Newsletter No. 43
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Free Pint
"Helping 23,000 people use the Web for their work"
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
ISSN 1460-7239 22nd July 1999 #43
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IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIAL
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"Full Text Online?"
by Hal P. Kirkwood
BOOKSHELF
"Silicon Gold Rush"
Reviewed by Phil Bradley
FEATURE ARTICLE
"Intranet 'Toolkits' for Integrating Online Services
- a world of possibilities"
by Jonathan Eaton
FREE PINT FEEDBACK AND BAR
"RE: Web catalogue data protection enquiry"
"Smart card Web search"
"Dialup versus corporate use of the Web and email"
"Kudos for Free Pint authors"
"List of current Free Pint Bar discussions"
"Various sites of interest"
CONTACT INFORMATION
ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS
http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/220799.htm
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What a great idea ! Multiquotes is a free service which provides
multiple quotes, from different printers, on all your printing
requirements. You simply submit enquiries on-line, and they
immediately land on the desks of some of the UK's most competitive
printing companies. These companies then quote you direct with their
best prices ! Multiquotes will provide multiple quotes for anything
from printed brochures and leaflets to printed umbrellas. This
excellent free service can be found at http://www.multiquotes.co.uk
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>>> WANT TO ADVERTISE YOUR OFFERING HERE? <<<
Details, discounts and free banner exposures at
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EDITORIAL
We've been busy these last two weeks investing time and money in some
new infrastructure for both the Free Pint Web site and list hosting.
This issue of Free Pint should have reached you in record time, and
if you scroll to the very bottom of this email you'll find out
which address is on the Free Pint list (useful if you have a number of
addresses and you're not sure which one is registered with Free Pint).
We have some great articles in this edition, including a review of the
availablility of full text resources on the Web, and Intranet toolkits.
The bookshelf covers a book about silicon valley startups, whilst
the feedback section is full of letters and a summary of the
current postings at the Bar.
In every issue I ask you to spread the word about the newsletter, but
one reader has made a great suggestion to make this even easier. Below
you will see a couple of short introductory paragraphs. Why not save
these to your hard disk, and every time you want to tell someone about
Free Pint then all you've got to do is paste in the text. We promise
to continue producing a top quality newsletter if you promise to
spread the word ... deal? Here's the text to save:
Free Pint is a free email newsletter with tips and articles on
finding reliable Web sites for your work and searching more
effectively. Written by information professionals, it is sent to
23,000 Web users around the world every two weeks.
You can reserve your regular free copy and see past issues by
visiting the Web site at http://www.freepint.co.uk/, or send
any email to auto@freepint.co.uk to get the latest edition.
If you haven't visited the Free Pint Bar recently then you're missing
out on some great discussion and hints. If you don't have time to
visit regularly then simply subscribe to the email Digest by sending
a blank message to digest@freepint.co.uk and we'll send you all the
latest postings in an email every other day. If you have a Web-related
question or comment then why not visit now at
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar
Please let me know if you enjoy this issue (or otherwise) and remember
to use the text above to offer your colleagues their own Free Pint.
If you have your own publication then isn't it time your reviewed us?
Kind regards,
William
William Hann BSc MIInfSc, Managing Editor
e: william@freepint.co.uk
w: http://www.freepint.co.uk/
t: +44 (0)1784 455435
f: +44 (0)1784 455436
"Free Pint" is a trademark of
Willco Limited http://www.willco.co.uk/
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BRAND NEW EXPO FOR INFORMATION USERS IN THE FINANCIAL COMMUNITY
13-14 October 1999, The Baltic Exchange, London EC3
Organised by Learned Information. In association with City
Information Group. Seminar programme presented by TFPL
To see the exhibitor list and register for free exhibition tickets,
visit http://www.online-information-city.co.uk/
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QUICK TIP ... INTERNET CONSULTANCY
It is never too early to contact your site or list host and ask them
about their readiness for the year 2000. Ask for a compliance
statement which you can keep on record. In fact many company lawyers
are now requiring that suppliers provide such a document.
