Jinfo: Blog

Jinfo Blog

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Date Archive

Gamification for the enterprise
12th April 2012

It seems that nowadays everyone is talking about "gamification" in some form or another, whether that's libraries looking at how they can make services more "attractive" or organisations (enterprises) looking at how they can use the concept of gamification to engage with and motivate their employees. Gamification seems like the next big thing, but what is and what are some of the benefits and risks of using it within an enterprise.

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Beware of bandwagons
12th April 2012

Scepticism greeted Facebook's acquisition of Instagram but picture sharing services are apparently experiencing runaway success. With other information companies expanding, the bandwagon rolls on, but, looking at Groupon as an example, bandwagons can crash.

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My Favourite Tipples: April 2012
11th April 2012

My work involves helping clients find information which means that I need to use a really eclectic set of sources that go beyond Google, and I sometimes need to look at the minutiae of the web.

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Using "if this then that" (ifttt) for information sharing
11th April 2012

If you are have responsibility for identifying, locating and sharing web-based information, you may find that you are manually repeating the same or similar tasks on a regular basis. Depending upon the services you use, sharing information of this sort can often be automated using ifttt, an internet site that enables you to feed information from one service to another.

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Using Twitter to manage information
11th April 2012

Twitter was founded in March 2006 as a social networking and microblogging service, inspired by taxi drivers, couriers and limousine drivers’ use of dispatch software. Each Twitter user (Tweeter or Tweep) has a unique username, which is referenced in "mentions", "retweets" and direct messages. Although limited to 140 characters, tweets can be enhanced by including links to blogs, websites, videos and more.

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Zawya on the block
11th April 2012

Middle Eastern business portal Zawya's newly branded website seems to herald more than just a new look, with speculation that the company may be taken over by a leading US or UK organisation. This could be good news for researchers leading to better access for reliable Middle Eastern data.

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Dutch digital payment kiosk to follow Piano's tune
11th April 2012

Where news for free on the web is not commonplace, such as in non-English speaking countries, it may be possible to make readers pay by creating a joint paywall with other news organisations. This is how Slovakian-based Piano Media are currently succeeding, with other countries potentially adopting this strategy.

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Data protection - being small won't help
11th April 2012

Many companies remain remarkably complacent about data protection, with many believing it to be the domain of the boardroom or IT department rather than every employee's responsibility. Individuals are also relaxed about others knowing their personal data. It seems that a cultural shift is needed in terms of privacy risks.

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Kindle store en Espanol
10th April 2012

Amazon announces a Spanish-language Kindle bookstore and interface with 30,000 titles at launch. Barnes & Noble offers a similar product called Nook Books en Español. With a growing readership of non-English speaking people owning eBook readers, there is a huge potential for a choice of language offerings in this marketplace.

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Intranet management strategies and resources
10th April 2012

With the promise of providing a central place for internal communication and collaboration, intranets are viewed as an essential tool for many enterprises. However from the end user perspective, intranets are often seen as little more than, at best, a glorified employee directory or, at worst, a necessary (if evil) interface to access corporate information and tools. There are, of course, stellar intranets that live up to their potential. Achieving the fundamental promise of intranets, much less the successful integration of social features, requires strategic planning and governance

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