FreePint Newsletter 243 - Online Reporting + 10-year Retrospective
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FreePint
"Helping 79,000 people find, use, manage
and share work-related information"
ISSN 1460-7239 20th December 2007 No.243
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ONLINE FORMATTED HTML VERSION
IN THIS ISSUE
-------------
EDITORIAL
By Monique Cuvelier, Editor, FreePint
MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
By Arthur Weiss
FREEPINT BAR
Generously sponsored through December 2007 by LexisNexis
JINFO :: JOBS IN INFORMATION
Knowledge Integrator
Strategic Research Executive
Library and Information Resources Manager
Practice Development Executive / Business Development Executive
Records Manager - London
Research Assistant
Researcher / Knowledge/ Database Specialist
TIPS ARTICLE
"FreePint Reports from this Year's Online Information
Exhibition at Olympia"
By Sara Waddington
REVIEW
"Consider the Source: A Critical Guide to the 100 Most
Prominent News and Information Sites on the Web"
Written by James F. Broderick & Darren W. Miller
Reviewed by Graham Stewart
FEATURE ARTICLE
"1997-2007: A Decade of Find, Use, Manage, Share"
EVENTS, GOLD AND FORTHCOMING ARTICLES
CONTACT INFORMATION
ONLINE FORMATTED HTML VERSION
FULLY FORMATTED PDF VERSION
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The Big Three Reviewed in November's VIP
In-depth comparative review of news products from Factiva, LexisNexis
and Thomson: Get VIP's View before you renew your contract! Find out
which product(s) offer:
+ The most sources in different regions
+ The most functional interface
+ Best power-search options
+ Ways to search, save, forward and track projects
Order your copy today (GBP 54), or start your subscription now:
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*** ABOUT FREEPINT ***
FreePint is a global network of people who find, use, manage and share
work-related information. Members receive this free twice-monthly
newsletter, which is packed with tips, features and resources.
Joining FreePint is free at and connects
information practitioners around the world with resources, events and
answers to their tricky research and information questions at the
FreePint Bar, our free online forum: .
Please share FreePint with others by forwarding this message. The
FreePint Newsletter is available online in several formats and can be
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EDITORIAL
By Monique Cuvelier, Editor, FreePint
We love the end of the year, because it gives us a chance to look back
at all the achievements from the last 12 months. But this year is
special, because it marks Free Pint Limited's 10th publishing
anniversary and gives us a chance to look back on the achievements in
our industry from the last decade.
For perspective, we turn to four experts in our core areas (Marcy
Phelps as our pro on 'find', Tim Houghton to tell us about highlights
in 'use', Karen Loasby to talk about 'manage' and Jessica Lipnack to
talk about what's happened in 'share') to give us an overview and
perspective, as well as some indication of what's coming in future
years.
It's a perfect segue into Free Pint's own immediate future
In January, we're launching FUMSI , a new online
resource where you can see what's making the news in find, use, manage
and share and meet the new FUMSI senior editor Sara Waddington.
You'll still be able to catch me on FUMSI as the Share editor, as well
as Marcy Phelps as the Find editor, Tim Buckley Owen as the Use editor
and Karen Loasby as the Manage editor.
That does not, however, mean less in FreePint. In fact, you'll notice
more content in the FreePint Newsletter from January on, along with a
user-friendly HTML design. We're growing and adding resources while
continuing to focus on the quality content you've come to know for 10
years - practical, practitioner-written articles from our global pool
of members and contributors, available to you, online for free.
Happy New Year to all. Look forward to the next FreePint in January -
we'll see you then.
Sincerely,
Monique Cuvelier
Editor, FreePint
e: monique.cuvelier@freepint.com
w:
FreePint is a Registered Trademark of Free Pint Limited (R) 1997-2007
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Explore the latest posts in mobile search, search engine news,
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Latest Searcher's Guide features outstanding collections in social
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MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
By Arthur Weiss
FreePint is 10 years old this year, so I thought it apposite to list
some of my favourite articles from FreePint's early years. Each
contains links to great sources - although some are quite specialist
and even eccentric. Each is a list of Tipples in its own right.
* "But what is it good for?" by Ian Watson - Issue 9 (1998)
. Includes a great list
of quotations denying the value of various innovations.
* "Lingo on-line - Languages resources on the World Wide Web" by Emma
Thompson - Issue 39 (1999)
.
* "How will we survive Information Overload?" by Dr Pita Enriquez
Harris - Issue 44 (1999)
. Still 100%
relevant today!
* "Summoned by Bells" by Zena Woodley - Issue 92 (2001)
. This feature
article on campanology was one of the more unusual topics covered by
FreePint, showing the extremely wide range included in its content.
* "Librarians & Comics" by Emma Finney - Issue 133 (2003)
- looks at
comics held in libraries.
