Newsletter No. 86
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Free Pint
"Helping 37,000 people use the Web for their work"
http://www.freepint.com/
ISSN 1460-7239 26th April 2001 No.86
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IN THIS ISSUE
EDITORIAL
MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
from Rachel Newcombe
FREE PINT BAR
In Association with Factiva
a Dow Jones & Reuters Company
Reviewed by Simon Collery
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
"Investment Funds"
By Trevor Harvey
BOOKSHELF
"Weaving the Web" and "How the Web was Born"
Reviewed by Ralph Adam
FEATURE ARTICLE
"Searching for the ultimate Middle East business site"
By Gil Feiler
EVENTS, GOLD AND FORTHCOMING ARTICLES
CONTACT INFORMATION
ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/260401.htm>
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ONLINE INFORMATION FOR THE CITY
23 & 24 May 2001, The Baltic Exchange, London EC3, UK
>>> Financial and business information to the desktop <<<
http://www.online-information-city.co.uk
Meet the leading business and financial information providers
Attend FREE seminars from TFPL and CiG. Save weeks of fact-finding at
the office!
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>>> ABOUT FREE PINT <<<
Free Pint is a community of business professionals who use the Web for
their research. Members receive this free newsletter every two weeks
packed with tips on finding quality and reliable business information
on the Internet. Joining is free at <http://www.freepint.com/> and
provides access to the substantial archive of articles, book reviews,
industry news and events, with answers to your research questions and
networking at the "Free Pint Bar" and "Student Bar". This newsletter
is best read when printed out and viewed in a Courier font.
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EDITORIAL
With our move from <freepint.co.uk> to <freepint.com> now complete,
some may say that this is hardly the time to be promoting oneself as a
dot-com. Well, I suppose we are and we aren't. We are a true dot-com
by virtue of the fact that we only trade online, but that's about as
far as it goes.
We are a 'real' company in that we employ knowledgeable professionals
who provide expertise and advice. We support valuable community
features whilst at the same time selling bona fide services. Although
we don't sell tangible goods as such, there is an increasing
acceptance of the value and price of 'information' itself.
As you know, our main offering at the moment is the UK company
research service at <http://www.freepint.com/icc/> and lots of people
are buying reports. Our list hosting is also proving popular and we're
welcoming new lists all the time. This is all being handled admirably
by our custom-built invoicing system which pulls everything together.
It's satisfying to be a part of all of this, and we regularly receive
lovely emails complimenting us on our customer service. This is
something I take very seriously as noted in my response to one Bar
posting at <http://www.freepint.com/go/b9023>.
So, a big thank you to everyone who's trusting us with their purchases
and helping us build exciting new services for our members.
In today's newsletter we take a look at how to find resources on the
confusing range of investment funds. There's news about business sites
in the Middle East, whilst the book review covers two books about the
history of the Web itself. All this along with the usual gossip from
the Free Pint Bars.
We welcome your feedback on everything we do, and ask that you pass
the newsletter on to anyone who might like their own Free Pint.
Remember to visit us at <http://www.freepint.com/> but don't forget
that there's a real company behind the scenes too!
Cheers
William
William Hann BSc MIInfSc, Founder and Managing Editor
Email: <william@freepint.com> Tel: +44 (0)1784 455435
(c) Free Pint Limited 1997-2001
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Environmental Information Workshops at the British Library. Sources
of Environmental Information 15 May and Environmental Information
on the Internet 12 June 2001. With environmental issues growing in
prominence, access to up-to-date and relevant information has never
been more important. The workshops introduce you to a wide range of
resources, including search engines, websites and portals. Hands-on
sessions included on both dates. For further details t:020 7412 7978
or see our website at http://www.bl.uk/services/stb/courses.html
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>>> UK COMPANIES UNDER THE MICROSCOPE <<<
<http://www.freepint.com/icc/>
Need to know the registered address for a UK company?
How about detailed financials and images of their accounts?
Use Free Pint's UK company gateway for free basic details,
or purchase in-depth reports immediately by credit card or invoice.
Try a search today at <http://www.freepint.com/icc/>
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MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
from Rachel Newcombe
* Journalism.co.uk - Site for UK journalists. Contains news,
resources and jobs. It also offers a free monthly email newsletter.
<http://www.journalism.co.uk>
* ukonline.gov.uk - UK public sector site. Excellent resource that
has links to all the various UK government portals and local
government sites. <http://www.ukonline.gov.uk>
* Yell - Online version of the Yellow Pages. Offers a quick and easy
way of locating businesses/services throughout the UK.
<http://uk.yell.com/home.html> (also has a US option).
