Subject: Free Pint No.75 - Music, News and SMEs Free Pint "Helping 33,000 people use the Web for their work" http://www.freepint.co.uk/ ISSN 1460-7239 16th November 2000 No.75 > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = IN THIS ISSUE EDITORIAL MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES from Atalanta FREE PINT BAR In Association with Factiva a Dow Jones & Reuters Company Reviewed by Simon Collery TIPS AND TECHNIQUES "Music and the Internet Revolution" By Tracey Howard-Baker BOOKSHELF "Super Searchers in the News - The Online Secrets of Journalists and News Researchers" Reviewed by Peter Chapman FEATURE ARTICLE "Business Information for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises" By Diana Grimwood-Jones EVENTS, GOLD AND FORTHCOMING ARTICLES CONTACT INFORMATION ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/161100.htm > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = >> FREE tickets for Online Information 2000 << 5 - 7 December 2000 * National Hall, Olympia, London, UK Is finding the information you need turning out to be a bit of a bind? GET UNTANGLED at Online Information 2000 and find a wealth of information sources. REGISTER TODAY for free, fast track entry into this essential event http://www.online-information.co.uk/ol00/register.asp > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [li751] >>> ABOUT FREE PINT <<< Free Pint is a community of business professionals who use the Web for their work. Members receive this free newsletter every two weeks packed with tips on finding quality and reliable business information on the Internet. Signing up at provides free 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. > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = EDITORIAL We're back from our scoot around the UK in the Free Pint Bus last week on the Free Pint Roadshow. Simon and I were accompanied by Gill Voisey from Roadshow sponsors Factiva as we met with students on information courses in the afternoons each day and then local Free Pinters and Factiva customers in the evenings. It was a tremendously successful and enjoyable trip, even with all the wet weather and flooding, and you can read about our exploits on the Bar at . I would like to extend a special vote of thanks to Factiva for sponsoring the whole Roadshow and would urge you to check out their new portal for information professionals at and sign up to the Factiva Infopro Alliance. Our next live event is in London at the beginning of December at the Online Information 2000 show. We're bringing the Free Pint Bar to life on stand 30 with a pub theme where that famous Irish folk band the "Free Pint Players" (including our very own Simon on Mandolin) will be entertaining visitors. You can try your luck on our one-armed bandit to win a real free pint and we're running a series of "Question Time Workshops" again. Watch out for the Free Pint team suitability attired as bar stewards, and with plenty of informative and fun things to see and do at this major event I really hope you can make the trip. The exhibition and conference take place on the 5-7th December at Olympia in London, with free exhibition tickets and full details available on the Web at . In today's newsletter we bring you the regular range of articles and tips, including a look at the revolution taking place in the music industry online and Web sites with resources for small to medium sized businesses. We've packed in lots of reader tips and reviews along with roundups from the Bar and Student Bar. If you enjoy this edition then do pass it on to your colleagues and friends. I'll be bringing you some exciting news in the next issue about a new UK company research service we're about to launch with full eCommerce capability on the Free Pint site. In the meantime I'd like to thank all those who sent birthday wishes for Free Pint's third birthday last issue. I feel we certainly celebrated it in style on our 1000 mile Roadshow last week, but I don't mind if I don't visit another pub for a while! Cheers William William Hann BSc MIInfSc Founder and Managing Editor, Free Pint e: william@freepint.co.uk t: +44 (0)1784 455435 f: +44 (0)1784 455436 Free Pint is a trademark of Free Pint Limited http://www.freepint.co.uk/ > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Use Cruiser - for hosting with a difference! http://www.globalgold.co.uk/ Are you looking after multiple accounts or managing multiple brands or clients and in need of a more flexible hosting solution to help you handle your business efficiently and effectively? If so, think Cruiser. http://www.globalgold.co.uk/Hosting/Cruiser > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [gg752] >>> WANT TO REACH BUSINESS INFORMATION SEARCHERS GLOBALLY? <<< Advertise here. Full coverage details, special offers and rates at: http://www.freepint.co.uk/advert.htm > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES from Atalanta * LLRX - law articles and up-to-date links, including "Researching Intellectual Copyright Law", by Stefanie Weigmann. * British Media Online - British news and media site. * Allonesearch - Vast amount of research/reference information. * Delia Venables - The best portal for UK Law. * Spyonit - Good for letting me know when my favourite websites change, to save me surfing them every day, or when I forget to look at them at all. Atalanta is a much-travelled ex-lecturer and ex-diplomat with wide experience of librarianship, mostly medical library experience, with interests in the classics, mediaeval history and the Times crossword. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tell us about your top five favourite Web sites. see the guidelines at or email > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FACTIVA LAUNCHES INFOPRO ALLIANCE PORTAL Take a look at our new portal to support information professionals around the world. The Infopro Alliance Portal provides tools and resources especially for the professional researcher, with links to industry web sites, publications, white papers, case studies and discussion through our link to the Free Pint Bar. Bookmark http://www.factiva.com/infopro > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [fa753] >>> IT'S TODAY'S NEWS. IT'S FREE. IT'S FOR YOU <<< http://www.freepint.co.uk/news/ Free Pint News is a major free resource for members of Free Pint, with today's news headlines from around the world in over 300 categories. The full text is also only a click away. Why not check it out today? > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FREE PINT BAR In Association with Factiva a Dow Jones & Reuters Company Reviewed by Simon Collery http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/161100.htm#bar Free Pint Bar - http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar [Note: To read a posting enter the message number in place of XXXX in the address ] Last week one of our subscribers asked for some help finding the top sites on the Web (5657). There are lots of places to find such listings, but there are so many criteria for judging a site to be a 'top' site that the person asking the question probably still has a lot of work to do. However, a carefully picked collection of resources is probably as valuable as a powerful search engine. Resources recommended by Free Pinters in the past couple of weeks have ranged from real estate (5728) to patents (5832), free business information (5875) to wired communities (5778), news sources (5866, 5662) to second hand hardware exchanges (5670) and training for researchers (5730) to public tender notices on the Web (5729). There have also been mentions of guides to library enquiry deskwork (5756) and information brokerage (5732). There have been questions about forgotten passwords (5761, 5772), the most popular Web server (5661), style sheets (5829), HTML training courses (5802), IE5 on NT (5773), and ISPs (5734). There were a couple of unanswered questions about browsers written in visual basic (5702) and the best clients for large mailings (5841). And though the query about exporting Outlook Express messages (5775) received some answers, it specifically relates to use on a Mac. Search related queries included one about the information seeking behaviour of seniors (5803), DogPile meta search engine (5855) and Copernic compared with Net Detective (5771). I reviewed a site that allows you to search for specialist search tools (5779), a search tool which has changed its name without showing any sign of improvement (5715) and two Internet subject guides (5812, 5697). There are a couple of questions in need of an answer about whether search engines can spider form submissions (5665) and tactics for searching in languages other than English (5682). Business researchers have been enquiring about finding Greek company information (5684), Italian company information (5692) and global drugs marketing (5766). Information is still being sought on selling services online (5783), finding a company's foreign subsidiaries (5854), European waste recycling companies (5764), the amateur football league market research (5861), petroleum commodity prices (5726) and stock market information (5893). Other researchers have been looking for household waste figures (5763), comparisons of company intranets (5847), European research resources (5687), customer satisfaction surveys (5823), McCance and Widdowson food tables (5852), the meaning of the term 'computer misuse' (5856) and the difference between venture capital and angel investment (5865). There have been miscellaneous questions about names of university lecturers (5776), pop star management (5872), part time work (5873), skateboarding (5811), rankings of architecture courses (5691), the impact of greenery on house prices (5708), town twinning (5752), online competitions (5741), Web sites for Christmas (5738) and library humour (5757). While one Free Pinter seeks a 'dating agency' to match those with ideas to those with the skills to help realise those ideas (5863), another seeks a site that classifies ideas (5774). Perhaps they need each other. As we have a lot of demographic and statistics questions, a site listing places to find this sort of information was very welcome (5745). Perhaps the people who want information on broadband penetration statistics for the UK (5892) or statistics on ordering takeaway food online (5690) will find what they want there. There were also requests for quantitative data on UK retail banks (5693), European ebusiness figures (5794) and researchers who use the Web for finding medical data (5769). Free Pint Student Bar - http://www.freepint.co.uk/student [Note: To read a posting enter the message number in place of XXXX in the address ] On the Student Bar there have been postings about maritime engineering (1062), how to use the Web for teaching (1066), ecommerce placements, (1067), a temporary research job available (1070) and the opacity of scientific and computing terminology (1074). Simon Collery, Content Developer > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To read a message: - Enter the id number in place of XXXX in the address , for example - For Student Bar postings please use the address - Alternatively, view this summary online with activated hyperlinks at > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Do you have a research question? Could you help other members? It's easy to post a message at the Bar or the Student Bar . Visit daily for "Today's Tipple" - a different Web site reviewed every working day at the Bar. Access the Portal archive of Tipples at . To have the latest Free Pint