Newsletter No. 13
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Free Pint
Helping you find quality information on the Web
ISSN 1460-7239 30 April 1998 #13
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Welcome to Free Pint Number Thirteen!
Free Pint has now reached its tricky teens ... will it be a
nightmare to live with? Will it threaten to leave home? Will it be
covered in unsightly blemishes? Fear not. They say that a year on
the Internet is worth seven in the real world, and so by my
calculations that puts Free Pint in its early nineties. Phew.
We have some great articles for you this month. We start off with a
look at resources on the Web covering the area of Intranets, and then
take a look at Information Access Company's great Web product "InSite
Pro". In the feedback section there is a summary of a recent talk
given by Dr.Tim Berners-Lee (the father of the Web) about how he
would like to see the Web develop in the future.
Free Pint is springing up all over the place and we are receiving
coverage in many journals, newsletters and magazines. This has helped
push our subscriber numbers to almost 8000. We also know that the
newsletter is passed on to many other readers, but we still ask you
to tell colleagues, friends, boss or journalists about Free Pint.
Why not invite them to subscribe on the Web site or by sending an
email to subs@freepint.co.uk.
Why not visit the Web site yourself at http://www.freepint.co.uk/
There you will find many useful resources including past issues,
the Forum for posting messages to other subscribers, and much more.
Meanwhile please read on and enjoy your thirteenth Free Pint!
Kind regards,
William Hann
Managing Editor
william@freepint.co.uk
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
PS: Free Pint looks best in a fixed width font like courier, and
is easier to read and use if you print it out first.
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IN THIS ISSUE
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"Intranet Resources on the Web"
by Martin White
FEATURE ARTICLE
"Access IAC Direct Through InSite Pro"
by William Hann
FREE PINT FEEDBACK
"Whither the World Wide Web?"
Tim Berners-Lee
CONTACT INFORMATION
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TFPL RECRUITMENT SERVICES...finding the right people
* Business & Financial On-Line Researchers * Product Managers
* Sales & Marketing Staff * Information Analysts
* Knowledge Specialists * Web Developers
* Client Services Executives * Database Managers
Contact us: TFPL Ltd. 17-18 Britton Street, London, EC1M 5NQ
Tel 0171 251 5522, Email sam.grayson@tfpl.com or Web www.tfpl.com
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Want your message seen by more than 7500 information workers?
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ADDING VALUE THROUGH INTRANET APPLICATIONS - This research-based
report reveals how leading companies are using intranet technology to
boost their business performance, how to make the right intranet
design choices for your organization, how to approach the critical
HR, knowledge management and culture change issues and much, much
more. This is a must-read report for any organization considering the
development and use of intranet technology. Quote "Free Pint" to
receive 50 pounds discount off the full price.
Email jane.mills@business-intelligence.co.uk or call 0181 879 3355.
Visit our web site: www.business-intelligence.co.uk
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TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"Intranet Resources on the Web"
by Martin White
Introduction
============
Over the last few months there seems to be growing recognition that
creating an effective intranet is not just a question of letting the
IT department loose with an HTTP server. Organisations are now
recognising that their intranets are not actually providing any
significant benefits! In addition the problems associated with the
management of intranet content (especially the time taken to update
the content) and cultural change issues are becoming very evident,
and form a major section of a report that I have just completed for
TFPL on what we see as current 'best practice' in intranet
management. In writing the report I looked at a very wide range of
WWW sites claiming to offer advice on intranets, and in this
contribution I have commented on those sites that are worth
bookmarking. If you use Alta Vista to look for information on
intranets you will have to wade through over 200,000 hits. A year ago
there were less than 10,000. I have also included a few sites that
provide advice on WWW site design, because there is some overlap
between intranets and the WWW at this point.
How fast?
=========
The latest survey that I have come across for the UK market has been
published by KPMG, based on research carried out in September 1997
among 100 large UK companies. This indicated that 48% of respondents
had installed an intranet, and 37% would do so over the next three
years. The main complain was that there was now too much information
to cope with.
http://www.kpmg.co.uk/uk/services/manage/research/intran98/index.html
So, if you are looking for advice, where do you turn. All the best
sites are in the USA, and this needs to be taken into account when
considering their advice!
US sites
========
http://www.intrack.com/intranet/
This is a good uncluttered site with a good range of white papers,
checklists and lists of software vendors. Some are rather elementary,
but the selection is good. There is also an active discussion list,
though I have not tried it out myself
http://www.cio.com/WebMaster/wm_irc.html
The Chief Information Officer magazine is an International Data Group
publication, and the cio site is a good source of information about
all things IT related. The site has a number of research centers,
among them the Intranet Research Center, which is the URL given here.
