Newsletter No. 28
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Free Pint "Helping 18,000 people use the Web for their work" http://www.freepint.co.uk/ ISSN 1460-7239 17 December 1998 #28 > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = IN THIS ISSUE EDITORIAL TIPS AND TECHNIQUES "Review of Online Information 98" by Dr Anne L Barker FEATURE ARTICLE "Free Pint in 1998" by William Hann, Managing Editor FREE PINT FEEDBACK "News search engines / Publishing newsletters" "Bnet - free to academic librarians and lecturers" "Telephone/Internet Costs" "Business Leads - Profiling" "Public libraries using porn filters on the Web" CONTACT INFORMATION ONLINE VERSION WITH ACTIVATED HYPERLINKS http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/171298.htm > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = *** Information World Review on the Web - www.iwr.co.uk *** With stories from the most recent issue of IWR, Internet Developments and breaking news from NewsPage, www.iwr.co.uk is the Web site for the information industry. And coming soon - a fully searchable archive of past IWR articles. Visit the Web site for more details. http://www.iwr.co.uk/ > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [li281] EDITORIAL We hope you'll agree that 1998 has been a super year for Free Pint! If you have enjoyed reading the newsletter as much as we've enjoyed putting it together then all we ask is that you tell your friends and colleagues - why not forward this issue to them? Today's edition brings you a review of "Online Information 98" which includes details of all those hard to find free trials! This is followed by a look at the past year for Free Pint - we have pulled together interesting anecdotes, facts, and feedback on how our stand went at the Online 98 exhibition (including announcement of the winners of the two Christmas hampers!). We then round off with the Feedback section which once again is packed with opinions, tips and questions from readers. We need to crack on and so it just remains for me to wish you ... "A Very Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year" ... and to invite you to partake of your twenty eighth Free Pint! Kind regards, William William Hann MIInfSc, Managing Editor e: william@freepint.co.uk t: +44 (0)1784 455435 f: +44 (0)1784 455436 > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = *** 2b Free Email Goes Live *** 2b, the UK's hottest new portal has expanded on its great new services with Free Email. 2bmail features not only the usual web based email, but it allows you to check your pop account mail as well. You can also setup ICQ and Pager forwarding so those important emails get to you straight away for no extra charge. To sign up to 2bmail or any other great service at 2b visit http://www.2b.co.uk/ > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [gg282] >>> Shouldn't your company be advertising here? <<< 18,000 subscribers, free banner adverts, placement in Web archive Call for our free "Guide for Advertisers" on +44 (0)1784 455435 Visit http://www.freepint.co.uk/advert.htm or email ads@freepint.co.uk > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = TIPS AND TECHNIQUES "Review of Online Information 98" by Dr Anne L Barker Reading through the pre-publicity for the Online Information 98 exhibition and conference you might have been excused for concluding that the whole thing centred round Knowledge Management (KM) and intranets, and not the provision of online information at all! Most of the "key themes" listed involved one of these two topics - there was a one-day "executive business briefing" on KM the day before the exhibition/conference opened, and "Track One" of the conference's parallel sessions covered intranets (day one) and KM (day two). Martin White of TFPL http://www.tfpl.com gave a conference paper on the technical and contractual issues involved in delivering commercial database information to intranets, which should be recommended reading for all concerned; David Snowden (IBM http://www.uk.ibm.com/) talked about "communities of competence", such as professional associations, and organisational structures and co-dependence, the latter being at the heart of entrepreneurial teams. "Virtual communities" were the subject of one conference session and featured in the exhibition. In his paper, William Town of ChemWeb http://chemweb.com, admitted that ChemWeb start-up costs totalled $6M, development costs were around $2M and running costs are $2.5M per year. The service is currently heavily subsidised, its income coming from adverts and sponsorship and commission on sales of full text and other products via the site. The different payment models used for purchases from the various publishers are the publishers' own choices. The aim is for ChemWeb to become self-supporting within the next 2-3 years. Sift plc's stand http://www.sift.co.uk featured AccountingWEB http://www.accountingweb.co.uk and