* ShopSmart - Offers information, advice and reviews of UK online
shopping sites and has a handy price comparison facility for
various popular products. <http://uk.shopsmart.com/>
* British Magazines Direct - Site where you can purchase most British
magazines. Particularly useful if certain publications are difficult
to get hold of locally or if you're living abroad.
<http://www.britishmagazines.com/>
Rachel Newcombe is a writer and researcher for online and print media.
She can be found on the Web at <http://www.newcombe.co.uk/media>.
Tell us about your top five favourite Web sites. See the guidelines at
<http://www.freepint.com/author.htm> or email <simon@freepint.com>.
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Taxonomies are chic
A new Factiva White Paper entitled "The Value of Indexing" explores
the reasons beyond the current popularity of taxonomies and indexing.
It also describes Factiva Intelligent Indexing(r), outlines some novel
customer applications and provides a comparison of search results from
two popular Web search engines and from two Factiva products. Read it
on http://www.factiva.com/infopro whitepapers and presentations.
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>>> IT'S TRICKY PUBLISHING AN EMAIL NEWSLETTER OR ANNOUNCEMENT <<<
1) Exactly who received the publication and who didn't, and why?
2) How can you handle all the subscriptions automatically?
3) What about distributing to only part of your list?
Free Pint's list hosting service offers results drill-down (1),
automated subscription handling from your site with error checking (2)
and category filtering (3). All this along with advice and first rate
customer service. Find out more at <http://www.freepint.com/bulk/>
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FREE PINT BAR
In Association with Factiva
a Dow Jones & Reuters Company
Reviewed by Simon Collery
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/260401.htm#bar>
Free Pint Bar - <http://www.freepint.com/bar>
[Note: To read a posting enter the message number in place of XXXX in
the address <http://www.freepint.com/go/bXXXX> or enter
the number in the "Jump To" box on the Bar homepage]
Regulars in the Bar will have heard that the US patent search site,
Delphion, is going to start charging a monthly fee soon (9062). While
this is regrettable, there are alternative search resources for
patents. But there's no telling how long they'll remain free. Big Web
sites are expensive to run and they do have to pay for themselves
somehow.
And talking of making money, it's a commonly heard remark that people
will search the Web for information about things they want to buy but
remain reluctant to purchase the item online. I wonder if the
people who asked about buying cars (9006) or houses (9076) or flight
tickets (8800) ended up buying those products online.
Apparently recruitment is doing well on the Web and ease of
communication, especially in niche online communities, could be one
reason for this. There are always several postings a week in the Free
Pint Bar on job related matters (8933, 8997, 8834, 8898, 8799, 9055,
9012). Alas, one education job site seems to lump information
professionals together as "administration" (8944), which is not
terribly helpful.
Well, whatever about ecommerce, those looking for good resources in
the Bar haven't been leaving empty-handed. We've served up sites on
direct marketing (8974), grey literature (8879), map symbols (8850),
UK SIC codes (8937), online translations (8955), bioplastics magazines
(9020), cheap flights (8845) and Ordnance Survey grid references
(9070).
There have been several specific queries about market research (8840,
9041, 8882) and marketing jobs (8803). While we're on the subject,
does anyone know where to find a list of Europe's most celebrated
marketing projects (9107)?
Other business research queries relate to US company registration
(9119), the relative merits of Frankfurt and London as financial
centres (8836), historic share prices (8869), industry rankings
(8860), alternative databases to D&B (9121) and funding sources for
non profit making development programmes (9015).
For the competitive intelligence minded, there are queries about a
company's advertising spend (8837), establishing domain name ownership
(9038), software sales figures (8958) and research and development
spending (8996).
Quantitative data can be difficult to find at times but requests for
sources of driving test statistics (8949), steel production figures
(8805) and rankings for UK search engines (8894) elicited a good
response. But one Free Pinter is still looking for research data on
the use of Information Communication Technology in schools (8857).
Now, you'd expect to get questions about information needs assessments
(9046), technical news feeds (9102), professional indemnity insurance
for freelancers (9030), online lists of International Non-Proprietary
Names (9114) and automatic fog index generators (9056) in the Free
Pint Bar. Having said that, all those questions still require an
answer.
But sometimes it's hard to predict what people will ask about next.
Flying in Africa (8969), virtual reality research (8890), latitude and
longitude data (8989), child model agencies (8848) or Chinese land
contamination (9103), for example.
Of course, technical and Web mastering questions are bread and butter
in the Bar. Recent subjects include Internet copyright (9042), SMS
access from PCs (8983), rates for freelance designers (9116), problems
with MS Outlook (8941, 8864), putting logos in the address bar (8952)
and free Web site hosting (8948).
