My Favourite Tipples from a researcher in the information and knowledge sectors
Jinfo Blog

By Andrew Lucas

Abstract

My Favourite Tipples are shared by Andrew Lucas, a freelance researcher, writer and consultant working in the information and knowledge sectors. Here he shares his go-to sources for information on digital topics, company reports and more.

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Keeping up to date with information practice and technology is essential for me. One of my roles, contributing editor at Jinfo, requires understanding the challenges faced by information professionals and the solutions available to meet them. The information resources highlighted in my selection below are some of the ones I use on a regular basis to help me to achieve that understanding, as well as sources I use for some of my consultancy engagements. They are:

• Google Alerts: This can be something of a scattergun tool for finding content, but Alerts are a great way of tapping into the wide range of news from the web and they occasionally throw up unexpected nuggets. I have permanent Alerts running on a range of information topics, as well as those I set up for individual projects.

• McKinsey Insights: At the other end of the spectrum from Google Alerts, McKinsey & Company provides very focused coverage. There's some great in-depth analysis of digital topics, such as artificial intelligence, and more esoteric subjects like blockchain. I find they are a good way to get a view of the bigger picture and to understand some of the tectonic shifts that are taking place in the digital world.

• Companies House: This is a wonderful free resource for finding information on the 4 million private and public companies in the UK. I sometimes think users in the UK do not fully appreciate how lucky they are to have easy access to so much company data compared to the situation in many other parts of the world.

• Jinfo: I may be accused of favouritism for recommending Jinfo as one of my chosen resources, as I do contribute articles, interviews and product reviews. However, I am also an avid user of Jinfo. I find the range of articles, product reviews and research provided by my fellow contributors one of the best ways of keeping abreast of the concerns and challenges faced by information professionals, as well as the latest developments from vendors.

For fun:

• Oxford Dictionaries: I like words, their definitions, origins and usage. One of the sites I make quite a lot of use of is Oxford Dictionaries, which provides access not only to the Oxford English Dictionary but also a thesaurus and practical help with grammar. I particularly like the "Word of the Day", which I receive by email. At the time of writing, the word of the day was "azimuth". You can check the site if you don’t already know what it means.

An article in Jinfo I found particularly interesting:

• Clare Painter's recent Jinfo article, "Coping with international copyright", provided a great overview of some of the key differences between copyright in a number of key jurisdictions (US, the UK and Europe). The article also highlighted some of the complexities of working across borders.

Contribute your "My Favourite Tipples"

Would you like to share your "My Favourite Tipples" with the Jinfo audience? For contributor guidelines email catherine.dhanjal@jinfo.com or visit the Publish with Jinfo page.

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