TrainingZONE http://www.trainingzone.co.uk; they also run BusinessZONE http://www.businesszone.co.uk for SOHO and SME businesses. The Institution of Electrical Engineers also has a forum for news, discussions, careers and recruitment at http://forum.iee.org.uk/. Engineering Information Inc. http://www.ei.org, who run the award-winning Engineering Village, is to release Ei Computing Village. Created to support computer scientists in academia and industry, the new Internet-based subscription service will provide information for programmers, IT managers, researchers, engineers and other professionals. In addition to links to relevant web sites, the service will provide an index of and direct access to the full text of over 1,000,000 conference papers and journal articles through Ei Compendex for Computing, including access to electronic journals. "Content aggregators" were to the fore, selling themselves and their services this year, the phrase being used by companies who bring together and package for resale related information sources (such as databases) in one service (usually via the web), for easy user access. Funny, we used to call them "online hosts" ... Reuters' fourth research document in the "information overload" series was released, indicating that 76% of the 1,072 managers interviewed (worldwide) think that information is "mission critical" to their businesses. Nearly half said "information overload" is getting worse but a similar proportion said that the Internet had made the problem better! The top two constraints preventing these managers from obtaining the information they require were said to be time and not knowing how to get the information. Of the 210 UK managers interviewed, 63% use the Internet weekly and 34% use an intranet weekly, 73% have a home computer used for work, education and entertainment. Judging by the queue outside at 9 a.m. on the opening morning, many "old hands" were caught out by the change in exhibition opening times this year, from 9.30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Some exhibition visitors were disappointed to find the likes of British Telecom and Internet Service Providers such as America Online, Demon and Compuserve once again absent. Others not up-to-date with their knowledge of online industry mergers and acquisitions struggled to find well-known names like Kompass, LEXIS-NEXIS and Butterworths (now all part of Reed Elsevier), or Disclosure and Datastream (both owned by Primark) as the index in the exhibition guide did not include cross references between products, services and the names of the companies paying for the stands. The pre-publicity heralded "over 350 stands", which turned out to be about 300 stands, but that's 50 (20%) more than last year's total. As one exhibitor commented, this does not suggest an industry in recession. In fact, according to IRN http://www.irnxxx.co.uk, the European market for online business information alone will have grown by 10.9% to 644m pounds during 1998. Between 17-18,000 people visited the exhibition over the three day period. And finally, acknowledging the limitations of current Web browser technology, Dow Jones http://ip.dowjones.com has announced it will launch a Windows-based interface for the Dow Jones Publication Library on April 1, 1999, and at the same time shut-down dial-up access to Dow Jones Interactive. The Windows interface offers improvements in the formatting and printing of articles, features that cannot be implemented in a Web browser interface. Will others follow? If you weren't able to visit the exhibition to pick up the traditional freebies of pens, mugs, mouse mats etc, you can still pick up on some of the free services or free trials offered: Free services Encyclopaedia Britannica's http://www.britannica.co.uk/ eBLAST is available free of charge at http://www.eBLAST.com, is "the thinking person's guide to the Web". eBLAST's team review and present the most useful sources of information on the Internet. Featuring a sophisticated search-and-retrieval system and an outline of subjects, eBLAST makes it easy to find worthwhile sites. European Patent Office http://www.european-patent-office.org esp@cenet (sic) is a new free patent searching service provided by the European Patent Organisation on the Internet. UK access is at http://www.dips.papent.gov.uk/. Coverage is all patent applications published in the past two years by EPO national offices. Full bibliographic details are displayed, with links to PDF page images for patents from the EPO, France, Germany, Switzerland, UK, USA and WIPO. PubList.com http://www.publist.com A free directory of "the world's periodicals". Searchable by title, browsable by title, publisher and subject discipline. Top Jobs on the Net http://www.topjobs.net For management, professional and technical positions. Free trials (to subscription services) Anbar http://www.anbar.co.uk/anbar.htm Guest access for 30 days is offered to the Anbar Electronic Intelligence library, which covers more than 800 top international journals (450 in management, 200 in computer science and 150 in civil engineering). BIOSIS http://www.biosis.org BIOSIS is offering free one-month trial access to its MethodsFinder service http://www.methodsfinder.org/. During their introductory period, anyone submitting an original protocol will receive three months' free access to the service. Derwent http://www.derwent.com/ From 1st December, Derwent Discovery http://www.derwent-discovery.com/ offers web access to the Derwent Drug File (DDF) and the Derwent World Drug Alerts (DWDA), two of Derwent's most important pharmaceutical databases. 