The matter of automatic notification of broken URLs (9031) has yet to
be resolved, so we'd love to hear from anyone who knows about such
things. And while we are pleased that people are willing to complete a
survey on online communities, I would ask people to email the
researcher directly and not to fill in the questionnaire online
(8977).
Finally, we've had a query about setting up a UK support group for
victims of medical negligence (8994). Perhaps such a group will find a
way of compensating victims and weeding out malpractice without
incurring huge costs for cash strapped health authorities. Otherwise
the only beneficiaries will be a few successful claimants and a lot of
wealthy law firms.
Free Pint Student Bar - <http://www.freepint.com/student>
[Note: To read a posting enter the message number in place of XXXX in
the address <http://www.freepint.com/go/sXXXX>]
Some students have been busy researching cataloguing in medical
libraries (1328), the chemical elements in the human body (1329),
bibliographic databases (1337), linguistic features of email (1327)
and the future of print versions of newspapers (1346).
Others have been looking for careers advice (1349), internships (1353)
and funding (1332). There are a couple of writing (1350) and IT
consultancy (1345) job offers, but the emphasis is on gaining
experience rather than on remuneration.
Simon Collery, Content Developer <simon@freepint.com>
If you have a tricky research question or can help other Free Pinters
then do post a message at the Bar <http://www.freepint.com/bar> or
the Student Bar <http://www.freepint.com/student>.
To have the latest Free Pint Bar postings sent to you every other day,
send a blank email to <digest@freepint.com>. For the Student Bar
Digest send an email to <studentdigest@freepint.com>.
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Esmerk ...). If you too would like extensive exposure at a modest
price then consider advertising with Free Pint. Find out more:
<http://www.freepint.com/advert.htm>
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TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/260401.htm#tips>
"Investment Funds"
By Trevor Harvey
Unit trusts, investment trusts, open-ended investment companies,
venture capital, PEPs, ISAs are all types of investment funds. Until
recently, it could be argued that such terminology was only familiar
to those who worked in the City of London, but if the number of
advertisements in the UK press and on the London Underground are
anything to go by, investment funds are now very much in the public
consciousness and are seen in the UK, at least, as long term savings
vehicles for the ordinary consumer.
Most of the sites under discussion in this article are of UK
provenance but the nature of investment funds means their application
is, in many cases, cross-border. When researching funds on the web it
is important to distinguish between those sites maintained by
companies who are promoting their own products and those sites which
are independent of any investment provider and, in theory at least,
carry unbiased information. My review will concentrate on this second
type of website.
A useful starting point would be to understand and define the terms
used in funds work. The fund map site at <http://www.fundmap.com> has
a very useful glossary. Indeed, this site, which is maintained by the
London based journal 'International Fund Investment', provides an
excellent introduction to the funds world. For example, it lists all
those 'service providers' or organizations such as the fund promoter,
the sales agent, the custodian and the auditor who, together with the
manager, ensure that a fund functions successfully. Researchers new to
investment funds should also check out the Financial Regulatory
Briefing at <http://www.frb.co.uk>. This monthly subscription
newsletter is a round up of press releases and articles from a wide
range of financial/investment based organisations but the website's
search facility enables you to access both current and archive items
and to link directly to the website of a contributor. TrustNet
<http://www.trustnet.co.uk> is another general site with information on
Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs), open ended investment companies
(OEICs), ethical funds, exchange traded funds and venture capital
trusts.
Private equity, venture capital, exchange traded funds
------------------------------------------------------
Private Equity provides equity capital to enterprises not quoted on a
stock market. Venture capital is, strictly speaking, a subset of
private equity and refers to equity investments made for the launch or
expansion of a business. A European perspective is covered by the
European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA) site at
<http://www.evca.com> which also has links to various countries'
national venture capital associations. The UK venture capital industry
is the largest and most developed in Europe and the British Venture
Capital Association (BVCA) at <http://www.bvca.co.uk> represents the
vast majority of venture capital and private equity in the UK. The
site has statistical information, a directory of members and
publications. If you need to look at the industry from a US
perspective there is the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA)
site at <http://www.nvca.com>.
Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are very much the funds flavour of the
month. There has been considerable discussion in the specialist press
recently and the indexfund.com site <http://www.indexfundsonline.com>
has a dedicated 'ETF zone' which informs us that an ETF is "A basket
of stocks that reflects the composition of an index, like the S&P 500
or the Nasdaq 100. The ETF's trading value is based on the net asset
value of the underlying stocks that it represents. Think of it as a
mutual fund that you can buy and sell in real time at a price that
changes throughout the day".