Again a wide range of material, but there is some padding with more
general internet/www content.
http://www.innergy.com
This is the electronic version of Intranet Design Magazine, and it
therefore a very current site. Among the features are good reviews of
books, and lists of new products and intranet-related developments.
The site has the feel of being maintained by an editorial team who
care.
http://www.intranetjournal.com
Similar in concept to the www.innergy site, but I feel that there is
not the same focus and enthusiasm. The site design is rather poor,
but I have found some useful nuggets here, but they do take some
finding.
http://www.brint.com/Intranets.htm
Approach this site with care. If you just go to the home page at
www.brint.com and use the search facility, then you do not get led to
this sub-index on intranets! Don't ask me why. At this sub-index
level there is a good collection of white papers on intranets, though
some are now a little old. A back-up sort of site.
http://www.internetnews.com/intra-news/
All the news that's fit to print! Internet News is published by
Meckler Media, and the coverage of intranet product releases and
general (USA) industry news is very good. There is an archive of past
stories and a good search facility.
http://pubs.cmpnet.com/internetwk/intranet/intranet.html
CMP are a major US publisher of magazines for the IT industry, among
them Internet Week. They also have a tendency to reorganise their
site on a regular basis, so don't bookmark at too low a level. An
interesting feature on the site is that sections of the corporate
intranet sites of some major US companies have been downloaded onto
the CMP site, including J.P.Morgan, Deere and Westinghouse.
http://www.iat.unc.edu/guides/irg-34.html
A rather different site, compiled by the Institute for Academic
Technology at the University of North Carolina. It provides a listing
of articles, reports and conference proceedings on intranets, with
around 100 items at present. There are not many 1998 items despite
claims that the site has just been revised, but there are some rather
unusual and useful citations, most hyperlinked. There is also an
extranet listing.
http://www.justintime.com/resources/kevin1/index.htm
Even more different, this site is a set of checklists to guide you
through developing an intranet. Simple but well thought out. Grab
them before they disappear.
www.microsoft.com/intranet
www.netscape.com/comprod/at_work/white_paper/white_paper_index.html
Of these two industry vendor sites, I think there is little to
commend about the Microsoft offering, but the Netscape list of white
papers is good and worth looking at
Http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9709b.html
This fabulous site has lots of very useful tips on www site design,
but this particular one is on the difference between intranet and
internet design. Read it!
UK sites
========
There are really only two that I am aware of:
http://www.corporate-intranet.com
This site contains presentations made at recent Corporate Intranet
Forum conferences, often as zipped PowerPoint files. Some
interesting case studies, but the slides are often difficult to
unravel without the notes
http://www.btintranet.com
If this site is an indication of how seriously BT take intranets,
then HELP. You would have thought that a company that is promoting
intranet solutions would do better than this, and the site design is
pretty terrible as well.
Finally
=======
The following sites will help you with some of the www site issues
http://www.builder.com
http://www.projectcool.com
http://www.webreference.com
and if you, like me, get confused by groupware, try
http://www.usabilityfirst.com/cscw.html
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Martin White is a Principal Consultant with TFPL Ltd, where he
advises information vendors on electronic publishing strategies, with
particular reference to intranet delivery. He has just completed
Intranet Management - A TFPL Guide to Best Practice, which will be
available in early May. See www.tfpl.com for more details. Martin
can be contacted by email to martin.white@tfpl.com
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NEED MORE TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEB SITE?
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contact jane@webpromote.co.uk or call 0161 907 3309. Alternatively
visit us at Internet World - contact us asap for FREE tickets -
or on the Web at http://www.webpromote.co.uk/
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Have a Web problem, question or comment?
Post your message now on the Free Pint Forum
http://www.freepint.co.uk/eforum.htm
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ALISON SCAMMELL, MA MIInfSci, INFORMATION MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT,
can provide an independent assessment of your organisation's
information needs and help you manage your data resources more
effectively. Meet the challenges of the new information era
by developing and implementing an information strategy based on the
most up-to-date research and analysis, tailored to your
organisation's specific requirements. For a free proposal and
costing, call +44 (0) 181 466 1372 or email:alison@zayin.demon.co.uk
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FEATURE ARTICLE
"Access IAC Direct Through InSite Pro"
by William Hann
InSite Pro is Information Access Company's (IAC) Web based product
which gives unlimited access to their databases for a flat rate fee.