William Hann
http://www.willco.co.uk/
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>>> EASY ACCESS TO ALL PAST ISSUES AND REVIEWS <<<
http://www.freepint.co.uk/guide
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TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"Full Text Online?"
by Hal P. Kirkwood
The explosion of the Internet has created a variety of new industries
and opportunities. Twenty five years ago no one had ever heard of the
abbreviation ISP (Internet Service Provider), a select few had used
email in any significant way, and the thought that a household would
need one and perhaps more computers on the premises was an utterly
incomprehensible idea.
One such burgeoning industry is the proliferation of publications on
the computer, Internet, and information technology industries.
Numerous large and small publishers have rushed to put out print
publications on these topics. The demand for magazines and journals
seems insatiable. Browse any bookstore or news-stand and the section
on technology is overflowing with major and minor publications.
The publications, ironically enough, also boast of an online presence.
But just how online are these publications? Is the full-text
available? Is there any unique content or useful tools that would be
impossible to provide in a print format? Let's take a whirlwind look
at some groups of online versions of print journals.
Computer Industry Pubs
----------------------
Magazines on the personal computer industry have been around for quite
some time...ever since the first IBM PS/2's and Apple IIe's hit the
market. The current competition is between PC Week
(http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/), PC Magazine
(http://www.zdnet.com/pcmag/), and PC World (http://www.pcworld.com/)
on the PC side while for the Mac contingent one can find MacWeek
(http://macweek.zdnet.com/), and MacWorld
(http://macworld.zdnet.com/).
All of these magazines provide access to current full text articles
and news. They all provide access to downloadable software, past
special reports, product reviews, and relevant links from each
article. Each publication also provides online-only content. They
are also chock full of advertising. The full-text question is
answered with an affirmative in this group. Significant back files of
full-text issues are available. PC Week provides access back to 1996
in Adobe Acrobat format. Its focus is more on the business and
commerce side of the PC industry. PC Magazine and PC World provide
access back to 1995 and 1997 respectively. The target audience with
these is more consumer-oriented.
The Macintosh-focused magazines run similarly on the Web (which is no
surprise since Ziff-Davis is the online publisher of all but one of
these publications...ZDNet is nothing if not consistent). MacWeek and
MacWorld trace back to 1998 and late 1994 respectively.
IS, IT and Networking Industry Pubs
-----------------------------------
The computer networking industry has many publications battling for
supremacy and market share. CMPnet provides access to Byte
(http://www.byte.com/), Data Communications (http://www.data.com/),
Network Computing (http://www.networkcomputing.com/), InternetWeek
(http://www.internetwk.com/), and Information Week
(http://www.informationweek.com/).
The CMPnet publications all provide full-text current news as well as
significant backfiles of full-text articles. The historic archive is
as follows Byte, early 1994; Data Communication, late 1994; Network
Computing, early 1996; InternetWeek, early 1996; Information Week, mid
1998.
These publications all provide email alerting services, plenty of
full-text articles, and an assortment of special features. Some items
of note on the latter include Information Week's Information Advisor
that provides an application to benchmark a company against the
Information Week 500 list of companies, Network Computing's Technology
Guides (on topics such as E-commerce, Security, Infrastructure, and
Management), and InternetWeek's Product Buyers Guide.
A smattering of other publications include Network World
(http://www.networkworld.com/), Computerworld
(http://www.computerworld.com/), InfoWorld
(http://www.infoworld.com/), and Datamation
(http://www.datamation.com/).
Network World provides access to very little free full-text. A user
must either subscribe to the electronic version or subscribe to the
print version. InfoWorld provides access to back issues to 1995 and
also has a significant 'Test Center' site that provides detailed
comparisons on software and hardware. Computerworld provides access
to selected articles back to 1995. It also provides access to
MarketLink, a product catalog and a Return on Investment Calculator
for determining the value of a given application. Solid content,
powerful tools, and special features make these publications' sites
useful sources of information.