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Arthur Weiss has written several articles over the years for FreePint
- although probably none as memorable as the above. He specialises in
competitive intelligence, and has recently completed a 500km+
sponsored cycle in aid of the children and family charity Norwood
. He's still looking for additional
sponsorship via and can be
contacted via his website .
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*** Line Up a New Challenge for the New Year ***
Jobs for professionals who Find, Use, Manage and Share Information:
find them at Jinfo. Search the database at:
Subscribe to the free weekly update of the latest jobs,
plus the monthly newsletter with career tips:
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FREEPINT BAR
By Monique Cuvelier, Editor, FreePint
The FreePint Bar is generously supported through December 2007 by
LexisNexis. Learn more at
FreePinters are bound to feel akin to the Bar these days, especially
with discussions of too many pints of cider and lists of fitness
trainers. Also check out our pictures of our party at Online and get a
sneak peek of FUMSI at the FreePint Bar .
* The holiday blues are liable to attack anyone during this emotional
time of the year, and the FreePint Bar is no exception. A topic has
turned morose, as a researcher is looking for reports of a suicide
in the Thames at Oliver's Wharf in 1932. On the bright side, some
interesting sources for coroner's reports and old newspapers have
cropped up. See what's been dredged up:
.
* Many unlucky souls have felt close to death after an evening in
front of too many rounds of cider. So it may be a relief that one
researcher is looking into regulation of the marketing of super-
strong cider drinks, possibly to save lives. It's an interesting
topic that's caught the attention of some other researchers
.
* While looking for a past article from The Wall Street Journal, a
librarian from the NHS turned up some advice on how to find old
issues . If you're looking to
subscribe to Factiva, LexisNexis or Thomson, you might want to check
VIP's review of the Big Three to decide on the best
.
* New Year's resolutions mean it's time to examine winter weight gain,
so one Bar member's quest to find lists of personal trainers'
websites may be of use to the
general public. Some helpful sites have been suggested.
* If we missed you at Online, you can see the par-tay as it happened
with our online photo album .
Also check out the form to register your interest in the new FUMSI.
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Monique Cuvelier is editor of the FreePint Newsletter. She has edited,
launched and written for many magazines, newspapers and websites in
the US and UK. Learn more about her at
.
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The FreePint Bar is where you can get free help with your tricky
research and information questions .
Help with study for information-related courses is available at the
FreePint Student Bar .
Subscribe to the twice-weekly email digests at
.
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How Do You FUMSI?
However you Find, Use, Manage or Share Information, the new FUMSI.com
site will connect you with useful content.
+ Practical, expert-written articles, organised by practice area
+ Easy to find, save, email or print articles
+ Contributing editors welcome your suggestions and submissions!
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JINFO :: JOBS IN INFORMATION
The Jinfo service enables you to search and advertise information-
related job vacancies.
The Jinfo Newsletter now features CV Makeovers, in which a job
seeker's CV is critiqued and revised by specialists in the field as
well as career tips for all experience levels. Read the latest edition
and subscribe free at .
Jinfo Jobs in the FreePint Newsletter are supported through our
partnership with Quantum2, an innovative skills development programme
offered by Thomson Scientific. Learn more at
Here is a selection of the latest featured entries in the Jinfo
database:
Knowledge Integrator
Exciting info scientist job, based in business unit, research,
current awareness and KM elements, good environment.
Recruiter: Sue Hill Recruitment and Services Limited
Country: United Kingdom
Strategic Research Executive
Join this leading international law firm as Strategic Research
Executive and you'll be part of a small team compiling research.
Recruiter: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Country: United Kingdom
Library and Information Resources Manager
Library and Information Resources Manager required for an immediate
start to cover a maternity leave post.
Recruiter: Weekes Gray Recruitment
Country: United Kingdom
Practice Development Executive / Business Development Executive
Support our business development, technical, legal & business
research. A varied & rewarding role with excellent career prospects.
Recruiter: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Country: United Kingdom
Records Manager - London
Full time temporary Records Manager position available within a
government organisation based in London. GBP 21 per hour.
Recruiter: Aslib, The Association for Information Management
Country: United Kingdom
Research Assistant
Provide support for the UK Information Service including assisting
with Research enquiries using online information databases.
Recruiter: TFPL
Country: United Kingdom
Researcher / Knowledge/ Database Specialist
Junior Researchers (2) with some research experience for Central
London Consultancy. Excellent training and prospects.
Recruiter: Glen Recruitment
Country: United Kingdom
[The above jobs are paid listings]
NB: These are just a selection of information-related jobs in the
Jinfo database . Receive the latest job
listings weekly with the free Jinfo Update. Free to subscribe at
Jinfo -- the best place for information-related job vacancies.
