Subject: Free Pint No.56 - Researching topics, politics and things that think Free Pint "Helping 27,000 people use the Web for their work" http://www.freepint.co.uk/ ISSN 1460-7239 17th February 2000 No.56 > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = IN THIS ISSUE EDITORIAL TIPS AND TECHNIQUES "UK Political & Government Web Sites" By James Hatts BOOKSHELF "When Things Start to Think" Reviewed by Neil Infield FEATURE ARTICLE "Topics and Collections: An Alternative Metaphor for Using the Web" By Susan L. Gerhart FREE PINT BAR SUMMARY FORTHCOMING EVENTS http://www.freepint.co.uk/events FREE PINT FORTHCOMING ARTICLES CONTACT INFORMATION ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/170200.htm > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = *** VALUECLICK PROVIDES REVENUES TO WEBSITES *** ValueClick is the world leader in performance based advertising. Benefits to Host sites include: * Payment from 8p - 14p per click-through. Paid monthly * Guarantee 100% sell out of advertising inventory * Easy to get started and no exclusive contract required Sign up to become a Host site at http://www.valueclick.com Or call 020 7751 0555 / email info@valueclick.com > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [vc561] >>> ABOUT FREE PINT <<< Free Pint is a free newsletter written by information professionals who share how they find quality and reliable information on the Internet. Useful to anyone who uses the Web for their work, it is published every two weeks by email, and your regular free copy can be reserved at . The site gives free access to the substantial archive of articles, book reviews, industry news and events, and discussions at the Free Pint Bar. Please do pass this copy to colleagues, and view it using a font like Courier. > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = EDITORIAL We've been talking to a lot of people lately to find out what they like and dislike about Free Pint. The one major message we don't seem to be getting across is: "We have a Web site" Yes, even though we mentioned the Web site 40 times in the last edition of the newsletter, it seems that many subscribers still don't know it exists. In fact, the site has well over 2,000 pages of information, housing more than 100 articles, today's worldwide news, forthcoming Internet events and book reviews. You can even post your tricky Internet research questions at the "Free Pint Bar", and have the latest postings emailed to you every other day. Finally, the whole site can be explored in under a second using the search facility. The Free Pint Web site is *your* resource and so I would urge you to make the most of it. There's no registration required and it's totally free. So why not spend a few minutes taking a look today ... http://www.freepint.co.uk/ I enjoyed an informative day yesterday at the new eRetailing conference in London. I overheard many comments praising the quality of the content and organisation of the event, and if you wish you had attended then you'll be pleased to hear it's returning in October. My evening was spent with the City Information Group who covered the topical subject of free versus paid-for content on the Web. The panel included Lexis-Nexis/FT Profile, Factiva and FT.com, with one speaker asking "Are hosts toast?". The overriding conclusion was that the traditional hosts simply must explore the full range of revenue models on the Web if they are to survive. In today's issue of Free Pint we bring you two interesting articles on how to locate political information on the Web, and researching an entire topic. We review a fascinating book about the integration of computers more directly into our lives, and Simon provides his regular synopsis of the latest goings-on at the Free Pint Bar. We do hope you enjoy this issue, and will join us online to give your feedback and explore the many resources on the Web site. Kind regards, William William Hann BSc MIInfSc Founder and Managing Editor, Free Pint e: william@freepint.co.uk w: http://www.freepint.co.uk/ t: +44 (0)1784 455435 f: +44 (0)1784 455436 Free Pint is a trademark of Free Pint Limited > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = *** VALUECLICK DRIVES TRAFFIC TO YOUR WEBSITE *** ValueClick is the world leader in performance based advertising. Benefits to Advertisers include: * Provides a no risk solution to acquiring new visitors * Pay only for unique visitors to your web site * Delivers free impressions and free branding To become an Advertiser call 020 7751 0555 or email rupert@valueclick.com Or visit us at http://www.valueclick.com > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [vc562] >>> PLACE YOUR BANNER ON THE FREE PINT WEB SITE <<< http://www.freepint.co.uk/advert.htm > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = TIPS AND TECHNIQUES http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/170200.htm#tips "UK Political & Government Web Sites" By James Hatts The Internet has opened up a new way for governments to communicate with citizens, and for citizens to access government information from their homes and offices. Some government organisations have embraced this new technology wholeheartedly, some still have a long way to go. The rapid expansion of Internet access has now reached the stage where people expect, by right, to be able to access government information online and communicate electronically with departments and agencies. This article examines some of the resources currently