Business and Technology Pubs
----------------------------
Business and technology are now inextricably entwined in the
marketplace. Publishers have jumped onto this concept with gusto.
The electronic counterparts to the print versions of the following
magazines contain an abundance of full-text and special options.
Beyond Computing (http://www.beyondcomputingmag.com) targets senior
management and IT executives by linking business issues with IT
solutions. The full-text is available back to January of 1996. A
special feature is a selected list of business associations and career
groups. Business 2.0 (http://www.business2.com) is a new kid on the
block with issues back to January of 1999, it's first issue of
publication. Interspersing a blend of Internet and e-commerce news the
target audience is for those interested in the new electronic economy.
Investing in this new economy has become the favorite pastime (or
perhaps obsession) of many Internet-savvy people. Two publications
that fill this niche are Fast Company (http://www.fastcompany.com) and
Red Herring (http://www.redherring.com).
Fast Company focuses on the evolving world of business with articles
on innovative companies and issues of the new economy in the
workplace. Back issues are available with plenty of full-text. The
archive runs back to the beginning of the publication in 1993.
Special sections on benchmarking, best practices and in-depth reports
of innovative companies emphasize the immediate usefulness of this
publication's content. Red Herring provides back issues to 1993. The
focus here is on investing in the new economy with plenty of full-text
articles and information on where investment opportunities may lie.
Each issue generally has a specific industry or segment focus such as
Biotech, Semiconductors, and Electronic Commerce.
Another niche for publishers is a focus on information technology
itself. Two such publications are CIO (http://www.cio.com) and Forbes
ASAP (http://www.forbesasap.com). CIO has created an incredibly deep
and broad site with articles, discussion groups and specific topic
areas for the information executive. Specific topic areas or 'Research
Centers' include Data Warehousing, Knowledge Management, Human
Behavior and the Web, and Intranets to name a few. CIO is now also
offering online leadership training. This is all in addition to the
full-text of CIO Magazine, CIO WebBusiness, and CIO Enterprise back to
1994 and searchable by date, topic or keyword.
Forbes has created a powerful site as well by offering its Digital
Tool. Digital Tool is an online companion to the print version of all
of its publications. ASAP is Forbes magazine's technology supplement.
Digital Tool offers content on a variety of topics including
Convergence, Startups, and E-business. A selection of calculators
(retirement, life insurance, asset allocation, and several others) is
provided in the Toolbox section. Also available is a selection of
lists from the Forbes publications including lists on companies,
industries, and people.
This is by no means a comprehensive list. A whole selection of
Internet-focused publications was not discussed due to space
considerations. This is however a powerful collection of technology
and business-related publications with a significant amount of
full-text and interactive options. These can be powerful sources of
information and reference for any information seeker. Overall, these
print publications are transferring their content and resources to the
Web more than adequately.
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Hal Kirkwood is an assistant professor of library science at Purdue
University's Management & Economics Library. He has written articles
for the Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship, Information
Outlook, and Library Software Review. Prof. Kirkwood is editor of the
Bookmark Central column in Online magazine. He has presented at the
SLA Annual Conference, Online World and Internet Librarian. His
research interests are in web-based business information and web-site
design. He can be reached at kirkwood@purdue.edu
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To make a comment about any aspect of this article then please join
the editors and author at the Free Pint Bar ...
