Collaborate with Peers in FreePint's Communities of Practice
Jinfo Blog

By Robin Neidorf

Abstract

This week saw FreePint's first in-person Community of Practice session in London. Participants discussed new and evolving ways to meet the need for news provision in their organisations, beyond traditional aggregator platforms. Further opportunities to meet peers face-to-face for frank discussion are upcoming along with telephone sessions. Recent product reviews highlight innovation and niche offers and our new FreePint Topic Series: The Social Enterprise launches this month, focusing on collaboration and connection.

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This week marks the first of FreePint's in-person Community of Practice (CoP) sessions, held in London. More than 15 information managers from banks, consultancies, engineering firms, law firms and pharma companies joined us to dig into the new opportunities and risks associated with changing approaches to delivering news awareness in their organisations.

Both two-hour sessions featured spirited discussion of current and emerging issues with aggregated platforms and vendors, as well as the opportunities afforded by new technologies, alternative vendors and getting closer to user requirements for news provision.

"This was incredibly useful," was the most comment shared when participants left their sessions. "Hear, hear," say I as the Director of Research!

We still have space in sessions scheduled for New York City (28 January), Chicago (10 and 11 February) and Minneapolis (24 February). Read more about the sessions and register for a place. Participation is at no cost for customers with a FreePint Subscription at the Team level and higher, and we make a small number of seats available in each session for qualified participants who are considering a subscription.

CoP Calls Coming

When an in-person session isn't nearby or convenient, we have a monthly CoP call as well. I'm pleased to welcome Chris Broekhoff, president of licensing consultancy MEI Global LLC, to present during CoP calls in January. Chris will help you understand the ins and outs of content licensing - how those critical sources get added to and removed from your favourite aggregators.

Read more about this compelling topic; register to be considered for one of the few remaining seats in these calls on the 23rd and 27th of the month. NB: Seats are nearly all taken as of this publication date; we are making an effort to add a third session.

Latest Reviews

Since the last issue of the FreePint Newsletter, we've published a number of reviews, including:

• Eikon, from Thomson Reuters
• Passport, from Euromonitor
• Manzama, a relatively new tool for business analysis and competitive intelligence.

Together, they represent the range we aim for: flagship products from major vendors; thoughtful offerings from niche publishers; innovative options from newcomers. Stay informed about newly published reviews when you monitor the "product reviews" category of our content.

Upcoming Topic Series: The Social Enterprise

The next FreePint Topic Series is set to launch near the end of January. Co-produced by James Mullan and Shimrit Janes, The Social Enterprise promises to provide a banner crop of practical tips on making the best use of existing tools for collaboration and connection, selecting different tools, and contributing to or leading an internal culture of collaboration to fulfill business objectives. Read Shimrit's introductory article to find out more.

Register your interest in the FreePint Topic Series: The Social Enterprise for notification of new content published in the series, to get early announcements to register for FreePint Webinars produced in the series, and to receive a free copy of the FreePint Report: Buyer's Guide on Social Tools, scheduled for publication in February.

Happy New Year

There seem to be signs of economic recovery everywhere. How about by you? Happy New Year to all of us - let's make 2014 a great one.

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