This discussion explores features needed for using Discourse in academic contexts, both existing and desired. xiasummer initiated the thread, listing current capabilities such as Markdown, HTML, OneBox, MathJax (via plugin, though conflicting with iframe), footnotes, DOI resolution, and PDF export. They also highlighted tools like Overleaf and Google Docs for collaborative writing, and raised questions about discipline-specific needs — e.g., LaTeX for math/physics, code tools for CS, drawing tools for chemistry, and logic symbols for philosophy. tophee suggested a highlighting plugin for long academic posts, and later proposed integrating Zotero for literature management, allowing users to insert citations without leaving Discourse. allu endorsed Zotero but shared experience with YouTube-based citation tools as a simpler alternative. G_N proposed linking PDF downloads to DOI assignment via Zenodo. robbie.morrison described a use case for co-author collaboration during peer review, suggesting private categories and groups for sensitive paper discussions. pfaffman confirmed this setup is feasible using private category permissions. huynhthai824 referenced Zotero’s WordPress integration and asked if similar citation standards (APA, IEEE) could be supported in Discourse. The thread remains open for community input, with the OP now a wiki for collaborative updates.
P.S. You can reply me about the functions that you think are important for academic use in discourse and whether it has been developed already or in developing.
I’d consider a highlighting plugin (or even as a core function) extremely useful for the academic context, but also for other communities where posts might be a bit longer so that highlights would be a great way of finding the most important parts of those posts. I proposed the highlighting feature in more detail here:
How about a literature database that makes it easy to include references in posts?
A few thoughts on such a literature plugin:
I guess there is no point in creating a database in discourse from scratch, given existing solutions such as zotero, mendeley, endnote and (hopefully soon) Citavi Web.
To start with, I think the focus should be on supporting zotero, since it’s free and open source (and perhaps there will never be a need to support anything else).
My idea would be that the plugin acts as an interface between a dedicated zotero database and the discourse forum.
Starting with an empty db, a user who wants to add a reference (via a button in the editor) gets the option to add a new reference (not sure if this should be done with a dedicated discourse ui or simply using the existing zotero ui, but the user should not have to leave discourse to do it)
Once there are records in the db, users can search them and paste them into their post while editing.
The citation style should probably be fixed via a site setting (cite setting )
There should be a dedicated bibliography page where all db records are listed in alphabetical order with to all the posts where the respective item is cited.
Now, the last point is where it becomes tricky: Since this type of linking is analogous to how discourse already works, the best way to achieve this might be to create a post for every reference, but I’m not sure about this, since there should only be one record for each item and that should be in zotero, I suppose.
But it would also be conceivable that the zotero database is used merely as a way of quickly insert text which would then live a life of its own, without any links, but that would defeat the purpose of making it easy to find all posts citing a specific text.
Zotero is great if you really need to build your own literature database (with all the advantages & disadvantages of this route). I originally had Zotero attached to a Wordpress/bbPress forum, but have moved away from that approach and am using this instead:
For a use case where you basically just want to assist users in providing correct litterature references, I find this a much more practical approach. Check out the demo video below, I would LOVE to see this kind of functionality available on Discourse. It would really help to open it up for academic scenarios.
Download PDF feature may support the possibility to upload the document to obtain a DOI number from, say https://zenodo.org/. My interest is to have a feature (or through a plugin) to submit and obtain DOI number to a selected or featured topics using the API available from Developers | Zenodo through a click of a button (available for the staff users).
위키 게시글이 아닌 여기에 게시하는 이유는 제 사실관계에 대해 충분히 확신이 서지 않기 때문입니다.
최근 저는 제가 관리하는 새로운 디스커스 포럼을 진행 중인 학술 논문 토론 장소로 사용하라는 요청을 받았습니다. 이 논문의 형식적 피어 리뷰 과정을 거치며 변화하는 내용을 논의하기 위한 것이었습니다. 이 경우의 학술적 배경은 학제 간 수치적 에너지 시스템 분석이지만, 특정 학문 분야는 특별히 중요하지 않을 것입니다. 따라서:
사용 사례: 디스커스 인스턴스를 사용하여 논문의 진화하는 수정 사항에 대해 토론 (이 경우 "대규모 수정"이 필요함!)
설명: 디스커스는 토론에만 사용될 것입니다. 실제 편집, 즉 문서 작성은 다른 곳(예: Google Docs, Overleaf, MS Teams 또는 GitLab)에서 이루어집니다.
요구 사항: 토론은 저자 목록에 완전히 비공개되어야 하며, 관리자(외부인)를 제외하고는 아무도 볼 수 없어야 합니다.
하나의 해결책
우선 공동 저자만으로 구성된 그룹, 예를 들어 "u4ria-goals-authors"를 생성해야 한다고 생각합니다. 그리고 "U4ria goals"라는 카테고리를 만들고, 해당 카테고리를 잠근 후 공동 저자 그룹에만 접근 권한을 부여해야 합니다.
생기는 질문 중 하나는 "Papers"라는 카테고리를 만들고 그 안에 "U4RIA goals"라는 하위 카테고리를 만든 후, "u4ria-goals-authors"를 해당 하위 카테고리에만 매핑할 수 있는가 하는 것입니다.
결론
한 발짝 물러서 생각해 보면, 비공개 토론이라는 더 넓은 사용 사례는 디스커스 개발자와 디스커스 커뮤니티에서 더 깊이 다뤄져야 할 것 같습니다. 이 맥락에서 특정 지원과 더 나은 문서화가 도움이 될 수 있는지 확인해 보는 것이죠. 좋은 소식이 있기를 바랍니다, R
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