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar
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***e-business (99) THE FUSION OF BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY***
Redman Media's e-business event will mark its 5th anniversary at the
NEC on the 14th of September. The 3 day show features an exhibition
with 120 worldwide standholders, a complimentary conference and a host
of special features for developing and implementing an online business
strategy. Don't miss the programme of corporate intranet case studies,
online CRM theatre and free one-to-one consultancy on a whole range of
topics. To register for a free ticket visit www.redman.co.uk or call
+44 (0) 1923 269944
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>>> HAVE AN ARTICLE SUGGESTION FOR FREE PINT? <<<
http://www.freepint.co.uk/author.htm
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FREE PINT BOOKSHELF
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf
"Silicon Gold Rush"
Reviewed by Phil Bradley
Every now and then you come across a book that looks at best worthy,
at worst dull and irrelevant, but when you start reading you quickly
become hooked and turn the pages quickly, enjoying it and learning a
lot. Such is the case with Silicon Gold Rush. The subtitle is 'The
next generation of high-tech stars rewrites the rules of business'
and it explains how companies are changing their models and
strategies to compete in the electronic environment. Although aimed
at 'executives, managers and observers of technology' it contains
valuable information for any of us involved in new technology, be
they developer or information professional ... [continued]
... read Phil's full review on the Web site at ...
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf/silicon.htm
Find out about the other great Web-related books we're reading at
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf and post your comments about
this and other books at the Bar http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar.
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QUICK TIP ... INTERNET PUBLISHING
Managing a publication like an email newsletter is much easier with
a flexible database to hold and cross reference all elements
(including subscribers, issues, authors and their articles,
advertisers and their accounts, and feedback). If the publication is
produced from various locations then the database will also need to
be synchronised regularly between bases.
William Hann
http://www.willco.co.uk/
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FEATURE ARTICLE
"Intranet 'Toolkits' for Integrating Online Services
- a world of possibilities"
by Jonathan Eaton
Have you ever wished you could take just the most useful elements of
your favourite Web services and insert them where you want, either in
your own HTML pages or in your company intranet? Perhaps you want the
Power Search screen from DejaNews (for searching Internet newsgroups),
or the Excel section of Microsoft's Technical Support centre, for
example, but you don't want merely to link to these sites' home pages
and then waste time clicking down into the specific sections. Instead,
you'd like to embed the search forms and receive the results within
the HTML that you write.
Wouldn't it make finding information that much quicker if you could
make (and amend at will) search URLs that conceal a complex search
strategy but just return a focussed set of results for the user that
clicks them? Many Internet users try to use the basic "bookmark"
feature of the browser to achieve similar effects but the result is
often frustration, given the complexity and database-driven nature of
many Web sites. These prayers may soon, however, be answered by the
recent appearance of intranet 'toolkits' developed by some of the
leading commercial information vendors, which package key functions of
a Web interface as simple HTML components that can be deployed
with minimal effort and programming knowledge.
This article will examine the background and the potential of the
intranet toolkit, review some of the leading vendors' products and
suggest that it has emerged at a key phase of overall Web development.
The Web's original design was to facilitate publishing and sharing of
information amongst dispersed groups of PC users across a network.
When the Web first spread across the globe, legions of surfers seized
upon HTML as a simple, technologically democratic way of constructing
idiosyncratic electronic documents that could in turn integrate links
to other, different documents. Although much has changed with the Web
since the mid-1990s, the use of HTML pages as highly customised "super
menus" has remained a constant. But now, however, a different
perspective on the integration potential of the Web environment is
emerging, driven by both the rise of corporate intranets and the
recent rush amongst Web portals to create personalisation
opportunities, such as My Yahoo!.
Now that corporate and private funds are pouring into both intranets
and Web portals, the consequent Return on Investment (ROI) criteria
demand a newer, tighter focus to HTML-based information systems. Two
issues seem to stand out here: saving employee time wasted in
unproductive searching, and the need to 'flatten' procedures for
access to information. In a corporate environment, for example,
enforced design consistency enhances ROI since it streamlines
access and minimises interface discontinuities of the sort that define
the Web. As every user knows, what lies at the end of a clicked URL
is often unpredictable and confusing to navigate.
In the past, to use a commercial command-driven online service such as
Dialog or LEXIS-NEXIS required specialised training and practice to
derive maximum cost benefit. Training overheads meant that access was
restricted only to a relatively small corps of professional searchers.
