Newsletter No. 174
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FreePint
"Helping 72,000 people use the Web for their work"
http://www.freepint.com/
ISSN 1460-7239 13th January 2005 No.174
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IN THIS ISSUE
-------------
EDITORIAL
By William Hann
MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
By Zena Woodley
FREEPINT BAR
In Association with Factiva
a Dow Jones & Reuters Company
JOBS
Supply Contracts Manager
Lead Document Management Specialist
Corporate Finance Researcher
Knowledge Manager
Senior Research Associate
Research Librarian
TIPS ARTICLE
"Trends in business information, provision and use"
By Pam Foster
BOOKSHELF
"The Visual Culture of Wales: Medieval Vision"
Reviewed by Dr Anthony Thompson
FEATURE ARTICLE
"Enterprise Blogging"
Written by Laurel A. Clyde
EVENTS, GOLD AND FORTHCOMING ARTICLES
CONTACT INFORMATION
ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/130105.htm>
FULLY FORMATTED VERSION
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/130105.pdf>
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** PLANNING YOUR NEXT CAREER MOVE? CILIP CAN HELP **
We support you from university right through to your next plum job.
How? By being one of the world's biggest membership organisations
for information professionals - helping people just like you.
But you'll have to hurry to claim your Prompt Payment membership
discount - offer closes Mar 1 (or Feb 14 for direct debits). So email
'FreePint' and your contact details to findoutmore@cilip.org.uk.
Or visit <http://www.cilip.org.uk/freepintoffer> for more information.
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*** "Information Auditing: A guide for information managers" ***
ISBN: 1-904769-08-X
This in-depth report is published by FreePint and offers an
overview and practical insight into information auditing, drawing
on practical examples and recognised audit methods.
Find out more at:
<http://www.freepint.com/shop/report/>
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*** ABOUT FREEPINT ***
FreePint is an online network of information searchers. Members
receive this free newsletter twice a month: it is packed with tips
on finding quality and reliable business information on the Internet.
Joining is free at <http://www.freepint.com/> and provides access to
a substantial archive of articles, reviews, jobs and events, with
answers to research questions and networking at the FreePint Bar.
Please circulate this newsletter, which is best read when printed out.
To receive a fully-formatted version as an attachment or a brief
notification when it's online, visit <http://www.freepint.com/subs/>.
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EDITORIAL
By William Hann
Having just re-read my editorial from the last edition of FreePint in
2004, the positive tone now seems positively inappropriate, given the
worldwide events of last year. A BBC Radio round-up of the year made
for quite depressing listening, and the natural disaster in Asia
marked the end of a pretty awful year internationally.
Two weeks into 2005 might, therefore, be too early to suggest that
this year should be better than last, but let's hope so.
There were many changes in the information industry last year too, and
VIP's Editor Pam Foster today summarises some of the happenings in
the business information world. There were some significant mergers
and acquisitions, and, of course, the news that Google will be
digitising collections from a number of major international libraries.
Today's feature article is about enterprise blogging, based on a paper
given at the recent Online Information conference here in London. I
personally think there's a very fine line between what are called
'blogs' and what are called 'forums' -- especially when blogs are
contributed to by a number of different people. Either way, I'm a big
fan of both, and think that the way blogs and forums promote
'community' online is invaluable, both commercially and otherwise.
We're looking forward to 2005. We're working hard to find ways of
reinventing what we do, and hope you are doing likewise. Whether
you're building a business, or building a career, we should aim to
make 2005 a great year -- both for ourselves and for those affected by
events around the world, natural or otherwise.
William Hann
Managing Editor and Founder, FreePint
e: william.hann@freepint.com
t: 0870 141 7474
i: +44 870 141 7474
FreePint is a Registered Trademark of Free Pint Limited (R) 1997-2005
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Introducing MINT - a fresh approach to company information
from Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing
To register for a FREE trial visit <http://www.mintbusinessinfo.com>
Companies, news, industry research and directors in a single
easy to use information database for research,
sales, marketing and business development professionals.
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*** VIP No.13 :: In-depth review of Business Monitor Online ***
<http://www.vivaVIP.com/>
VIP publishes in-depth reviews of information products monthly.
VIP Eye analyses business information announcements twice-monthly.
Coming soon: Emerald Management Extra; EBSCO Bus. Source Corporate;
Comparative review: CorpfinWorldWide v. ZEPHYR (BvD)
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MY FAVOURITE TIPPLES
By Zena Woodley
It's post-Christmas, and we're now facing a New Year. Thoughts turn
to sunnier climes - and the awful credit card bills post-festivities.