* JOB SEARCHING? -- Free search and sign up to the Jinfo Newsletter
* RECRUITING? -- Complete the form and advertise a vacancy for
just GBP 195
-- 10% discount for agencies
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Find out more today at
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TIPS ARTICLE
"FreePint reports from this year's Online Information
exhibition at Olympia"
By Sara Waddington
This year's Online Information conference and exhibition at Olympia
(4-6 December 2007, Olympia, UK) attracted thousands of visitors, over
230 exhibitors and 900 conference delegates from over 43 countries.
The exhibition is co-located with the Information Management Solutions
event.
The exhibition showcased a variety of content resources and
information management solutions. Visitors could learn about and
develop new search and information management skills at many of the
110 free show seminars. These include Information Skills masterclasses
and Career Development talks; Business Information in Focus;
Challenges for Academic and Corporate Libraries; Content in Context;
Web 2.0, Information Management etc. Presentations from many of these
can be downloaded on the website at
.
The Online Information conference offered insight into learning;
professional development; technology reviews and assessments; case
studies and research results and opinions. Jimmy Wales, founder of
Wikipedia and Wikia, gave a keynote address examining "Web 2.0 in
action - free culture and community on the move." Over 80
international experts, academics and business leaders were included in
the programme, which can be accessed at
.
Notes from Conference Sessions
------------------------------
Prior to the event, we asked you, our readers, which sessions you
wanted to hear about. Here are our notes on some of the sessions
requested.
Information on Web 2.0 highlights from the conference was requested by
the FreePint network. Jimmy Wales, in his Web 2.0 keynote address,
discussed his initiatives to create rapidly growing new concepts for
community development on the Web. Not stopping with the encyclopaedia,
he is now working on the rest of the library and an innovative new
search engine concept. He also spoke about how the free licensing
models that made ‘open source' the dominant software paradigm on the
Internet are now pushing into content spaces and beyond. As part of
his work at Wikia, Wales is developing a human-powered search engine
('Search Wikia') which, he says, will be based on the same open,
community-driven principles as Wikia and Wikipedia.
A session on "Web 2.0 in Action (The Challenges)" was held on 4
December. In this session, three speakers, from Vodafone, ERM UK and
Drugscope, outlined their views on social media, collaboration and
time management.
Christian Schatzinger of Vodafone Group Services explained how
Vodafone's wiki kept all its employees on the ‘same page'. Bonnie
Cheuk, head of knowledge and information (Global Knowledge Sharing
Programme) at ERM UK, showed the audience how Environmental Resources
Management has embraced Web 2.0.
Minerva, ERM's global Internet and collaboration portal, offers all
ERM employees access to a range of Web 2.0 tools (eg My Profile,
wikis, blogs, collaborative workspace etc). Dr Cheuk outlined the
lessons learned from the experience as a result of a new style of
collaboration and communication through Web 2.0. Comments from staff
to the MD's blog also resulted in changes to the way that ERM
approaches and handles certain issues internally.
The last presentation specifically requested by FreePint users was
given by Anne Welsh, Information Officer at Drugscope (UK), entitled
"We've got the technology, but how do we find the time?".
'What is needed to create a good wiki, blog and set of bookmarks is
not any special technical skill but the ability to find, create and
organise information,' she told the audience. 'Make time for
development ideas. When creating your wish list, ie a blog, it is very
important to think "big". Don't think "small" and try to scale up -
think "big" and scale down.'
She advised the audience to keep up with new technology developments -
these offer the potential for increased profit/profile, greater
efficiency gains and the possibility of potential future new services
or the development of existing ones.
She also had useful time and money-saving tips.
'Get on board with feeds,' she urged users. 'They can save a lot of
time - they save us at least two days per week, which we would have
spent looking for new resources. The versatility of feeds means that
any software that produces them (and all Web 2.0 software does) can be
aggregated on to a main website, to cluster news and fresh information
in whatever way is most useful to the end-user.'
She also stressed the importance of constantly reusing and repurposing
material, ie press releases, blog articles etc, as well as sharing
knowledge using wikis.
She also tackled topics such as how to keep the information flowing
when you do not have a professional resource.
'Don't just do it because everyone else is or because it says Web
2.0,' she concluded. 'Do it because it meets your business efficiency
and time requirements.'
OCLC, the world's largest library research and service organisation,
also held a symposium, "Who's watching your space" on 5 December. John
Naughton, Professor of the Public Understanding of Technology at the
Open University and Observer journalist, examined the entire concept
of social networking. Matt Brown, editor of Nature Network and
blogger, outlined real life examples of social networking (including
Second Life) using his experience from the scientific community.
Finally, Cathy de Rosa, VP Global Marketing for OCLC, presented
results from OCLC's recent research report "Sharing Privacy and Trust
in our Networked World". It examines four primary areas:
* Web user practices and preferences on their favourite social sites
* User attitudes about sharing and receiving information on social
spaces, commercial sites and library sites
* Information privacy
* US librarian social networking practices and preferences.