Bar postings sent to you every other day, send a blank email to . For the Student Bar Digest send an email to . > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Download your FREE 30-Day Trial of BullsEye Pro, the Ultimate Research Assistant for Professionals. In the June 8th issue of Free Pint, Chris Sherman describes how "BullsEye, a desktop based meta search engine can also access many of the sites included in InvisibleWeb.com." With fine-grained filters and up to the minute trackers, you will control information rather than having it control you. Go to http://info.intelliseek.com/promotions/fp.htm and receive a 20% discount off the price of $249 if you purchase a copy by 12/31/00. > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [in754] >>> SEARCH FOR AND PURCHASE DISCOUNTED BOOKS FROM AMAZON <<< Use the handy search boxes on the Free Pint Bookshelf homepage to search for and purchase any book from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf/ > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = TIPS AND TECHNIQUES http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/161100.htm#tips "Music and the Internet Revolution" By Tracey Howard-Baker Since the conception of the computer, the music industry has exploded with new opportunities that have been seized by talented entrepreneurs, frustrated musicians and bedroom wannabes alike. Despite attempts from increasingly worried record companies, the accessibility to a wider selection of musical expression and available artists is increasing, bringing with it the inevitable questions of piracy, copyright infringement and licensing. Of course, this is not the first time these issues have been raised and whilst musicians of all standards are obviously concerned, it appears that the media have inadvertently championed the major organisations who have been employing these tactics for years - namely the managers, agents, promoters and record companies themselves. It is a little known fact that the majority of contracts insist that the copyright owner sign over all rights to the company. The advance fees are recoverable from the artists, regardless of whether the company bothers to advertise and distribute the product. Whereas, it is commonly recognised that signing a deal is not a contract of employment and there are thousands of cases where the bands have been shelved without ever releasing a record. Added to this the majority of managers, agents and promoters rarely pay even a fraction of the income generated from the bands they profess to be employed by. Many Radio Stations are associated with record companies, leading to play lists concentrating on continuous bombardment of what is, in their opinion, their most popular artists. Even local radio stations are sent free promotional records which makes it impossible for the average independent companies and acts to compete financially. Champions of the talented such as John Peel are few and slots allocated for the airing of unsigned acts rare indeed. Exploitation has always been a major part of the music business, the arguments have always revolved around the artists' inability to market and promote themselves, a somewhat erroneous view, considering that the majority of musicians have to be a combination of advertising, marketing and promotion gurus just to get noticed in the first place! Combine this with the fact that to collect any royalties for original work there must be a minimum of 3 air plays or performances in recognised venues and these have to be recorded and applied for through PRS and MCPS, who despite doing a tremendous job, work on the premise that the largest percentages go to the major recording artists and after all, no-one can be expected to know how often a single song is played in venues, radio, television and other media world wide. It is an acknowledged fact that many musicians wait for years before receiving their royalties, if at all. These are issues that still remain, despite years of negotiations from the Musicians Union and other recognised bodies. In an industry where only 1% of people have a chance to succeed and business acumen is often replaced with creative dedication, wages for the average musician are nominal and original artists remain unpaid. The advent of the Internet and ease of building your own website has provided people world wide the chance to air their music to an audience previously only available to a minority, with the added advantage of bypassing the intricate monopoly within the industry. Streaming media and the plethora of software that is available to all, has freed the musician, who has taken up the challenge of a new and exciting platform. Demos of their work can be found everywhere on the web. Band information, publicity, photos, gig lists, audio clips and even full albums can be downloaded at a fraction of the cost of producing a CD. The ability to set your own price on your product and prevent its being downloaded is already available and music resources for learning an instrument abound. Lack of access and experience in computing is no longer a contributing factor, due to the excellent facilities provided by sites such as Peoplesound.com, where quality acts get paid to put their music on the web, retain their copyright and receive all but a minor percentage of the sale from their work. And finally - to all those companies and artists who complain about copyright infringement and piracy - if they are so concerned then why do they themselves release music on their own web sites available free for listening or download with the knowledge that it will in all likelihood be burnt to disc or recorded by anyone with a computer and a couple of phono leads? Perhaps a double standard? Or perhaps they finally recognise that there is a revolution going on and