* Friends of mine have a lovely home near Perpignan
<http://digbig.com/4ckgb> - a grand area to visit whatever time of
year. Getting there: well, I'm a great fan of Ryanair
<http://www.ryanair.com/> for sensibly priced flights - and some
brilliant bargains.
* Now that I've moved into the health field (planet NHS!), it's good
to know that my professional association is on the case. An added
bonus is that I can now search LISA directly myself - see
<http://www.cilip.org.uk/aboutcilip/welcome/>.
* Keeping an eye out for which way our masters expect us to turn, I
like <http://www.honourablefiend.com/>, with its more than sideways
look at the political scene.
* An interesting new search engine I've discovered is A9. See
<http://a9.com/-/company/whatsCool.jsp> and you'll discover why.
* And those debts? Not something we talk about - but here's an
interesting site: <http://www.cccs.co.uk/>. It offers a discreet
online debt check, and has many very useful links.
Here's to a prosperous and happy new year, folks!
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Zena Woodley has worked in information for an eternity and still
thoroughly enjoys the enquiry side of her work. She is Information
Services Manager for Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.
Submit your top five favourite Web sites. See the guidelines at
<http://www.freepint.com/author.htm>.
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*** SLA Europe Information Professional Award ***
Each year Factiva sponsors SLA Europe Information Professional Award
(SLA EIP). Nominate yourself or a colleague and win this prestigious
award and an all expenses paid trip to the conference in Toronto.
Entries by 28th February 2005.
For more details about the EIP award visit:
<http://www.sla-europe.org/>
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*** DigBig :: Helping communicators communicate long URLs ***
Whenever you need to communicate long Web
addresses, use the free DigBig service.
DigBig shortens long URLs significantly:
<http://www.DigBig.com/>
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FREEPINT BAR
<http://www.freepint.com/bar>
In Association with Factiva
a Dow Jones & Reuters Company
Although we moderate the Bar constantly, it's so nice to conduct a
formal review of the goings-on there every two weeks in this section
of the FreePint Newsletter. There really is a lot of interesting
material at the Bar and here is just a small selection of unanswered
queries.
Can you advise a small specialist information unit of a charity on
choosing a current awareness service?
<http://www.freepint.com/go/b31053>. What about some medical
information enquiry management software for a non-profit pharma
company in South Africa? <http://www.freepint.com/go/b30979>.
If you work for a library and are disposing of books or other
collections, contact UNESCO about helping to rebuild Tsunami-hit
libraries in Asia <http://www.freepint.com/go/b31026>. Are any
FreePinters going to contribute to the online consultation about the
implications of the EU's PSI Directive?
<http://www.freepint.com/go/b31017>. Old volumes of Hansards
(1919-1970) are up for grabs <http://www.freepint.com/go/b31042>.
The six-monthly index of all articles appearing in FreePint since 1997
has been published <http://www.freepint.com/go/b31011>. VIP has
reviewed Business Monitor Online <http://www.freepint.com/go/b30936>
and the latest FreePint Jobs Update has advice on the importance of
what you're reading <http://www.freepint.com/go/b31000>. There is a
new 'Jobs Update Archive' so that you can read all the past career
advice <http://www.freepint.com/go/b30825>.
On the software/hardware front, can you recommend any packages for
enforcing software licensing restrictions?
<http://www.freepint.com/go/b31056>. What about OCR scanners for a
document management solution? <http://www.freepint.com/go/b31049>.
Do you use backup software or online backup providers? I've suggested
the company that we use <http://www.freepint.com/go/b31023>.
Finally, does anyone in the conference/seminar business use a
benchmarking system to predict the success of future events?
<http://www.freepint.com/go/b30985>. Or is there any information
about the Esso's 'Price Watch' campaign from 1996?
<http://www.freepint.com/go/b31039>.
A mixed bag as usual. 'Happy New Year' to all contributors.
William Hann <william.hann@freepint.com>
Founder and Managing Editor, FreePint
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The FreePint Bar is where you can get free help with your tricky
research questions <http://www.freepint.com/bar>
Help with study for information-related courses is available at the
FreePint Student Bar <http://www.freepint.com/student>.
Twice-weekly email digests of the latest postings can be requested
at <http://web.freepint.com/>.
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*** VIP offers exciting content for 2005 ***
VIP is planning an exciting series of reviews for 2005 including new
products and comparisons of established products suggested by
subscribers. Look out for a major comparison of well-known M&A
products early this year.
<http://www.vivaVIP.com/>
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*** Willco :: Hosting email newsletters and online forums ***
Willco saves you time by handling subscriptions,
bounces and account changes automatically.
Find out more about Willco Modules and read the testimonials:
<http://www.Willco.com/>
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FREEPINT JOBS
<http://www.freepint.com/jobs>
The FreePint Jobs Update is circulated widely every two weeks.