The survey was sent to over 6,000 Web users aged 14 to 80+ in 6
countries.
'We know relatively little about the possibilities that the emerging
social Web will hold for library services,' she explained. 'More than
a quarter of all Web users we surveyed are active users of social
spaces. As Web users become both the creators and consumers of the
social Web, the implication and possibilities for libraries are
enormous. The research provides insights into what these online
library users will expect.'
Sample results indicated that, from 2005 to 2007, there had been a 33%
drop in the use of library websites, reflecting the trend for users to
find information from a growing number of sources. She pointed out
that respondents had indicated a desire to have a two-way dialogue
with information providers, urging librarians to find a way to do this
online, and highlighted the potential of online resources (such as
YouTube) for libraries to reach ‘Google generation' users.
'On social networking sites, 39% have shared information about a book
they have read, 57% have shared photos/videos and 14% have shared
self-published information,' she explained. 'Online trust increases
with usage. Respondents do not distinguish library websites as more
private than other sites they are using. 13% of the public feels that
it is the role of the library to create a social networking site for
their communities.'
The report is available for download, free of charge, at
.
A focus on FUMSI
----------------
It was a busy show for the Free Pint Limited stand, which celebrated
the 10th anniversary of Free Pint Limited. Photos of our activities
can be found at .
As part of the celebrations, we made the award of the 'FUMSI Citation
for Most Useful Article' at the Free Pint stand. Our editors reviewed
the nominations and selected Heather Carine's article, "Mentors and
Mentees: Structuring a Professional Relationship"
as the winner.
Heather, an independent information consultant based in Australia, was
not able to accept her award in person; appropriately enough, however,
her mentor, Amelia Kassel, was able to accept on her behalf. Heather
receives a one-year subscription to VIP magazine
, and the individuals who nominated her
article will receive a one-year subscription to FUMSI, our newest
offering, available from 2 January 2008
. Our press release, including
Heather's remarks, can be found at
.
We also released the results of our FUMSI user survey, which
highlighted the needs of information professionals (subscribers to the
different publications and sites within the Free Pint Limited
network). The results can be accessed on
.
The latest FUMSI Report on "European Research Resources" was also
highlighted at the exhibition. This is a convenient introduction to
Web-based resources for a variety of important topics: government,
news, companies, industries and more. The new report was prepared by
frequent FreePint contributor Adrian Janes, and includes an index to
all URLs cited, links to other resources including industry
associations and other materials published by Free Pint Limited, as
well as extracts from relevant in-depth product reviews published in
VIP magazine . For more details, please
access .
News and product launches
-------------------------
The latest product launches, exhibitor news and show information can
be accessed at
.
We hope to see you at the next Online Information exhibition, which
has been scheduled for 2-4 December 2008 at Olympia!
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Sara Waddington recently joined Free Pint Limited as the senior
managing editor for FUMSI . She has
many years' experience as a writer and editor, focusing on technology,
defence, robotics and other business topics, and previously worked for
Jane's Information Group, among other organisations. She is based in
the London area.
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REVIEW
"Consider the Source: A Critical Guide to the 100 Most
Prominent News and Information Sites on the Web"
Written by James F. Broderick & Darren W. Miller
Reviewed by Graham Stewart
Newspapers, as a species, were slow to 'get' the Internet. They tended
to see it either as simply a repository of amateur opinion or as a
frightening and confusing competitor. Nowadays, of course, even the
most local of newspapers spawns an online presence to complement its
print edition or, at least, to supplement the paper's advertising
revenues.
News is ideally suited to an environment that thrives on frequent
updates and the ability to cross-reference sources and stories. The
problem faced by an audience hungry for news is not a lack of sources,
but how to select meaningful voices among the clamour and throng of
the Internet.
Broderick and Miller believe their book, "Consider the Source: A
Critical Guide to the 100 Most Prominent News and Information Sites on
the Web", is just the filter that we need. For a book that is some 450
pages long and whose purpose is to list and review 100 online news
sites, it works surprisingly well.
The authors are both experienced reporters, and their guiding
principle for the book is that, regardless of the medium, news is
judged by the quality of its content. The tricky part is then to apply
a consistent set of criteria across a range of sites that differ in
political outlook and target audience. To a large degree, Broderick
and Miller pull this off.
Each of the 100 sites gets about four pages of analysis, divided
according to a straightforward template. After an overview that
introduces the company behind the site, we get a description of the
site's contents ('What You'll Find There'), reasons you might want to
use the site ('Why You Should Visit'), a brief look at any hidden - or
explicit - bias or agenda ('Keep This in Mind'), and a final judgment
and rating.