available. I can only hope to offer a brief introduction to the huge amount of material relating to politics and government on the Internet, so I look forward to hearing from readers at the Free Pint Bar with their personal recommendations. Political Portals ----------------- Political Resources on the Net has an excellent clickable map of world regions leading to a page of flags. The country level pages are rather confusing, but the sheer amount of information means that persistence will be rewarded. Julian White's British Politics Page is another comprehensive resource - the Westminster Diary is worth checking out for the inside gossip. Parliament ---------- The UK Parliament site at is a big disappointment. It is infrequently updated and poorly designed. There is a long way to go. The list of MPs does include links to some MPs' websites, but it is by no means a comprehensive list. The biggest set of links to MPs' web sites is at . If you have been baffled by confusing parliamentary terms BBC Online offers an excellent A to Z of Parliament . Government ---------- The CCTA Government Information Service is the best starting point if you are looking for any UK governmental information. The Organisation Index includes local authority websites. The high profile 10 Downing Street site has now been relaunched and is a much more fitting web presence for the Prime Minister's office and residence. The site achieves a good balance between government information and lighter features. You can sign up to receive updates by email. Devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has spawned a new set of websites for the newly created institutions. The Scottish Executive is a good starting point for information on the Scottish government, whilst the Scottish Parliament has a vastly superior web site to the Houses of Parliament in Westminster. The National Assembly for Wales has a particularly good sitemap showing how all of the sections fit together. The Northern Ireland Executive and Northern Ireland Assembly sites are not quite as polished as those of their Scottish and Welsh counterparts, but provide useful sources of official documents relating to the peace process. The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions has finally provided some proper information about the Mayor and Assembly for London on the Web, via the site. Until the new system comes into operation the Government Office for London continues to oversee the capital's relationship with central government. Broadcasting ------------ There are two live video streams broadcasting the proceedings of the House of Commons - the cable and digital channel BBC Parliament is at , whilst a little-known broadcaster, The Parliament Channel has a rival feed also in RealVideo format. Details of the other BBC political programmes available on the internet can be found at . And if you miss Prime Minister's Question Time on a Wednesday, C-SPAN rebroadcast the proceedings on the Internet every Sunday. There's even a RealVideo archive. Political News -------------- If you can't survive without a regular fix of political news, the news aggregation site moreover.com (the providers of Free Pint Industry News ) is a good place to start. For UK politics try , for US politics go to . You can even sign up to have the headlines sent to your mailbox every day. Naturally, BBC News Online and PA News are other good sources. Political Parties ----------------- The main UK political parties have all launched their "second generation" web sites, having learnt some hard lessons from the criticisms of their initial efforts. Labour's current slick web site was unveiled by Tony Blair at the 1999 party conference, and is backed by big names including Oracle and Freeserve as part of a deal that saw Freeserve CDs mailed to all party members. The Conservative Party site is business-like, but unfortunately the Java scolling news panel crashed my browser. The Liberal Democrat site is slightly more modest than the others, but is perhaps more effective in communicating straightforward information to party workers and prospective members alike. The three main parties all urge browsers to "Join now!", but how much do they conform to their own party policies on promoting e-commerce? The Liberal Democrats have an online form that looks promising until you see the line that says "Someone will get back to you in the next couple of weeks". The Labour site has a "security pledge", but in fact the default form is insecure and it is necessary to click on a special link to access the secure area. Only the Conservative Party site takes users direct to a secure membership form. There is a good set of links to political parties with UK, European and Scottish Parliament representation on the 10 Downing Street site at . Europe ------ European Union sites can be accessed via Europa at . The European Parliament is at . Want to know the words for "European Parliament" in eleven languages? This is the place to find out. And finally... -------------- When you have had enough of the serious sites and are ready for some fun, Anagram Genius will give you hours of fun looking up anagrams of your (least) favourite politicians' names. Did you know that William Hague MP can be rearranged to make "I am all huge wimp"? And Tony Blair makes "Tory in Lab"... > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - James Hatts is Website Manager at Politico's , the high-profile Westminster political bookstore and