30-day free trials are available. Economist Intelligence Unit http://www.eiu.com EIU are offering 14-day free trials to companies wishing to access CountryNet http://www.countrynet.com/. Information is available on more than 80 countries, detailing business customs, etiquette and protocol, tax and immigration laws, and key developments likely to affect businesses. ILI http://www.ili.co.uk Free trial subscriptions are available to Standards Infobase, Eurolaw, Metals Infobase, Materials Infobase and Technology Infodisk. Ovid Technologies http://www.ovid.com Free demo databases from Ovid's collection of 90 bibliographic scientific, technical and medical databases are available at http://demo.ovid.com/libpreview/ HW Wilson Company http://www.hwwilson.com HW Wilson offer 30-day free trial access to 35 of their bibliographic databases. > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dr Anne Barker is nearing the end of a five-year contract lecturing and researching in information retrieval (with a focus on online and Internet searching and related quality issues) in the Department of Information and Library Studies at the University of Wales Aberystwyth. Recent research projects include a study of the usability and functionality of web-based interfaces for online searching, and the summative evaluation of the parallel print/electronic journal ARIADNE http://www.ariadne.ac.uk. Before joining DILS in March 1994, Anne spent 15 months as a member of a "change management" team within Corporate Estates at AEA Technology (the UK Atomic Energy Authority), helping to prepare the facilities management division for privatisation. Prior to this, Anne managed the Technical and Business Information Centre at the AEA's Risley site near Warrington. Anne may be contacted by email: Anne.Barker@aber.ac.uk > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ~~ Willco ~ Internet Consultancy, Publishing and Training ~~ Email list hosting ........... run your own low-cost email newsletter Domain registration .... ".co.uk" 45 pounds inc. all fees for 2 years Internet training ...... creating & managing sites, Web introductions Consultancy ..... full range of services from qualified professionals Full details at http://www.willco.co.uk/ or email info@willco.co.uk Tel: +44 (0)1784 455435 Fax: +44 (0)1784 455436 > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [wc283] >>> Easy way to recommend Free Pint <<< Want us to send a sample of Free Pint to a friend? Simply visit http://www.freepint.co.uk/reco.htm > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FEATURE ARTICLE "Free Pint in 1998" by William Hann, Managing Editor What a fabulous and enjoyable year "Free Pint" has had. I have therefore devoted this section to bringing you the highlights of Free Pint's year and some interesting facts about the newsletter. I have also sent a separate email with the full "Free Pint 1998 Index". This is your handy reference guide to all the articles and feedback subjects so that you can easily find previous items of interest. Please feel free to print out the Index for future reference or distribute it around your company or organisation. Publication ----------- Free Pint has been published every two weeks on a Thursday and this year's issues have contained over half a million characters. To print this all out would take 200 sheets of paper. It was only published late once and that was due to the birth of my daughter Imogen. Even then it was being compiled in the hospital and sent out at 8am on the morning after (sad, I know!). The production team here have a great time and, although it is free, have calculated that we have spent around 2,000 hours this year working on Free Pint. This does not take into account the time taken by authors to research and write their articles. Producing, distributing and promoting each issue of the newsletter is therefore a major undertaking. Indeed simply publishing the newsletter has involved sending almost 200,000 emails or 5.5 Gigabytes (5500 Megabytes) of data. Subscribers ----------- Free Pint now has over 18,000 subscribers and started the year with 2,000. We have subscribers in 115 countries around the world and know the geographical location of 93%. If all of our subscribers