To use these services effectively meant knowing how the whole system
worked in order to use even a few database files. In the Web era,
however, we have a vastly increased diversity of resources and a
searching community whose members typically "graze" between different
services.
All kinds of organisations now use intranets to publish internally
generated documents but also may wish to mingle this data with
externally-sourced documents. Therefore there is even less
rationale in training people to use entire systems; instead it
may be more efficient to extract key components and integrate them
within an already familiar Web environment. The imperative is now to
mediate and even disguise complex search and retrieval interactions
with external data sources, particularly if these are commercial
services, and this is precisely the market niche where intranet
toolkits are positioned.
Some vendors, notably Dialog, Dow Jones, and Bell & Howell have
already released products to help their corporate or institutional
clients obtain such added value through Web integration.
One of the pioneers of the intranet toolkit is Bell & Howell
Information & Learning (formerly UMI), which last year released its
SiteBuilder (http://www.umi.com/hp/Features/SiteBuilder/) product to
work with its ProQuest Direct host system. Most of its customers are
academic organisations with large and transient student populations,
and SiteBuilder offers simple tools to serve this environment.
Typical applications of SiteBuilder include the ability to create
"reading rooms" of HTML pages in which URLs execute predefined
topic-based searches, which can be simple keyword or complex searches
using the power of the underlying search engine.
One particularly useful feature is the direct SiteBuilder link to
either a specific document or to a list of issues of a particular
publication. This greatly facilitates construction of electronic
reading lists, in which the citation for a given paper is a
SiteBuilder-generated URL that will immediately retrieve the document
and offer a choice of retrieval format (i.e. abstract; full text in
HTML, or PDF formats) to the user. Custom search forms are another
powerful feature in SiteBuilder, allowing a familiar HTML search term
input box to be placed within a custom HTML page. This could be used
to allow users to input their own keywords that would be searched
against either the entire database or a subset, such as a favourite
list of journals or magazines. In this way, specialised information
search and retrieval functions can be created, to suit either
individual or generic needs within the organisation.
In the corporate business information sector, the Dow Jones
Interactive (DJI) Intranet Toolkit
(http://dji.intranettoolkit.com/demo) has proved popular. Its initial
versions have enabled customers to "clip" or extract latest news
stories on a filtered basis from the full Dow Jones Interactive
Web service, and to store the clipped documents, organised into
'folders', on an in-house server for a period of up to 90 days. These
retrieved full text news stories can then be easily browsed and/or
interpolated into existing HTML pages within an intranet. Later this
year, a new version will be released that extends the overall
functionality of the product in ways similar to SiteBuilder, including
direct URLs to specific stories and predefined search strategies. An
additional enhancement is the facility to convert retrieved Dow Jones
content from its delivered HTML formats to the customer's preferred
design.
Dialog Corporation, a main rival to Dow Jones in the battle for
presence on corporate PC desktops, recently pitched in with its own
intranet toolkit (http://products.dialog.com/products/toolkit). Since
Dialog is a far more diverse service than DJI, even in its simplified
Web incarnations it still can seem an overwhelmingly enormous
information space to navigate and search. Dialog makes much of the
customisation opportunities that exist for designing search interfaces
that effectively conceal the power (and complexity for the novice or
occasional searcher) of its search engine. In addition, it claims to
provide fine degrees of control over the way that results are
presented back to the user. Like DJI and SiteBuilder, its
toolkit is designed to deliver mediated, sophisticated search tools
that can be fine-tuned around the different needs of departments or
individual users.
Every information vendor's toolkit will, however, work only with its
own system, so that the Dialog spanners won't fit the nuts and bolts
of the Dow Jones service, and vice-versa. In fact, this is far less
of a problem in practice than would first appear, since the toolkits
all effectively produce common HTML components such as URLs, search
forms, tables, and so forth. In most cases, the toolkit uses an
administrative Web interface that both simplifies the customisation
process and then automatically generates the required HTML element.