Ratings run from one newspaper - 'Disappointing, definitely look
elsewhere' - through to five newspapers - 'Superior sites worth
checking in with every day'. Given the inevitable US weighting of the
book and its authors, it is gratifying to note that of the five sites
that merit five newspapers, two of them are British - the BBC and
Guardian Unlimited.
Equally gratifying is the fact that Fox News cannot even muster one
newspaper, and is paired with Rush Limbaugh at the bottom of the pile
with a rating of only one half of a newspaper. When rating the Fox
site, the authors say, 'unless you want neo-con spin and Republican-
driven opinion, FoxNews.com belongs in the no-visit zone'.
This is obviously a book to dip into rather than read from cover to
cover, but the opinions expressed on the sites I know are fair and
balanced - not something that can be said of Fox News - and encouraged
me to look at other sites, such as First Amendment Center and
TomPaine.com, which were unfamiliar to me.
There is a decent index, and, better still, an associated website at
TheReportersWell.com , with
additional resources and updated information. I was dubious about the
potential usefulness of a book as a guide to websites, but I find I
refer to it now more than I expected.
So, I give it four newspapers - 'Very good information'.
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Graham Stewart is a freelance writer. His website is at
.
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Related FreePint links:
* Find out more about this book online at the FreePint Bookshelf
* FreePint Strategy Bookshelf
Related links:
* Read customer comments and buy this book at Amazon.co.uk
or Amazon.com
Propose an information-related book or resource for review today. Send
details to Monique Cuvelier, editor of FreePint .
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FEATURE ARTICLE
"1997-2007: A Decade of Find, Use, Manage, Share"
On the evolutionary scale, 10 years isn't even a blip, not a blink,
not a breath in. It's hardly anything at all. But on the information
scale, especially in the years from 1997 to 2007, a decade is a new
mountain range, a new species, a new world.
FreePint has been covering this evolution revolution from tip to tail,
keeping up with changes in the business information industry as
they've happened. Now, as we celebrate our 10th birthday, we've
invited four top experts in their fields of finding, using, managing
and sharing information to explain what these changes mean from a
distance.
By the time you read this, the landscape is likely to have evolved
again - who knows what earthshaking ideas are rippling forth? Until
then, here are the hottest trends in the last 10 years. We'll keep an
eye on the seismograph while you read.
Find By Marcy Phelps
--------------------
During the past 10 years, the information industry has seen one
significant trend that I call DIY. End users are doing their own
searching, as well as creating and sharing their own content. The DIY
trend has affected all areas of search, including who's doing the
searching, what we are searching for, and where we do our searching.
It also has changed the role of the professional searcher, allowing us
to add analysis and other value to search. Several significant
developments during the past 10 years have driven this trend toward
DIY in search:
Google The Google.com domain was registered in September 1997, and the
company officially incorporated in 1998. By then, we were already
moving away from mediated searching. AltaVista, HotBot and other free
tools were helping end users find information on the Internet.
Librarians were teaching patrons how to access database products. But
it was Google, with its easy-to-use and clutter-free interface and
heavy investment in R & D that brought searching to the masses. Today,
'google' is a verb and search engines advertise directly to consumers.
Personalised search lets users control search results, and anyone can
even create their search engine. Not to be left out, the professional
online services discovered and began to target end users. Forget
professional-grade subscription fees, telnet and Boolean. To compete
with Google, these companies now offer pay-as-you-go pricing and Web
interfaces that make these products attractive to non-information
professionals.
Web 2.0 More user-generated content means we are now searching for
information in different formats; we're looking for up-to-the minute
content, and users are demanding a say in the look and feel of their
search tools. We are no longer limited to text-based content and peer-
reviewed articles. Now images, blogs, audio and video files, books and
other sources are routinely included in our searches. These new
resources have created a new sense of urgency, and we frequently need
content that was created just hours ago. As a result, we've developed
specialised search tools, and some search engines are experimenting
with combining their various indexes into Universal Search - which
displays all types of files in one results page. Comfortable with
online interaction and no longer content with one-size-fits-all
solutions, searchers today have the ability to create their own search
homepage and change how results are displayed.
Mobile Search Not only are we doing our own searching, we're doing it
anywhere we want. It wasn't long ago that we were chained to our
desktop at home, work or the library. Internet cafes whet our appetite
for searching on the go. Eventually laptops became lighter, and
wireless connectivity made us free to search anywhere. Now we use
handhelds. According to one study by Outsell, Inc., about two-thirds
of their respondents were using wireless handhelds. Among those, 71%
have moved beyond phone calls and text messages and access and use
'real' content on their handhelds. According to a recent article,
we'll soon be able to search Google Maps at the gas pump. And with
Google's recent entry into mobile operating systems, who knows where
this will take us.
