By Penny Leach

The challenge of trying to choose only five "Tipples" proved impossible! In the end I have identified some of my favourite sites and services in relation to particular interests of mine.

• Twitter: Although the site is often criticised as a vehicle for negativity, I have found the level to which people will share knowledge inspiring. And as Phil Bradley has ably written about, Twitter - or rather the people you choose to follow on Twitter - act as authority filters, giving a "value add" over and above feeds from other information sources. Twitter hashtags are also useful to glean content from conference sessions - see #SLA2013, for example. Most recently, I've been following "live chats" e.g. #UKLIBCHAT and #SLATalk. Let's hope the Initial Public Offering doesn't kill Twitter.
  
  
• SlideShare: Another way to think of such human filters is as trusted guides through the wealth of information - see Penny Crossland's article in FreePint. Presentations and conference proceedings are obvious evidence of this, and are often posted free, even if the original event required payment to attend. Recent examples include: SLA 2013 papers on the SLA site, and on SlideShare and TFPL speakers on authorSTREAM. Hearing the speakers, however, is still preferable, and the rapid growth in webinars provides a cheap and easily accessible alternative (live or as a recording). The challenge is finding out about them - for me, the community of SLA both provides such webinars and highlights others of relevance to me via divisional LIS-servs or the SLA Europe event calendar.
  
  
• Bobsguide: My job requires me to keep up-to-date with companies and other entities providing premium and "freemium" content products and information services. Some of the sites I follow are: Bobsguide for financial news, paidContent, theMediaBriefing and Fusion DigiNet for M&A news. Wikipedia is also a useful resource for company histories (allowing for "puff") and Google Alerts a free monitoring option - though the latter seems to be in decline.
  
  
• The Harvard Business Review: I like to read - but not necessarily adhere to! - management insights. The Harvard Business Review has a free service that delivers daily short and succinct tips. For time management, I was inspired years ago by David Allen's system for "Getting Things Done" (GTD). Free newsletters are available from the site. A key part of GTD is the concept of "Inbox Zero"; the basic principles applied in the days of paper trails and I'm sure will apply in the post email world.
  
  
• The London Review of Books: Every day I read (well, skim!) several newspapers (in print and digitally). Sometimes it's nice to have a less "newsy" perspective on the world, and I find The London Review of Books an interesting read. For those based in London (UK) there is the bonus of an independent bookshop with coffee and cakes and events.

Penny Leach specialises in the procurement and management of third party electronic information resources. A qualified librarian, Penny started her career in academic libraries, then transitioned to the commercial legal and banking sectors. After a recent stint in the media intelligence sector, Penny is currently managing vendor relations for the business information service of a UK-based international financial institution. Always active in professional networking groups, she is currently Secretary, and a Past President of, SLA Europe, the European Chapter of the SLA. Penny is also on the editorial board of Sage's Business Information Review.

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FreePint Features offers the latest commentary on trends, issues and opportunities in the information world, as well as examples of how organisations use FreePint resources to raise the value of information.

Selection of the latest FreePint Features articles:

• Combat Transcription Errors With Linguistic Identity Matching
  By Victoria Meyer on Tuesday, 8th October 2013
  Accurate linguistic identity matching is essential for compliance professionals. Victoria Meyer examines the main sources of variations in names and highlights what to look for when choosing a compliance screening system. She focuses on transcription variants, where phonetics can create many different transcription variants. The ideas presented here are taken from "Linguistic Identity Matching" by Lisbach and Meyer (2013).
  Posted in: Regulatory compliance - Compliance tools - People sources
  
  
• Taking a Step Back From News Aggregation Tools: What is Current Awareness?
  By Shimrit Janes on Tuesday, 8th October 2013
  There is a well-known quote from Clay Shirky, in which he suggests, "A revolution doesn't happen when society adopts new tools, it happens when society adopts new behaviours." Law firm RPC's approach to using news aggregation tools is rooted in this thinking. After selecting and rolling out Attensa as part of its knowledge management programme, the team has turned to helping lawyers think through which sources support their objectives, and what they need to do once articles arrive in the application.
  Posted in: Legal sources - Media monitoring - News sources - Workflow tools
  