the people they have taken advantage of for so long may no longer require their services. Here are a few resource links. The largest music resource on the web, covering everything a musician would need, including tuition, instruments, downloads, dedicated MIDI and lyrics search engines, far too much to cover here, a definite MUST. The Musicians Union is the recognised trade body for musicians. Includes information on all aspects of the music industry. The Performing Rights Society registers songs, collects and pays royalties. They also organise regular informative workshops with expert speakers on all business aspects of the music scene. The Government Patents Office who can enable you to check all registered companies and patent your product. Performing/Broadcasting Rights resource. MCPS - Mechanical Copyright & Performing Society. Registers, collects and pays copyright on records and other stored data. ISA - The International Songwriters Association. A great resource for all songwriters with members receiving a magazine which includes record labels currently seeking acts and their requirements plus a copyright recording facility. Also arranges Showcases for new talent. The following are the most popular music websites, with masses of new original Acts/Bands. Demos and Full Tracks available for free download. Raise your profile and put your own music on the site. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Tracey Howard-Baker is a professional entertainer, founder and chief executive of a non-profit voluntary group, the Electric Blues Club . She has organised and arranged sponsorship for several projects, providing a platform where musicians of all standards may receive education, information and the opportunity to perform and record their music. Like most musicians Tracey has had a number of related occupations and has worked in Broadcasting, Education, Government, Computing and is a Consultant on Research, Telemarketing & Promotion to people in the music industry. Undeterred by failing health she is currently designing a website for the club. . > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Related Free Pint links: * "Music" links and articles in the Free Pint Portal * Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks * Post a message to the author now at the Free Pint Bar * Access the entire archive of Free Pint content > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Sue Hill Recruitment - jobs every day - Online Information Stand 435 We are always keen to hear from flexible, adaptable individuals with excellent business information research skills, particularly those wanting temporary assignments. Our clients are blue chip companies who want the best and trust us to provide it. Tel: 020 7378 7068 jobs@suehill.com http://www.suehill.com > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [sh755] >>> FREE PINT FACT <<< The Free Pint Roadshow, in association with Factiva, saw us giving away a lot of leaflets and information packs last week. However, it is a fact that we also gave away hundreds of Free Pint beermats and Factiva highlighter pens, loads of sample copies of Information World Review and five bottles of very nice champagne. We drove just under 1000 miles in the Free Pint Bus during the week, and have subsequently had a number of signups on the Web site with comments like "Saw a Free Pint vehicle". We were also highly amused at the number of double-takes passers by made as they saw a vehicle with "FREE PINT!" splashed all over it, but most comments came in regional dialects as we were filling up with petrol when I was asked many times "What's that there Free Pint?". I should really have worked on a more witty and succinct answer than "Well, it's an online community of business information searchers who ...". We therefore left a trail of glazed looks around England and Wales. Find out more about our trip at . William Hann, Managing Editor > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FREE PINT BOOKSHELF http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf "Super Searchers in the News - The Online Secrets of Journalists and News Researchers" Reviewed by Peter Chapman Super Searchers in the News is the fifth title in the successful Super Searchers series and follows the well-established format of individual interviews with professional users of information who are acknowledged experts in their particular business. Each interview rounds off with 'Power Tips' contributed by the interviewee, and the whole book is completed with an extensive appendix of referenced sites and sources and a comprehensive index. Paula Hane is a skilled interviewer who asks the right questions to draw from her distinguished interviewees real insights into the way that they work and the tools that they use. Obviously the danger with a book like this is that these tools often change (or disappear) between the time of the interview and the date of publication, so it is pleasing that the emphasis is on how to search rather than the detail of the tools used. In addition, many of the interviewees stress the value of the various List-Servs which support the work of journalists and news researchers so readers wishing to keep abreast of developments can see which ones to join. What makes this book special for British Free Pint recipients is the presence of a British researcher: Annabel Colley of the BBC. At this point, I must declare an interest. Annabel is the Chair of the Association of UK Media Librarians (AUKML) of which I am a member, and it was Annabel who suggested that I reviewed the book. The interview with Annabel is a useful counterpoint to the nine other interviews in the book which are with American journalists and researchers. First, it highlights how different from America is the regulatory