Catching up on a world of change
Jinfo Blog

By Robin Neidorf

Abstract

Global events provide a context for observing the scope of change in the information world: Social media was an essential component of coverage of the 2012 London Olympics, unlike the Beijing Olympics only 4 years before. FreePint Reports published this month provide a similar opportunity to step back from the busy desktop and consider the full range of tools that impact how we go about research, news and media monitoring, and gathering intelligence about this world around us.

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If you put a frog in a pan of boiling water, it hops out right away. If you put a frog in a pan of water and slowly bring it to a boil... poached frog.

In other words, it's hard to notice even important changes when they're taking place slowly, all around you.

That's one reason why global events like the Olympics provide a useful framework for seeing the impact of incremental changes over time. The 2012 London Olympics were the first games to be covered comprehensively by social media. In fact, some elements of the Games were directly affected by social media, as James Mullan points out in his recent article. It's a marked contrast to coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, in which social media played a minor if any role at all.

The impact of new tools and technologies on research, news coverage and media monitoring is dramatic and comprehensive. Yet from the perspective of a busy desktop, it's hard to sort out what's important and what's merely noise. FreePint Subscribers get the benefit of three new reports published last week:

• FreePint Report: Research, Part 1 (Information Practice): Compendium of 6 months' worth of FreePint Articles on tips and tools for research, focusing on the needs of practitioners.
• FreePint Report: Research, Part 2 (Information Content): Compendium of 6 months' worth of FreePint Articles on new content, products and strategies for research, to support research managers and those selecting and procuring research tools for their organisations.
• FreePint Report: Monitoring and Mining Social Media and News: An editor's selection of FreePint Articles that examine social media and news resources not just for their ability to keep you up to date but also to mine for new intelligence on the market and competitive landscape.

Amongst them, these three reports provide 130 pages of guidance and perspective - a chance to step back from the day-to-day and consider the wider impact of incremental change on our profession.

FreePint Subscribers have immediate access to these and other articles and reports to help them keep track of their fast-changing environment, and avoid discovering themselves in hot water. 

If you're not yet a subscriber, start the process by asking "How Can FreePint Help?" I personally review every submission, and I look forward to hearing from you.

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