This free newsletter now has 2,000 direct subscribers and
is posted at the Bar and in the Bar Digest (circulation 12,000).
To see the Jobs Update No.88 and read the new 'Jobs Advice' section,
visit <http://www.freepint.com/go/b31000>. To subscribe, modify your
account at <http://web.freepint.com>.
Fully-formatted PDF version available at:
http://web.freepint.com/jobs/FreePint-Jobs-Update-88.pdf
Here are some of the latest featured jobs:
Supply Contracts Manager
3-4mnth contract at Govt Agy in Bristol - help develop procurement
strategy for their newly formed Information Service Unit.
Recruiter: Sue Hill Recruitment
<http://www.freepint.com/go/j3729>
Lead Document Management Specialist
You will provide leadership in the support and use of Syngenta's
bespoke, global documentum system.
Recruiter: Sygenta
<http://www.freepint.com/go/j3732>
Corporate Finance Researcher
Develop a sector research specialism as you support some of the
finest Corporate Finance teams in Europe.
Recruiter: City Professionals
<http://www.freepint.com/go/j3741>
Knowledge Manager
Knowledge Manager Vacancy within Broadview, a Division of Jefferies
Recruiter: Broadview International, A Division of
Jefferies International
<http://www.freepint.com/go/j3742>
Senior Research Associate
Exceptional opportunity for Senior Researcher with strong business
acumen and confident personality to be involved at Board level.
Recruiter: Glen Recruitment
<http://www.freepint.com/go/j3774>
Research Librarian
Research for information, identify relevant materials dealing with
issues of case law and policing matters.
Recruiter: Surrey Police
<http://www.freepint.com/go/j3776>
NB: There are 19 other jobs in the current edition of the Jobs Update
<http://www.freepint.com/go/31000> and over 100 in the database.
[The above jobs are paid listings]
FreePint Jobs -- the best place for information vacancies.
* VACANCY SEARCHING -- Free search and sign up to the Job Update.
* VACANCY RECRUITING -- Complete the form and advertise a vacancy
for GBP195 <http://www.freepint.com/jobs/submit/overview.php3>.
50% discount for registered charities. 10% discount for agencies.
Find out more today at <http://www.freepint.com/jobs>
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What is the ResourceShelf?
<http://www.resourceshelf.com>
ResourceShelf is a free daily update containing news of interest
to information professionals around the world.
Topics include the latest news with web search engines, research
tips, new web resources, and much more.
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*** Onopoly :: One-stop-shop for advertising information ***
If you're considering advertising with
FreePint, VIP, ResourceShelf or DigBig,
Onopoly is your single point of contact.
Download ratecards and presentations at:
<http://www.Onopoly.com/>
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TIPS ARTICLE
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/130105.htm#tips>
"Trends in business information, provision and use"
By Pam Foster
The VIP publications, VIP and VIP Eye <http://www.vivaVIP.com/>, are
concerned with the business information industry - its products, its
providers and its users. An overview of their content for the last
quarter of 2004 reveals that it was an active period for forging
alliances, as well as for buying and selling information companies.
New product development was mainly centred on company information
services, as well as mobile technology. Significantly, the influence
of Google increased, following news of its project to digitise library
content, and the launch of Google Scholar and Google Desktop Search.
New mergers, acquisitions and alliances
---------------------------------------
The last quarter of 2004 saw a number of companies involved in M&A
activity. Additionally, a number of new alliances were forged and
others were ended.
Bureau van Dijk was acquired by Candover, a London-based private
equity house. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed and Bureau van Dijk
has yet to make an official statement. A statement from Candover said:
'The key attractions of the investment for Candover were BvD's
specialised products with strong brand recognition and leading market
shares, its substantial growth opportunities and its highly
experienced management team'.
In October, Hemscott strengthened its position as an information
provider by buying bigdough, a provider of US and European information
on institutional fund managers, analysts and journalists. Not only
will bigdough's proprietary information expand Hemscott's data
resource, but its software applications will also enable the company
to launch complementary products and services across the enlarged
group. The acquisition was Hemscott's second purchase of a US
information provider during 2004. A couple of months earlier, it
acquired CoreData, a provider of North American company financial
data.
In order to concentrate on its online products, LexisNexis UK sold
more than 600 of its print-based legal and tax titles to Tottel
Publishing. The titles included books, loose-leaf works, journals and
newsletters, as well as the entire Irish list and many of the titles
published by LexisNexis UK in Scotland. Tottel Publishing is a new
venture, established by Jim Smith, the former UK publishing director
of LexisNexis. In 2003, LexisNexis sold its academic list to Oxford
University Press.