publishing company, where he has recently overseen the launch of the Politico's Online Bookstore. He is also Website Producer for London SE1 , the local information site for London's South Bank area. In addition, James has acted as an Internet consultant to several voluntary sector organisations. He can be contacted at . > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Related Free Pint links: * Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks * Discuss this article with the author now at the Free Pint Bar * Free Pint Industry News on over 200 worldwide topics > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = PROFIT FROM INVENTIONS - an evening session with IP expert Henry Connor. Monday 27th March 6.15-8pm at The British Library London. Learn how to protect and market Intellectual Property - patents, knowhow, copyright and others - with the best hope of commercial success. Henry is a technology transfer and licensing specialist whose jargon-free talk will be of interest to inventors as well as corporate R&D staff. Price 25 pounds inc VAT (20 pounds concessions). Contact Tony Catarinicchia, t: 020 7412 7915 :e:antonio.catarinicchia@bl.uk > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [bl563] >>> RECOMMEND A FRIEND TO FREE PINT <<< http://www.freepint.co.uk/reco.htm If you know someone who might like to receive their own copy then simply enter their contact details on the above page. It's quick, easy and confidential. > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FREE PINT BOOKSHELF http://www.freepint.co.uk/bookshelf "When Things Start to Think" Reviewed by Neil Infield To those of us who spend our days on the web where an Internet year is equivalent to three months of old world time, it may well feel as though we are already living in the future. Reading this book would soon change your mind. Neil Gershenfeld believes he sees the future of technology every day he goes in to work. His job is co-director of the Things That Think research consortium at the MIT Media Laboratory in the U.S. And it is here that he is exposed to the kinds of technologies many of us won't be seeing for a few more years yet. If you think the current state of computing is pretty smart, what about a computer in your shoe that can communicate with other peoples wired footwear when you meet on the street? Or how about electronic books using digital paper, which uses computerised ink with the same readability as printed text but can reformat itself on demand. Even more wacky is a three dimensional printer which could be thought of as a personal desktop factory. There are two things which I really like about this book. Firstly it is written in a chatty non-technical style with very little jargon and lots of clear and simple explanations. Secondly the author, despite being from a technical background and having seen the quantum leaps in computing over the past fifteen years, realises there is still a long way to go. Until computers are both pervasive and invisible, technology cannot really be regarded as intelligent. Humans shouldn't have to adapt to computers - it should be the other way around. The state of the art PC I am using to produce this review does not even know I am sitting in front of it, let alone what kind of mood I am in or how hungry or tired I am. And why do I have to use an invention from two centuries ago to communicate with it? Where I disagree with Gershenfeld is in his optimistic assessment of the future. He believes that once the technology has matured it will become a natural extension of our bodies. We will reach a kind of technological nirvana. However he fails to notice examples from history that show how scientific developments have been abused to the detriment of humankind. We have nuclear power and genetically engineered medicines but also nuclear bombs and 'Frankenstein' foods. We have the global communications network known as the Internet but also an information disenfranchised majority who are not connected. Technology cannot be separated from society and however perfect its developments they must be applied to an imperfect world. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Neil Infield is Manager of Business Information Services (BIS) at Hermes Pensions Management Ltd. the principal fund manager for the British Telecom and Post Office pensions schemes. Recently he has taken the initiative in developing web activities within Hermes, and is now responsible for developing and maintaining both the company web site and intranet. The intranet has been built without any technical or programming input using a combination of FrontPage 98 and FileMaker Pro. Neil is on the board of the European Chapter of the Special Libraries Association where he edits their newsletter and website. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Related Free Pint links: * Related Internet strategy book reviews on the Free Pint Bookshelf * Read customer comments and buy this book at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com * Read this book review online at the Free Pint Bookshelf To propose a business-Web-related book for review, send details to . > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Sue Hill Recruitment & Services Ltd - new jobs every day We are 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: 0171 732 6671 Fax: 0171 732 6718 Email: jobs@suehill.com > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [sh564] >>> TODAY'S NEWS ON 200 TOPICS. TOTALLY FREE. <<< http://www.freepint.co.uk/news > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FEATURE ARTICLE http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/170200.htm#feature "Topics and Collections: An Alternative Metaphor for Using the Web" By Susan L. Gerhart The web topic collector has different goals than the web searcher, namely: (1) 'all' the good URLs on a topic and (2) analysis of those URLs for deeper insight into the topic. This article examines some facets of this practice, distinguishes collecting from searching, and provides leading questions for web collectors and future research. Why would anybody collect 'everything' about any particular topic? ------------------------------------------------------------------ * in dire need, e.g. a medical, legal, financial, problem (see the alphabetical listing of Free Pint subjects at ) * as a hobby, e.g. the many sites at * for market and competitive analysis * to show you've completely scoured the web, e.g. patent due diligence * to learn a new subject by applying your mental map to web content * to build a web catalog and inventory for a business * to avoid portals, being click-fodder, search once, then live off-line * as a baseline to track an evolving subject or network of experts * to extend their profession, e.g. librarians , * as datasets to study the web itself (e.g. Search Engine benchmarks at * for 'web infomercials', links to draw traffic to sponsors, provide public information Proposed terminology: the 'Collector' gathers URLs to answer multiple questions over time, and organizes, saves, expands, and reuses the collection. This contrasts with the more time-limited and focused activity of the 'Searcher' who is looking for a particular answer to an immediate need. Collections are organized around 'topics', such as the work of a particular author, a technology, an industry sector, or an article- or book-sized cohesive subject. Characteristics of a Collection ------------------------------- While many collections start with a kernel of good URLs and grow with the collector's experience, a fresh collection often launches with a query to many search engines followed by a combination of reading, cutting/pasting, bookmarking, annotating, and more querying. Building a collection takes great effort, costs somebody time and money, forces trade-offs of quality versus quantity (less is better), and requires predictability. A collector can better manage the collection process by understanding: 1. Yield - How many URLs will you keep from those you get from a broad web search? 2. Boundary - What's in the collection and what's irrelevant? 3. Redundancy - How many URLs, e.g. mirror sites, can you throw away without losing significant information? 4. Liveness - How many dead URLs do you expect? Will you lose information by pruning dead URLs? 5. Generality - Save representatives or multiple pages at a site? point to author, or content, or both? 6. Webbed-ness - How many links among URLs are you likely to find? Is there a real 'web', community, or mostly isolated URLs? 7. User patience - user tolerance for redundant, dead, or dud URLs? What are the trade-offs in quality vs. quantity? Most important, what is the purpose of the collection? What are its long term uses? What's the monetary or personal valuation of the collection? And, operationally, a collector must consider: 1. Choice of search engines and/or metasearchers - can you calibrate how well individual engines do on your topic? 2. Depth of search results - mundane problem, label and save the results (engine, query, order)? 3. Formulating a broad enough query to get 'everything', but not too much extraneous. 4. Processing the URLs to pick out the ones you want - mechanically, how will you pick, choose, and record choices? 5. URLs or web pages themselves - will you work primarily off-line or on-line? 6. Storing and reporting your results for general use? database, HTML, XML? These pragmatic questions pose quite a challenge, and we have yet to address quality, relevance, authenticity, etc. We'll just assume for now that you'll know a good URL (i.e. web page) when you see it, according to your own criteria, but the unavoidable problem is how to manage these masses of URLs so you can see both the forests and the trees. Rules of thumb for collection characteristics --------------------------------------------- Tools we've been developing and several experimental collections suggest the following composite model for what to expect in a fresh collection: * 3000-5000 URLs delivered by search engines for reasonably phrased search queries * 1/2 plausibly on the topic * 1/5 dead, moved, or otherwise unretrievable by a simple HTTP agent * 1/5 redundant (mirror sites, better pages at a site) * 1/2 of the live, plausible, non-redundant URLs actually relevant, with good content or about 20%, i.e. 600-1000 unique pages, of good content. (Your mileage may vary.) That suggests a lot of effort required by the 'search-and-prune' approach. Alternative approaches include 'expanding-kernel' and 'sampling'. How about links? How webbed is the collection? We usually find: * 3-5 links average per URL among just the pages of the collection, counting not only the rare exact hits but also links to neighboring pages (reflecting differing authors' choices). * high concentrations of links to/from author/publisher (especially amazon.com affiliates), professional associations, trade publications websites; * a handful (<10) of