stood shoulder to shoulder, the line would stretch 6 miles (or 9 kilometres). We get at least 50 new subscribers each and every day, or 500 each issue. Around 77% of our subscribers are professionally employed and to print a list of all subscribers would require 200 sheets of paper. Articles -------- We have reviewed over 1000 Web addresses this year and have scanned them for some interesting quotes ... ... for instance, can you believe that this appeared ... "You can read thousands of testimonials and listen to medical scientists argue for and against the benefits of shark cartilage, but until you try it yourself you will never reap the benefits of this incredible white powder." Issue #6 We've also found some other interesting comments: "It will be a great year if you remember - eagles soar and chickens flap." Issue #8 "There is a world market for maybe five computers." (Thomas Wilson - Chairman of IBM, 1943) Issue #9 "Year after year Intelligent Environments have doggedly stuck with the banana theme. Near naked men and women painted green keep everyone supplied with bananas. Why? Who knows?'" Issue #14 "You've never really experienced a shopping high until you've paid for a tailor-made gene knocked out mouse." Issue #17 There have been a number of interesting acronyms, including: "EEVL" - Edinburgh Energy Virtual Library http://www.eevl.ac.uk "EELS" - Engineering Electronic Library, Sweden http://www.ub2.lu.se/eel/ "SPIN" - Science Policy Information News http://wisdom.wellcome.ac.uk/wisdom/spinhome.html "SCAN" - Science Awareness Newsletter http://www.britassoc.org.uk/info/scan.html Or how about some intriguing Web sites: "Video clips of cells in action to the accompaniment of appropriate sound effects. Cells squirm, contract and engulf each other." Cells Alive - http://www.cellsalive.com/ Issue #17 "The real story about smoking, drinking and getting high" Ask Dr. Steve - http://www.DrSteve.org/ Issue #26 Dates from Hell http://www.datesfromhell.com/dfh/index.htm #26 Advertising ----------- As you know, the newsletter is free to you because it is supported by advertising. We have had over 50 newsletter adverts this year, and we also carry banner adverts on the Web site and have displayed over 200,000 banners at http://www.freepint.co.uk/ Online Information 98 --------------------- The popularity of Free Pint this year culminated last week in us enjoying a large stand at the "Online Information 98" exhibition at Olympia, London. We had some great fun on the stand meeting new and current subscribers and inviting them to post messages on our Free Pint Forum wall. We had some A6 size sticky notes printed with the Free Pint logo (a beer jug of course!) and people wrote their comments, tips and ideas on the notes and literally stuck them on the wall. We even had contributions emailed in from around the world which we wrote up for our absent friends. There were about 50 contributions in all and here is a selection for your interest: "Tip: File all your Free Pint articles in a specific directory in your email, then any time you're struggling for ideas on where to look for information, "search and find" will give you a quick reference." "Free Pint is informative, useful and interesting. Can easily get drunk on the information. Great work - make it go from strength to strength." "Please tell me: why do people believe what search engines tell them? Because they believe computers tell the truth? Let's enlighten them!" "We love Free Pint and came out of gratitude" "When oh when will we get fast access after our Americans friends wake up?? (3pm onwards)" "Free Pint is one of my favourite e-zines, which I forward to several other information specialists. High impact articles, with a constant quality. Keep up the good work!" There were also discussions on topics like setting up a free presence on the Net, whether digital TV will become a prime Net access medium, and if Free Pint could be translated into French or have low-cost classifieds at the end. All good suggestions that we will think about for the future. Ten Free Pint authors also helped out on the stand, meeting people and answering questions. They also helped us give away free beer (yes, over 100 "free pints" were given away at various times) and we even had specially-commissioned "Free Pint" 12-pint beer glasses! One of these collected business cards for the draw for our two Christmas hampers. We are pleased to announce that these were won by Melissa Richardson, Business Information Officer at the Institute of Directors, and Dr Chris Chapman, Senior Information Officer at The Boots Company. Free Pint in 1998 ----------------- So this was a fabulous end to a fabulous year. I would like to thank the other members of the Free Pint team, namely Rex our Editor and Jane our Administrator, and to you, our loyal Free Pint readership. Please raise your glasses to another fun year at Free Pint! William Hann Managing Editor, Free Pint