Pearson sold its stake in Spanish newspapers fuelling speculation that
it may withdraw from newspaper publishing altogether in order to
concentrate on its more lucrative and successful education division.
Recoletos, the Spanish media group and part of the FT Group, has been
sold to Retos Cartera, a consortium of Spanish investors. Recoletos
owns the Marca and Expansion newspapers. Some industry watchers are
suggesting that the loss-making Financial Times newspaper could be the
next to go. VIP Eye will be closely monitoring the activities of
Pearson over the coming months.
Dow Jones bought MarketWatch for approximately $519 million.
MarketWatch provides business news, financial information and
analytical tools, plus it maintains two free advertising supported web
sites, MarketWatch.com and BigCharts.com. It also operates MarketWatch
Information Services group which licenses market news, data,
investment analysis tools and other online applications. MarketWatch
will be integrated into the Dow Jones Consumer Electronic Publishing
business which comprises The Wall Street Journal Online.
anacubis withdrew its product line in order to undertake a review of
its businesses and technologies, with a view to merging the anacubis
and i2 product lines. The company is a division of the UK
headquartered i2 Group and, to date, both companies have sold
different products, with different feature sets. anacubis believes a
merger will create a more powerful and feature rich product. anacubis
products enable users to retrieve, consolidate and analyse information
from information vendors, web sites, enterprise databases and
spreadsheets, within a visual interface. The November issue of VIP
includes an item from Greg Coyle, General Manager of anacubis who
writes on how the information mountain can be turned into actionable
business intelligence via the use of visualisation tools.
Factiva ended its alliance with IBM Web Fountain. The companies were
co-developing a text analytics product, Factiva Insight for
Reputation, which aims to monitor Factiva's news content and web pages
for mentions of a company and its competitors, and any issues that
might affect a company's reputation. Factiva decided to look for
alternative technologies following IBM's inability to provide the
currency that the product required. Factiva says that it is still
committed to research and development in the areas of text mining and
visualisation, i.e. displaying results via charts and other graphics
which help users grasp trends and patterns from large quantities of
data. Factiva and IBM will continue to work together on other
projects.
OneSource was busy signing up new content providers, following
D&B's withdrawal of its data from the Business Browser products. To
date, agreements have been signed with six new data providers for the
European and Asia-Pacific regions. The company claims that the new
content will provide its customers with a 10% increase in global
company coverage and a 20% increase in executive coverage. Further
details of the six information companies can be found in VIP Eye, No.
21, 11 November 2004.
Company information dominates new product development
-----------------------------------------------------
The majority of notable products launched in the last quarter of 2004
were concerned with company information. The most important of these
are from Bureau van Dijk, OneSource and Hoover's.
Bureau van Dijk launched INVIEW, a new global equity ownership
product. It combines data from Heale Financial with BvD software to
offer a global analysis of equity-holding investment funds and the
quoted companies in which they invest. The INVIEW data also provides
fund information and contact details for individual fund managers.
More information on the new product, together with a profile of Heale
Financial, is available in VIP Eye, No. 23, 9 December 2004. An
in-depth review of INVIEW will be published in VIP later this year.
OneSource made available the first of a new wave of information
modules that employ pattern recognition and linguistic technologies to
extract hard-to-find information from unstructured text reports and
web sites. The company claims that it is the first business
information service to employ content mining technologies that can
extract data from analysts' reports and other resources, company web
sites and online HTML pages. Two new add-ons, Company Insights and
Executive Insights, are available as part of the Global Business
Browser product. Company Insights provides insights into the strategic
initiatives, strengths and weaknesses of major publicly-traded
companies, while Executive Insights provides fielded information on
over 400,000 VP and director-level contacts. OneSource plans to launch
UK versions of Company and Executive Insights later this year. Both
will be reviewed in VIP as soon as they are made available.
Investment by Hoover's parent D&B led to the re-launch of a new
Hoover's UK site and a new premium product, Hoover's UK Pro Premium.
The new service provides information on more than 40,000 of the
world's most influential companies; basic D&B data on 1.7 million UK
companies; D&B's database of 90,000 companies worldwide; and detailed
records on 560,000 UK companies. In line with the new developments,
Gehan Talwatte has returned to manage Hoover's UK. Gehan Talwatte was
previously CEO of PowerInfo, a position he moved to following the
closure of the Hoover's UK office over three years ago. VIP will be
carrying a review of Hoover's UK Pro Premium product later this year.
Information providers taking advantage of mobile technology
-----------------------------------------------------------
Information providers are increasingly taking advantage of mobile
technology. Three well known providers - LexisNexis, Dow Jones and
Yell - have all recently developed new mobile services.
