/Application Support?), that I could import on my Air, to have the same types available to me in both instances of Bookends? Or am I best to recreate them by hand?

[Jon]

Yes, they're stored in ~/Library/Application Support/Bookends/Bookends 12 Preferences

Jon
Sonny Software

[Neil]

Yes, they're stored in ~/Library/Application Support/Bookends/Bookends 12 Preferences

Wonderful — thank you.

[kingbird82]

Hi Neil,

Thanks for the OSCOLA format. I've tried to implement it but as you noticed yourself, the types are not included in the format. Do you have a list/screenshot of the Reference Types and Field Labels? Or indeed the Preferences file?

Thanks again!