  
• Compliance Creates Job Opportunities
  By Andrew Lucas on Thursday, 3rd October 2013
  Andrew Lucas, the series producer for the FreePint Topic Series: Compliance in Context, looks at the rapid expansion in the compliance function within banks and considers the implications for careers and the importance of keeping up to date with developments in the sector.
  Posted in: Regulatory compliance - Compliance tools - Training - FreePint News
  
  
• Further Buyer Perspectives on News Content
  By Robin Neidorf on Thursday, 3rd October 2013
  Robin Neidorf reports on preliminary results of the FreePint Survey: News Needs and Preferences 2013, identifying the top rated variables when purchasing news products and where vendors such as Factiva and Nexis sit in terms of popularity. Participate in the survey until 11 October and receive a free copy of the report.
  Posted in: Information purchasing - News sources - FreePint News
  
  
• Key Criteria for Effective AML Compliance Screening
  By Victoria Meyer on Wednesday, 2nd October 2013
  Victoria Meyer introduces key concepts in effective intelligence screening within Anti-Money Laundering programmes. She discusses the importance of matching intelligence data to the organisation's risk appetite and the impact that additional records will have on search times and hit-handling resources. Pre-screening formatting and consolidation processes in compliance programmes are also covered along with ways to identify compliance software which features robust search processes.
  Posted in: Regulatory compliance - Compliance tools
  
  
• Launching the FreePint Topic Series: Beyond Aggregation
  By Andrew Grave on Tuesday, 1st October 2013
  Andrew Grave looks at the key themes in the FreePint Topic Series: Beyond Aggregation which launches this week and is running throughout October and November. These include DIY aggregation, cost control and changes in content and licensing, explored in a range of articles, reviews, Q&As and webinars.
  Posted in: Content management - Media monitoring - Mobile - News sources - FreePint News
  
  
• Bridger Insight XG: Bridging the Compliance Gap
  By Sophie Alexander on Monday, 30th September 2013
  Bridger Insight™ XG can help a company manage risk around Anti-Money Laundering and Politically Exposed Persons as well as bribery and corruption. It searches against sanctions, regulatory and law enforcement watchlists and reduces the number of false positives that are returned using a sophisticated matching algorithm, resulting in a more consistent and streamlined compliance process.
  Posted in: Information purchasing - Regulatory compliance - Compliance tools
  
  
• Thomson Reuters Compliance Complete - Keeping Track of the World of Compliance
  By Chris Porter on Thursday, 26th September 2013
  Thomson Reuters Compliance Complete is a regulatory tracking service aimed at compliance professionals. It combines a calendar of regulatory developments with news and analysis, "rulebooks" of existing and forthcoming legislation and country-by-country reference materials. It is often purchased as a global solution, though regional subsets are also available. A peer-to-peer "message board" is a particularly interesting feature.
  Posted in: Information purchasing - Regulatory compliance - Compliance tools - Financial sources - People sources
  
  
• Measuring the Intangible - Identifying ROI for GRC Tools
  By Penny Crossland on Wednesday, 25th September 2013
  With the regulatory burden on enterprises increasing every year, the major vendors are developing workflow and information tools aimed at providing compliance and information professionals with the solutions they need to comply with the law. At the same time, information and compliance budgets are being squeezed, making it necessary for knowledge managers to measure the effectiveness of Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) products. Penny Crossland evaluates the best methods for establishing ROI in compliance tools and concludes that a qualitative approach to metrics, using case studies, may be the best way forward.
  Posted in: Information purchasing - Regulatory compliance - Compliance tools
  