Legal Updater, from LexisNexis, provides tailored email alerts for the
UK legal community. Alerts on judgements, legislation and regulations
on pre-selected subject areas, together with corresponding news
analysis, are received daily, twice daily or weekly on the user's PC
or Blackberry by 7.00 am every morning.
Dow Jones NewsWires are now available on hand held devices throughout
Europe. Financial professionals can select real-time Dow Jones news
covering specific asset classes in their preferred language: English,
French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian or Dutch. Additionally,
MarketStream users are able to access the premium Dow Jones Economic
Alerts service, which informs them of market-moving Treasury
announcements as they happen.
Yell.com Mobile provides information on approximately two million UK
shops and businesses, accessible via mobile phones. Additionally, the
service offers full colour street maps, and walking and driving
directions from where the user is located.
Google becoming even more mainstream
------------------------------------
The impact of Google is becoming even more mainstream following the
launch of Google Scholar and Google Desktop Search, together with the
news that it is to work with the libraries of Harvard, Stanford, the
University of Michigan, the University of Oxford and the New York
Public Library, to digitally scan books from their collections so that
users worldwide can search them in Google.
Google Desktop Search has now been launched in the UK and rest of
Europe, and is available in 28 languages. Aimed at companies,
universities and government agencies, it enables organisations to
deliver Google-type search results on intranets and pubic web sites.
Google Scholar, which is still only available in beta mode, enables
users to search specifically for scholarly literature, including
peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and
technical reports. Articles will be available from a wide variety of
academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and
universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web.
These are significant developments, and VIP will feature in-depth
items on Google Desktop Search and Google Scholar later this year.
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*** To find out more about VIP visit <http://www.vivaVIP.com> ***
Pam Foster has been actively involved in the business information
industry as a writer and reviewer for nearly 20 years. She previously
played a major role in Headland Business Information since its
inception, as editor of its newsletters and directories. More
recently, she has acted as a consultant to several large information
companies. In December 2003, she became editor of FreePint's
subscription-based products, VIP and VIP Eye.
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Related FreePint links:
* 'Information and Libraries' articles in the FreePint Portal
<http://www.freepint.com/go/p69>
* Post a message to the author, Pam Foster, or suggest further
resources at the FreePint Bar <http://www.freepint.com/bar>
* Read this article online, with activated hyperlinks
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/130105.htm#tips>
* Access the entire archive of FreePint content
<http://www.freepint.com/portal/content/>
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*** Willco in the USA, April 2005 ***
Willco will be attending conferences in Tucson, AZ and New York
in April 2005. Contact us if you would like to meet us State-side:
<http://www.willco.com/go/p44>
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FREEPINT BOOKSHELF
<http://www.freepint.com/bookshelf>
"The Visual Culture of Wales: Medieval Vision"
By Peter Lord
Reviewed by Dr Anthony Thompson
This is the third and final disc in the series 'The Visual Culture of
Wales', "the most comprehensive survey of the visual culture of Wales
ever undertaken". The first disc of the series was placed in the top
three in the CILIP/Nielsen Reference Awards in 2001, and the second
disc won the Reference Award in 2002. At the time I said that "this is
the most mature multimedia CD-ROM publication I have encountered". I
wondered how disc three would fare, especially as funding was
particularly difficult to raise for the third disc, despite the
excellence of the Peter Lord's books on which the discs are based and
of the first two discs. However, disc three "Medieval vision" does
not disappoint, and maintains the highest standards achieved in this
series.
Content is accessed from the disc itself, not copied onto your hard
disc, but this does not hinder the user in any way. Three icons exist
on the disc, one for Windows users and two for Mac users and these
open the disc. The disc begins with yet another beautiful opening
sequence - who says CD-ROMs can't be as beautiful as books? The now
familiar opening screen explaining how to navigate the disc then
appears. The icons at the bottom are still a little small, but
perfectly adequate and user friendly. An attractive sound track of
specially recorded medieval music accompanies initial screens
throughout.
Visual journeys through the period consist of visually attractive
screens containing multiple pictures and text, and each picture within
is clickable to enlarge up to full screen. The journeys take you
through a series of themes on the topics of Practice, Patronage and
Ideas. Sound clips (often quotations) are included with a number of
screens, their presence indicated by an icon. Hold the mouse pointer
over the icon and a description of the sound clip appears.
The Time Gallery opens with an attractive screen over which you can
move your pointer and as you do so panels appear which can be clicked
to take you into different sections of the gallery. Each section
proceeds as a multiple image slide show with sound commentaries.
Themes include 'The Raglan Frieze', 'The Celtic Revival', and there
are multiple storylines within each.