Google, Web 2.0 and mobile search have paved the way for DIY searching
and, along with it, new roles for both information professionals and
end users.
Biography
---------
As the company founder and president of Denver-based Phelps Research,
Marcy Phelps offers business intelligence
and market research for business executives. Marcy publishes a free
monthly e-mail bulletin, ResearchNOTES, with useful sites and tips for
Internet research. To subscribe, go to
.
Use By Tim Houghton
-------------------
The blindingly obvious information trend of the last decade has been
the development of the Internet and the continued growth of computing
and digitization, which has led to a vast increase in the volume of
information. A study by researchers at Berkeley University back in
2003 reckoned the global stock of information was increasing by 5
Exabytes per annum (that's 5,000 million gigabytes).
But whilst the sheer volume of information has increased, many of the
techniques employed to solve business problems - in other words, 'use'
information - haven't changed. Spreadsheets are still a basic tool of
analysis. Graphs are still a standard of visualisation. More complex
techniques like regression analysis and scenario planning were around
well before 1997.
Nevertheless, there are a few significant trends that emerge from the
last 10 years in the field of using information. Here they are:
Business Planning Software
Large firms have been able to run sophisticated analyses of sales,
cashflow and inventory since the adoption of the mainframe. But
increasingly such systems can be used by any size firm, thanks to the
growth and democratisation of enterprise analysis software. Think SAP
for small businesses and Web-delivered systems like Salesforce.com.
Social Information Usage
Web 2.0 and social media are obviously all the rage right now, but
actually using information collaboratively in a professional context
has moved through two distinct phases. In simple terms, the period
1997-2002 saw increased collaboration within the enterprise via
intranets. And post 2002, we have seen increased collaboration outside
of the enterprise via blogging and extranets.
Semantic Web
In 1998 Tim Berners-Lee, one of the founders of the Web, wrote about
his hopes for 'a logical web of data' or a Semantic Web. Nearly 10
years on, his vision has been partly achieved. Think how XML helps
firms share data or RSS helps researchers track news. Or how open
API's enable mash-ups of related data. This is leading to very great
changes in the use of information whereby machines can read and
analyse information from multiple sources in real time.
Meaning-Based Computing
This is, in a way, the next step on from the Semantic Web. It involves
computers actually extracting meaning from text in order to suggest
relevant articles, conduct automated summarisation of articles and so
on. In other words, it is computers 'using' information in ways humans
used to. Important companies in the field include Corpora and
Autonomy.
Computing-Based Decision Making
The logical conclusion of the ever-greater usage and digitisation of
information is that computers can use information to make their own
decisions. This for me is the most exciting and controversial
development of the last 10 years. In many fields from medical
diagnosis to bond trading computer systems have started to outperform
their human peers. It was 1997 when IBM's Deep Blue computer beat the
greatest chess player of modern times Gary Kasparov. Read Ian Ayre's
fascinating new book 'Super Crunchers' to see why computers may soon
be writing film scripts.
Looking forward to the next 10 years is always hard but the rise of
computerised analysis and decision making seems set to continue. Does
this leave no room for the talented human being to use data? Certainly
not, for it is people that write the algorithms that data-processing
machines use. And there is still a place for intuition and creativity.
Fortunately, humans aren't obsolete just yet.
Biography
---------
Tim Houghton is the founder and MD of New Media Intelligence, a Web
clipping firm. New Media Intelligence monitors thousands of websites
for news, allowing clients to keep up with the latest media
developments online. The firm prides itself on its tailored approach
and develops bespoke solutions for clients, including social media
monitoring. Read more at .
Manage By Karen Loasby
----------------------
We manage many things within the boundaries of information. There are
things that must be found, acquired, classified, organised, monitored,
protected, archived and eventually disposed of. Curiously, we never
talk about 'book management', but records, content, documents, digital
assets and even knowledge are all managed.
Many of these phrases came into existence with the arrival of digital
technologies in the latter half of the 20th century and by 1997 were
common and accepted phrases. But the last decade has seen a growth in
activity, discussion and jobs in these areas.
It is unlikely to be a coincidence that the decade has also seen the
coming of age of the Internet. FreePint shares its 10th anniversary
with the BBC's Website. Amazon was around in 1997, but Larry Page and
Sergey Brin were still trying to get Google off the ground.
Information professionals had certainly noticed the potential of the
Internet by then, both as a resource and as a domain needing a touch
of their expertise. At that time Lou Rosenfeld and Peter Morville were
applying their information science training to the Web and writing the
O'Reilly book, "Information Architecture for the World Wide Web".
As the Web increasingly became a place of business as much as a place
of anarchy and unrestrained freedoms, the need for some aspects of
information management became clear, particularly data protection and
copyright controls. Digital information brought new challenges in
meeting freedom of information and other legal requests.