  
• Recognising Compliance Risks - Practical Insights
  By Andrew Lucas on Wednesday, 25th September 2013
  With the FreePint Topic Series: Compliance in Context now well underway, series producer Andrew Lucas highlights key articles and product reviews published recently where workflow and product design & innovation were particularly under scrutiny - in articles about strategy at Thomson Reuters, the company's Compliance Complete product and an overview of compliance tools. Measuring ROI and AML screening are also under the spotlight.
  Posted in: Regulatory compliance - Compliance tools - FreePint News
  
  
• Brush up on Benchmarking with Reports from Best Practices
  By Yulia Aspinall on Monday, 23rd September 2013
  Benchmarking reports can offer valuable insights into the way your organisation operates versus your competitors. Yulia Aspinall finds Best Practices LLC offers competitive intelligence specialists and researchers a wealth of information on metrics from services to staffing and quality in this database focusing on the pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device and healthcare technology industries.
  Posted in: Information purchasing - Company sources - Scientific, technical, medical sources
  
  
• Content & Technology Under Scrutiny in Our New FreePint Topic Series: Beyond Aggregation
  By Andrew Grave on Thursday, 19th September 2013
  The FreePint Topic Series: Beyond Aggregation launches in October. Series Producer Andrew Grave previews the articles and key news aggregator tools which will be reviewed. These include traditional news aggregators such as Nexis, newer software tools such as Newsdesk and tools aimed at the marketing and PR communities including M-Adaptive.
  Posted in: Content management - Media monitoring - Mobile - News sources
  
  
• Banking on Top Rate Intelligence: FreePint for Banking & Finance Professionals
  By Perrin Kerravala on Thursday, 19th September 2013
  Banking and finance organisations have vast requirements for information, including sources on regulatory compliance, competitive intelligence, companies and industries, and more. FreePint can help information professionals in banking and finance organisations identify new sources, consider older sources in a new way and provide fuel to justify procurement decisions.
  Posted in: Competitive intelligence - Compliance tools - Financial sources - Regional sources - FreePint News
  
  
• World of FreePint Webinars
  By Robin Neidorf on Thursday, 19th September 2013
  Robin Neidorf introduces a bumper season of FreePint Webinars and Communities of Practice (CoP). Webinars cover topics from news analysis and validation to the nitty gritty of compliance products. As part of the FreePint Topic Series: Beyond Aggregation, webinars will explore integrating news information into workflow, news awareness and technology, and licensing news for aggregator products. Web-based CoP events offer the opportunity for an interactive dialogue between peers and topic experts on areas from ROI through to tackling enterprise content on mobile devices, and reviewing contracts for news platforms.
  Posted in: FreePint news
  
  
• ... More ...

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• Understanding Technology Culture... and What You Can Do About It
  By Robin Neidorf on Wednesday, 9th October 2013
  An organisation's technology culture - the attitudes, processes, talents and systems that drive its adoption of new technologies - has a major impact on its approach to moving technology-related projects forward. Robin Neidorf introduces tools for carrying out a technology culture inventory to provide perspective on what's working and what needs attention. For example, where implementation is a weakness, there are some basic principles that a manager can apply, such as project documentation, setting measurable goals and working towards those goals.
  Posted in: Collaborative and social tools - Information strategy - Knowledge management
  
  
• What's In It For Me? Dealing with Barriers to Organisational Sharing
  By Sarah Dillingham on Tuesday, 8th October 2013
  Why don't some people want to share? The answer usually given is "culture", but it could more accurately be "what's in it for me?" This article looks at some practical ways to deal with barriers to sharing knowledge from personalities to internal competition and time constraints. Sarah Dillingham also provides tips for effective knowledge management within organisations.
  Posted in: Collaborative and social tools - Information strategy - Knowledge management
  
  
• Linguistic Identity Matching
  By Victoria Meyer on Monday, 7th October 2013
  This article looks at the modern, linguistic approach to identity matching that has improved both the precision and the recall of compliance screening systems. It considers the different sources of variation in the ways identity details can be presented, and goes on to look at the most effective ways of addressing them. The ideas presented here are taken from "Linguistic Identity Matching" by Lisbach and Meyer (2013).
  Posted in: Regulatory compliance - Compliance tools - People sources
  