The 1000 plus photographs (much of the commissioned photography was by
Charles and Patricia Aithie) and images used on the CD-ROM are of the
highest quality, both photographically and in terms of reproduction on
full screen - have a look at the Ardagh Chalice, for example.
The discs also contain the full text of the original book by Peter
Lord, and each image on the page is also clickable for enlargement.
There are Galleries of images arranged by date and place (accessed by
clicking in the appropriate place on a map of Wales). A Glossary and
Bibliography are also to be found.
Usefully, icons exist to print the screen or save the screen as a
file, and the disc comes with very flexible conditions of use. The
production team is to be congratulated for the thought and imagination
that has gone into the overall design and content of this series.
It is difficult to see how these discs could have been improved - in
my experience it remains the best produced and most beautiful
electronic publication currently available, and yet, sadly, it has
attracted little attention outside Wales. It is a model for all
electronic publishers to strive towards, and yet the small and
talented team who produced it has been disbanded due to the current
short-termism and short-sighted policies imposed upon universities by
politicians who patently do not understand what universities are for.
What a tragic waste!
I do recommend all academic and major public libraries purchase this
series in the knowledge that it will educate in the best possible way,
and hopefully inspire others to produce discs of the same exacting
standards. This series is a masterpiece.
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dr Tony Thompson was Senior Lecturer in Media Technology at the
College of Librarianship Wales where he pioneered and developed a
range of multimedia courses until 1989. He was also consultant,
lecturer, audiovisual producer and author in the use and production of
multimedia materials in librarianship, education, and commerce. He
undertook international consultancies ranging from program production
for commercial companies to systems analysis of library and associated
services for broadcasting companies. Managing Editor of The
Audiovisual Librarian/Multimedia information and technology for
fourteen years, Tony is Chair of the CILIP/Nielsen Electronic
Reference Awards Committee and an Honorary Fellow of CILIP.
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Related FreePint links:
* Find out more about this book online at the FreePint Bookshelf
<http://www.freepint.com/bookshelf/wales.htm>
* "The Visual Culture of Wales: Medieval Vision" ISBN 0708318797,
published by University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and
Celtic Studies <http://www.wales.ac.uk/press>
* Search for and purchase any book from Amazon via the FreePint
Bookshelf at <http://www.freepint.com/bookshelf>
* Read about other Internet Strategy books on the FreePint Bookshelf
<http://www.freepint.com/bookshelf/strategy.htm>
To propose an information-related book for review, send details
to <bookshelf@freepint.com>.
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Organisations: post your press releases for free publicity
Researchers: subscribe to the free weekly VIP Wire Digest
<http://www.vivaVIP.com>
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FEATURE ARTICLE
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/130105.htm#feature>
"Enterprise Blogging"
Written by Laurel A. Clyde
In 2002, weblogs or blogs were discussed in a FreePint article
<http://www.freepint.com/issues/020502.htm>, particularly in relation
to library and information science. Although specialist blogging
software had been available only since early 1999
<http://www.blogger.com/>, blogs had already, within three years,
become popular as a form of online diary and as a way of disseminating
current information. In May 2003, "Enterprise blogs" were identified
as "a new breed of blog"
<http://www.onclipevent.com/archives/enterframe/000041.html>.
Nevertheless, it would seem that some businesses and other enterprises
have been using blogs for a number of purposes almost since the
beginnings of blogging. This article, based on a presentation about
"Enterprise Applications of Weblogs" at the "Online Information 2004"
conference exhibition in London in December 2004
<http://www.online-information.co.uk>, will provide an overview of the
applications of blogs in enterprises, and introduce resources and
sources of further information. In particular, information will be
provided about blogs devoted to discussions of enterprise blogging,
and online articles and papers about enterprise blogging. A web page
developed to support the conference presentation is available at
<http://www.hi.is/~anne/entblogs.html>.
Weblogs can take many different forms, any of which might be
appropriate for enterprise blogging. They may be a one-way form of
communication, where users simply read the "posts" of the blog owners.
Alternatively, blogs can be a two-way medium of communication (between
owners and their readers) or they can be the basis of a community in
which all readers of the blog can contribute on an equal footing. Each
of these options has its place. For example, some "one-way" blogs are,
in effect, electronic newsletters, while blogs which allow all members
of a group to "post" information, can be used as the basis for group
projects. Blogs might be public (available to all on the Internet) or
private (available on an organisation's intranet or via a password).
Meg Hourihan is quoted in the Washington Post (11 September 2003) as
saying that "... some of the most effective company blogs are posted
on internal networks, or intranets. These can help different business
divisions connect or allow employees from disparate offices to share
information when working together on a big project."