environment in which British and European news researchers work. Secondly, it mentions useful non-American resources such as Free Pint and FT.com. Thirdly, it is a reminder that although news is global, the culture in which it is interpreted is still national! Free Pint readers who work in the news industry should buy this book. It has a number of excellent 'Power Tips'; it lists the key sites for tracking news and for sifting out information useful to news organisations; and it is very readable. Free Pint readers who don't work in the news industry should borrow the book to understand what makes otherwise sane men and women so passionate about news and so single-minded in their pursuit of what is so often transient information! > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Peter Chapman is Head of Electronic Information Services for a regional morning newspaper. He was bitten by the news bug as a child whilst following the fortunes of Yorkshire County Cricket Club in the Yorkshire Post. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Related Free Pint links: * Find out more about this book online at the Free Pint Bookshelf * Read about other Internet searching books on the Free Pint Bookshelf * Read customer comments and buy this book at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com * Details: ISBN 0910965455 published by Cyberage Books written by Paula J. Hane, Scott Simon (Frw), Reva Basch (Editor) * Search for and purchase any book from Amazon via the Bookshelf * Associated Web site at To propose a business-Web-related book for review, send details to . > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = >>> RECOMMEND FREE PINT TO A FRIEND <<< Have you recommended Free Pint to anyone recently? Free Pint can only continue to remain free if you help us spread the word to your colleagues and friends. It's very easy by simply entering their email address on our confidential Recommend page. We'll then send them a courteous and brief introduction to Free Pint. http://www.freepint.co.uk/reco.htm > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FEATURE ARTICLE http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/161100.htm#feature "Business Information for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises" By Diana Grimwood-Jones Small business is, increasingly, big business as commercial providers wake up to the opportunities offered by a potential market of over a million Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the UK alone. The build-up of good quality information for SMEs has been slow, as the major providers have concentrated their efforts on the large corporate market, and small businesses themselves have been reluctant or unable to make use of web-based information to help their business development and solve their day-to-day problems. However, there are now a number of sites targeted directly at SMEs, and much of the information within them is available free. This brief overview will attempt as far as possible to avoid web sites on business portals and cash flow already covered in recent articles (or at least will highlight different aspects of them), and will concentrate on three areas: general, multi-purpose sites; SME funding sources; trade and business associations as sources of advice, including 'self-help' online communities. Though it will include some international sites, the main focus will be the UK. General sites and portals ------------------------- For a good overview of UK government support for small business, start at the main DTI Web site and click Business Support for details of help for small business. A high profile element of this is the new Small Business Service, launched on 1 April 2000 designed to help a small business at every stage of its lifecycle. Although the service itself is still in its infancy, the site has already accumulated useful resources in some key areas, notably 'Doing business on the Internet' (which many SMEs are still fighting shy of) and information of use to specific sectors: there are 27 of these currently listed, including aerospace, energy, financial services, household goods and transport. The SBS oversees the work of the Business Link network in England: details of services offered, and locating your nearest Business Link, can be obtained from the main site at . Another useful 'official' site is The Enterprise Zone launched three years ago by the DTI and now managed by Bright Station. Its home page offers access to information and key sites in a range of business functions such as Finance, Sales & Marketing and IT. There is also a Link Shopper service for office product procurement which describes itself as the 'UK's largest office store for business buyers'. One of the most recent views of SME information need and use was provided by a British Library funded project jointly run by Strathclyde University and the Library Information Technology Centre, which reported in 1999 (1). The project involved a very substantial website development, hosted on the Strathclyde server, responsibility for which has now passed to the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce who have badged it as the Chamber Business Information Centre. The Chamber site is currently under construction, so it may be late November before you can check what a good small business portal it is. There are plans for more frequent updates of site links and an expansion of the sectors covered. Two sites with commercial backing are worth mentioning. With typical understatement, Virgin describes its biz.net service as 'the complete online small business service - your virtual management team' . The site offers good basic guidance in the practicalities of start-up, growth and 'moving on' but the presentation of search results is unclear and there