Hedge funds, unit trusts, investment trusts
-------------------------------------------
Similarly, hedge funds have had a high profile in the press over the
past year. In its report 'Background note on the hedge fund industry'
the Financial Stability Forum defines the term 'hedge fund' as "Any
pooled investment vehicle that is privately organized, administered by
professional investment managers, and not widely available to the
public".
HedgeWorld, <http://www.hedgeworld.com/> is an excellent site packed
with up-to-date US and UK news about hedge funds. There are also
research reports, directory of service providers, and even interviews
with industry leaders on the HedgeCall Radio Network.
According to The Association of Unit Trusts and Investment Funds
(AUTIF), there are 1,937 funds in the UK. This trade body, which
represents these two investment vehicles, has its website at
<http://www.investmentfunds.org.uk>.
Unit Trusts invest money in the stock market on behalf of many private
investors who have all pooled their funds so that it can be invested
on their behalf by a fund manager. This money is then invested in a
portfolio (or wide range) of companies which will be more varied than
the small investor could achieve on his own, the idea being to make
your investment grow as quickly as possible.
On the AUTIF site you will find a range of statistical information,
fact sheets and press releases. A list of all AUTIF members can be
accessed and in addition to contact details you can also check the
total value of each company's funds under management and the minimum
amount that the company will accept through regular monthly
contributions.
Canny investors will seriously consider investment trusts as they
offer exceptional capital growth, or income (or both) with minimum
risk. The Association of Investment Trust Companies (AITC) site at
<http://www.aitc.co.uk> has details on performance and how to choose
an investment trust. The AITC is currently running a high profile
campaign promoting investment trusts (or 'ITS') and their series of
handy guides are clearly written and aimed at consumers.
Offshore funds, pension funds
-----------------------------
If you thought that anything to do with offshore funds and companies
was clouded in secrecy and mystique then you should take a look at the
Lowtax.net site <http://www.lowtax.net>, which is one of the most
comprehensive funds web sites I have come across. Over the last twenty
years, advances in technology have made it easier to access offshore
facilities. Today's offshore industry has become a major global
business and the Lowtax site reflects this trend.
It's packed with lots of useful information. There are details of 33
offshore jurisdictions with a map and information about the country,
its climate, economy, currency and tax system. There are also links to
consultancies, banks and other service providers, including a
comparative assessment of the value of each jurisdiction as an
offshore financial centre.
If you want information on UK pension funds then the best place to
look is the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) website at
<http://www.napf.co.uk> which has details of publications and
conferences as well as news stories.
Stakeholder pensions, which became available in the UK from 6 April
2001, are in many ways a response to the pensions misselling debacle
of the early 1990s. They are intended to provide a low cost, privately
funded supplement to the basic state pension. The Occupational
Pensions Regulatory Authority (OPRA) was set up by Parliament to help
make sure that occupational pension schemes are safe and well run.
Their website at <http://www.opra.gov.uk/> has a section devoted to
stakeholder pensions.
Trade associations and regulatory authorities
---------------------------------------------
APCIMS is The Association of Private Client Investment Managers and
Stockbrokers. Their web site at <http://www.apcims.co.uk/> contains
news, a directory of members and publications. The UK Society of
Investment Professionals (UKSIP) <http://www.iimr.com/index.html> is
the professional body providing qualifications for the profession of
investment analyst and fund manager.
The primary purpose of the Fund Managers' Association (FMA)
<http://www.ifma.org.uk/> is to represent the interests of UK based
institutional fund managers. As its website's front page says: "FMA
will consult on behalf of its members with regulatory organisations,
trade associations, Government and other bodies in the UK, the
European Community and internationally, to ensure that the industry's
interests and concerns are made known and taken into account".
Finally, anyone dealing with investment funds in the UK should be
aware of the main regulatory body, the Financial Services Authority
(FSA) <http://www.fsa.gov.uk>, who regulate collective investment
schemes directly and are also responsible for a number of specialist
bodies or self-regulatory organisations (SROs) who have the power to
authorise investment business.
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Trevor Harvey is Information Officer for the Financial Institutions
Group at City law firm Clifford Chance
<http://www.cliffordchance.com>. He has previously held posts at St
Quintin property consultancy and the RICS. He is a member of the City
Information Group and the Institute of Information Scientists. He
writes here in a personal capacity.