william@freepint.co.uk > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Sue Hill Recruitment & Services Ltd - new jobs every day We are always keen to hear from flexible, adaptable individuals seeking a move within the information sector. Our clients are blue chip companies who want the best and trust us to provide it. T +44 171 732 6671/F +44 171 732 6718 jobs@suehill.com www.suehill.com Seasonal Greetings to all 'Free Pint' readers from Sue, Jo & Claire. > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = [sh284] FREE PINT FACT Over 80% of new subscribers find Free Pint through recommendation > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FREE PINT FEEDBACK > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Subject: News search engines / Publishing newsletters From: Ted Mole, Head of Information Services, Uranium Institute Date: Thursday 10th December 1998 First of all thanks for an excellent service. I only signed up yesterday and have now read 3 issues and found something useful in each. I also find the whole idea useful as a possible input into a virtual community which I am in the process of building. I've tried bulletin boards: too passive, listservs: too impersonal, etc. On the subject of news search engines I'm surprised no-one mentioned the NewsTrakker service at Excite which is current, broad ranging, though rather US biased, and tuneable i.e. you can build your own profiles, as many as you like. I do a trawl everyday using a mix of hardcopy newspapers and Yahoo (Reuters tends to be more current here), Infoseek, Excite and NewsPage. The answer really depends on what you want to cover. There are also hosts of agents (some intelligent and some less so) which can do the job for you, to a greater or lesser degree. A good site to visit for an overview of these is Botspot http://botspot.com/ I have to say that I tend to have passing enthusiasms for these agents, I download one, set it up and get it running and then find it's not really what I'm after and go back to other methods (see above). One of the best I have come across was the Autonomy desktop product, alas no longer available now that Autonomy has won some venture cap and moved up to server side bigtime products. The last time I used Autonomy it would not only search according to your profile but retrieve the complete item (not just the link) and compile it into a personalised newspaper for you. Very neat but essentially just a demo of the product potential which was ruined by the duff nature of the sources you could choose from. If your need is not just for news but also new pages on sites of interest, which may of course include press releases, try a free service called Mind-It from NetMind http://mindit.netmind.com/ which lets you specify URLs which you would like to have monitored. Changes are then notified to you by email. If you can afford the time to visit a host of sites every day, or the space and line time to use WebWhacker or something similar, then Mindit is maybe not for you. As you might expect it lags a bit behind postings but I have found it quite useful for monitoring the news and press release pages of companies in which I have an interest. I heard your presentation, William, at the Online Information 98 Conference on Tuesday and was interested that your experience with Free Pint was so close to my own with regard to a weekly nuclear industry news review which I publish by email and then post to our web site http://www.uilondon.org/ We started with fax, moved to Compuserve and then to direct email distribution from our Exchange server. Through these changes and over the 7 year life of the newsletter it has always been kept to the equivalent of 2 sides of A4, has kept to short items with citations to find more if you need to and the dominant response has always been: "great service, saves me loads of time, whatever you do don't change it." It has never become interactive in the way that Free Pint has, I suspect because its audience is executives rather than information people, also of course it never contains direct requests for help or information. User response is usually heaviest when it doesn't hit the desk at the expected time (very rare). All for now Ted Mole, Head of Information Services Uranium Institute http://www.uilondon.org/ > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Subject: Bnet - free to academic librarians and lecturers From: Fiona White, Bnet Information Manager Date: Friday 27th November 1998 Dear William Thanks for featuring Bnet as part of the article by Diana Grimwood-Jones on business management case studies - 26/11/98. I would just like to point out to Free Pint readers that Bnet is also free to academic librarians and lecturers. Bnet is a business management knowledge base containing Management Guides, Case Studies, Management and Marketing Abstracts from PIRA, business and management courses, training and events, useful contacts and