are gaps - for example, searches under 'IPR' and 'trademarks' failed to produce any hits. Dun & Bradstreet has recently launched a new service for UK- based SMEs called do-Business . It offers a mix of free and priced services (e.g. competitor tracking and a matching service to find suppliers), many of which have been developed with third party suppliers. The site offers access to consultancy teams in Finance, Marketing, Strategy and Support, and has a help desk facility. Broadening our scope to Europe, it is worth checking the Dialogue with Business service, launched in January 1999 and accessed via Europa, the official website for the European Union (then select English as the language). This provides one-stop access to a range of key issues such as intellectual property rights, technical harmonisation and funding opportunities, summaries and texts of EU legislation, personalised advice and feedback (delivered through the Euro Info Centre network) and a 'Practical information' section which includes details of fairs and exhibitions, a mammoth business directory, a translation service and a list, updated daily, of the best global business sites from 70 countries. The site, which attracts more than 11,000 requests for information per day, is to be upgraded and improved: one plan is to sound out companies on draft new EU legislation through online consultations. Another European Commission service, set up as the result of a joint recommendation from European and American industry representatives, is the Transatlantic Small Business Initiative (TASBI) which promotes the formation of business linkages (strategic partnerships, licenses, distributorships, joint ventures) between European and American SMEs . It offers a partner search facility through its PEPPER matchmaking database. Finally, a word on search engines. All the major ones offer access to small business information. Yahoo! crams a lot of information into a small space, or dig down through Business and Economy to Small Business Information for UK and Ireland only. Sources of Funding ------------------ Grants, loans and other funding possibilities for SMEs could easily form the subject of an article on their own. Most of the general sites listed above have some Finance or Funding component (e.g. the main DTI site gives details of various awards and loan schemes) but they can take some tracking down. Details of European funding can be particularly difficult to winkle out, in spite of the heavy emphasis given by the European Commission on the importance of SME participation in Community projects. Good starting points are the 'Funding opportunities' on the Europa Business site (an expansion of this is promised soon) and the 'Innovation in Practice' button on the CORDIS home page . This will take you through to details of the Innovation/SMEs programme and the Financing Innovation site which includes information for both innovators and investors. Click on Contact Lists in the 'Practical Information and Tools' section for details of useful contacts including venture capital associations, European institutions and other websites of interest - many of these latter are geared to high technology start-ups. The most popular commercial products are now available over the web. EPRC Ltd maintains the InfoGrant database, which provides information on grants and other financial assistance schemes available to businesses in the UK (details at ) and is meant for use by small business advisers. It now also offers GrantPoint, a self-service database for use by small businesses themselves. A search currently costs 39 pounds plus VAT. Another well-known product is Grantfinder, a subscription-based service which claims to be the most comprehensive database of UK and EU funding. It includes details of around 1900 grants, loans, subsidies and other incentives . Business and trade associations ------------------------------- Business associations can offer the SME valuable and informed support. The UK pressure group for small business is the Federation for Small Businesses . Issues of current concern are highlighted on the site (for example, at the time of writing there is a Quick Poll on the Fuel Tax). A key organisation for many small (and not so small) businesses is their local Chamber of Commerce, part of the British Chambers of Commerce network, which represents more than 120,000 firms . A new initiative, developed in partnership with Royal Mail Via Code (its secure digital security service), is Chambersign, which offers affordable, secure access to e-commerce to even the smallest companies. Internationally, the US-based International Small Business Consortium claims a membership of 33,000+ in over 140 countries. This site is worth checking out for its Dead Horse Strategy alone (if you find you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount, but there are several other options!). More seriously, the consortium's mission is to provide a productive and professional web-based network to help SMEs communicate about business needs, expand their markets, and share resources, knowledge and experience. Colin Duguid's article on cash flow in Free Pint No.71 recommended bookmarking the BusinessZone site developed by the Sift Group . A newly launched service on this site is Any Answers, developed in conjunction with AccountingWeb, one of the Sift 'communities', in which questions can be posted to an audience of 75,000 accountants worldwide. Sift is gradually expanding its Vertical B2B Communities of professionals, trade and industry which now cover Accountancy, European Business, Law, Training & HR, the Travel trade and (most recently) Commercial Property. Its TrainingZone site is claimed to be the most heavily used service in the country, and won a Yell UK Web award this year in the 'Best