hubs (links out) and authorities (links in) as individuals or expert networks * frequent high value URLs NOT linked to by other sites, often commentators, critics, and expert kibitzers. This says we can make a partial web tour of a topic through backward and forward links but must also rely on search engines to gather the large number of potentially valuable unlinked pages. The above data is drawn from topic experiments such as: 'Ellen Ullman', author on programming and the computer industry; 'Information Warfare', combining spooks, hackers, and policy makers; 'Process Safety Management', an OSHA (US regulatory agency) training-intensive compliance practice. Getting the work done and staying sane -------------------------------------- Now, consider the types of tools on the market for topic collection (see ): URL Collectors: By far the quickest, and often as accurate, are desktop meta- (or multi-)searchers, such as WebFerret and Bullseye , to collect 1000s of starter URLs. Plying individual search engines helps sharpen queries, but can seem like a slow death from ads (which flash by quicker on the desktop tools). Tip: use your browser's cache to collect search results. WWW8 and earlier conference papers suggest future topic-directed searching and search result clustering tools. URL organizers: Bookmark managers, including browsers, provide some rudimentary capabilities. Improving features of desktop metasearchers and intelligent agents provide filtering and ordering, as well as automatic downloading and textual analysis (see Boureston 'Using Intelligent Agents for CI' in 1/2000 SCIP magazine, and 'Web Slavery - automating IR' in . Our (still experimental) twURL provides decision support for 'triage' (keepers, losers, tbd, and unseen) in multiple views (Internet domains, keywords, and links) and supports 'browsing in context'. Collection reporters: most tools export an HTML report for shared browsing and e-mailing, while some provide easily parsed comma- separated lists, and a few some form of structured XML. For a motivational systematic approach ('farming', not 'mining') and a broad overview of technologies, we especially recommend Richard Hackathorn's information at . Bottom line: This article provides one framework and criteria for better collection support tools, since many of us search to collect, rather than search once. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Susan Gerhart is a web consultant, software developer, and researcher at Research Outlet and Integration in Houston Texas, . After a varied career in software quality research, as a software engineering educator at the Wang Institute of Graduate Studies (R.I.P.), and a few stints in research management, she's the developer of the twURL (Windows) URL analyzer. Her business specializes in web collections for due diligence, publishing, and website promotion. Contact: susan@twurl.com. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Related Free Pint links: * Other searching resources from Free Pint * Respond to this article and chat to the author now at the Bar * Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = >>> SEARCH ONE MILLION FREE PINT WORDS IN ONE SECOND <<< http://www.freepint.co.uk/search > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FREE PINT BAR SUMMARY http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar Here is your summary of what's been happening at the Free Pint Bar over the last couple of weeks. To read a discussion thread you can: - Just visit the Bar. It's free to use and easy to access at: http://www.freepint.co.uk/bar - Read this summary online where all the links are activated: http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/170200.htm#bar - Add the message number (no brackets) to the end of this address: http://www.freepint.co.uk/cgi-bin/webbbs/config.pl?read= For example, to read message 1432 you would visit: http://www.freepint.co.uk/cgi-bin/webbbs/config.pl?read=1432 Do you want to join our jousting tournament? Some garrulous Free Pinters have been tilting at banks and financial institutions for failing to face up to the challenges of ecommerce and the facilities merchants now demand (2027). Will these institutions manage to lance this one before their customers are forced to take their business abroad? Credit card fraud is also a worry, but new measures are not being implemented to assuage such worries (1899). Yet another financial issue is that raised by recent distributed denials of service (Ddos) experienced by high profile sites such as Yahoo!, Buy.com, Ebay, etc. Has anyone insured against their ISP becoming unable to provide services (2038), or any security breaches? If existing financial institutions don't get into this melee, they'll soon be unhorsed by new providers. No jokes about charges, please. The smokiest part of the Bar has been occupied by developers, as usual. Advice has been imparted on setting up a mailing list (1985) and making sure that links are kept up to date (1998). There have been a couple of requests for information on authoring tools, both on and offline (2045, 2077). The subject of banks comes up once more, image banks this time (2046). And the issue of security arises again in the form of password protection (2054). Internet related subjects ranged from banner advertisements (2043) to portal statistics (2050), browser features (1933) to UK Web statistics (1954, 2008) and information about the Internet as a whole (1977). The matter of email policy