directories of venture capital providers, business grants and MBA courses. Bnet has recently been relaunched with a new easier navigation system and a business news service. Fiona White Bnet Information Manager http://www.bnet.co.uk/ > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Subject: Telephone/Internet Costs From: Various "Your American correspondent who stated that the system in Canada is the same as the US is wrong. Somewhere around there is also the statement that "most things in the US are cheaper...." wrong! wrong! wrong! The US has some of the highest costs in the world - health and dental care for example - no free rides. As to Internet access and telephone Canada is - generally speaking - cheaper than the States. My example (using current exchange rates) - my phone costs - per month 9 pounds sterling and that includes ALL calls within roughly a 50 miles radius of the city in which I live (Edmonton, Alberta. pop about 650,000). Then I pay 90 pounds sterling per YEAR for unlimited internet access including a 10 mb web site - I still have many friends and family in the UK - I left there in 1958 but get back there every couple of years. Your cost of living has shot out of sight since the EEC (so has the COL of every EEC country, for that matter) and I see the poor old Brit public being screwed glued and tattooed - and BT is still a joke compared with telephone service here. I can get phones installed (or removed) within 24 hours - I have a choice of 4 long distance companies (who are all cutting one another's throats for business) - for example, right now I can call the UK (any time of day, 7 days a week) for approx. 9 pence per minute). I can put in as many extensions through the house as I want - without paying extra for them - I do not even have to use the telephone cos. own phone - I can buy my own in plenty of local stores, for as little as about 5 pounds. No, Canada is a far cheaper place to live than the States - and I would estimate that living costs here are about half what they are in the UK - salaries about level. Gas - sorry, petrol - is presently 79 pence per Imperial gallon (although Canada has long been metric I still think imperial) and you can get a good hotel for 35 pounds per night - less in the smaller towns and less for motels on the road. But don't rush out - we've a fair amount of unemployment too!." Ron Garland, Canada "Continuing on the theme of my last message - boycotting the Internet. Perhaps you would like to check out this site for news of a French boycott which was planned for yesterday. http://www2.nando.net:80/newsroom/ntn/biz/121398/biz6_23989_noframes.html Unfortunately I didn't find it till today. It seems that there is a Europewide movement to persuade national telecoms companies to make the Net cheaper to access. As Information Professionals it is important that we all support this in order to close the gap between the 'information rich' and 'information poor'. Many will agree that access to information is the key to opportunity, to improving individual circumstances, as well as society in general. I hope a similar movement will gather momentum in Britain." Lynn Robertson, Aberystwyth University "You have recently published a number of comments about phone rates. There is absolutely no reason why ISP's cannot provide freephone access. In the USA, where freephone is considered a key element of good PR, it accounts for about 50% of all toll and trunk (i.e 'regional' and 'national') calls and they have twice run out of freephone numbers. In Europe, on the other hand, it is seen as an unnecessary expense and there is a tendency for companies to move information services to premium or other expensive rates, so that users 'learn' that information cannot be obtained for nothing. Recent British examples of such thinking are Eurostar, Eurotunnel and Air UK/KLM (a 'quick' call to Eurotunnel to make a reservation can now cost several pounds - and you are not guaranteed a place, anyway). This attitude is clearly demonstrated by a recent British Airways Concorde promotion: they gave a freephone number and were inundated by callers. A senior member of the telecomms industry asked why BA 'wasted' a potentially profitable opportunity (and returns to shareholders) in this way, when they could have used a shared-revenue (premium-rate) number and made a substantial profit! Perhaps, therefore, pressure for freephone numbers would be more useful in Europe than Internet strikes. Thanks for a great mag, P.S. Your US correspondent might be interested to know that London has the world's largest local-call area. Also, your readers might like to know that in 1996 the US Telecom Act introduced what is known as the Library Tax or Universal Service Fund. This tax is assessed at 4.9% of a person's total phone bill and is designed to pay for schools' and libraries' Internet access costs. I've no idea of its effect - but it's an interesting policy." Ralph