e-commerce (B2B) site' category. Another source of specialist information is the Law Society's Lawyers for your Business, a service backed by Business in the Community, the Federation of Small Businesses and the Forum of Private Businesses . This offers a series of guides to various legal aspects of running a business, maintains a library of frequently encountered legal pitfalls, and offers access to a directory of solicitors. Finally, trade associations are often the starting point for companies seeking information and guidance, though many do not yet have a convincing web presence. The DTI's Trade Association Network Challenge (TANC) is an initiative designed to encourage trade associations to make more creative use of the Internet. The TANC home page includes a link to the (UK) Directory of Trade Associations. An international listing, in which the UK and Irish ones are flagged, can be accessed through Yahoo! . Click on Business and Economy and then select Organisations for a list that includes Trade Associations. (1) Allcock, S and others. Business information and the Internet: use of the Internet as an information resource for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. Final report. (British Library Research & Innovation Report, 136.) BLRIC, 1999. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Diana Grimwood-Jones provides independent consultancy advice on strategic and operational issues in information and library management. Now back in the UK after a stint in Brussels, recent project work has included designing classifications for web-based job and training course information, and a survey of information support within large, successful organisations. She can be contacted on 020 7249 3181 or by e-mail at . > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Related Free Pint links: * "Business Services" links & articles in the Free Pint Portal * "Portals for business information on the Internet" article in Free Pint No. 74 * Respond to this article and chat to the author now at the Bar * Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks * Access the entire archive of Free Pint content > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = >>> FREE PINT PORTAL <<< http://www.freepint.co.uk/portal/ The Free Pint Portal continues to grow with new gateway and link sites being added continually to the Industry sections. Research a country or access the entire archive of Free Pint issues, articles and daily Bar tipples all categorised by topic. If you're searching for business information then the Free Pint Portal is a great place to start. > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FORTHCOMING EVENTS http://www.freepint.co.uk/events The Online Information 2000 event in London, UK, is the biggest information industry event of the year and offers conferences, presentations and workshops as well as the huge exhibition of products and services. Free Pint will return to the same place as last year but with many changes to the stand. There'll be real free pints, live music and great advice on where to find the best resources on the Web. We look forward to meeting our current subscribers there, welcoming new subscribers and finding out what's new in the industry. Current European events include the Content Summit in Zurich, Switzerland, the International Forum on Design Management Research and Education in Frankfurt, Germany, and the Business Intelligence in Telecommunications event in Geneva, Switzerland. In the States, the Conference on Universal Usability will be taking place in Arlington, Virginia and a workshop called Building Dynamic Web Sites will be held in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The ISP to ASP event will be taking place in San Francisco, California. Full 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 . Simon Collery, Content Developer > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = >>> SUBMIT YOUR SITE TO THE TOP SEARCH ENGINES - FAST AND FREE <<< Free Pint Submit is a quick and easy way to contact the major search engines like AltaVista, Google and Northern Light. Simply enter your Web address and we'll submit it to these and other engines on your behalf. Visit the following address or use the quick link in the "Tools" box on the right of the Free Pint Web site homepage. http://www.freepint.co.uk/submit/ > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FREE PINT GOLD The Tips article this time last year gave advice on where to find the best water resources on the Web. The feature article was about electronic communities and how much we have yet to learn about them. * Free Pint No.50, 18th November 1999 "Information on tap - Web resources on the water industry" and "Electronic Communities" . This time two years ago we ran an article on how to promote your site at little or no cost. There was also an article on the complementary relationship between CD-ROMs and the Web. * Free Pint No.26, 12th November 1998 "Web Site Promotion Ideas" and "CD-ROMs and the Web" . Three years ago, in the second issue of Free Pint, we were told how different search engines deal with the case you write your queries in. And we heard about how the Web lends itself to frauds and scams. * Free Pint No.2, 20th November 1997 "CAPITAL Punishment in Search Engines" and "Fakes and Frauds on the Net" . Simon Collery, Content Developer > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FREE PINT FORTHCOMING ARTICLES [Provisional] * Voluntary Sector Resources * Film Industry * * Radio Industry * Transport * Economics Sources * On Line Auctions * * Railways * Innovation * History * Horseracing * * Careers Information Sources * Free Software * Online Media * 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 . 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