is raised again with the question 'Who owns Email?' (1924). Who owns yours? Last issue's article on classical music should keep all enthusiasts happy for a good while to come, but some have added to the list of sites (1942, 2086). If you know of other good sites, please do let us know. There have been several questions about filing and classifying over the past few months, the most recent looking for software which allows flexible filing criteria (1979). A request for financial information on the Web demonstrated the continuing availability of same (1930), but if you know about sources, feel free to post them up. And if you know anything about the stock control system, BookNet (1953), computer based training (1991), UK demographic information (1999), a list of addresses for US academic libraries (2048), or a directory of UK and Irish hospitals (2073), don't hold back. We're all ears (and eyes). This time two years ago, Northern Light was a new search engine and an article in Free Pint rated it highly. Is it still bookmarkworthy, or has it been overtaken by others? We also had an article about push technology and content and the problems of information overload, things much discussed currently. One year ago we ran an article on environmental information on the Web and one about the plans to make all public libraries in the UK part of the digital revolution. I wonder if financial institutions can be persuaded to take part too. Simon Collery, Business Development, Free Pint Remember, to read this summary with activated hyperlinks visit ... Free Pint this time last year ... * Free Pint No.32 18th Feb. 1999 "Environmental Information on the Internet" and "New Library: now comes the action" http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/180299.htm Free Pint two years ago ... * Free Pint No.8, 19th Feb. 1998 "A New Light on the Horizon" (Northern Light) and "Current Awareness Research on the Internet" http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/190298.htm > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Bar: Do you have a research question or Web-related comment? It's easy to post a message at Digest: To have the latest Free Pint Bar postings sent to you every other day, send a blank email to Archive: Dormant postings older than 45 days are moved to Email: To write to the Free Pint team, please send your email to > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = >>> PLACE A LINK TO FREE PINT ON YOUR WEB SITE <<< http://www.freepint.co.uk/linktous.htm If you want to show your support then please copy the HTML code from the page above onto your Web site. Thank you. > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FORTHCOMING EVENTS http://www.freepint.co.uk/events If you lead a jet-set lifestyle and want to meet some of the people who've contributed to Free Pint then you'll be piling on the air miles at the beginning of March. The popular Free Pint contributor Martin White is running a workshop and giving a presentation at the "Intranets 2000" in San Jose, California. Free Pint's William Hann will be presenting at the "Third Generation Web" conference in London, and TFPL's annual "European Business Information Conference" (EBIC) brings together senior professionals from the information world in Amsterdam, Holland. Full details of these and over 30 other forthcoming conferences and exhibitions in the online-information and Internet industry can be found on the Free Pint Events page at http://www.freepint.co.uk/events > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FREE PINT FORTHCOMING ARTICLES * Chemistry Webzines * Knowledge Management * Portals * * Sites for small and medium enterprises * * European information * Corporate Web sites * Museum sites * * Researching for TV * Company Information * Legal information * * Media Sites * Travel Industry Resources * [Provisional] > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = I hope you've enjoyed this issue of Free Pint and that you'll send me a note if you have any feedback. We have lots of exciting things planned over the coming months, and so thank you for your loyalty and support. See you in two weeks! William Hann, Managing Editor william@freepint.co.uk (c) Free Pint Limited 1997-2000 http://www.freepint.co.uk/ > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = CONTACT INFORMATION William Hann BSc MIInfSc, Founder and Managing Editor e: william@freepint.co.uk t: +44 (0)1784 455435 f: +44 (0)1784 455436 Rex Cooke FIInfSc FRSA, Editor e: rex@freepint.co.uk t: +44 (0)1342 316027 f: +44 (0)1342 316027 Lesley Robinson BA MBA, Business Development e: lesley@freepint.co.uk t: +44 (0)20 8871 4284 f: +44 (0)20 8875 9165 Simon Collery BA, Business Development e: simon@freepint.co.uk t: +44 (0)1865 434143 f: +44 (0)1784 455436 Jane, Administrator e: jane@freepint.co.uk Address Free Pint Limited, FREEPOST (SEA3901), Staines Middlesex, TW18 3BR, United Kingdom (Please add a stamp if you would like to pay for postage) Web - http://www.freepint.co.uk Advertising - ads@freepint.co.uk Subscriptions - subs@freepint.co.uk Letters & Comments - feedback@freepint.co.uk Authors - http://www.freepint.co.uk/author.htm Latest Issue Autoresponder - auto@freepint.co.uk > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Free Pint (ISSN 1460-7239) is a free newsletter written by information professionals who share how they find quality and reliable information on the Internet. 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