InSite Pro differs from its sister product InSite in that it is aimed
at business information professionals.
This article will examine some of the benefits and limitations of
accessing IAC's databases direct from the company, rather than
accessing them via host systems provided by companies like The Dialog
Corporation or Reuters. It will also outline the new functionality
brought about by the release of version 1.1 at the end of 1997.
InSite Pro consists of seven databases: Promt, Trade & Industry,
Newsletter, Computer, Health & Wellness, Magazine and the most recent
addition Company Intelligence.
The first three are the best known (from their appearance on host
systems), and the latter is a focused sub-set of the Trade & Industry
databases. This provides the ability to search for companies by
revenue, country, primary and secondary SIC and so on, without having
to trawl through the two databases separately. IAC have also recently
added the full-text of selected company and industry analyst reports
from Investext.
About 60% of the publications are U.S. focused, with the remaining
being International. The company is also working hard to increase its
coverage of daily UK and European newspapers in full-text (rather
than just abstract). The information in InSite Pro is the same as the
data on the host systems, but the archives do not go back as far -
the Promt archive goes back to 1993 (a rolling five years) whereas on
DIALOG it goes back to 1972.
Databases can be searched individually or in conjunction (depending
on the subscription), and the search functionality and structure of
each database is similar. The databases can be searched using a
Fielded Search (a form where fields are connected using Boolean AND),
or Command Search (using field tags). All but the Newsletter Database
and Company Intelligence database also have a browseable thesaurus
facility, but this is not available in cross-database searches.
When performing a cross-database search, the index fields depend on
those common across the databases selected. This has been enhanced in
the new release with a greater number of common fields, including
Product Names, Product Codes, Author, Subject and SIC codes. InSite
Pro doesn't offer a history file facility or SDI (Alerting) service,
but both are currently being developed for release in 1998.
Following a search, the Citation List displays a list of the articles
retrieved with duplicates in a cross-database usually removed. It is
possible to set how many items should be displayed in this list at
any one time, as well as which item to start at. Full articles can
then be displayed directly, or a number of articles ticked to produce
a revised citation list or set of articles. An icon next to article
titles (see figure) shows whether this is available as either an
abstract or full-text, and whether it contains an image.
To the left of an article in full view, there are also Margin (or
Power) Links. These link to other related articles based on the
Predicast and IAC indexing (including Company Profiles, Product /
Event / Geographic Codes & Names, Subjects and SIC's). It is also
worth noting that these links match an index field in the database.
The articles make good use of "Next Item" and "Previous Item"
internal hypertext links, meaning that all items are displayed on one
page (ready for saving or printing). The articles displayed can also
be ticked if relevant and re-displayed without other erroneous
records.
The latest release has enabled Hypertext links within articles which
when activated open in a new browser window. There is also a new "Log
Off" button which overcomes the problem common in a number of Web
based services in that a browser can 'remember' a userid and
password. Also, a new "Account Admin" section provides management of
passwords and user profiles. To make the most of all the new
functionality I recommend seeing the "What's New" section of the help
system. The help is comprehensive and includes a very useful set of
sample searches.
I like the fact that InSite Pro is being continually developed and
enhanced, and the way the company actively seeks feedback from
current and potential users. To this end they offer a free trial, and
employees of the company even attend independent product evaluations
about customer likes and dislikes. A recent press release of 28th
April also announces the move to a multi-server environment so that
if a server becomes too burdened with traffic or crashes then other
servers can take the load automatically.
Users of IAC databases on other systems might find this the right
time to evaluate their purchasing choices. The extras within InSite
Pro (such as images, hypertext links, and a flat-fee) may well make
it worth the move.
Tel: +44 (0)171 930 3933
Fax: +44 (0)171 930 9190
Web: http://www.insitepro.com/
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William Hann is principal of the information consultancy Willco
(http://www.willco.co.uk/) and has no affiliation with Information
Access Company other than being a fan of its products. William also
enjoys being the Managing Editor of Free Pint and can be contacted
by email to william@freepint.co.uk or telephone +44 (0)1784 455 435.
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Visit the Free Pint Web site for all past issues!
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
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ANAGRAM
This issue's anagram of
"Willco Free Pint"
is
"Well Proficient"!
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FREE PINT FEEDBACK
One of our readers, who has been a subscriber since the beginning of
Free Pint, wrote to tell us about an interesting talk Dr. Tim Berners
Lee gave in March at the Institution of Electrical Engineers.
The speech has been summarised in the "Meetings Hall" section of the
IEE's "Computer Forum" on their Web site at http://forum.iee.org.uk/
You can also hear a Real Audio version of the talk there.