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Related Free Pint links:
* "Finance and Business" articles & resources in the Free Pint Portal
<http://www.freepint.com/go/p50>
* Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/260401.htm#tips>
* Post a message to the author now at the Free Pint Bar
<http://www.freepint.com/bar>
* Access the entire archive of Free Pint content
<http://www.freepint.com/portal/content/>
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>>> FREE PINT FACT <<<
We know that some of the Web addresses in this newsletter can get
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Accessing a category in the Free Pint Portal is even worse with URLs
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William Hann, Managing Editor <william@freepint.com>
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FREE PINT BOOKSHELF
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"Weaving the Web" and "How the Web was Born"
Reviewed by Ralph Adam
Here's a quiz question: Christmas 2000 was the Tenth Anniversary of
the Creation. But, the creation of what? The Web, of course.
For most Free Pint readers the Web is a key part of daily life. Can
you imagine being without it? Or that nine (yes, that's 9) short years
ago, it was barely heard of? I've just taken the May 1993 version of
Ed Kroll's Whole Internet Catalog (the first book to bring the
Internet to public notice) off my shelf. Chapter 13 (all sixteen pages
of it) is devoted to the Web ("the newest information service to
arrive on the Internet."). He explains what a 'browser' is and
recommends access by telnetting to Switzerland ('info.cern.ch') so
that readers can see what the Web might do. "The Web appears to have a
subject-orientated flavour", Kroll goes on to say and, as an example,
suggests searching for items on France. Anyone following his advice,
using a WAIS Z39.50 server, would have found 40 items (the built-in
limit). How many would Google provide if you searched on the simple
term 'France' in 2001?
So, in Web terms, modern life began less than eight years ago. But,
Christmas Day, 1990 was the day the Web was born and it's two
progenitors, one of whom was more concerned with the impending birth
of his first baby, linked their browser/editors for the first time.
The World Wide Web was created by two men: Tim Berners-Lee and Robert
Cailliau and it is appropriate that this tenth anniversary has been
marked by each producing a book to tell his own story of what happened
in those far-off days.
Berners-Lee was an English physicist working at CERN, the European
Nuclear Research Centre, just outside Geneva. He wasn't an information
scientist and knew neither of the principles of information retrieval,
nor of his predecessors, such as H.G. Wells, Vannevar Bush and J.C.R.
Licklider, in the search for an all-embracing, hypertext-linked source
for all the world's information resources. Berners-Lee initially put
forward his idea for the WWW as a seamless network for physicists to
share data from one another's research. His book is an autobiography,
full of fascinating personal insights and written in a slightly naive
style which is almost entirely devoid of the underlying politics.
The subtitle of Berners-Lee's book is: 'the past, present and future
of the World Wide Web by its inventor'. It is a personal story filled
with snippets of history, as well as pen-portraits of the people who
flitted in and out of his working life (some, very briefly!). The key
institutions are there, too: IETF, MIT, NCSA, the WWW Consortium.
Berners-Lee goes on to explain how XML and the Semantic Web came
about. In between he highlights the factors that inspired him and
intersperses these with personal observations ("As amazing as it would
be to see the Web develop, it would never compare to seeing the
development of our child"). The book reads a little like a religious
quest and, appropriately enough, the story ends with Berners-Lee's
explanation of how he joined what he sees as the ideal cult for
Internet followers: the Unitarian Universalist Church.
Weaving the Web is an absorbing book if you enjoy exploring the minds
of great inventors, or are interested in the history of the Web. For
some, the fact that terms like 'key-word' or 'relational database' are
italicised and explained, to show that they're abstruse jargon, might
be an irritation. But don't let that put you off. It's a fascinating
read - even for a holiday. The volume ends with a useful glossary.
Don't, however, put too much faith in the book's index!
Cailliau comes from a different background: a Belgian engineer at CERN
who, in 1990, became the Web's self-proclaimed evangelist. It was he
who gave Berners-Lee the support he needed and helped manipulate
CERN's management so that the idea of a world-wide web could become a
reality. (James Gillies is a CERN science writer).
Gillies and Cailliau's book is much more substantial and more of a
history - of not just the Web, but of the Internet's origins, too. It
also contains a chronology since 1935, a 'cast of characters' (many of
whom we've already met in Weaving the Web) and a detailed
bibliography. This is, perhaps, THE resource for researching the
history of the Web and its progenitors - so, there's no need for any
more requests for 'key references on the Web's history' at the Free
Pint Student Bar!
Few people will consider this a 'beach' book. Personally, I found some
sections rather detailed, but learned a great deal. There's a lot of
background: how many people are aware of the role Britain played in
bringing the Internet to Europe after 1968, for instance? It's all
here. And, although this is the story of the Web's birth, Berners-Lee
doesn't even appear on the scene until page 142! There are photos of
the main players and even the design of the first CERN tee-shirt!
