Content & Technology Under Scrutiny in Our New FreePint Topic Series: Beyond Aggregation
Jinfo Blog

By Andrew Grave

Abstract

The FreePint Topic Series: Beyond Aggregation launches in October. Series Producer Andrew Grave previews the articles and key news aggregator tools which will be reviewed. These include traditional news aggregators such as Nexis, newer software tools such as Newsdesk and tools aimed at the marketing and PR communities including M-Adaptive.

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FreePint’s Topic Series: Beyond Aggregation (October - November 2013) continues to cause considerable interest, reflected in the solid number of responses to the FreePint Survey on News Needs and Preferences 2013. Learn about the project and then share your news needs and preferences in total anonymity with us.

As we talk with customers and contributors to develop the content for this series, two branches of enquiry around enterprise news awareness and delivery deserve equal weight: 

• Content: what products and sources provide the right content to support an organisation's needs for news awareness and usage? What role do aggregators play in bringing sources together, and what unique content can best be accessed on its own?
  
  
• Technology: how can the mechanism of access and delivery of news content bring about critical improvements in workflow, budget allocation, quality of sources and improved decision-making? 

These two branches speak to different capabilities within an organisation. The "content" focus offers a more traditional look at products, sources and understanding the variables in an aggregator product. The "technology" focus reflects recent evolution in tools available - platforms that enable DIY aggregation of both external and internal content, married up at times with big data principles that turn the whole of the internet into a databank.

Content Commissioned

With these two branches in mind, we've finalised the initial editorial calendar and filled it with articles, reviews and reports that address the full spectrum of how you and your organisation may be thinking about news, "Beyond Aggregation", as the title says:

Articles - Content

• Market map: of the solutions available on the market including those from traditional providers, solutions aimed at marketing and PR teams, software-only solutions and social media aggregators, who covers what? With what features and tools?
  
  
• Overview of sources: what’s out there? We map the ever-growing range of content. Can news aggregation tools manage social media and non-text context? If not, how can non-traditional sources can be located?
  
  
• Supplier rationalisation: are there opportunities to reduce costs by consolidating news suppliers? Our authors from two of the Big Four accountancy firms discuss their experiences and share their tips.
  
  
• Trends in Content Licensing: what have been the biggest trends in the licensing of content through the key providers? What can we expect in the future?
  
  
• Supplier selection and evaluation: what criteria should you use when selecting and evaluating your news aggregator? 

Articles - Technology

• Case study in DIY aggregation: legal firm RPC has recently deployed a news aggregation solution harnessing Attensa and RPC’s own intranet. We look at how they went about the process and how it fits within a wider knowledge management programme.
  
  
• Other DIY solutions: providers like Attensa and Linex Systems have made a name for themselves as providers of news aggregation software. But what about the newer breed of social media tools like Flipboard? Can these be deployed successfully in a corporate environment or are they irrelevant to corporate information teams?
  
  
• Mobile news provision: the explosion of apps on mobile devices has led to a siloing of content within individual apps. How do the news aggregators manage the provision of mobile news? We review who’s doing it well and less well.
  
  
• Hidden concerns in DIY: when you go DIY, you take on the risks and responsibilities ordinarily borne by a vendor - licensing, copyright and distribution, customer satisfaction, etc. We provide a guide to these challenges and suggestions for how to address them.

We're also working now with a host of vendors to prepare product reviews. The current confirmed list includes:

• Meltwater News and Meltwater Buzz
• Newsdesk
• Nexis.com/Nexis UK
• NewsEdge.com
• Thomson Reuters Eikon
• Westlaw Practice Insights
• FirstRain
• M-Adaptive

With our formal research protocol for product reviews, we're also able to prepare and publish a comparative matrix on our researchers' results. Every news-related product we've reviewed within the past 12 months will be included on the matrix, enabling you to make point-by-point comparisons on research conclusions regarding areas such as interface, search tools, outputs and content sets.

Finally, we'll publish the FreePint Report: Survey News Needs & Preferences 2013 - our sixth annual review of this dynamic sector.

Webinars

In addition to these articles and reports, we're also planning the following webinars:

• Customised integrations of news content
• News awareness technology installations.

More information on webinars will be forthcoming later this month.

Register your Interest

All content is available as part of a FreePint Subscription. Thanks to generous sponsorship, selected articles, reports and webinars are available to everyone, regardless of subscription status.

Register your interest now for the FreePint Topic Series: Beyond Aggregation, and you’ll also get early notification for webinar registration, as well as a free copy of the FreePint Report: Buyer's Guide on News Content when published in November.

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