Introducing the producers - Jinfo Research Focus "Content and technology for current awareness"
Jinfo Blog

By Catherine Dhanjal

Abstract

The Jinfo Research Focus "Content and technology for current awareness" launches this month and runs until September. We ask the co-producers what they'll bring to the Focus and what we can expect to see covered.

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As the Jinfo Research Focus "Content and technology for current awareness" launches, we ask the co-producers for their views on how the Research Focus will help information professionals to meet the demand for current awareness in the most timely, cost-effective and efficient way.

Tips articles, reviews, webinars and Community sessions on best practice, new technology solutions and evolving sources will help information managers to:

• Identify the stages of evaluation and implementation of new approaches to current awareness

• Educate stakeholders on the complexities of effective and sustainable current awareness delivery

• Gain insights from Jinfo's original research into current status and best practices around current awareness.

Jinfo: What's your background?

Andrew Grave: I have worked in the areas of business research and analysis and vendor management for 20 years, latterly as a trainer and consultant. I've followed the trends in the current awareness industry keenly from the entry of pure-play software solutions through to the curating of social media content by traditional players. I have also listened to the challenges that my clients face in today's challenging economic environment. This feedback and experience has helped me work with Steve to concentrate this Focus around some very timely and thought-provoking topics.

Steve Bynghall: I've worked in and around the world of intranets, knowledge management and information services for over 20 years both within companies and also as a consultant. Current awareness and how you keep employees up to date has been a recurrent theme. When I started out I was working primarily in information services and it was all about very specialist and targeted topics using primarily external sources. Since I've worked more broadly on intranets, my focus has been on the more general current awareness using internal sources, where it crosses over with internal communications.

Jinfo: What will the Research Focus bring to readers?

Andrew Grave: I anticipate that this Research Focus will meet readers' immediate needs by examining how to get the best out of current awareness solutions. We'll be paying close attention to value for money and examining how investment in a current awareness solution can be linked to successful business outcomes. The Focus will also tackle some of the broader issues that information professionals need to start preparing for. I'm particularly keen to explore how artificial intelligence and machine-learning will impact upon current awareness in the future.

Steve Bynghall: I hope the Focus will help information professionals look at current awareness with fresh eyes. Of course there will be some very useful product reviews, but my interest is on the bigger picture. How do you deliver that content in a format which can be easily digested for a wide range of different individuals? Is current awareness more an issue about personal knowledge management or information provision from the centre?  With more sophisticated solutions what's the future looking like? I'm hoping we'll shed some light on this very interesting topic!

The Research Focus "Content and technology for current awareness" runs from July-September 2016. Visit the Research Focus page to find out more and keep updated on the latest content, webinars and Community sessions.

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