These books are very different, but together they provide an excellent
picture of the Web's origins and development. Strangely, there's a
religious air in both (for example, Gillies and Cailliau describe
Berners-Lee as a prodigal son). This seems to be a feature of the Web.
Last year, I heard Cailliau speak at CERN and felt as if I were on a
pilgrimage. Very strange. Don't, however, let that put you off reading
these two fascinating stories. And at next Christmas's info-quiz
you'll be able to answer every question on Nicola Pellow, Port 80 or
the W3C. Without any need to phone a friend. Or ask the audience!
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Related Free Pint links:
* Find out more about these books online at the Free Pint Bookshelf
<http://www.freepint.com/bookshelf/weave.htm>
* Read about other Internet strategy books on the Free Pint Bookshelf
<http://www.freepint.com/bookshelf/strategy.htm>
* "Weaving the Web" Details: ISBN 1587990180 published by Texere
Publishing and written by Tim Berners-Lee
* "How the Web was Born" Details: ISBN 0192862073 published by Oxford
Paperbacks and written by James Gillies and Robert Cailliau
* Search for and purchase any book from Amazon via the Bookshelf
<http://www.freepint.com/bookshelf>
To propose an information-related book for review, send details
to <bookshelf@freepint.com>.
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>>> IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE LONELY DOING AN INFORMATION DEGREE <<<
We know what it's like. We've done information degrees. That's why
we started the Free Pint Student Bar. It's THE forum for students
on information-related degrees to get help with projects, funding
or placements. Spread the word, and tap in to the experience of the
global Free Pint membership. <http://www.freepint.com/student/>
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FEATURE ARTICLE
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/260401.htm#feature>
"Searching for the ultimate Middle East business site"
By Gil Feiler
Burst of Growth in the Middle East
----------------------------------
The Middle East should be one of the new millennium's most exciting
business environments. This resource-rich region, which for many years
has seen business conducted as usual (i.e. at a slow and bureaucratic
pace), is now witnessing new business possibilities as governments
strive to reduce bureaucracy, increase privatization in many key
sectors and show more openness to foreign investors. Leading the field
have been the Information Technology and the Telecommunications
sectors. The challenges posed by the need to bring computers,
Internet, and wireless communications into wide scale use has helped
drive many governments to steps that were unthinkable a mere decade
ago. This has resulted in an abundance of private and government
sponsored new business initiatives throughout the region, and
widespread entry of new players into the region.
Need for Information
--------------------
In order to contemplate a business venture in the Middle East, as in
any other region, companies must be able to assess the revenue
potential and the costs involved, weigh up the competitors already
active in the field, and seek out and evaluate potential partners and
affiliates. Companies wishing to perform such an analysis of Middle
Eastern markets are faced with an acute shortage of vitally needed
information.
The shortage of Middle East business information is to a very large
extent a legacy of the past. It is one thing for governments to change
their policies, but to get an entire business community to change its
practices is a much greater challenge, and will take time. The vast
majority of the region's companies are still not publicly owned, and
the Western business standards of transparency and financial reporting
are not widespread in the Middle East.
Rise of the Business Websites
-----------------------------
The rise of the Internet in recent years has generated tremendous
interest (and not a few fortunes). However, when one looks beyond the
hype, one sees that the Internet is still at root what it has always
been - an information system. As such, the Internet can be an
invaluable tool for the executive, providing the unique ability to
access a myriad of databases and information sources in real time.
Such information is the basis for good decision-making, and it is the
ability of the Internet to deliver both running coverage and in-depth
data on specific industries that is its most useful business feature.
Throughout the world, a range of business, economic and financial
sites provide their users with essential information and tools.
Business researchers and executives have come to rely on the Internet
for their information needs, and the business websites have become
their solutions for commerce enabling, investment advice, market
research, etc.
Limitations of Business Websites in the Middle East
---------------------------------------------------
Several ventures set out over the past two years to produce the
ultimate Middle East business website. With the need for business
information so apparent in the Middle East, the initiation of websites
devoted to covering the region was a welcome development. However,
most of the business websites in operation today fall short of their
promise, and still have a long way to go before they provide the type
of service that the business audience demands. Only a bare few of
these sites provide the quality or extent of business information and
services that will make them a useful addition to the decision maker's
arsenal.
The basic reason for the shortcomings of most Middle East business
websites rests with the flawed business practices that were a common
result of the Internet bull market. Fuelled by "NASDAQ fever"
investment philosophies, companies sprang up to provide services
without having the necessary knowledge and experience of their newly
entered field. Even worse, the feverish pace of Internet development
meant that companies were under constant pressure to introduce their
offerings to the market immediately, without going through the old-
world development process that ensures a high quality and unique
product. The result of this process in the Middle East, as elsewhere,
has been a plethora of similar looking websites that offer under-
developed services and lack depth.