This can then be copied and pasted directly anywhere into the
customer's own HTML environment. The key point to grasp is that
the toolkit model offers direct access points via HTML to the vendor's
full interactive service, and the links generated can be easily and
quickly deployed or modified.
For anyone attempting to enhance existing intranet design or wishing
to integrate external resources more effectively, the integration
potential offered by the proprietary toolkits described above is
tantalising. It is a significantly complex programming task to
encapsulate fully a specific remote service - such as Alta Vista -
within custom HTML pages, and unless the service provider explicitly
supports it, such efforts remain constantly compromised by the issue
of design and navigational changes. The toolkit approach, however,
insulates the customer from such potential pitfalls since it is an
extension of the underlying system architecture, rather than a
cosmetic afterthought.
The Web is currently both a commercial and technological
battleground. Giant corporations are constantly forming alliances to
seize competitive advantage, and this year has been a period in which
the ability to provide a customisable user interface to the galaxy of
Web resources via the 'portal' or gateway service has become essential
(see My Yahoo! for an example). So the interesting question remains
- will we soon see 'toolkits with everything'?
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(The author writes in a personal capacity)
Jonathan Eaton is Electronic Resources Manager at London Business
School Library, responsible for a wide range of networked services,
including bibliographic, full-text, historical and real-time financial
databases. He has previously worked as an information broker for
HERTIS Information & Research and for London Business School's
Information Service. He is a member of the project team for the eLib
Hybrid Libraries Phase III-funded Project HeadLine; speaks frequently
on electronic information resources management issues, and also writes
regular columns for "Managing Information" and "Information World
Review".
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Discuss this article with the author at the Free Pint Bar ...
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar
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BUY MAILING LISTS ONLINE
Mailing lists for direct mail and telemarketing purposes now available
online from more than a dozen databases (e.g. Dun & Bradstreet,
Learned Information) with more than 3 million addresses. Make your
selection and get matching records instantly. Purchase by credit card
or account, download immediately or print formatted labels. No
minimum quantities, with libraries & resellers receiving 20% discount.
http://www.mailing-labels.com/default.asp?refer=39
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>>> RECOMMEND FREE PINT TO A FRIEND <<<
http://www.freepint.co.uk/reco.htm
Visit the Web address above, enter your friends email address,
and we'll send them a courteous note introducing Free Pint.
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QUICK TIP ... INTERNET TRAINING
Either have a clock handy to glance at - preferably on the back wall
of the training area, or take your watch off and place it near to you.
It can be very off-putting for delegates if the trainer is constantly
looking at his or her watch - it can appear as though you are either
not in control of the session time or you can't wait for it to end!
Phil Bradley
http://www.philb.com/
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FREE PINT FEEDBACK AND BAR
This issue's feedback subject index:
* RE: Web catalogue data protection enquiry
* Smart card Web search
* Dialup versus corporate use of the Web and email
* Kudos for Free Pint authors
* List of current Free Pint Bar discussions
* Various sites of interest
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Subject: RE: Web catalogue data protection enquiry
From: Stewart James, Lupton Fawcett Solicitors
Date: Thursday, 8th July 1999
In Free Pint No.42, Reg Mayer asked ...
"I am interested in setting up my own catalogue/database on the WWW
of companies that provide a certain type of service. Do I have to
register for Data Protection?"
Registration with the Data Protection Registrar is only necessary if
you intend to compile a database consisting of 'personal data'.
Under both the current 1984 Data Protection Act and the, soon to be
implemented, 1998 Act, personal data is defined as data relating to
a living individual. The new act extends the definition to include
data from which an individual can be identified . Any new
compilation will be caught by the new Act, once in force.
IF Mr Mayer is setting up a database of the company names only then
this is not provided for under the Act and he will not need to be
registered. If his directory includes the names of personalities
within the companies then he will need to be registered.
It should be noted, however, that the DPA is applicable in England
and Wales. Members of the EEA have laws of equivalent affect.