<http://digbig.com/4cjkw>. Blogs might be created and maintained by
individuals, or they might be team blogs or group blogs, with everyone
in the team or group having the right to post. Blogs might be
text-only, or they might incorporate graphics or multimedia. They
might be maintained from personal computers, or they might be updated
using moblogging technology - web-enabled mobile phones or hand-held
devices.
Enterprise Applications of Blogs
--------------------------------
There is very little research related to enterprise blogging; the
commercial applications of blogging are mostly unproven as yet. There
are, on the other hand, many articles and papers written by
enthusiasts or early adopters. While this literature contains many
useful ideas, there is little evaluative material, so though we know
that enterprises have used blogs for various purposes, we don't
necessarily know whether or not those blogs achieved the purposes for
which they were created. Nor do we have much information about the
characteristics of successful blogs, or the purposes for which
blogging is most successful. In an article in Itbusiness.ca, John
Saunders actually challenges his readers to send him "a story of how
blogging has helped your organization"
<http://www.itbusiness.ca/index.asp?theaction=61&sid=52106%20>, though
things are not quite as bad as this may make them seem. Karen Lasnick
and Julie Weber have reported on one law firm's experience with
blogging <http://www.llrx.com/features/blogsatlawfirm.htm> while the
Radiant Marketing blog has a case study of a small business blog at
Kuhlman Auctions, <http://digbig.com/4cjks> and there are other
examples.
In the literature, the following have been suggested as potential
applications of blogging in enterprises:
* Blogs can be useful sources of information for business,
particularly as each one may present information from a different
point of view, though it is worth noting that blogs are not a good
way to gain a basic overview of a subject or topic; they tend to
focus on current issues and discussion. However, finding useful
weblogs and keeping up with them is a time-consuming activity. RSS
feeds <http://www.freepint.com/issues/170604.htm> can assist those
who need to monitor a number of weblogs. In addition, specialist
tools are emerging that will help. For example, Kinja
<http://kinja.com/> can be used to locate blogs that are similar to
blogs that are already being monitored.
* Blogs can be used for communication; indeed it has been claimed that
blogs have "the potential to be a key business communication tool"
<http://www.onclipevent.com/archives/enterframe/000041.html>. They
can be used for communication within the enterprise as well as for
communication with clients and others outside the enterprise. Like
other collaborative tools, blogs are effective for companies that
encourage cross-functional communication. They provide individual
workers and teams with easy-to-use tools to deliver critical
real-time intelligence to customers, partners, investors, and
indirectly to internal decision-makers"
<http://www.collaborationcafe.com/2004/01/blogs_enter_the.html>.
* Blogging can be a tool for project management; good blogging
software provides facilities for organising and managing timelines
and information from a variety of sources. For example, Basecamp
<http://www.basecamphq.com/> is a new project management tool aimed
at designers, consultants and freelancers. It uses a "blog-like
format" for recording and presenting content; it brings together
material from a variety of sources including email, chat, PowerPoint
presentations, web links and feedback; and it supports the use of
RSS feeds <http://www.eevl.ac.uk/rss_primer/> to deliver
information to the desktops of all who are involved in the project.
* Blogs can be used as a competitive intelligence tool, particularly
for carrying out research to support new business proposals or
product development. For example, the Traction blogging software
"handles the collection, organization, sharing, linking and
retrieval of information from multiple sources, including e-mail,
Web content, external news feeds, business analytic systems and
customer contact reports"
<http://www.tractionsoftware.com/productadvantage.htm>.
* Blogs can be used for marketing, for example as a "way to connect
with potential customers". Says Ellen McCarthy: "few business
bloggers can say how much their daily postings affect the firm's
bottom line, but most assume that customers who check in regularly
will be more likely to purchase a new product or be faithful users
of the services offered" <http://digbig.com/4cjkw>.
Blogs can be used as an alternative to email marketing, or as a
marketing tool in their own right. Marketing-oriented blogs enable
enterprises to provide information and discussion about new products
and about developments within the enterprise. For a report on blogs
in marketing, see
<http://www.marketingprofs.com/preview.asp?file=/4/huba11.asp>.
* Blogs have been promoted as a tool for knowledge management and
knowledge sharing. Ross Mayfield has suggested that blogs can help
to capitalise on "a wide variety of areas of expertise within a
group", encourage contributions from different people, and provide a
basis for internal data feeds so that they can be viewed in context,
among other things
<http://ross.typepad.com/blog/2004/02/disney_enterpri.html>. The
recognition provided by signed blog entries provides motivation for
people to participate; they get credit for their ideas. Blogs can
"make knowledge workers more productive" says David Goldstein
<http://digbig.com/4cjkx>; "Navneet" further notes that the
knowledge captured through a blog (and accessible through its
archive) "remains within the enterprise, even if the knowledge
worker does not"
<http://www.onclipevent.com/archives/enterframe/000041.html>.