Lack of Business Content
------------------------
Looking at most of the business websites covering the Middle East
today, one is struck by the near-complete similarity of their
contents. This is due to the fact that most of the business websites
rely on the same content suppliers for "off the shelf" news and
information. The influx of new companies purporting to cover business
and economy in the region has not yielded significant developments in
the field of content generation, as these newcomers depend almost
entirely on content that is produced by large multinational news
groups from outside the region such as Reuters
<http://www.reuters.com>. As a rule, these multinational content
producers are not based in the Middle East, and their focus lies
elsewhere.
The result, as far as the Middle East business websites are concerned,
is that their coverage of Middle East business developments is scant,
irregular, and lacks depth. An additional aspect of this information
shortage is an over-reliance upon companies' press releases - many
websites simply quote these outright as news, resulting in unbalanced
coverage. In this state of events, in-depth analysis of economic
trends and events, a routine matter for international business
websites, is unheard of in the Middle East, as are well-rounded
databases. The local business websites have gone so far as to produce
their sites without any Arabic contents, ignoring the language of the
region's 300 million indigenous inhabitants. Because all of their
content is readily available at the source - western websites and news
agencies - I will not go into a more detailed examination of these
websites.
Promise Comes from a Different Direction
----------------------------------------
As the lack of quality business content becomes more and more
apparent, a few Middle East websites have stood out. Surprisingly,
these are not websites that have set out intentionally to fulfil the
business niche, but rather content producers and offline publishers.
Overall, the existing range of Middle East oriented economic and
business magazines have shied away from the Internet. Readers of such
stalwarts as the Middle East Economic Digest, for example, will have
to buy a printed copy in order to get its contents, and these are, as
all print magazine contents, quickly outdated. However, several of the
magazines devoted to technology have led the way for more extensive
online business content.
ITP, a technology publisher, has several publications devoted to IT
business, and has made it a consistent policy to provide much of their
content online. This is reminiscent of the way in which the technology
industry led the changes in the local business environment. For up to
date features on technology business in the Middle East, turn to
www.itp.net <http://www.itp.net> and select Arabian Business.Com (or
any of the other industry-specific offerings on site). ITP, as a
traditional publisher, finance their operations by selling magazine
advertisements.
An even more extensive range of coverage can be found at the business
section of Al-Bawaba <http://www.albawaba.com/business>. While the
site as a whole is devoted to covering a wide range of topics and to
providing full portal services to their audience, their business
section provides the best comprehensive and qualitative business
coverage of the Middle East yet seen online. The section combines
running news coverage of several Middle East industries with
substantial archives and databases. Features include IT industry
coverage, a plethora of analysis, and multiple languages (English,
Arabic and French). If anything, the chief drawback to the Al-Bawaba
business section is that it is buried under the many layers of a large
regional portal.
Al-Bawaba has a unique advantage in producing their own proprietary
content, and as such their material is more extensive, up to date, and
unique. Because companies like Al-Bawaba see their core function in
the provision and sale of quality content, they are more committed to
providing solid information. It is to be expected that Al-Bawaba
content, for example, will remain of high calibre in the months to
come, and the company's business section is more likely to survive the
current Internet industry slump than the many sites that feature
"business models" instead of revenues (Al-Bawaba sell their original
content to several offline publishers, news organizations and
websites).
Another indicator of good things to come is the rapid introduction of
mobile Internet services to the Middle East region. Nearly all of the
cellular telephone companies in the region have either introduced
Internet-capable cell phones or are working to do so. This increases
the local user base and consequently the demand for mobile data
services, including business information and services. Several content
aggregators are already offering mobile WAP (Wireless Application
Protocol) material to local subscribers, and the range of services on
offer is set to grow rapidly.
What the future holds
---------------------
As far as business websites are concerned, the future promises good
prospects. The region's Internet user base is doubling every year. The
Middle East's vast size, immense population, yet cultural homogeneity
all encourage a regional (as opposed to national) approach to business
that ties in perfectly with the Internet's cross-border nature. With
the recent change that the region is undergoing, business
opportunities abound, and as such will foster the growth of
increasingly more extensive and more reliable sources of business
information, the first blooms of which have been surveyed above.
Within a few short years, lack of business information in the Middle
East will be as much a tale of the past as the Arabian Nights
<http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/arabnit.htm>.