A new concept, knowledge management, built momentum throughout the
decade. There was much debate about what differences, if any,
distinguished KM from information management, but there was also an
indisputable boom in intranets, information audits, corporate blogs
and wikis.
Metadata became a surprising buzzword, bringing with it new
terminology and applications, but in many ways tapping into old
expertise in abstracting and indexing. Dublin core, taxonomies, XML,
Semantic Web, topic maps, tagging and folksonomies were all part of
the debate.
The term 'information architect' was coined in the 1970s but the new
Web profession found its feet in the late 1990s. Information
architects combined information management with ethnography, human
computer interaction and graphic design to tackle the accessibility,
usability and findability of information on the Web.
Web 2.0 arrived, identifiable in part by an enthusiasm for "tagging
not taxonomy" . Software developers were
exhorted to rely on the wisdom of the crowds not the commitment of
librarians. Initially it felt like the digerati found information
management concepts and rejected them in the space of the decade, but
2.0 poster children like Google's PageRank and Amazon recommendations
remain 'managed' systems. They were not built and left to their own
devices. The companies still plan where the users will contribute,
design the systems that allow and encourage this, and then evaluate
and report on how well the systems (and the users' contributions) are
achieving the companies goals. There is still plenty of work to be
done.
The next decade will doubtless see the arrival of a new thing to be
managed but we are also still managing books thousands of years after
they were invented. It is tempting to say that the one thing that we
are guaranteed to need to manage is 'change', but we need to remember
the similarities in the management problems we face as well as
noticing the dazzling differences.
Biography
---------
Karen Loasby is Information Architecture Team Leader for BBC Future
Media & Technology. She has been at the BBC for six years working on
content modelling, controlled vocabularies, metadata schema, automatic
indexing and trying to support organisational memory. She writes at
.
Share By Jessica Lipnack
------------------------
Though born half a century ago for the very purpose of sharing, the
Internet's contribution to collaboration only began to flower in the
virtual recent past.
In 1997, going online still was new in many places, including most
developed countries. Dial-up meant that people ran mental meters while
online (the faster you got off, the less it cost); being on the Web at
work was highly suspicious; and it was still reasonable to ask, 'Are
you on e-mail?'
'You had to go to IT to negotiate projects for massive systems if you
wanted to collaborate', says Michael Sampson, principal at
Collaboration Success Advisors. 'Now it's a credit card and
$49.99/month for Confluence. Collaboration was an add-on-you did stuff
then thought about how to share. Now it's core to products.'
Collaborative Strategies' David Coleman marks 1997 as the formative
year for 'real-time collaboration'. With the advent of
Web-conferencing companies like Centra and WebEx, screen-sharing
across distance turned simple. Everyone could look at the same
information simultaneously without having to be in the same location.
We take it for granted now but remote screen sharing was a
breakthrough for conference calls.
Just as the dot-com bubble inflated, online team rooms sprouted across
corporate networks. Products like Lotus Notes and eRoomwere standard
bearers for a new way of working asynchronously. Though their
forebears (EIES, c. 1975 and MetaNet, c. 1982) had been providing
online collaboration environments for decades, the late-1990s team
room made work-at-a-distance significantly easier. (Disclosure: My
company, NetAge, designed Livelink virtualteams for Open Text).
Fast-forward to the year 2000 bubble-burst and the birth of the
supernova: Wikipedia. Many global experiments in massive numbers of
people working together preceded the Wikipedians but none matched
their collaborative heft. The electronic encyclopedia of eight million
pages in 250 languages arising from voluntary collaboration was a
landmark in human cooperation.
Peer-to-peer computing, the ultimate in you-me and me-you
collaboration (or stealing, depending on your perspective) made
headlines then too. And, lest we forget, instant messaging, another
early Internet feature, and text messaging also burst onto the scene
at the dawn of the 21st century, radically transforming quick
information exchange.
Advance the clock to now, when we're in the middle of the Web 2.0 era.
Over the past few years, a lifetime in collaboration, the underlying
technology that allows us to share everything in multiple media with a
few clicks is so good that it's 'our bad' if we can't work together
online.
'I could go on poetically for hours about the 'prince of social
software - the wiki,' says Loretta Donovan, Adjunct Assistant
Professor at Columbia University. 'Its ability to allow co-creation
both synchronously and asynchronously ... [and] retain archives is the
essence of collaboration.'
Wikis, blogs, and social networking have radically altered
collaboration. The just-for-kids nature of online social networks is
growing up even as I type.
What's next? Haven't even mentioned Second Life and the other virtual
environments yet, again with deep roots, but now they're going
mainstream. Increased bandwidth, better compression algorithms, and
faster transmission speeds will bring these 3-D collaborative
technologies inside companies, Coleman says. And, before long,
holography will be a commodity, real-time language translators will be
commonplace-and our skill in dissolving distance itself will morph
into something we can barely imagine.