We thought this would be of great interest to readers of Free Pint,
and so with the permission of the IEE we have reproduced the summary
here.
"Whither the World Wide Web?"
Tim Berners-Lee
Dr Tim Berners Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, spoke on the
26th March 1998 at the IEE, Savoy Place, London, on the occasion of
his presentation with three prizes:
* The 1996 Mountbatten Medal, which is given by the National
Electronics Council for an outstanding contribution in electronics or
information technology
* The 1997 Lord Lloyd of Kilgerran prize, which is given by the
Foundation for Science and Technology for the application of science
and technology for the benefit of society, and
* Honorary Fellowship of the Institution of Electrical Engineers,
which is given to distinguished workers in engineering and technology
In making the presentations, representatives of the three
organisations described how Dr Berners-Lee had, while working at
CERN, developed the Enquire software to facilitate information
retrieval from databases using random associations. This system
formed the conceptual basis of the World Wide Web, which he proposed
as a CERN project in 1989, to allow the exchange of information in
databases across the world. In so doing, he had originated a tool as
potent as the printing press, but whose take-up was a hundred times
faster. Many believe that this rather modest man's elegant invention
will have an effect on society which exceeds that of the telephone
and television.
Following the presentations, Dr Berners-Lee gave a capacity audience
his thoughts on 'Whither the World Wide Web?' Not so much a view of
where things were going, as he explained in his opening remarks, and
more of where he would like them to go. The Web started with some
very ambitious objectives. The aim was the creation of a common,
collaborative information space where hypertext links would help
capture the 'rationale of what was going on'. By running exciting
programs over this information space, we would then be able to
identify all the key interactions, allowing machines to help us to
manage. This dream is clearly some way off. For the present, the Web
is still insufficiently interactive, the user interface needs to be
more intuitive and, most critical of all, there needs to be a common
language - a metadata language - for describing the content of Web
pages. The W3C is currently engaged in a strong drive for the
definition of such a language. The problem that has stymied such
efforts in the past has been the need for people to agree on how to
define objects. The answer, according to Dr Berners-Lee, is to follow
the evolutionary approach adopted with HTML, an approach which can
cope with as-yet-undefined page objects.
Dr Berners-Lee concluded by reviewing some of the social implications
of the Web. Here the objective is to ensure the 'integrity of this
information space', doing for the content of the Web what the wider
Internet community have done for the strength of the infrastructure
that makes the Web possible. 'Our job', he said, 'is to make sure
that this is done very very solidly and with great integrity'.
Dr Tim Berners-Lee is currently based at MIT's Laboratory of Computer
Science, as Director of the not-for-profit World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C). With teams in INRIA (France), Keio University (Japan) and MIT,
the W3C is directed at realising the full potential of the Web
through the promotion of an open standardisation process.
Produced by the Publishing and Information Services Division of the
Institution of Electrical Engineers who can be contacted at
forum@iee.org.uk or on the Web at http://forum.iee.org.uk/
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Send your letters, questions and anagrams to letters@freepint.co.uk
Please note, if you write to us we will not publish your letter if
you do not wish us to, and cannot guarantee a reply to all letters.
Letters may be edited for content and length, and we will withhold
your contact details if you wish.
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Well, we hoped you enjoyed this feature packed issue. If so then
please spread the word. Remember to visit the Web site and post
a message on the Free Pint Forum at http://www.freepint.co.uk/
See you in two weeks!
Kind regards,
William Hann, Managing Editor
william@freepint.co.uk
(c) Willco 1998
http://www.willco.co.uk/
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CONTACT INFORMATION
William Hann, Managing Editor
Email: william@freepint.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1784 455 435
Fax: +44 (0)1784 455 436
Rex Cooke, Editor
Email: rex@freepint.co.uk
Tel/Fax: +44 (0)171 681 1653
Alison Scammell, Account Director
Email: alison@freepint.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)181 460 5850
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Free Pint (ISSN 1460-7239) is a free email newsletter for anyone who
uses the Internet to get information for their work in any business
or organisation. The newsletter is written by professionals who share
how they find quality and reliable information on the Internet.
More details about subscribing, contributing or advertising can be
found at http://www.freepint.co.uk/ or call +44 (0)171 681 1653
Please note: The newsletter is published by the information
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will NEVER make the subscriber list available to any other company
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The opinions, advice, products and services offered herein are the
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About this Newsletter
- Publication Date: 29th April 1998
- Plain text
- Link: https://www.jinfo.com/go/newsletter/13
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