Some, but not all, countries outside the EEA have similar regulations
which may need to be checked before such a database is made available
on the net.
More general information and registration forms can be obtained from
the Registrar's website at http://www.open.gov.uk/dpr/dprhome.htm.
Stewart James
Lupton Fawcett Solicitors, West Yorkshire, UK
Tel: +44 113 280 2000
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Send your letter to feedback@freepint.co.uk
or discuss it online at http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar
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Subject: Smart card Web search
From: Sarah Garcia
Date: Monday, 12th July 1999
I work for a small company specialising in smart card security issues
and we are keen to pick up requests for proposals / quotations /
information and invitations to tender in the smart card e-commerce
arena that are broadcast on the Internet. We have attempted to set
up searches using key words for the areas we are interested in, e.g.
smart cards, public key infrastructure, and linking them to the
request/invitation terms [which are industry standards for putting
work out to tender]. So far, however, we have had no success in
accurately pinpointing the information that we are seeking. Our
searches are either giving us, for example, everything on smart cards
or everything on invitations to tender, but not accurately linking
and picking up the two terms together. I have also been told that
the number of search engines and sheer volume of information out
there makes an accurate and universal search impossible.
I would be really grateful for help with straightforward guidelines on
how to set up a search that will enable us to narrow down our hunt;
comments on the logistics of trying to do such a search & suggestions
of the search engines that are likely to be most successful.
Thanks in anticipation.
Sarah Garcia
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Send your letter to feedback@freepint.co.uk
or discuss it online at http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar
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Subject: Dialup versus corporate use of the Web and email
From: Matt Hurst
I spend half my time in a corporate environment and half as a
freelance, both of them relying heavily on email. Seems to me that
netiquette is different depending on whether you're networked or
dial-up.
Corporate networks, where you're on line from when you log on in the
morning to when you log off to go home, encourage quickfire
conversational - frequently monosyllabic - exchanges. My experience
is they even counterpoint the 'normal' conversation in an open plan
office. The effect is like a chatroom.
Dial-up emails, because they demand a definite decision to
communicate, tend to be more thought out, longer and more formal.
They're a halfway house between phone calls and letters.
Anyone ever noticed difference in web usage on similar lines?
Matt Hurst
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Send your letter to feedback@freepint.co.uk
or discuss it online at http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar
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Subject: Kudos for Free Pint authors
"As editor of the Northern Light Electronic Commerce Special Edition
http://special.northernlight.com/ecommerce/index.html I'd like to
take this opportunity to thank Martin White for his excellent
coverage of Electronic Commerce in Free Pint No.42. I will be adding
to our Special Edition links to several of the sites listed in this
issue."
Richard Maxfield
Northern Light
"The feature article in #42 on Plastics and Rubber could not have
been more timely. I literally had a patron come in trying to find
information to save her job in a plastics company that was looking for
information to justify the market. The article in Free Pint had a ton
of useful information that thrilled her.
So keep up the good work."
Hal P. Kirkwood
Author in this issue of Free Pint
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Subject: List of current Free Pint Bar discussions
The number of messages at the Bar has meant that the main page has
been taking a few seconds to load. Therefore we've now set it up so
that dormant messages older than 45 days will be removed. This should
keep the content fresh and fast.
Don't forget to sign up for the Bar Digest - an email every other day
with the latest postings. To sign up, simply visit the Bar and click
on "(Un)Subscribe" or send an email to digest@freepint.co.uk.
Current requests for information ...
R&D and IP
http://www.willco.co.uk/cgi-bin/webbbs/config.pl?read=232
Information required on organising the management of intellectual
property, and how this department might link to R&D.;
Free education for adults
http://www.freepint.co.uk/cgi-bin/webbbs/config.pl?read=268
Can one access academic texts online for research purposes without
the need for registration? Links welcome.
E-journals and Tables of Content
http://www.freepint.co.uk/cgi-bin/webbbs/config.pl?read=272
Sites required which provide free tables of content.
