Crowdsource - Creating Credible Content through Scale
14th November 2014

Crowdsourced content, drawing on large numbers of contributors of all background and levels of expertise, can produce content of value for research needs. This article reviews categories of crowdsourced databases, from those where the motivation to contribute is a desire to be part of preserving history to those where the contributor receives support or visibility for their work, and also where content is a by-product of social media activity. For information professionals, the same assessment process used for commercial databases can be applied to crowdsourced content collections.

Read

Cloud Services - Not In the Cloud At All
13th November 2014

Whatever their other differences, the United States and Russian authorities seem to be of one mind when it comes to the desire to poke around privately held data whenever they feel like it. Their approaches to penetrating the cloud may be different but the motives are the same. Europe, where big hitters like Microsoft and Salesforce are both planning data centre expansion, may be the gainer because of its generally tougher privacy laws. So for anyone responsible for commissioning or managing an organisation's cloud services, the soil on which those clouds rain is really starting to matter.

Read

Is Our Need for News What It Used to Be?
12th November 2014

Read

Source Update for Factiva
11th November 2014

The latest additions and takedowns in Factiva, researched and compiled by Anne Jordan.

Read

Has "Current Awareness" Become a Bloated Term?
11th November 2014

Driven by broken economies, a burgeoning technology marketplace, and a bloated definition of current awareness, information professionals are increasingly struggling when it comes to meeting their internal clients' needs to track news developments. In this piece, Shimrit Janes explores to what extent the original understanding of "current awareness" holds up under scrutiny, and what challenges information teams are facing as a result.

Read

Do You Know Why You Collaborate?
11th November 2014

When you think about why you collaborate, what immediately springs to mind? Do you collaborate because you want to share content or documents that you have created, do you collaborate because you want to reach an outcome that can only be done with other individuals' help, or are you trying to manage a large scale project? There are in fact many reasons why people might choose to collaborate, but what's significant is that you should know why you're collaborating before you do it.

Read

What's the Value of Current Awareness?
11th November 2014

Robin Neidorf examines how information centres can measure the value of the current awareness service they offer to their readers and explains the components of the value equation.

Read

Source Update for Eureka.cc and Europresse.com
7th November 2014

This month's additions and takedowns in Eureka.cc and Europresse.com, researched and compiled by Anne Jordan. Europresse.com is the European version of the Eureka.cc solution.

Read

Company Information - Finding the Right Package for Your Specific Needs
7th November 2014

Catherine Pask provides an overview of company information providers and guidance on how to choose a package to fit your specific information needs - whether you need specialist financial information, are performing due diligence checks, need news at your fingertips, or sales contacts. She also provides information on niche providers in sectors such as pharma and legal.

Read

Security - How Far Can You Trust the Evidence, and What Can You Do?
7th November 2014

Whether it's retail fraud, security breaches that are inside jobs or lack of caution in implementing Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), information professionals need to be circumspect when the evidence comes from organisations that also happen to provide solutions to the problems they highlight. But sometimes that evidence - on the extent to which employees are responsible for security risks, or the role played by mobile devices - indicates some degree of consensus. And when it's backed up by specific concerns expressed by government or regulatory bodies - about outsourcing for instance, or lack of awareness among small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), that's when info pros can sense an opportunity to be seized.

Read