Information manager
By Mark Schaver The Courier-Journal
A frequent question on journalism discussion groups is: What software will organize the flood of interviews, phone numbers, e-mail, documents, Web pages and other information I'm inundated with every day? Some use the free-form database askSam. Others like Info Select. Still others just dump everything into Word files.
Tool of choice
For years, my tool of choice has been an obscure but powerful shareware program called Zoot. Zoot's lone programmer, Tom Davis, whose nickname is "The Admiral," calls it an "information processor." Zoot makes it easy to vacuum up large quantities of information from a variety of sources, organize it automatically, and then find it fast days, weeks or years later. Davis, who taught himself to write code, said he felt compelled to develop Zoot because the first computer program he used to gather information, Microsoft's cardfile, was so inept, and there was nothing else that served his needs. "Information management is the only reason I use a computer," Davis said in an e-mail interview.
Zoot useful everywhere
Every day of my working life is spent in Zoot. I use Zoot to keep my task list and my phone contacts. It's closely integrated with Microsoft Outlook, and information kept in one program can be synchronized with the other. You can also synchronize with Outlook's calendar, notes, journal and e-mail functions, although I personally don't use Zoot for those.
Zoot places a small Z - called the Zooter - on the Window's title bar. The Zooter gives you access to Zoot from any open application on your desktop. You can then rapidly grab text from other programs - either by selecting text or grabbing a whole page - and dump it in Zoot.
You can choose to either automatically add what you gather to a single folder within Zoot as you cut and paste while Web surfing, or you can open a window that allows you to assign your information to multiple folders, categorize it by subject or type notes. Folders can be further divided into separate "databases," which can then be grouped together as "projects."
You can also use Zoot in reverse, taking text already stored in Zoot, and inserting it into a document while using another program. This is great for adding boilerplate text to Freedom of Information Act requests and the like.
Zoot keeps track of every Internet site you visit. To return to a site takes one click on an Internet address in Zoot, which will open up your browser and return you to that site. Double click on an e-mail address, and it will open up your e-mail program.
I use Zoot to gather Web sites useful to reporters, quickly typing in descriptions with the Zooter. Later I import them into an Access database, which can be searched over our newsroom Intranet.
But Zoot's inner beauty is that you can customize it in limitless ways. You can use what Zoot calls "rules" and "actions" to organize text once it's in Zoot.
Zoot makes it easy to vacuum up large quantities of information from a variety of sources, organize it automatically, and then find it fast days, weeks or years later.
If you are working on a long project, you can set up Zoot to automatically sort any notes, articles or other information you gather using what Zoot calls "smart folders." For example, you can create a folder for every major figure in an investigation, and any information you gathered would instantly be placed in the appropriate person's folder.
Tracking court cases
When I was a federal courts reporter, I used our court's Web version of PACER and Zoot to grab the court dockets for cases I was following. To check on whether there was any new action on a case, I would just click on the item in Zoot and it would return me to the case docket, where I could see if there was any new activity.
And I configured Zoot to automatically sort cases by prosecutor and judge, so I could see at a glance who was handling what.
Each nugget of information in Zoot is called an item. Keyboard shortcuts make it easy to quickly read through them. You can also create links between items, so clicking on a button will take you to other, related items. It's also easy to create new items, combine them, or drag text from one item to create another. You can also configure Zoot to automatically change an item's color based on text contained within, such as turning all items with the word "urgent" in them red.
Searching tools
Zoot has multiple, fast search tools. A "quick query" box lets you type keywords and instantly see any items containing them. You can filter or search items by numerous criteria, such as the date it was created, the last date it was modified or its subject. A more advanced search will show you the first few lines of each match. There are also a number of buttons and shortcuts that make it easy to navigate through the program.
Zoot can be obtained at http://www.zootsoftware.com and costs $99.
That buys you the right to install it on both your home and work PCs, which is good because another Zoot feature is the ability to automatically synchronize information between your home and work PCs by e-mail or "sneaker net" - nerd slang for floppy disk.
Not always perfect
Zoot is not perfect. For the uninitiated, Zoot can be difficult to learn, and documentation for the latest version, 4.0, a radical redesign from previous versions, is incomplete at this writing, although Davis says he is working on it and will be finished soon.
Item sizes are limited, so large documents are split into multiple items that are given sequential numbers. You can print Zoot items to a printer or a file, or create a simple Web page out of them, but formatting options are few. Recently Davis added the option to print through Internet Explorer or Outlook.
Zoot also makes a poor substitute for a word processor because there is no text formatting. Zoot also doesn't handle graphics although you can configure it to use an external file viewer. You can also drag an Adobe Acrobat, PaperPort or similar file into Zoot, which will automatically create a link to them on your hard drive. You can then type notes and click on the file link, which will call up the associated program.
Zoot has been remarkably stable on my Windows 2000 and Windows 98 machines. But as you would expect from any program this complicated developed by one man, there are small bugs.
You can also configure Zoot to automatically change an item's color based on text contained within, such as turning all items with the word "urgent" in them red.
Nevertheless, Davis is exceptionally responsive and fixes them quickly. He is constantly tweaking the program, and often makes changes requested by users. He also maintains a Zooters mailing list to get feedback and post information about Zoot.
Cult-like following
Davis doesn't advertise Zoot, but he has developed a cult-like following. One of his biggest boosters has been the writer James Fallows, who has touted Zoot in The Atlantic Monthly and the Industry Standard.
Fallows was one of many participants in a forum on CompuServe for the now-defunct program Agenda, another information manager whose loyalists turned to Zoot after it was abandoned by Lotus in the early 1990s. On that forum Davis picked up his nickname as The Admiral, but he can't explain why, except that it has something to do with his favorite book, A Confederacy of Dunces.
Zoot is named after the 1976 Frank Zappa album, Zoot Allures, the meaning of which remains equally obscure. Some fans say Zappa's album paid homage to the Zoot suit. Others say it is derivative of the French expression, Zut Alors, which translates as a mild exclamation like "Dammit" - which just happens to be the typical expletive of reporters overwhelmed with information on deadline.
Mark Schaver can be reached by e-mail at inschaver@courier-journal.com