Credit Card handling charges
http://www.freepint.co.uk/cgi-bin/webbbs/config.pl?read=277
Anyone aware of a group of online traders who have banded together
to get a lower rate from their credit card company?
Distance volunteering
http://www.freepint.co.uk/cgi-bin/webbbs/config.pl?read=280
How can one contribute to voluntary work via the Net?
Developing plug-ins
http://www.freepint.co.uk/cgi-bin/webbbs/config.pl?read=282
Where to start when wanting to develop your own browser plug-in
Sites for selling property abroad
http://www.freepint.co.uk/cgi-bin/webbbs/config.pl?read=284
Any classified sites available? Especially for a property in Spain
Recruitment industry sites required
http://www.freepint.co.uk/cgi-bin/webbbs/config.pl?read=286
Especially scientific and/or healthcare recruitment
Free ISP usage
http://www.freepint.co.uk/cgi-bin/webbbs/config.pl?read=292
Statistics required on the usage of free ISPs (e.g. time spent
online, popular surfing times).
Discussions ...
Affiliate / Associate Programs
http://www.willco.co.uk/cgi-bin/webbbs/config.pl?read=267
Suggestion for content and links for affiliate programs.
If you got something to discuss or have a request for information
then post your message now ...
http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar
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Subject: Various sites of interest
UK newspapers
http://www.zen.co.uk/home/page/wrx/alltnews.htm
Links to all the national UK press online and several hundred local /
regional online newspapers in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
The Informant
http://informant.dartmouth.edu/
A site which checks other sites for updates (like NetMind).
Self Promotion
http://selfpromotion.com/
A reader's site with a search engine autosubmitter.
Advice engine
http://nueva.pvt.k12.ca.us/~debbie/library/research/adviceengine.html
A site which describes, analyses and links a whole set of search
engines, and explains what each is good for.
Scout Report
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/sr/
Reviews Web sites of interest to researchers and educators.
Many thanks to Rod Fielding, John Carson, Robert Woodhead, VM, and
Sue Bishop.
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DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION, COMMENT OR REPLY?
Let us know your feedback or favourite site by sending an email to
the Free Pint team now to feedback@freepint.co.uk or post your
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Remember to include your name, title and company or organisation, and
let us know if you wish your contact details to be withheld.
Please note, if you write to us we may publish your letter in whole
or part for the interest of our subscribers unless you request
otherwise at the time of writing.
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Thanks for reading this issue. If you've enjoyed it then please pass
it on to someone else, or if this is someone else's issue then why
not reserve your own copy on the Web site?
See you in two weeks!
Kind regards,
William Hann, Managing Editor
william@freepint.co.uk
http://www.freepint.co.uk/
(c) Willco Limited 1999
http://www.willco.co.uk/
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FREE PINT FORTHCOMING ARTICLES
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CONTACT INFORMATION
William Hann BSc MIInfSc, Managing Editor
e: william@freepint.co.uk t: +44 (0)1784 455435 f: +44 (0)1784 455436
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e: rex@freepint.co.uk t: +44 (0)1784 455435 f: +44 (0)1784 455436
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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.
To subscribe, unsubscribe, find details about contributing,
advertising or to see past issues, please visit the Web site at
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Please note: Free Pint is a trademark of, and published by, the
Internet consultancy Willco Limited http://www.willco.co.uk/ ...
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publishers will NEVER make the subscriber list available to any
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The opinions, advice, products and services offered herein are the
sole responsibility of the contributors. Whilst all reasonable care
has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the publication, the
publishers cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions.
This publication may be freely copied and/or distributed in its
entirety. However, individual sections MAY NOT be copied and/or
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Product names used in Free Pint are for identification purposes only,
and may be trademarks of their respective owners. Free Pint disclaims
any and all rights in those marks. All rights reserved.
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About this Newsletter
- Publication Date: 21st July 1999
- Plain text
- Link: https://www.jinfo.com/go/newsletter/43
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