Adam, City University > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Subject: Business Leads - Profiling From: Bobby Choudhury Date: Monday 14th December 1998 Dear Free Pint, I would just like to say that as a Market Researcher I have found the "Free Pint" newsletter to be of enormous help and it provides a wealth of information especially useful websites for Industry news and streamlined searches for your particular area of interest. As mentioned I work as a Market Researcher and am currently looking for software that is able to search for companies that fulfil specific criteria, e.g. 30+ IT development staff within the finance, IT and Pharmaceutical Industry. This may seem fairly straightforward, but unfortunately I have yet to find a software which can cater for my requirements. Most directories and on-line CD-ROMs do not provide the number of IT staff specifically working on software development or IT Projects. The Software Users Year Book is the only source which fulfils my requirement (only just). Is there anyone out there who can provide some assistance in my quest? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks Bobby Choudhury > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Subject: QUESTION: Public libraries using porn filters on the Web From: Lance Housley, Reference Librarian, North Devon Library, UK Date: Wednesday 9th December 1998 Towards the end of November 98 (I'm working from memory here, and I cannot be sure of the details) there was a court judgement in Virginia, USA to the effect that it is illegal for an American public library to insist that people using its computers to access the Web MUST use a porn filter. It was, I think, something to do with freedom of speech. Now, I think that I caught a glimpse somewhere of a subsequent ruling from the US Supreme Court, but I cannot find any details. Does anyone know anything about this? > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION, COMMENT OR REPLY? Let us know your feedback or favourite site by sending an email to the Free Pint team now to feedback@freepint.co.uk remembering to include your name, title and company or organisation. Please note, if you write to us we may publish your letter in whole or part for the interest of our subscribers unless you request otherwise at the time of writing. Please let us know if you wish your contact details to be withheld. > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Thank you for reading Free Pint. We hope you will forward this copy to colleagues, friends and journalists, or ask them to visit our Web site soon at http://www.freepint.co.uk/ See you in three weeks! Merry Christmas! Kind regards, William Hann, Managing Editor william@freepint.co.uk (c) Willco 1998 http://www.willco.co.uk/ > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = FREE PINT FUTURE ISSUES 07/01/99 #29 - Cookies | Virtual Communities 21/01/99 #30 - Running a Web site | Computer Assisted Journalism 04/02/99 #31 - Internet Detective Project | Animal Health [Provisional] > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = CONTACT INFORMATION William Hann, MIInfSc, Managing Editor e: william@freepint.co.uk t: +44 (0)1784 455 435 f: +44 (0)1784 455 436 Rex Cooke, FIInfSc, FRSA, Editor e: rex@freepint.co.uk t: +44 (0)1784 455 435 f: +44 (0)1784 455 436 Jane, Administrator e: jane@freepint.co.uk Address (no stamp needed) Willco "Free Pint", FREEPOST (SEA3901), Staines Middlesex, TW18 3BR, United Kingdom Web - http://www.freepint.co.uk Advertising - ads@freepint.co.uk Subscriptions - subs@freepint.co.uk Letters & Comments - feedback@freepint.co.uk Latest Issue Autoresponder - auto@freepint.co.uk > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Free Pint (ISSN 1460-7239) is a free email newsletter for anyone who uses the Internet to get information for their work in any business or organisation. The newsletter is written by professionals who share how they find quality and reliable information on the Internet. To subscribe, unsubscribe, find details about contributing, advertising or to see past issues, please visit the Web site at http://www.freepint.co.uk/ or call +44 (0)1784 455 435. Please note: The newsletter is published by the information consultancy Willco (http://www.willco.co.uk/) providers of Internet consultancy, training and publishing services. The publishers will NEVER make the subscriber list available to any other company or organisation. The opinions, advice, products and services offered herein are the sole responsibility of the contributors. Whilst all reasonable care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the publication, the publishers cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions. This publication may be freely copied and/or distributed in its entirety. 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- Publication Date: 17th December 1998
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