  
• Is Our Private Data Due to Become More Open?
  By Sophie Alexander on Monday, 7th October 2013
  Data privacy has been in the headlines once again and more consumers are beginning to recognise the commercial value of their data. Will recent government initiatives, such as the UK's midata and the US MyData, and the EU's proposed data protection laws be the impetus companies need to rethink their personal data strategies?
  Posted in: Information strategy - Competitive intelligence - People sources
  
  
• News Aggregation Solution Gives City Law Firm RPC a Competitive Edge
  By Shimrit Janes on Monday, 7th October 2013
  As with any technology, simply purchasing and rolling out news aggregation software is not enough to answer the business requirements for which it was chosen. This case study will look at how law firm RPC integrated enterprise RSS feeder "Attensa" with its own bespoke social intranet "Edge" in order to help provide business context to incoming news. The study will also demonstrate how the news aggregation application is just one tool within a larger knowledge management programme, which seeks to harness social software to encourage the flow of information and knowledge within and across the firm's networks.
  Posted in: Regulatory compliance - Compliance tools - People sources
  
  
• Source Update October 2013: What's Happening with Factiva?
  By Anne Jordan on Friday, 4th October 2013
  This month's additions and takedowns in Factiva, researched and compiled by Anne Jordan.
  Posted in: News sources - Regional sources
  
  
• iOS 7: the Importance of Usability and Accessibility
  By Sarah Dillingham on Friday, 4th October 2013
  Apple's recent launch of its iOS 7 software and reports of associated motion sickness have thrust usability issues into the spotlight. Sarah Dillingham delves into accessibility and usability issues which website and intranet designers should consider, whether considering disabilities or employee productivity.
  Posted in: Intranets - Search
  
  
• Source Update October 2013: What's Happening with EBSCO?
  By Anne Jordan on Thursday, 3rd October 2013
  This month's additions and changes in EBSCO, researched and compiled by Anne Jordan.
  Posted in: News sources - Regional sources
  
  
• Q&A with Bureau van Dijk: An Efficient Catalyst For More Connected Data
  By Sophie Alexander on Thursday, 3rd October 2013
  Bureau van Dijk (BvD) offers compliance products which help companies minimise risk exposure and reputational damage within the areas of Anti-Money Laundering, Know Your Customer, due diligence and compliance research. FreePint's interview with BvD's Neil Farquhar examines what differentiates the company's compliance products, including their latest offering, Compliance Catalyst, and what changes it expects to see in the next few years.
  Posted in: Regulatory compliance - Compliance tools
  
  
• Source Update October 2013: What's Happening with Nexis?
  By Anne Jordan on Wednesday, 2nd October 2013
  This month's additions and takedowns in Nexis, researched and compiled by Anne Jordan.
  Posted in: Industry sources - News sources - Regional sources
  
  
• Supporting the AML Compliance Screening Process
  By Victoria Meyer on Monday, 30th September 2013
  Intelligence screening is the cornerstone of many organisations' Anti-Money Laundering (AML) programmes. In this article Victoria Meyer looks at the key requirements for an effective screening system: comprehensive intelligence data, appropriate search tools and decision support functionality.
  Posted in: Regulatory compliance - Compliance tools
  
  
• Making the Most of Your Intranet Search
  By James Mullan on Monday, 30th September 2013
  Whilst users might complain about many things associated with your intranet, it's likely that the most complaints are around users finding information, or not finding information. An intranet search tool can help address the issue of users not being able to find information. If poorly managed or not developed properly, it can seriously undermine the use of the intranet as a whole. So what steps can intranet managers take to make the most of an intranet search tool?
  Posted in: Collaborative and social tools - Intranets - Search
  