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Dr. Gil Feiler is the executive director of Info-Prod Research -
Middle East <http://www.infoprod.co.il>. Having studied in Israel,
Egypt and Germany, he wrote his doctoral thesis on economic relations
in the Middle East. His most recent publications include: Rethinking
Business Strategy in the Middle East and North Africa for the
Economist, and The Middle East in the New Millennium: Economic
Development and Business Law for Kluwer International Law. Info-Prod
Research is a consultancy specializing in research and economic
analysis at the country, sector and product levels in the Middle East
and North Africa. Dr. Feiler can be contacted at IPR, 3A Jabotinsky
Street, Ramat-Gan 52520, Israel, Tel: 972-3-7512780, Fax:
972-3-7512781, E-mail: <ipr@netvision.net.il>.
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Related Free Pint links:
* Feature article in Free Pint No.59 by Gil Feiler entitled
"Internet Development in the Middle East"
<http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/300300.htm>
* Respond to this article and chat to the author now at the Bar
<http://www.freepint.com/bar>
* Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/260401.htm#feature>
* Access the entire archive of Free Pint content
<http://www.freepint.com/portal/content/>
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>>> WANT A WEEKLY POINTER TO INTERESTING ARTICLES? <<<
Our weekly "Pub Crawl" is posted at the Free Pint Bar and highlights
interesting free full-text information-related articles across a
wide-range of publications. Simply click on "Weekly: Pub Crawl" in the
Bar section of the Free Pint homepage at <http://www.freepint.com/>
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS
<http://www.freepint.com/events>
There's no shortage of things happening in May. Around the UK we
have Redman's 3G Expo 2001 in London, the Aslib Electronics Group
Annual Conference in Essex, and Electronic Public Information 2001
from the Society of Public Information Networks in the West Midlands.
Over in the US, Online Inc present their Web Search University in
Chicago which will enjoy keynotes from Web search gurus Chris Sherman
and Gary Price, with Greg Notess heading up the September event.
The umbrella event InfoToday (featuring National Online,
Knowledge Nets and E-Libraries) takes place in New York and also
boasts some heavy-weight keynote speakers.
Over in the Netherlands you'll find the 9th International World Wide
Web Conference. There is also C-Commerce from Gartner (whatever
c-commerce is - I've heard of e-commerce and m-commerce, but
c-commerce?).
And that's only the first half of the month ...
Details of these and many other forthcoming conferences and
exhibitions in the online-information and Internet industries can be
found on the Free Pint Events page <http://www.freepint.com/events>.
Also, submit details of your event via this page.
William Hann, Managing Editor <william@freepint.com>
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FREE PINT GOLD
This time last year we had an article on air transport and took a
look at how the Internet can be used to teach English. There was also
a review of a good book for subject searching on the Web.
* Free Pint No.61, 27th April 2000 "Top sites on the Web for Air
Transport" and "The Internet as a tool for teaching English as a
Foreign Language". <http://www.freepint.com/issues/270400.htm>
Two years ago we looked at sites containing information on a wide
range of outdoor pursuits. A tour of engineering e-journals was given
by this year's Information Professional of the Year, Roddy MacLeod.
* Free Pint No.37, 29th April 1999. "Finding Outdoor Information on
the Web" and "Something for nothing? Engineering e-journals".
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/290499.htm>
Three years ago, we had a site run-down from Intranet-expert Martin
White, whilst I reviewed InSite Pro. By coincidence, the feedback in
that issue was about a talk by Tim Berners-Lee, whose book we review
today, some 73 issues later. Also, in those days we ran anagrams and
worked out that "Willco Free Pint" ("Willco" being my previous
company) translates into "Well Proficient"!
* Free Pint No.13, 30th April 1998 "Intranet Resources on the Web"
and "Access IAC Direct Through InSite Pro".
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/300498.htm>
William Hann, Managing Editor <william@freepint.com>
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FREE PINT FORTHCOMING ARTICLES
[Provisional]
* Technology Transfer * Information Provision *
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If you have a suggestion for an article topic or would like to write
for Free Pint then please contact me or sign up for the monthly Author
Update on the Web site at <http://www.freepint.com/author.htm>.
Rex Cooke, Editor <rex@freepint.com>
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GOODBYE
Could you help us promote Free Pint within your company, organisation
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See you in two weeks!
William Hann, Founder and Managing Editor
<william@freepint.com>
(c) Free Pint Limited 1997-2001
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CONTACT INFORMATION
William Hann BSc MIInfSc, Founder and Managing Editor
Email: <william@freepint.com> Tel: +44 (0)1784 455435
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Free Pint (ISSN 1460-7239) is a free newsletter written by information
professionals who share how they find quality and reliable information
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About this Newsletter
- Publication Date: 25th April 2001
- Plain text
- Link: https://www.jinfo.com/go/newsletter/86
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