* Customer service is an area in which the potential of blogging is
being explored. Blogs could provide customers with information about
products, assessment of the value of the products in particular
settings, contact information and direct contact with people who are
using the product, tracking of updates to the product and new
versions or functions.
* A blog can be used as a newsletter or can take the place of a
newsletter; it is a form of online publishing. This is particularly
the case with one-way blogs, but nevertheless the capacity for users
to comment (where the facility is provided) does make a useful
addition to the traditional newsletter format.
A potential problem is that blogging does not fit with the corporate
culture of many organisations. If an enterprise values a "top down"
approach, then blogging, with its emphasis on freedom and open access,
may not be a useful tool: "bottom-up organizations use blogs" says Jay
Cross; for him, "... blogs are the leading edge of the social software
movement that's propelling the bottom-up, self-organizing reformation
of versatile businesses. A bottom-up organization values the
collective work of individuals over top-down authority; it supports
cooperation and co-evolution in lieu of command and control. Instead
of telling people what to do, it provides the networks that enable
them to do what they want to do"
<http://www.learningcircuits.org/2003/aug2003/cross.htm>. Another
potential problem is that while "blogs are popular in the technology,
marketing, media and law sectors, with professionals using them to
connect with suppliers, customers and employers"
<http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/11/12/globaloffice.blogs/>
they may meet with less acceptance in other fields.
Blogs About Enterprise Blogging
-------------------------------
A number of well-regarded weblogs have emerged, the primary function
of which is to discuss and track developments related to enterprise
blogging. They include the following:
Business Logs <http://www.businesslogs.com/index.php>
CorporateBlogging.Info (including Business Blogging Basics)
<http://www.corporateblogging.info/>
KLog News: Enterprise Weblogging News, Resources and Commentary
<http://klognews.com/>
Mopsos - Corporate Use of Weblogs
<http://blog.mopsos.com/archives/000111.html>
Online Business Networks Blog
<http://www.onlinebusinessnetworks.com/blog/category/general/>
Radiant Marketing Group: A Blog Dedicated to Small Businesses
that Blog <http://radiantmarketing.biz/>
Ross Mayfield's Weblog
<http://ross.typepad.com/blog/2004/02/disney_enterpri.html>
The Small Business Trends Blog
<http://www.smallbusinesses.blogspot.com/>
Articles About Enterprise Blogging
----------------------------------
Articles and papers about the applications of weblogs in enterprises
have been published in both print and online journals, newsletters,
and news services. Some examples include the following:
Blogs in Business
<http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2004/06/30.html#a794>
Carroll, Jim: Jumping on the Corporate Blog Wagon
<http://www.jacc.com/articles/mktg22.htm>
Cross, Jay: Blogging for Business
<http://www.learningcircuits.org/2003/aug2003/cross.htm>
Easen, Nick: The Budding Business of Blogs
<http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/11/12/globaloffice.blogs/>
Golden Blogs
<http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1994135>
Lasnick, Karen and Julie Weber: Blogging: One Firm's Experience
<http://www.llrx.com/features/blogsatlawfirm.htm>
McCarthy, Ellen: Making Blogs More Than Just What's for Dinner
<http://digbig.com/4cjkw>
Rosencrance, Linda: Blogs Bubble Into Business
<http://digbig.com/4cjkt>
Saunders, John: Enterprise Blogs: The Final Frontier
<http://www.itbusiness.ca/index.asp?theaction=61&sid=52106%20>
Small Business Blog Case Study: Kuhlman Auctions
<http://digbig.com/4cjks>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dr L. Anne Clyde <http://www.hi.is/~anne/> is Professor in the Library
and Information Science Department at the University of Iceland
<http://www.hi.is/>. An Australian citizen, she has worked in a number
of countries, including Canada and Namibia, as well as in Australia
and Iceland. Her teaching and research interest in the use of online
information services and the Internet has resulted in a number of
publications, including a new book, Weblogs and Libraries (Chandos
Publishing, Oxford, 2004) reviewed by FreePint at
<http://www.freepint.com/go/n173#bookshelf>. She has also written
about weblogs and blogging for a number of professional and research
journals. She maintains a teaching page about weblogs at
<http://www.hi.is/~anne/weblogs.html>.
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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<http://www.freepint.com/go/p183>
* Post a message to the author, Dr L. Anne Clyde, or suggest
further resources at the FreePint Bar <http://www.freepint.com/bar>
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<http://www.freepint.com/issues/130105.htm#feature>
* Access the entire archive of FreePint content
<http://www.freepint.com/portal/content/>
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