  
• Engaging Stakeholders in Dialogue about Value: The Art of Persuasion
  By Robin Neidorf on Friday, 27th September 2013
  Robin Neidorf introduces "The Art of Persuasion", a four-step process towards building consensus, and explains how it can be applied to projects seeking to identify and measure the return on investment of content purchases. It can be used to gain agreement on the "problem" (e.g. we don't have a method for determining the value which information products bring to the business), which actions should be taken, the solution and the effect of the solution. This process is a valuable communication and management tool which could be applied to any negotiation, discussion or planning process.
  Posted in: Information services management - Information purchasing - Training
  
  
• FreePint Report: Information Services Management Monthly Update (September 2013)
  Published on Friday, 27th September 2013
  This monthly update collects the current content relevant to those responsible for information service management, information strategy and content procurement in a convenient PDF package for download and offline reading.
  Posted in: Information services management - Information strategy
  
  
• Collecting Human Competitive Intelligence: Challenges and Solutions
  By Yulia Aspinall on Thursday, 26th September 2013
  Human intelligence or humint is one of the most valuable sources of information a company possesses, particularly for competitive intelligence purposes. However, as Yulia Aspinall discusses, it is also one of the most difficult to collect and analyse.
  Posted in: Information strategy - Competitive intelligence
  
  
• Overview: Bridger Insight XG
  By Sophie Alexander on Wednesday, 25th September 2013
  Bridger Insight™ XG helps companies manage risk around bribery and corruption under legislation such as the Bribery Act 2010, the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other government regulations. Sophie Alexander's article highlights some of Bridger's key features and strengths, including its ability to search hundreds of sanctions and watchlists and reduce false positives.
  Posted in: Information purchasing - Regulatory compliance - Compliance tools - FreePint Reports: Product Reviews
  
  
• Defining & Measuring the ROI in Compliance Tools
  By Penny Crossland on Tuesday, 24th September 2013
  The regulatory burden imposed on companies continues unabated, with new laws and sanctions being introduced every month as the corporate and geopolitical landscape shifts and changes. The myriad of regulations has led to a huge increase in reporting requirements for companies and is putting pressure on compliance departments, which need to ensure that the requirements are implemented throughout the corporation. The major vendors have responded by developing workflow tools that merge internal compliance-related data with external regulatory changes. How does one determine whether these tools are providing value for money? Penny Crossland attempts to provide pointers for information professionals required to evaluate these tools and concludes that a qualitative approach to metrics may be the best way forward.
  Posted in: Information purchasing - Regulatory compliance - Compliance tools
  
  
• FreePint Report: Product Review of Thomson Reuters Compliance Complete
  Published on Tuesday, 24th September 2013
  Compliance Complete from Thomson Reuters is an information service for compliance professionals which aims to take the pain out of tracking regulatory developments. In his review, Chris Porter examines how the tool presents value for money and gives FreePint's view on the key product attributes from coverage to organisation of the data.
  Posted in: Information purchasing - Regulatory compliance - Company sources - Compliance tools - People sources - FreePint Reports: Product Reviews
  
  
• Product Review of Thomson Reuters Compliance Complete: Executive Summary
  By Chris Porter on Tuesday, 24th September 2013
  Compliance Complete from Thomson Reuters is an information service for compliance professionals which aims to take the pain out of tracking regulatory developments. It combines a calendar of regulatory developments with news and expert analysis, "rulebooks" of existing and forthcoming legislation and country-by-country reference materials. It also offers a message board where users can post questions and exchange ideas on the challenges they are facing. Search, monitoring and output options are highly tailored to user needs. Compliance Complete can be purchased as a global service; regional sub-sets are also available.
  Posted in: Information purchasing - Regulatory compliance - Compliance tools - Financial sources - People sources
  
  
• SharePoint 2013 v 2007: Building the Business Case
  By Sarah Dillingham on Tuesday, 24th September 2013
  Sarah Dillingham compares the new functionality available within SharePoint 2013 against SharePoint 2007, with one eye towards using it to construct a credible business case. New collaborative elements include co-authoring, search and microblogging. Sarah examines the business benefits, time & cost savings and challenges associated with the latest features.
  Posted in: Collaborative and social tools - Information purchasing - Intranets - Search
  
  
• ... More ...

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