Biography
---------
Jessica Lipnack is CEO of NetAge and co-
author with Jeff Stamps of many books, including "The Age of the
Network" and "Virtual Teams". Her blog:
.
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS
It is free to search and advertise information-related gatherings
in FreePint Events .
Premium listings
----------------
These events are hosted by our partner organisations and/or
advertisers:
** "SIIA Information Industry Summit"
30 - 31 January 2008
Tom Glocer, CEO of Reuters; Gordon Crovitz, Publisher of The Wall
Street Journal; and author Andrew Keen headline the digital
information industry's 7th annual flagship conference. Register by
Dec 14 to save $400 with early-bird registration and to join more
than 400 business leaders representing publishers, aggregators,
and content technology companies leading the transformation of the
digital world. For complete details, visit
.
Organised by SIIA
Location: New York City
** "INSOURCE 2008: Conference on Professional Information Resources
for Business, Management, Marketing and Research"
5 - 6 February 2008
The first INSOURCE 2008 conference will focus on professional
information resources in electronic form used in business,
knowledge management, marketing, market research, competitive
intelligence etc. Unlike many other events the INSOURCE will put
stress on the information contents available via the Internet
rather than information technologies.
The programme includes the following issues: "Marketing reports "
Export and import of trade data" Sources for Competitive
Intelligence " Company and financial information "Country, region
and market risk reports" Monitoring of domestic and foreign media
Organised by Albertina icome Prague
Location: Prague
** "Search Engine Meeting"
28 - 29 April 2008
This annual meeting, now in its 13th year, provides a forum and
point- of-reference for all those interested in the domain of
Search and Retrieval. The Meeting draws together those with a
professional interest in search engines - such as search engine
designers and developers - and those interested in applying search
engines in their own professional environments. Search is at the
heart of information retrieval; and the Search Engine Meeting
provides an annual point of reference as to what is happening in
this fast-moving and exciting field.
Organised by infonortics
Location: Boston, MA, USA
Free listings
-------------
United Kingdom:
* "Flag and Bell - Pub Crawl for Techies" 8 January 2008
* "Improve Your Employability" 17 January 2008
* "Information Law for Information Professionals: What you need to
know about Copyright, Data Protection, Freedom of Information and
Accessibility and Disability Discrimination Laws" 19 February 2008
* "Image Management: New directions" 13 March 2008
* "Business Information on the Internet" 2 April 2008
* "JISC Conference 2008" 15 April 2008
* "Blogs, RSS and Wikis: tools for dissemination, collaboration and
information gathering" 22 April 2008
Czech Republic:
* "International Outsourcing Forum" 31 January - 3 February 2008
United States:
* "3rd International Conference on Information Warfare and Security"
24 - 25 April 2008
NB: This is just a selection of information-related event listings
in the FreePint Events database .
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FREEPINT GOLD
A look back at what FreePint covered at this time in previous years:
* FreePint No. 220 21st December 2006. "Convergence Counselling:
Integration of IT Departments and Libraries" and "2001 to 2006: Five
Years of Information Architecture"
* FreePint No. 196 15th December 2005. "Information Sources for Social
Exclusion On The Web" and "Online Information Conference 2005"
* FreePint No. 173 16th December 2004. "Outsourcing Research to India"
and "The Open Archive Initiative (OAI) and Google Scholar"
* FreePint No. 150 11th December 2003. "Taking a look at media
information professionals and asking: what makes a successful
conference?" and "From Fortune 500 to Handelsblatt's European 500
two years on - a final look at some useful European and
International Rankings"
* FreePint No. 127, 12th December 2002. "Home Pages: Websites for the
Homeworker" and "Archive Television - A Survey of Websites"
* FreePint No. 102, 13th December 2001. "Tracking the Net"
and "Free Pint In 2001"
* FreePint No. 77, 14th December 2000. "A Look at Online Auctions" and
"Horseracing on the Web"
* FreePint No. 52, 16th December 1999. "Free Pint in 1999" and "Review
of Online Information 99"
* FreePint No. 28, 17th December 1998. "Review of Online Information
98" and "Free Pint in 1998"
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FREEPINT FORTHCOMING ARTICLES
[Provisional]
* Ethical Acquisitions *
* Special Collections * Corporate IT convergence *
* Collaborative Search Strategies * RSS on the Go *
* Managing a Team of Researchers * The Leaving Employee *
* Taking Enterprise from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0 *
* Prospect Research *
If you have a suggestion for an article topic, or would like to write
for FreePint, then please contact FreePint's Editor Monique Cuvelier,
or read the notes for authors at
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Contributors to this issue:
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LipnackGraham Stewart, Arthur Weiss, Monique Cuvelier (Editor,
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